It has been confirmed that another wild horse has been found shot.

A WHOAS member found another murdered horse on September 9th, 2009.   The RCMP located the remains on Limestone Mountain.   Bob and I had received a report of another shooting, but were unable to locate the remains and could not get a hold of the member who made the gruesome discovery.   Hence we could not verify it until a member of the media informed us today.  (Thank you Dan)

At this point, it will be hard to find the carcass, as it will have had a few weeks of being fed upon by scavengers.  However, we will go for a ride tomorrow, with heavy hearts in search of  it.  It is unknown at this time if the equine victim was young or old, male or female.  It seems to me some sick SOB is taunting us, showing that he can do as he pleases, and obviously, it pleases him to kill wild horses.  Whereas most normal people are outraged and appauled by this low life’s actions.  Again, I ask for those who read this to send letters to our politicians and sign the petition letter on our website on the right hand column.

It is sad that they, our elected officials, that supposedly work for us, have to have public pressure in order to do the right thing, instead of doing the right thing, because it is the right thing to do.

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“Trouble in my heart, trouble on my mind,
There’s never any trouble for me to find,

Some kind of trouble. (Oooh, some kind of trouble.)
I got trouble.” By Tanya Tucker

We came across a herd of 13 wild horses that were grazing on the regrowth of grass in the clear cut logged area. It was amazing to watch them gallop away through all the debris of tree scraps left behind. I was feeling a bit morose however, at the sight of the massive destruction, loss of wildlife habitat, and the deficiency of oxygen produced by the sudden lack of trees. This is all brought on by clear-cut logging. We once enjoyed riding through there and it had the most pristine riding trails in the ancient pine forest. I felt as though I had found paradise back then.

I talked to the Man Upstairs about the horrific sight that now assaulted my eyes and had rather nasty thoughts about what I would do if I were in the Creators shoes. Well I had heard of getting a figurative 2X4 across the back of the head, when an attitude adjustment is needed; well I got the whole tree, literally. We had led the horses through an untouched part of the forest when a dead tree came crashing down on my head. Luckily I had my riding helmet on but I went down seeing stars anyways. When I came to, I got on my hands and knees and began to spit out bits of teeth. I know we spend all our free time in the foothills, but now I look the part of a hillbilly. I guess the Creator doesn’t want me to think such bad thoughts, if I am to avoid those HUGE 2X4’s.

Sure Footed Wildies

Day 2 September 1, 2009

We took an old trail, which we hadn’t ridden upon in several years and well…. Some Kind of Trouble, (as Tanya Tucker sings)… We got rather lost in a maze of maturing replanted pine trees. They were a good height, good enough to lose sight of where you are and how to get out of there. My mare Gypsy is part mountain goat I am convinced, as she has an amazing ability to scramble up rocky hillsides at a steep incline, without even slightly losing her footing, thank goodness for that. Up and down the hills we went, following game trails to dead ends and down into the muskeg and bogs into a no-mans-land, then had to back track through all that hell and finally found our way to the main road and rode back to camp in the dark.

Day 3, September 3, 2009

Rode across the burn and saw five horses in the distance and discovered large fresh cougar tracks on the road which we traveled. Got home after dark and in one piece.

Day 4, September 4, 2009

We saw a lot of horses and got some fantastic Kodak moments before the storm hit. It was a wet and cold ride back to camp. Having nicely settled in for the night, we heard the cracking of branches of something skulking around in the dark. The dogs growled and barked and one of them stood guard over our horses in their metal portable paddock. Using a spot light Bob was able to determine the source however, and shooed them off. Wild bachelor studs wanted to raid our camp, interested in stealing our mares. We were just relieved it wasn’t a grizzly.

Day 5, September 5, 2009

Took the day off, and sat around camp and read about what else, but wild horses. Went for a short hike on foot across a muskeg meadow and saw some more horses at distance.

Hangin Out in the Hammock

Went for a 10-hour ride and saw 49 horses and got some great photos again. On the way back to camp we came across many downed trees from Wednesday’s wind storm and well…Some Kind of

Trouble…Again…Lost the small hand saw which we always carry for such bush whacking occasions. We had to lead our horses under the branches of a downed pine tree, no easy task. We both mounted up again, or so I thought, and I rode ahead thinking I saw Bob in the saddle riding behind me. WRONG… I went around a bend in the trail and heard this awful shriek and a loud WHOA. Bob had lost his footing when mounting up and his horse Shizonne, started to move out before he was in the saddle. His foot got caught in the stirrup and he fell over backwards then was dragged several feet before managing to tug on a rein and getting her to stop. He was a tad upset with me…. I committed the sin of omission, omitting to see if my fellow rider was in the saddle before I rode away…. Earlier in the evening as he was dismounting on a narrow trail on the side of an embankment and my horse backed up into him and almost pushed him off the edge. Yee Gads…. Time to go home… We got back to camp and this time and were visited by coyotes prowling around in the dark and yipping to each other. The dogs went bezerk barking and growling and scared them off.

September 7, 2009, Sunday, a day of rest, sort of….

Got fresh provisions and horses and the following morning headed this time for Nordegg in search of wild horses.

September 8, 2009

Road Trip from Hell…. Some Kind of Trouble…

Took the Seven Mile Flats road between Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg and followed that dusty gravel road up and down endless steep hills. Nearing Nordegg we could smell the smoking brakes. Bob said that the brakes were failing and I got this sick feeling, praying for safety. We got back onto the highway and turned around and crawled back to Sundre. It was way to boggy and in hospitable for riding horses around there anyways, at least without a guide. We already had several near death experiences the past week and weren’t going to take any more chances.

Day 8, September 8, 2009

Found a jackpot of horses congregated together in a huge old clear-cut area. Six mud covered young stallions came along and were smitten by my mare Gypsy. She didn’t help matters by murmuring sweet nothings in their ears. We got a lot of pictures of them and some video footage. They put on quite the show trying to impress my mare and of course hoping to lure her away.

Day 9, September 9th, 2009

Riding along a back road leading to nowhere we came across a fellow who turned out to be a WHOAS member. Al was towing two saddle horses beside him and told us that he knew who we were but we didn’t know who he was. With that he laughed and invited us back to his camp for coffee. It turned out that he recognized our dogs from a picture on a previous blog on this website. Al and Bunny were a delight to meet and we enjoyed spending the day riding with them and showing them the wild horses, which they traveled all the way from Grande Prairie to see.

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