I don’t feel that way, truly. Because so much ground was gained. I did not get the “miracle,” but my path has been cleared of some very major obstacles.

Cowan, myself and RT (photo by Elyse Gardner)

This has been a roller coaster month with the Year beginning back at Calico, then off to the Ninth Circuit and Flanigan. Flanigan had within it’s weather delays and the Washoe fire. An emotional roller coaster of a month.

I am also a bit “under the weather.” My efforts involve dealing with resource I have just about exhausted. My vehicle is now like the “Millenium Falcon,” it’s a bucket of bolts that needs a layover. Finances are tight. Paperwork has turned into mountain ranges. I have sold everything I have that was of any value to supplement the effort.

And if you look closely at the picture… see my right cheek? You can still see the bruising from almost two years ago after Elyse and I were rear ended by that drunk driver. I went into the Owyhee with concussion syndrome to meet that roadblock and have been on a non-stop marathon ever since… and my face still hurts.

Changing this program is like digging a path through Everest with a spoon. I tried to use some dynamite and was told to keep using my spoon… but that my spoon is valid.

This IS what happened in Court.

We have an attorney that had agreed to do this case for a reduced flat fee. The case was the original Complaint that lead to the TRO on pilot conduct. However in Court for that hearing we learned a lot from the Judge. So we took what we learned and amended that Complaint, Supplemented the motion and the Judge allowed the Injunctive Relief portion to move forward.

That action (regardless of what anyone else says) was recognized as a driving force to get BLM to do the review in a manner “different” from past action and was recognized by McKibben as “his fire” under BLM.

Now keep in mind that McKibben refused to allow that motion to be Supplemented after that. That means both BLM and myself could NOT give McKibben any new information until the day of the hearing.

At a hearing you NEVER know what BLM will do. (Remember at Owyhee they pulled that water emergency doc out of the air that was prepped the day of Court and NOTHING we wanted to address could be?) So we had to prep several documents without knowing if they would even be allowed in the Court.

Almost at the last moment the hearing was bumped from 4 o’clock to 2. Yes, we had an attorney but the second leg of this action was done as a piece of the first and we only had him for a short time… and just lost two hours.

What the amended complaint attempted to do was create a challenge to “conduct” and not simply associate with a single roundup. Even though existing precedent made the likelihood very slim of success… with all I see we had to try. That portion of the suit failed. That action is for Congress to take. So when I tell you writing to Congress is important, I mean it.

However we did not play the “game.”

BLM wanted this to be a conversation about how “good” they are and how “hard” they are trying.

Would you want me to “play?”

So when asked to recognize BLM’s improvement we said “No.”

Would you expect me to answer any other way?

The judge was given several documents in response to BLM handing him the review (that BLM claims is still online but you all know that link was changed and the actual review is gone). I gave McKibben the analysis of the report and I gave him observation statements and noted in the report that on the very same day as the report was made public Ginger and TCF documented burros excessively hotshot. I told him about the multiple runs that even had a horse tie up as the chopper ran the group multiple times at the trap and the baby in that group is now lame in holding. I told him about that horse that got stuck in the trailer and was then hotshot to get him to rise. Elyse Gardner made a great contrast report from Pryors 09 to Calico just weeks ago. Mike Lorden (a very level headed observer and a man very familiar flight protocol) wrote about his observations.

McKibben may not have read everything in that moment, but he will.

BLM then tried to pass off (by omission of language) a talking point list as a “policy.” I handed him emails from Leslie Peeples, Deborah Hurley and others (that they had with DC BLM)  that show clearly that there is no intention of a clear protocol.

McKibben may not have gone through that list (that Petersen, BLM’s Attorney objected to authenticity) but he will remember that conversation when we are back in Court.

I will publish that statement in it’s entirety later in pdf so you all can download it.

So in essence even though we do not have a policy McKibben has seen this supposed “list” they are going to follow. I can tell you the things on the list are NOT being done.

