June 23, 2019 – Probably it’s one of those things. When I get interested in something, I see it everywhere. But, honestly, I really am seeing horses everywhere.
Yesterday, Saturday morning to be exact, I dragged myself out of bed, almost talked myself out of going on my planned trip for the Bureau of Land Management’s Mustang adoption fair and show because I had this nagging feeling something bad was going to happen. It did, but it wasn’t all that bad: I got pulled over for not have a front license plate on my truck when I got back to LA, like the cops on Vermot between Santa Monica and Sunset don’t have anything else better to do. Oh and after giving me the paperwork of a fix-it ticket, the cop followed me into the gas station, but he left. Filling up a 2002 Land Rover takes more time than he had, apparently. That annoyance aside, the trip to Ramona, California to the BLM’s Mustang adoption fair and show was so unbelievably fun.
I thought it was to start with an auction at 8:00 a.m., that’s what the BLM website said, so I left as soon as I could. The part where I say “as soon as I could” was 6:30 a.m., which put me there right about 9:00 a.m. There was no auction though, so I was okay with that arrival time. The venue was a horse stable, a nice informal one situated in the mountains to the east and north of San Diego. I’m not sure many people know it’s there, but there are little groves at the base of tree-covered mountains, lots of pasture land. It was picturesque, and very nice. The stable wasn’t at all fancy, a good thing for me because I don’t really like fancy horse stables; the people are not nice at fancy horse stables. It was a cloudy day, so I was never hot. There were a few awnings set up with tables under them: a registration table with nobody there, one farther away that looked like a vendor, and one by a series of round pens. I went to that one. They thought I wanted the show awning and pointed me that way. I said I wanted the Mustang BLM one, and then they claimed me. They explained I need only go look at the animals in the pens. There were only about two or three people there then, all gathered in the front of one pen housing the geldings. There was a nice woman there who talked with me from time to time and who wanted me to tell her not to get a Mustang even though she had land and could; definitely she picked the wrong person to talk her out of getting one because if I had land behind my house there’s no way I wouldn’t have come home with one.
A BLM wrangler came up to us and explained my questions about a chart that was posted on the corral railing. He said all of the horses were yearlings, that there were six fillies (females) and six geldings (males), separated into two pens with the females in the pen behind the males, and a dozen burros, females and males together in the pen at the end. I looked at the geldings first. The woman told me she liked two out of the six, a buckskin and a bay, both geldings. Those two horses thought about approaching us on the fence railing, but never really got that close. Friendly, but only friendly-ish, that’s how I would describe them.
I next went to look at the burros. While there, a different BLM wrangler approached me and told me I could take title to any animal today. I spent a great deal of time learning that some of these animals had been shown in other situations; apparently, unknown to me, the BLM regional pens in Ridgecrest, California (that’s about 150 miles north of Los Angeles) allows people to see the Mustangs and burros on Friday, or maybe it’s every other Friday. If these animals had been shown in those Friday events, they had a number next to them. First, he said if the animal had a three or more on the chart in that particular column, then they were automatically for sale, and instead of adopting them for a year and waiting the year to take title from the United States government, those 3+ animals could be sold for $25, without the waiting period to get title. Then he said he would sell any of these animals to me for $25, even ones with less than three showings, and I could have had title to the animal that day. I don’t know if that was because it was the rule for that day, or if he just thought I looked like a good home. Whichever, they were really trying to get one of their animals in my hands.
That woman who was my companion in these discussions walked with me around to the other side to look at the fillies, but she, and many other people who came later, weren’t as interested in the fillies. Those people were convinced that geldings make better horses. One woman I talked to later on said she agreed that geldings make better horses, but she said if you get a mare (the grown-up version of a filly) to believe in you, that a mare will do anything for you. Females are more of a thinking horse, so these people believed. I liked the fillies. Then again, I like thinking animals. Immediately, the six fillies in the filly pen all sort of looked at me. Sure what they wanted to do was eat at the hay bale that was in the pen, but they had a very strong sense of awareness and intelligence. And there was one in particular….
