Lullaby
Wild horses are required to stay within a line which can only be seen on a map. Reasonable people know, however, that wild horses don’t read maps. Wild horses have occupied their home ranges much longer than boundaries made of fences, roads, or lines on maps have existed.
The cow pasture next to the Ochoco National Forest boundary has long attracted wild horses, who are then considered “trespassers”. Four wild horses chose to take advantage of the green grass in the pasture, probably because the gate was open. But that meant the Forest Service must take action to remove the four horses, by pushing them back through the gate. The three Forest Service men, on horseback, rodeoed three of the horses through the gate, but one young filly broke loose from the bunch and headed for the boundary fence. Witnesses said that a loud creaking of stretched barbed wire was heard, indicating the filly was probably injured.
At the time, I lived at the Ranger Station and rented the old Forest Service horse pasture for my own herd; Izzy, Cecil, and Norton. I heard about the failed roundup, and knew there was an injured horse locked somewhere in a pasture with no water. I gave her a day to emerge on her own, and when she didn’t, I prepared an avenue for her to join my horses safely, so she could be caught. My horses are all annoying, because they’re Appaloosas and can’t help it, but the hurt filly would be desperate enough she would want to be with them anyway. I then located her, and gently encouraged her to move in the right direction. In just a few minutes, she was secured in a pen that also contained the old wild horse loading chute used by the Forest Service many years before. The wire had cut her upper front leg severely, but wild horses are very resilient and it would heal.
I immediately called someone I thought might like to adopt the little horse, and she did. The next day, the Forest Service hauled her to the Burns BLM Wild Horse and Burro Corral facility, and soon after, the adopter took “Lullaby” to her new home.
I never knew what happened to Lullaby after that. I would always have that single day of her life with my goofy herd, and the memory of how sweet and agreeable she was. Lullaby was exceptional, and her spirit followed me.
But then, there was a big “Rescue Challenge” event, where horses rescued from bad situations were going to be trained and shown in front of a huge audience, and then auctioned off to the highest bidder. Before the event, we were informed that an Ochoco Wild Horse would be entered in the show and auction. It turned out that a horse had been surrendered to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s horse rescue facility (great people!). Someone finally realized the mare had a freeze brand (the identification number assigned by BLM) hidden beneath her thick mane. Kate read the brand and recognized that she was an Ochoco horse, absent from our view for many long years. It was Lullaby.
Her trainer did a fantastic job, and she loved Lullaby very much. One of the trainer’s friends wanted to buy Lullaby for her family. They were wonderful people and also loved her. But, we did not want Lullaby to ever, ever again be shuffled between homes, to be injured emotionally like the rusted barbed wire had cut her so deeply years before. Lullaby had acquired some health issues over the years, which could mean that maintaining the high performance level required during her training phase would not be possible, and could harm her more. With us, there would be no expectations of fast galloping, jumping, spinning, or anything beyond simple enjoyment of life. She would also be going to a home with other Ochoco wild horses. So, we decided to buy her ourselves, no matter how much we had to pay. It was the only way we could be absolutely certain she would have a home forever.
On the day of the event, Lullaby was a crowd favorite, of course. These years later, she was even more adorable. Then the auction started, with the fast-talking auctioneer employing every auctioneer trick to excite the audience and generate higher bids, and the whole arena was filled to the roof with rowdy spectators, and sneaky bidders. We knew this because they tried to act cool and unconcerned, just like we were doing. We were a lot scared. When it was Lullaby’s turn, it quickly came down to just two bidders; us, and the trainer’s friend. It was tense. The crowd couldn’t believe how high the price was climbing, and neither could we. We knew Lullaby would have a great home with the other family, but we could solidly promise a great forever home. So we stayed in the game and finally, in one heart-stopping moment, the other bidder reached their limit and we won Lullaby as the crowd went wild. I will never tell how much we paid, several of us contributing beyond our own limits, but I can tell you that this horse is worth a hundred times the cost.
“When we were at the Oregon Rescue Challenge, waiting to see if we would be the ones to adopt Lullaby, I felt like my life would be a lot better with Lullaby in it. When we heard that she would be ours, I felt so happy and excited. When I lost my first horse, Prairie Rose, I felt like I lost my best friend. Prairie gave me confidence and riding her felt like life was better and that I could be just whatever I wanted. I didn’t know if I could ever have another horse like Prairie, and then when I saw Lullaby, I felt a lot better and felt like she would be just like Prairie.
When Lullaby came home, I really wanted to get on her and start riding again. She is really lovable and she always makes me feel awesome. She is kind and sweet and cute and very fun. I felt like our other horses and her would get along very well… and they do (but they are horses so they do fight sometimes). Lullaby is very soft and I love to cuddle with her when it’s cold outside. I couldn’t wait to see what I could do with her and was excited that she would do side passes. I felt like Lullaby knew she could trust me and I knew that I could trust her. She’s a lot like Prairie and I feel blessed to have had both of these very special horses from the Ochocos!”