McKibben wanted me to say that improvement was made. I can’t because it hasn’t.He needs to also be “educated” that this “talk” cycle leads nowhere… we have been in it for a long time. We will show McKibben…. because he opened the door for me to go back.

My standing is recognized. The validity of this documentation was recognized. The concern and importance of the issue was recognized. The fact that this is not moot was recognized.

Do you realize what a “win” that is?

If I bring it like I did at Triple B… in the “hard road”… he will stop the roundup.

This is not cause for “I’m sorry,” this is “huddle” time. We need to get that ball down field because we can score that touchdown. The end zone has been defined…

Write Congress… FAX and call.

I will get back in this broken truck and do my best.

Roundups end March 1 and we have major access issues… but they start again in July… and we wont stop until there is a care standard and protocol for violation… but the path has just been cleared of some really big boulders.

Onward.

BLM will usually say that the observation area is “good.” I was not high enough to see the trap mouth. I was not close enough to even make out distinctive markings, let alone assess anything right after capture. If at least one of those things does not occur “access” stinks.

300 mm zoom AND enlargement on computer

Made it through the hearing on the Ninth and prepping for the Humane case hearing next week. A standard of care that is written… with parameters for chain of command and protocol for violation. Why that concept even had to hit the litigation phase is extremely frustrating.

I will get to all of that stuff in a post tomorrow… it’s cold, raining, windy… maybe operations will be cancelled?

But for now I just want to share these photos of two young boys playing at PVC…. the one stopped to check me out but his buddy wanted to keep the game going… I need to wash my mind and these pics make me smile. (PS. they both need adoption).

I don't care if she's looking...

aw... c'mon....

I'll be your best friend...?

More tomorrow… I will get roundup video uploaded…

Trying to edit the video from the Fifth into something that can be loaded onto Youtube… the edit is half an hour long and I can’t decide how to break it up to load…

Found out many of the older videos loaded don’t play and am re-loading…

This IS a lot of “stuff.”

Older Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LauraLeigh001

Newer one… http://www.youtube.com/user/WildHorseEducation

eesh.

edited to add:

was tired last night… editing today.

note at 5:50 onward the wrangler focusing on making sure we can’t see by moving tarp, repeatedly

at 6:32 they put a rope around the horses neck and bang his head against the trailer as they try to pull him to his feet

Please note hotshot used to get injured horse to rise at 7:46

What would it have hurt to slow it down and let the just run, captured, torn from protection of family, improperly loaded, then injured horse rest?

As I watch the clock on the screen of the computer make it’s countdown to the end of 2011 I am indulging in the “year in review” mental gymnastics we all find ourselves victim of on this night. We face all the memories and the “would, coulda, shoulda” that leads to the common practice of “New Years Resolution’s.”

My data bank had a snafu and I had to rebuild the photo and video library. In the last three months more than 30,000 images and 10,000 video clips were added. Last night I began to put the “Year in Review” into a video short. Maria Daines has once again sent me a clip to use.

Setting the year into a “less than 7 minute” piece was a rough edit. There were so many faces, stories and memories I had to leave out. But I think you will get an idea of what I was able to capture on media last year.

In January both of the legal battles I have made go to hearings. Reading the cases is like an odd biography of my life these last two years… it has been a very “educational” experience on so many levels. I never knew your hair could break off from the condensation of an exhale freezing in sub-zero temperatures… or that I could change a tire in a snowstorm on a desert two-track alone. Add to that what you learn about how the government works and how it fails. How deep prejudice can run…

The work has created changes. We have “observation” (or at least the pretense) daily. We now have talk about humane care standards that unfortunately is still just talk… but both of those issues are still active in the court system. Both of these issues have been the focus of almost every action I have taken… it is an odd realization. But both have so far to go…

A “Resolution?” Smarter, stronger, faster… focus…

A “wish?” May the 2012 “year in review” video show change for the better… and and end to the prejudice on public land against our wild ones.

