You’re getting a……….(guffaw, guffaw)………. horse?

Yep, pardner.

And why not? There are things that can’t wait for tomorrows. Having a horse on a spit of land is one of them.

Back in the Eighties my then wife and I got two wild burros through the Bureau of Land Management’s [BLM] Adoption Program. Pancho and Cisco had been culled from Death Valley, California.

In their case the death part of that name was particularly apt: they were saved from the abattoir’s door by animal rights activist Cleveland Amory. [*] Some of the other burros in the transporting trailer died from heat, lack of water and nourishment. Our two were true survivors; they were tough indeed.

What did suburb-grown characters know about equines? Well, my wife at the time had taken riding lessons and cared for a horse for some years while growing up, and I had watched and loved Hopalong Cassidy and his horse Topper on TV. What other experience would you need?

[Insert that belly laugh here.]

Many make-ya-smile vignettes are now dusted off from the intervening years. They serve to reinforce the confidence and pent up demand to become a horse adopter now.

Preserving a wild part of our American heritage is akin to seeing Bison roaming free in Yellowstone Park, as I did a week ago.

There is something noble acknowledging the importance of keeping our animal neighbors from extinction on the increasingly upside down planet we call home.

So, as with other continuing stories about spiders, birds, farm animals and the like, please note the addition of original articles about horses and or burros here at desktodirt.com.

This first installment ends with the requirement to have certain modest infrastructure ready and approved by the BLM before adoption can take place: a prescribed shelter with food, water, and corral for gentling and training.

I’m working on the layout, buying the materials and starting construction.

As with any adventure, the enjoyment is in the unknown.

Stay tuned.

[* Remembrance of Amory: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/16/arts/cleveland-amory-dies-at-81-writer-and-animal-advocate.html. Note the mention of the burros.]