Quotes by Will Rogers from Never Met A Man I Didn’t Like.
“if I wanted good horses I would never leave America for ‘em.”
“Horsemanship: through the history of all nations has been considered one of the highest accomplishments.”
“The man that doesn’t like a horse----there’s something the matter with him.”
A Will Roger’s photo hangs on the welcoming wall of the Leach home in Tucson Arizona. I grew up hearing stories from my Claremore Oklahoma Dad about Will Rogers who lived on the adjoining property. I’ve since written a series of young adult books, based upon Will Rogers’s wisdom.
Antiques and photographs of a life filled with values for family, love, God and horses decorate the Leach’s inviting home. I knew I was going to like these people as soon as I met Kathy Leach who picked me up from the airport. She grew up in Valentine Nebraska where I used to stop to visit my Lakota cousins and get to ride Indian ponies (nearly wild horses).
Logan Leach, her son, is the horse’s trainer I was following for this piece. He spoke of his Mom and Dad with genuine respect as he demonstrated his work training his next mustang for competition and auction, at the “Extreme Mustang Makeover” in Heber City Utah. He and his Dad both were given a wild horse by the BLM to saddle train in ninety days. I arrived in Tucson a week before the competition. Dillon, Logan’s horse, had some spirit left in his eyes, a unique gait and a lavish, long mane. Logan said “even though I make him work, he comes up to me rather than the two women who dote on him through the fence everyday. I think that shows we’ve built a bond, and he sees me as a leader.”
Lanny Leach, Logan’s Dad is a quintessential cowboy who comes from a long line of Nebraska cattle ranchers. Now as a horse trainer, working with his son at stables in Tucson, he’s on or beside a horse from dawn to dusk. Although he would never call himself a “horse whisperer”, I and many others would. He shows a deep understanding of what the horse needs to be assured of in order to learn. He’s also doesn’t refer to himself as a “natural horseman” because he believes in long in the saddle tried and true methods. His listening and respect for the horses he trains is gentle, efficient and honest.
Logan and Lanny Leach are proficient horse trainers selected to saddle train a wild mustang in ninety days. Dillon and Ruger, the two mustangs featured in this piece, were picked up by the Leaches at the Palamino Valley holding facility in Nevada. The four-year-old horses had been in holding for a couple of years. They had not been gentled or ridden, but somehow fit the characteristics of what the BLM selected to be a saddle-trained horse.
Logan tells of how wild Dillon was when he first got him. He found the opportunity to work with him rewarding and challenging. He, like his Dad, takes great pride in training a mustang.
“The mustang is a symbol of how America was settled. I don’t know how we could have done it without them. I hope some mustangs can always remain on the range, but for those who can’t, I hope they’ll be able to find good homes.” Lanny tells me as the desert sun sets behind him and his ninety-day horse
A good home for a mustang doesn’t come easily. Many biases about them still exist among various “horse camps.” Horses seem to do well with routine and impress their knowledge into their genes so each new generation of horses, bred by an ever smaller gene pool, does well what it’s parents did. A quarter horse, which came from cutting horse genetic stock, is assumed to be good at being a cutting horse. A race horse, a carriage horse, a trail rider and so on.
A mustang comes off the range knowing how to be part of a community of other wild horses that survive by working with their leaders and being nomadic. Once they’re removed from the range, all their friends, family and social order is lost, along with the forage that sustains them. They’ve adapted to eat different grasses, weeds and even shrubs as range conditions change. Sometimes horses suddenly given hay only to eat, colic and die.
The life of the wild horse, once rounded up, will never be the same. They are grouped together according to sex. The stallions are gelded and the mares are given experimental birth control. Thirty thousand and counting are warehoused in these facilities, until their fate is decided either by succumbing to an illness or law maker’s figure out how to handle the issue. Meanwhile some of the horses are selected to go up for adoption. Some untrained mustangs and burros are offered for adoption through the BLM Wild Horse and Burro adoption program.
An untrained mustang is a big challenge for a person without horse training experience. They’re thousand pound animals who have learned to be free spirited from their life in the wild and about the heaviest thing that was ever allowed on it’s back in the wild, was probably a bird that picked off flies from their coat.
Although the wild horse shows curiosity toward humans when we show up in their rangeland – most will not come close to us. If they do, it’s not a good sign, because without fear of the human their life is in peril. The lead mare and stallion of the band are good leaders, if they protect their members from human contact in the wild. Thus, the wild horse should have learned to stay away from humans and rightfully consider us their greatest predator.
Wild horses manage to adapt, so even though we’ve induced fear through roundups, stolen their families, friends and homeland, and caused countless injuries to them, they have it in them to survive and even let the human conquerors ride them, once a new leadership and bonds of trust are developed.
Most of the horses rounded up from rangelands are a hybrid of mixed genetics. One would think that because some of their ancestry had jobs as ranch horses or hauled wagons, this genetic code would remain. Maybe it does and possibly their physical features represent a particular type of genetics the BLM believes was once from domestic stock.
Logan said, “ Dillon was naturally good at doing 360 turns. I had to teach him how to do it, but once I did, it was easy for him to keep doing it.” Where did this natural ability come from, I wonder? Logan is naturally good, “gifted with horses, like his Dad,” Kathy Leach his mother comments. Did it come from genes or is it because Logan grew up on the back of horse, taught about them by his admired, trustworthy Dad.
Whatever the answer is, an adult wild horse, will take time to train even in the hands of experienced horse trainers. Lanny and Logan Leach are true horsemen. The BLM is lucky to have them on board to help train some of these mustangs. Anyone who buys a horse trained by either father and son will have a reliable riding horse and a true companion if they prove themselves worthy of the horse’s trust. If you live near Tucson you should get on the Leach mailing list. Even if you don’t have a mustang to train, you’re likely to love the events the Leaches put on in the arena. If you live anywhere and have a mustang that needs training, if you have a horse trailer, I’d consider packing your horse up and taking it to the Leaches’ to train for you.
The Mustang Heritage Foundation is contracted by the BLM to produce events that will showcase BLM mustangs and burros thus increasing their value and ability to be adopted by the public. The Extreme Mustang Makeover in Heber City, where the Leach’s and their mustangs competed, is one of many events held throughout the country. To learn more check out all of their web sites. www.mustangheritagefoundation.org, www.lannyandloganleachhorsemanship.com, www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov
I wish all the wild horses could stay on the range and I am not in agreement with current policies that are warehousing over thirty thousand wild horses without a sustainable good plan for them. There is no clearer example of the cart before the horse, which is a recipe for disaster. However, we don’t live in a perfect world and although the BLM and NFS are behind the removal of mustangs, others are not without blood on their hands regarding the horses in the wild. Besides the Park Service, The Division of Wildlife, Native American tribes, environmental groups and ranchers at large, we each contribute via our life styles of plenty to the demand on natural un-renewable resources. There’s a saying that we can’t change the world by saving an animal, but we can change the world for that animal by saving it. Each deed has a vibration; kindness being one of the best.
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