The clock has changed… Happy New Year to all of you and your families. Two and four legged… furred and feathered… and scaled.

Follow the roundups at http://WildHorseEducation.org

Poster art by Fortunino Matania

“War Horse,” the much anticipated screen adaptation by Steven Spielberg opened in theatres across the country on Christmas Day.

As someone deeply involved in the issues facing both our wild and domestic equines, I actually went to a movie theatre for the first time in ages to view the film. Not only was this film about my favorite subject, horses, but it was done by one of my favorite directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

Speilberg first “rocked my world” with “Empire of the Sun,” (not ET). Released in 1987 this autobiographical tale tells the story of James Graham, a boy “of privilege” that has his life shattered after the invasion of Shanghai in 1941. Spielberg wove his tale so that the audience became “Jim.” You experienced everything through the masterful performance of Christian Bale and through the vision of a great director. “Jim, try not to think so much!” is a line delivered at just the right moment, in just the right way, that it has haunted me for over twenty years.

The subject of war, and it’s cost to the human spirit, was again tackled by this master film maker in “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Both of these films, although executed with very different directorial choices, speak directly to the transformation of the human soul through the horror of human action and the ability of the human spirit to transcend. We all remember Shindler agonizing that he could have saved “Just one more.”

So Christmas Day of 2011 I took my “war weary” self to the theatre to watch “War Horse.”

Now you may not like the analogy of “war weary.” But that is how I feel. Most of you know my work for the wild ones but are unfamiliar with a past that includes a decade of work in the “horse slaughter” issue. Our “front” is taking a massive onslaught this year as our rear scrambles to deal with the issues at the front and behind our own lines. Our beloved equines, both wild and domestic, are under siege.

I plunked down the ticket price, that has gone up significantly since the last time I treated myself to a film, anticipating another “masterpiece.”

Waiting in line to find a seat I watched the movie goers leave the theatre after watching the film. There were mixed reviews. One man said “It was good” as he made the “so-so” motion with his hand. Another said “If you don’t have a tissue, don’t go in.”

A woman in line next to me confided that she had not been to a movie in a long time, but this one was about a horse. “Me, too,” I smiled.

We eagerly took our seats.

After 23 minutes of previews that flickered and had to be reset, the film began.

I began to realize that I was not going to see the Spielberg I had anticipated. I was watching a Director held by constraint.

The first third of the film is too long. It had a “made for TV feel.” Spielberg then focuses his camera lens on a plow during a scene that is to demonstrate the heart of “Joey,” our equine “star,” and “Albert” our human “spirit” focus of the film. That is when I remembered this film was created for Disney.

Don’t get me wrong here. I cried. I cried eight times during the film. The opening scene had me in tears as “Joey” the newborn demonstrates his legs by running side by side with his mom. I have seen so many youngsters that can’t keep up to their mothers during the helicopter chases on public land and moms so tired they are fighting to just keep the pace. I have seen so many babes taken from that protective space and stuck in pens during the most horrific experience of their bands existence… it didn’t take much for me to need a tissue.

Archive photo of WWI (photographer not credited at source)

As we enter into the war, a third of the way through the film, we begin to comprehend the first World War.

In a battle (the first the British engage in the story and the first time you actually are told you are in Britain and not in Scotland, Wales or Ireland) you are taken to what I assume is the battle at Mons. The only true cavalry charge of WWI takes place at Mons. WWI is the transitional point in human warfare into the “mechanization” era. Spielberg does demonstrate very effectively how the cavalry charge does not meet the machine gun successfully, regardless of the belief of British officers of the day.

After that point we learn that horses are utilized for transportation of wounded and the machines we now rely on to win wars. But we see these things in small vignettes.

Each time I feel that Spielberg will take me to that “real” place of experience, that had been relayed to me by my grandfather, we get close to the destination but never truly arrive. It kept making me wonder how Spielberg would have portrayed the story without restraint of a PG-13 rating. Not a thought you want as you wait to be transported from your seat into a film.

