Gypsy was a wild Mustang, living in California and Nevada before her family was herded up and thrown into holding pens, then separated from one another. If Gypsy’s experience was like most wild horse roundups, several of her fellow herd members, including foals, were killed.
Hanaeleh intervened when Gypsy’s owner posted her as a “free horse.” Her owners had purchased her from a BLM auction but decided they did not want her anymore. We took Gypsy as the only other person who responded to the owner’s ad was going to take her to Mexico, most likely for slaughter. We were told that Gypsy was “difficult to catch,” and to bring some carrots to help catch her.
Four hours later….
But we finally gained Gypsy’s trust and loaded her into the trailer. We discovered that her owner had not been able to catch her for six months, and during that time she had grown, so the halter they had originally placed on her was beginning to slice into her poll. We took off the halter and worked with Gypsy, training her to come when we asked, and letting her know that people were kind of OK.
We have worked with Gypsy for the past several years, training her under saddle and training her in harness as well. She is incredibly intelligent and needs to be worked with everyday. She loves to learn and will grow bored if we do not change up her training every once in a while. She is very attached to Elizabeth, who has worked with her almost exclusively. Although it is obvious Gypsy still retains some of her “wildness,” she is not malicious and does try to be “good” for Elizabeth.
While we have worked with Gypsy and trained her, Hanaeleh’s stance is that wild horses should remain wild. We think that Gypsy would have preferred to remain “wild and free” as opposed to being torn from her family and foals, even though we do think she is rather fond of Elizabeth.
Gypsy has three coats- winter, spring, and summer. This is her spring coat.
Gypsy under saddle
Gypsy running
Elizabeth gives Gypsy a kiss