Healing Wild Hearts

By Laura Leigh on June 7, 2022

A colt of the old man of Pancake.

As we track wild horses from the Pancake roundup into holding and locate ones we knew wild, check on their welfare and try to find homes, we had an opportunity to play a part in a special event. All of the wild ones at Pancake hold a special place in our hearts; from the bays to the frame overos and medicine hats, each one an “only one.”

Old Man, before the roundup in his winter coat.

CANA Foundation and WHE partnered to reunite three of the offspring of the stallion we simply reference as “old man.”

The 2 sons and a daughter are together again, including his last colt born before the roundup.

Healing of any kind is important to our survival, be it our hearts or our lands.

Our wild places are of paramount importance. We can all play a part in healing Mother Earth. Protecting our wild places through rewilding projects can help heal the landscape by integrating management of wild and native species to our lands, and in doing so heal us.

Healing wild hearts matter too.

The wild horses from the Pancake Complex have been documented and treasured by the team at Wild Horse Education (WHE) for over a decade. The herd contained many rare genes like the frame overo and the medicine hat. A roundup earlier this year removed over 85% of the existing herd to accommodate expanding private livestock and international mines.

CANA joined WHE to fight in the court system for the ones still free. We remain committed to fighting for our wild ones and the land they stand. The fight matters.

Yet, the captives also face new dangers since facing the helicopter. The Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) and the BLM sale program often lead once wild horses into the slaughter pipeline.

The majority of wild horses taken from this spectacular 1.2 million acre complex of public lands, went into off-limits to viewing holding facilities. It has been a real challenge trying to track the ones we loved so much on the range.

To our surprise, we found some of them! Family members, separated during capture and sent to different facilities, are together again.

Each one unique, an “only one.”

Healing the Earth and wild hearts can heal our hearts too.

You can help CANA cover the cost of saving these 3 beauties by clicking HERE.

Our WHE team is out searching the range to see who is left and continuing our search of facilities. More soon.

Help keep us in the fight!