Desert Horses

Welcome to my horse blog, Desert Horses. We live in the desert southwest, near Palm Springs, CA, but board our horses up in our local mountains where it is cooler in the summer. I have 4 horses, all rescues. Here is the ranch up the mountains where the horses stay.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Banjo











Banjo was one of Shiloh's recent feedlot rescues. He is a beautifully-colored horse who had just ended his quarantine. He's about 3 years old. This was his first training and he was reluctant to go through the gate, but Joe worked with him. He avoided the area of the round pen where most of the spectators were sitting, so everybody moved around the round pen. By the end of his session, Banjo was turning well. In the arena, with several other horses, Banjo stood quietly.

7 comments:

Gail said...

I love it when it all comes together.

Terri said...

This could be an awkward question. These rescue horses you call "feedlot horses", are they kill horses? I hate the way that sounds, but I guess we call em as we see em in Texas.
This breaks my heart, if this is the case. Why would a 3yr old be in a feed or kill lot? What am I missing?

Cheryl Ann said...

Yes, Terri, he was on a "kill" feedlot. Yes, he was on his way to slaughter. Yes, this happens. I had two horses myself who were on a "killer" feedlot...Gigondas and my Beauty. Horse slaughter is an awful, awful, awful thing. Please read up on it. IT EXISTS. Why is any horse on a kill lot? Beauty was an untrained two year old. Gigondas was a 6 year old thoroughbred...who HATED humans. Banjo...??? I don't know his story. Please do what you can to stop horse slaughter.

Terri said...

Cheryl~ Yes, We just call them kill lots or kill horses here and it is a huge problem inTexas as well.
Several years ago I adopted a beautiful bay gelding from a kill lot. He was a sweetie,big guy, and quiet.
Vet not sure what was wrong w him but any exertion caused severe coughing and shortness of breath. He became my walking horse. Sure this is why he was a kill.
He paid his feed bill by being beautiful and good natured. He had 5 easy years with me, then he passed.
Everything on our place is"fixed"including me. :-)
Have many friends who have been critical because I refuse to breed Maggie. She is now a 15 yr maiden.
Been offered FREE breedings to foundation Hancock
line(QH) and Pepto line as well. Hard,but refused. Then , there are the folks who think I should breed her to have a little piece of her when she is gone.
One, don't even ask me to think about that day!
Two, I know there are too many horses in the world today.
So yes, I am well aware of this sickening practice. To say it angers me is an understatement.Thanks for the work you do. For now, I make certain I do not contribute to the over population of dogs and horses. Maybe, when I move back to the farm..........
One of every color could be fun. Rescued of course.

Cheryl Ann said...

Terri, I hear 'ya. I almost have one of every color! Cali~palomino. Scout~roan. Sunni~bay. Quad~gray. Gigondas~chestnut. Terri, you should see ALL the colors of the mustangs at the Ridgecrest BLM! Every color there. Some BEAUTIFUL grays! I wish I had 40 acres and I'd just won the lottery!!! But, until then, yes, we just do what we can! Ahhh...to win the lottery!!!

Terri said...

Hey again, I have 701 acres in cental Texas! How many ponies would that hold? Come w! we could start a major rescue mission!!

Cheryl Ann said...

Terri, 701 acres? Oh, how I wish! There is a vacant thoroughbred ranch up in our local mountains, once owned by Red Skeleton...it is just sitting EMPTY! Oh, how I would LOVE to use it as a horse rescue!!!! I do what I can to help out a few horse rescues, but I wish I had the $$$ to help out more!