Number 7807.
The animals have a neck tag. It’s a strong rope, with part wire, with a number tag hanging on the wire part. The number tag hangs right at the place where the horse’s head connects to the neck. That’s the horse’s identifier. The number is on the chart, with the relevant statistics about the horse. The chart said No. 7807 is bay, which means a brown horse with black legs, a black mane and tail. The chart listed her age, one, her markings – a star, a sock, a stripe on her nose — the names of her white marks. It says she was captured in Nevada. All of the horses were captured in Nevada except one. The one that wasn’t was born at the Ridgecrest facility from her captured-pregnant mother. No. 7807 was the smallest in the filly pen. I wasn’t sure she was actually a yearling. I believed she was a bit younger. Her times-presented number was six. I doubt that’s a good thing for her. She was friendly with everyone, but extra so with me. In fact she was so friendly with me, she got her horse companions, two other of the fillies, to come hang out with me too.
From time to time I did other things and left the pens. I talked to many people. I watched the Mustang show, an event where people (mostly teenage girls) who got Mustang yearlings from the Ridgecrest facility in March train the yearlings to walk with a halter, lift their feet, and such things. The event is called horsemanship. Three months, and these young Mustangs all looked like fine well-bred horses.
No. 7807 could have just gone into the show with me straight away. By the time I left, she was eating my tennis shoe laces, and I could pet her anywhere, even on her forelock (the top of her head), with her ears forward and her nose trying to get through the bars for more petting. At one point, she brought me a flower. I don’t know where she found the flower, but she really loved it; No. 7807’s special toy, and she wanted to share it with me. I tried to get people to buy her, but I think most of the people were there to do investigation, much as I was.
I know the two geldings that the first woman liked – the buckskin and the bay — got homes. And I saw someone take a burro; oh and that woman simply put a rope around the burro and led the burro away, no struggle, no sending the burro into a chute. The burro, a wild animal, was just ready to go … home. Lucky burro.
No. 7807 had a friend too, a sorrel (that’s a reddish colored horse that’s all red, no black). The sorrel came over to be petted, and then just turned around. I think she might have been a bit wormy, or affected with some such bugs, because she wanted her rump scratched. I took both hands and scratched the top of her back, the wild sorrel filly just standing there wanting more. No. 7807 was trying to get more pets from me too. There was a person there then; he said I was a magnet for them. I laughed and talking to the sorrel said “oh yeah, you’re a wild horse” while touching her with both hands, No. 7807 waiting for her pets too.
These fillies were super good, way, way, way more handle-able than I ever imagined they would be. I am certain I would have had No. 7807 in a halter and walking around by the end of the day. I even pulled on her neck tag and she moved with me. She was sweet. She was curious and smart. At one point, she even climbed into the water trough, again, not behavior of a wild animal. So all in all, my investigation was a success. I know, for sure, when I can, I’m going to get a Mustang, probably even a yearling. I so wish it could be No. 7807. At least three of the people there said No. 7807 had picked me. One of the women even offered me use of her trailer. If only I could put No. 7807 in my front yard. She’d be there now if she could be. Remember I said horses are everywhere? Everywhere except my front yard.
Certainly, they are on the music charts. For the fifteenth week in a row, the number one pop song, which I heard constantly yesterday, is Old Town Road. The song, called Old Town Road, is by a self-made (think YouTube, social media) rapper named Lil Nas X, in collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus, you know Miley’s dad, Achy Breaky Heart guy. The song is cute, and I think it’s good that rappers are embracing country music. I think it’s good that pop music is embracing music. There are many videos of this song, but this one is by far the cutest.
And as a dedication to my horse, No. 7807, a wild horse, who’s hardly wild, I dedicate a different horse song entirely, even if it’s not actually about a horse. I hope with all hope that she gets a good home. She will be a great horse. Thanks for being my very amazing introduction to Mustangs. And thanks for the flower. It’s not every day a horse gives you a present. Thanks, No. 7807, the very sweet Mustang; thanks.