Casualty counts are not kept on horses and mules. Yet the estimate is more than 8 million horses and mules died in the conflict on all sides. 8 million died. It is estimated that 2 and one half million were treated for wounds and 2 million of those returned to the war.

A quarter of a million horses were purchased or taken from farmers at the beginning of the war for the British army.

As the conflict raged on more countries joined the efforts and horses were needed.

Yes, the “Yankees” entered in the war. The “Yankees” were not only American Soldiers, but America’s horses. America’s horses carried our soldiers but also those of other Nations. During the conflict two-thirds of the horses used by Britain were supplied by the US.

During World War I ranchers went into business selling horses to the military. All of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and much of the area we now call the “Tri-State Complex” had horses “harvested” and sent into battle in Europe and Africa. It is estimated that a million wild horses went into conflict, none of them returned to American soil.

American horses from the open plains of the west were described by Captain Sydney Galtrey of the British Cavalry ”in a rough and ready shape – they were shoeless, long-haired, tousled-maned and had ragged hips.  But they were tough; generations of their kind had become completely at home with roaming out in the open and in all kinds of weather.”

“You put your mask on him first,” said Grandpa “He can carry you out, you can’t carry him.”

Many soldiers were moved deeply and carried stories of the mounts that carried them to safety or that they saw die horrific deaths.

Gas mask for man and horse demonstrated by an American Soldier National Archives and Records Administration cir 1917-18

I sat in the theatre with this knowledge. We would briefly touch the reality of a “War Horse” in the film and then it would vanish.

Then the scene came… (used in the trailers) a scene where “Joey” looses a companion and is faced with the “machine.” The war blazes around him as he flees an early tank. He seemingly can’t escape and vaults over the “beast.” His flight takes him through an horrific battlefield where earlier we had witnessed the casualties to man. He crashes through barbed wire. He begins to collect it as he runs through the destructive path laid by man. (I was crying and teeth clenched as I have seen what barbed wire can do and we lost some of our wild ones this year during roundups to the cruelty of the invention).

He becomes immobilized.

As dawn rises and snow begins to fall we watch as the combatants come together for a brief moment to recognize the spirit of an “amazing horse.” The scene is pure Spielberg. As the tears stream down my face I watch as “enemies” cooperate to free “Joey.” I care about “Joey” and the two men involved. I am finally “in” the film.

Only for a brief moment at the end of the piece do we even peripherally become aware of the possible fate of many of the horses. A “butcher” is present at auction. If you are not informed, you are never told the truth. You are never told how many the “butcher” actually takes.

This film will be on the shelf next to “The Black Stallion” and “My friend Flicka.” It is a “love story” story of a horse and a boy/man.

Does this film have the power of “Black Beauty” to raise the consciousness of a nation? A novel that was responsible for creating a climate to pass the first humane care laws in our country… I don’t know.

Click on the illustration above by Kerry Kelly of the Houston Chronicle to go to RT Fitch and Vicki Tobin's version of a "Wild Horse" Night Before Christmas.

Click the illustration above to go to a version of “T’was the Night Before Christmas,” adapted for the wild ones by RT Fitch and Vicki Tobin.

Still rebuilding the image/video data base. Over 30,000 images in the last 3 months along with 10,000 video clips and 75 documents. I keep getting side-tracked by several things. Going to try to get myself a “day off.”

All of the documents have been filed on both cases now. I knew that things would get crazy for me this last quarter of 2011 but I had no idea just how bad, January promises to be even busier. Often I can’t write back to y’all as fast as I’d like to or return calls. Please be patient… I am only one human being… I am really not a machine.

There will be a “Year in Review” coming of the documentation at roundups for 2011. It is always an odd experience when you begin to edit. You become immersed in the experience as you relive each clip… but it is repetitive and you see things that you did not see or that you pushed away from emotionally in order to “get the job done.” But when you edit… let’s just say it’s been one hell of a year.

