How It Began
It started with a family meeting several weeks before Thanksgiving, in the fall of 2007. Our family of four sat down to explore what it would mean to have a horse in our life. Dick, my husband, had been consuming vast amounts of information on horses, primarily mustangs, and he was eager to get buy-in from the rest of us on this adventure he was about to bring us on. Why were we headed down this path? The short answer is we needed a new family hobby as we had turned our previous hobby, sailing, into our family business. The family meeting concluded with all of us agreeing to take a trip after Christmas and travel out west to a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) holding facility. There we intended meet some of the horses available for adoption.
Our trip out west was postponed due to snow storms, and with continued research, we became enthralled with the breed of the Spanish Mustang. We tracked down breeders from the Spanish Mustang Registry (SMR), those horses that are part of the first and oldest horse registry in America. We were intrigued by the story of this hardy horse who survived traveling on ships when the Spanish conquistadors came to America. This horse became the Indian pony, the pony express horse and endured endless attempts to exterminate it as this horse proved over and over again how hardy and determined a horse it is.
Over a decade later, what started with one Spanish Mustang in our life has become over 70 in our care. Our children are grown, but still help with the care of the horse when they can. This horse has captured our hearts. We've been blessed and challenged with creating awareness among others about the Spanish Mustang, which is currently listed on the critical list of rare horse breeds. Without our conscious effort to preserve the SMR blood lines, these horses may not be here for future generations to enjoy. Please consider helping us preserve this historic, amazing animal.
