If you have been following at all my quest for a Spanish Mustang mare from the Cayuse Ranch, here is the full story with the latest development....

I've dreamed of having my own Spanish Mustang all my life. I used to see photos and hear stories from my uncle's ranch as a child growing up horseless in upstate New York. It didn't help that my cousin, Josie, was just a month younger than I and had all those horses right outside her house. So, this story actually started long ago...

The latest chapter began with a visit to the Cayuse Ranch in August of 2001. I took lots of photos as I was only there for a couple of days. When I came home, I poured over them and chose this mare. Having a Spanish Mustang of my own as been a lifelong dream and now I thought it was near to actually being a reality.

Grulla mare born 1999
Sire: Azor
Dam: Wyoming Wind

I arranged with someone who lives 3 hours south of me to kindly bring her out from eastern Wyoming to western Oregon in April when he was going to get his own mare. I waited...

April came and went. His mare was waiting to be turned out with a stud for breeding. Weather and other ranch duties kept that from happening for a while. Then we arranged to go to the SMR Annual Meeting in June 2002 and he would trailer her home afterwards. I drove out with my family and found that he had not been able to make it. He had a severely foundered mare. She needed daily care and he could not leave her. Maybe he could come a few weeks after the meeting and get the horses then.

While I was at the ranch, my uncle, Emmett, caught the grulla mare a couple of times and worked her in the stockade. She was a bit skittish. I wondered how she would fare in a boarding barn being handled by different people.

When I would go into the corral with the mares, she was the only one that would not let me touch her. All the other mares let me pet and scratch them. Did I mention that there were 2 longhorn bulls in with the mares? Well, sometimes I did not quite feel like getting in with them, especially around feeding times. Josie said they were pussycats, but I did not want to get anywhere near those horns! I can read horses pretty well and feel very comfortable around them. Cattle are another thing altogether. I am not familiar with them at all. I did enjoy looking at these two though. They are very pretty boys.

I did get to work with the Grulla mare a little in the stockade and was able to catch her after some time. But only when Emmett had cut her from the other mares and gotten her into the stockade. I still couldn't get my hand on her in the corral with the other horses. She would slip away at the last minute. I had planned to work with her every day I was there, but there was not always someone to help me get her separated. Everyone was very busy with the meeting, touring the stud bands and getting other horses ready to go with their new owners. Josie, Emmett and Gioja had their hands full as hosts.

She had been taken into town the week before for her blood to be drawn for Coggins testing. They went back in to pick up the papers, only to find that the blood had been lost in the mail. This was hard for people who were needing to leave. But it made me think about maybe taking a different mare. Josie had left by this time for a well deserved vacation, so Emmett and I talked about it a bit.

The day before I left, I went down to the corral with Emmett and looked the mares over. There was one that was quite striking, a flaxen chestnut roan with some sabino spots. She had been born on the Cayuse and sold to someone who was later in an auto accident and could not keep her. Emmett had taken her back with her yearling filly. She was already registered as Wyoming Morning Star and was seven years old, but never trained to saddle.

Emmett did mention that she had some "mental problems." But that with some work, he thought she would come through okay and make a nice riding horse. I caught her a couple of times and worked her a bit. She seemed fine and I could handle her on my own. Emmett and Josie would work on her trailer loading until Dan came to get her. Apparently she had had a bad experience in the past involving a trailer.

We went home. Several times I talked with Dan and he was all ready to go... and something would come up. In August, he was on evacuation alert for a forest fire. Later it was a last minute notice from his landlord to move. I began to realize that there were larger forces at work here and that I just needed to be patient. I had planned to spend the whole summer working on the first grulla mare with lots of ground work and playing, getting her used to lots of different things. Now here I was sitting around. I couldn't even do my work exchange at the barn because the kids were home for the summer. I was feeling a bit horse starved!

During this time I would get emails from Josie about the progress in getting her used to the trailer. Things like, "Got her in last night. Took two hours. She was nervous." It sounded sort of encouraging, maybe... Then Josie got her hand caught between the mare and the trailer divider trying to calm her one day. I really appreciated all the effort going into getting this mare ready to travel, but I did start to have doubts.