Emotions are high right now with the slaughter issue in high gear. We all know our wild ones are also set in the target zone. But for tonight remember there is no chopper in the morning and no slaughter plant that will receive horses on US soil. Listen to that silence and pull it close… it is going to be very hard to remember what that feels like as we get ready to tackle some of the biggest battles we have ever faced to protect America’s beloved equines….

But for tonight listen… heal what you can… and get ready for 2012.

AND remember WARHORSE opens tomorrow. This will bring our horses into a spotlight of public conversation that we have not had for a long time… talk to everyone you can… it is a chance to take the conversation out of history and bring it into today. Let folks know the horses taken this winter from NW NV are descendants of some of the horses that fought in WWI… imagine that as you see the trailer. From the desert to the battle in Europe… like no other animal in the history of our Nation.

Today saw the small band that often crosses the Highway (34) outside of Gerlach removed.

21 studs and 11 mares were returned to the Warm Springs/Black Rock West HMA’s.

To date apox 1050 animals have been removed in the planned operation. The BLM website states “The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca District, Black Rock Field Office will gather approximately 1,300 wild horses and 140 wild burros, of which as many as 350 wild horses would be released back to the range following the gather. “

BLM’s gather status reports can be found here: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/TriState_Calico/gatreports.html

At the High Rock Complex roundup (prior to Calico and part of the supposed Tri-State Complex) all animals were returned to the range with a hip brand marking their home ranges. During the Calico portion of the operation in this proposed Complex with the stated purpose of “cohesive and coordinated” management no studs were marked prior to release.

READ THE REST: http://wildhorseeducation.org

Mom and Baby Calico, Palomino Valley Center 12-13

Yesterday was spent researching cases and checking on animals at PVC. There will some incredible horses coming up for adoption from Calico and High Rock. Remember many of these animals are direct descendants of the horses that filled the ranks of the US cavalry all the way through WWI. As you make plans to see “War Horse,” remember our American Icons that fought for freedom and need your help to fight for the respect and care they deserve.

Calico Roundup 12/14, sweat soaked

Two groups were taken today. The first group came in soaked in sweat. They began to steam after they hit the trap. This group was immediately loaded on a trailer. The trailer sat for over 3 hours at the trap. It was not a “full load” and the hope was to fill the trailer before taking them to temporary. The trailer left the range with only this group onboard.

The second known group to be chased never made the trap or clear view of the observation area. You could see the helicopter rise and then dip behind a mountain, dust rise back and forth in a canyon.  After over an hour of known pursuit the pilot refueled and did not resume moving that group. The reason is not known.

Observation had to quickly move to the opposite side of the valley. Horses were coming from the other side. This is the first time I have observed the trap mouth at the operation. Pilot appears to have over shot the group and had to turn around to get back behind the horses prior to pushing them to the trap. Video soon.

Last group on 12/14

Mares at holding have received PZP for return to the area. Several studs have also been selected. Please note that the studs at Calico ARE NOT receiving the hip brand mark for HMA as horses in High Rock received. This is an incredible opportunity to gain real data on animal movement after a large scale removal. The opportunity to gain actual data, and not theorhetical arguments, has been missed. The request was made at High Rock and granted. The request was made of Gene Seidlitz of the Winnemucca District of BLM NV and denied.

You can read BLM’s daily updates on the operation at this link: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/TriState_Calico/gatreports.html

I would sincerely like to thank the BLM for cessation of the use of the words “no incident” on their report page.

Please go to WildHorseEducation.org to donate to the research and field observation effort, thank you.

Research will be published shortly on several other areas. The last Brief to be filed in the Ninth Circuit case will be public shortly.

AND I will be on “Dover’s World” Tuesday, “The National Day of the Horse.”

Click here to read the entry on Dover’s blog: http://doversworld.com/blog/2011/12/11/dovers-world-december-13th-the-national-day-of-the-horse-with-laura-leigh/

Downloading photos and will have more information for you all soon!