June 10th & 11th was the Open House at the Hutchinson, KS Correctional Facility and there were 9 saddle started mustangs and 3 driving teams up for adoption this year, along with the 'wild ones' they have in the pens. It is such a great program....not only helping find homes for mustangs, but helping the men find something inside themselves they did not know was there. I talked to a couple of the guys who served their time, but they still come volunteer. Last year I suggested they sell t-shirts...and sure enough, this year they had t-shirts! I will get a picture soon and post it on here.
Here are a few shots of some of the horses in the pens. If you want young ones, mature ones, big ones, small ones, colorful ones and ones a little more au natural in color...they have a horse for you! There are standoffish ones who only care about the hay bale, and others who are curious about you and think that you just might be okay! :-)
What a cutie!
April making friends with a mustang...
Cute little girl in the yearling pen...
Bentley - one of the saddle started stangs. A gal and her husband from our Mustang Club adopted him. He is tall and very very sweet. Moved as smooth as butter! Her husband is calling him Hot Shot. I am glad and here is why....anybody who knows me knows that I don't like changing an animals name, and they know why. I am okay changing it to something close, but all in all their name stays the same. Well, I have started watching Bachelorette for the first time - yes, it is a stupid show - and yes, I can't stop watching! A jerk on the show is Bentley, so I would have changed this stangs name in a heartbeat! I thought about mixing up letters like the game Boggle. Ha ha! But luckily I don't have to do that now. :-)
This little guy did not go thru the adoption. We are guessing he might have been in training so was tied up with the group. He was so cute and loved giving horsey kisses.
The same trainer that trained Taco the pinto last year got to start Blick the pinto. Blick is bigger than Taco was and more confident.
Brian making friends in the yearling gelding pen.
Charlie the stang...
Stang hooves....this is Lucky and Chub...
We love feathers...and Chub has them!
Flex is young and still has a baby face. I was told that the same people who adopted Flex adopted Blick the pinto.
There are 3 newborns on the facility grounds, and dang they are cute!
OH! Gotta show off my new shirt that I ordered a while back. Love it!
Stang in the wild pens...
Grocery time!
This is Hail Storm. Yep, we named him. :-) I got several pictures of this guy. We think he has been worked with and for some reason put back in the pens. When we would try to pet another horse, he would come over and nose in between the panels and the other horse. He never layed his ears back once at the others...he just hogged all the space along the panel. Brian picked up all 4 hooves, we found his wonderful itchy spots...he is a love bug.
Mare Pen - ages 2-4. The sorrel with flaxen mane and tale was the first one to catch my attention in that pen. She really stands out! Beautiful, built stocky, and got along with her pen mates.
Natalie volunteers at Hutch, and I am now calling her the Burro Whisperer...
Check out the speckled horse behind the sorrel face...and also check out the sorrel tail with the black tip to the right of the speckled horse...
Speckled horse from the front...
Blue eyed cutie patootie!
Gelding pen - had many friendly and some just curious fellows...
Hail Storm letting April handle his legs...
Palomino yearling filly...
What a huge compliment for the program. The U.S. Border Patrol has picked out 5 mustangs for the guys to start, and they will be back for 16 more. What an honor! We heard they were very interested in Jugg, a golden palomino, but he was the wrong color. They need darker colors for the night time work.
HA HA! Check out the little one on the left. This little guy was at the fence making faces and acting all tough...the one on the right was not impressed.
Here is my guy....Chub. He is solid black, stocky, like a miniature Rennaisance horse! I LOVED HIM!!! He will be my 2nd mustang regret...but he has gone to a good home that will give him the time he needs. I will have more pictures of him in the next blog entry.
The guys had not seen any of the pictures or the video I put together last year. We set up the laptop Saturday and the guys and their families loved it! It was really neat listening to the guys talk about their experiences, their feelings for the horses they worked with, and their experiences between then and now.
Hail Storm and his friend Fire Storm. :-) Fire Storm was curious but not as lovey as Hail Storm...yet.
Friday Brian told me he picked up all 4 hooves on Hail Storm....I just smiled and said "Oh, that is nice..." then Saturday he showed me his stuff, then laughed at me because he knew I did not believe him! :-)
Hail Storm has this neat whorl on his neck.
The sorrel mare has the neatest freeze brand! It looks like artwork.
Rumps of Smokey and Bandi
Tango and Cash were giving wagon rides...
Partially blue eyed sorrel...
Jugg the golden...he was returned and put back in training. He did great - the Border Patrol really liked him but like they said "He glows in the dark" so he would not work.
"That is all for now folks!!! Come check us out!!! We have a lot to offer....that is my story and I am sticking to it! "
It was a good weekend. Adoption prices were down in my opinion, but I firmly believe it was not a reflection on how these horses were worked with. Just a sign of the times.
Until later...Karen and Tripp who wishes he could tell the Hutch mustangs stories of how great life can be out in the un-wild.