September came around. The kids went back to school and I went back to my routine of working one day at the dressage barn I was planning to board her at. At least I was building up some credit! I came home one day to a message from Dan. My daughter said he would leave Saturday or Sunday, definitely by Monday. Well, I guess he really did, because I got a call on Monday, September 21st from Emmett. Dan was at the ranch!

But the news Emmett had was not all good. It seems that the extent of her fear of trailers was much deeper than anyone knew. She did not like small spaces, whips or fast movements. Something had messed with her pretty well. After several emails and a long phone conversation with Josie, we came to the conclusion that she was best suited to stay at the Cayuse as a brood mare.

So, where does this leave me in my quest? Josie suggested a yearling filly by Choctaw Three (Gary) and out of Irish Lassie. She is a brown or buckskin dun with no markings. She has her own little adventurous story. :)

While weaning the foals last spring, she escaped and found her way back to her mother. When we were there at the Meeting in June, she was hanging out with her mom and new sibling. You can see her here behind her mother. I had to go back through my photos to find this one shot in the background of a herd shot.

Soon after we left the meeting in June, Gary kicked her out of his band. She was gathered up by Azor and was with him for about a month. Azor is a cool guy. Below is a picture of me with him at the meeting. Emmett joked about retiring him with me if I have some land then. He is 22 now, but was trained to saddle as a youngster. We could have some fun together.

She was brought back in from Azor's band recently and is gentling fast. I told Josie that I would leave the choice up to her. My first priority is temperament and I trust Josie's judgement. There has to be a reason for all the twists and turns of the story. Things like this usually happen for a reason. So I have hope that the right horse will walk out of the trailer next week...

So that is where we are now! Dan is planning to try and leave Sunday or Monday between snow storms. I may have a horse by Halloween!

Now I need to come up with a few names. I have several that come from her pedigree, but I am also thinking it would be fun to name her something having to do with her adventurous spirit. I would love to hear suggestions!

Her sire is Choctaw Three

Her dam is Irish Lassie, pictured above. She is the same color as her sire and dam. I am listing the horses in her pedigree going back by generation. You might recognize a couple like Buckshot and San Domingo. And, yes, they were the ones Breyer made models from. :)

2 - Choctaw II, Tiger Lilly, Chief Masada, Pandora

3 - Choctaw, Mexi Cali Rose, Injun, Red Squaw, Majuba, Prairie Belle, Bay Domingo, Hope

4 - Lonesome, Andaluz, Cochise, Red Ribbon, Chief Pushmataha, Blue Corn, Doby, Pale Face, San Domingo

5 - Yellow Fox, Buckshot, Queenie, Sioux Chief, Red Leaf

6 - Monty, Bally, Eagle, Sally, War Bonnet

My short list of names at this point is: Choctaw Lilly, Avispada (quick witted, sharp), Choctaw Maya and Shanti. The last one is already used, so I would have to put something with it.

If anyone has other suggestions, I would love to hear them! Or just let me know if you like any of these. Please email me at simrat@khalsart.com.

And with this filly, any "mental problems" will be of my own making!

10/28/02 Update - Dan called at five this evening. He was in Burns and headed for corrals to stay the night and get some sleep. He had left at 11:00 AM on Sunday and had driven straight through. Burns is just 4-5 hours from here and where the BLM wild horse corrals are. He will call me when he leaves Bend, just 2 hours from Eugene. He said the filly is doing great! As Josie said earlier, "a real sensible filly." :-D I look forward to meeting her tomorrow! I can see an online training journal in our future. Haha!

10/29/02 - I heard from Dan about 10:30 that he was leaving and might stop on the way. It is a 2.5 hour drive, so I thought he might be here sometime in the afternoon. I couldn't concentrate on much, so I made pies! Three apple and a pumpkin. Then I ran out of crust... He called at 3:40 to say he was in McKenzie Bridge, about 40 miles away. I went out to Paul's where she is staying for a week to setup her stall with water, hay and salt block. Then I waited. Hargobind got a bit bored of walking around the pasture. Dan pulled down the drive close to 5 PM.... Anyway, Dan went home with an apple pie. :)