Many apologies for the long silence. There have been many challenges, right in the middle of which I had some surgery, doing fine, but only now slowly getting back on line. Will be about another month before things are more normal. We’re also still waiting for a number of plans and ideas to come to fruition. The instant anything new and exciting happens, you will know! Your patience is deeply appreciated.
Dear Friends,
Just back from a quick surgical episode, all is well, hoping to start updating and providing more news very soon. Thank you for all your prayers and good wishes.
Things have been very quiet on the Wld Horses Of Abaco Preserve, we still are working to clean up after Hurricane Sandy and keep up with regular maintenance. this morning, Sunday, Jan. 13, Mare Nunki and #2 cat Katlean had a delightful encounter. It should have been video!
See the album on Facebook at
<http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.470169786378047.107209.242470469147981&type=1>
On July 8, despite grey weather (but it was cool!) members of the class of 2012 from the J. A. Pinder Primary School in Sandy Point visited the horses.
Ireanna Burrows…….black pockadot shirt
Elian Bain…………red stripe shirt
Mrs. Brenell Higgs Clarke, Principal
Dsvsno Thurston…….black shirt
Kajah Pinder……….aqua shirt
Stephanie Cartwright..purple and black shirt
Tatyana Burrows…….red shirt
Alisha Greene………grey and white shirt
Ms. Javal Thompson….white shirt
The class goes into the mare’s corral for an introduction, and then the students followed the mares out into the forest.
On Wednesday, May 23, under still grey and sodden skies, Dr. Fritz and I set out on the third attempt to bring Hadar home. I met Dr. Fritz at the Abaco Beach Resort with the Nissan pick up (with over 250,000 miles on the odometer) and at the bookshop he took the Nissan, I took the Rover.
Dr. Fritz headed to the airport to meet the 11:30 arrival of a benefactor who has become a most involved supporter of the Wild Horses Of Abaco. His colleague, an equine veterinarian, was in constant telephone contact with him as the adventure unfolded.
Our benefactor had flown all the way from New Jersey to help with Hadar’s capture, he intended to leave on Thursday. What amazing generosity, two thousand miles for a shot at Hadar. Our benefactor also is an expert marksman, with the ability to peg a target at 1000 meters. Think of it, 3,260 feet, over half a mile. And he’s done this throughout the African veldt.
I set out, the first time ever driving a right hand drive vehicle about the size of a Star Wars Earth Walker with no shock absorbers and fragile steering. We reached the Preserve in one piece and I set out supplies, got everything ready for transfer to the pick up and then started to try to make some improvements in the dart rifle. I went stiff with tension when Dr. Fritz and our benefactor arrived an hour early! And the rifle hadn’t been improved much, if at all.
Both Dr. Fritz and our benefactor were incredibly patient and I finally stopped rattling. A quick explanation of the rifle and its peculiarities and how the darts worked was sufficient for our benefactor to take a few practice shots at a small wet suit rolled up and placed on a hill at about the normal range for reaching Hadar. Then we set out.
Jean drove the tractor, setting the pace. Dr. Fritz and our benefactor followed with the supplies in the Nissan and I followed in the Rover to act as closer of gates and to fetch the front end loader when we had Hadar down at last.
The forest road that abutted Hadar’s favorite field was our rendezvous point as before. All was made ready and our benefactor sat up on the tractor behind Jean on some cushions on the metal frame. After my fall a year ago, Nobody rides on the fenders!
Then Dr. Fritz and I settled down to wait for 15 minute progress reports via VHF radio. We had a good high spot, though we couldn’t see to the far edges of the field.
The first call came in, nothing. More waiting, and waiting some more. Maybe he wasn’t there.
Then, “We see him!” from Jean. And more waiting. Then our benefactor’s voice came back, he had fired but didn’t get Hadar and no wonder, we later found that the rifle was failing.
More waiting and our benefactor continued to stalk Hadar, crawling through the sodden grass as I had, using every bit of cover available. He noted later that this was the first time he stalked something through high grass and wasn’t concerned about something stalking him!
Suddenly, “We got him!” Dr. Fritz calmly said to wait about 15 minutes or more for the shot to take effect, Hadar started to wobble in five minutes. I ran for the Rover and that great vehicle made the best time I’ve ever done over the lumpy forest roads and the main dirt road.
Shaking with the need for speed, I stopped at the security gate and asked for Ron Simmons, the man on the front end loader. “Oh, he’s not here, he’s in the US.” No! No! No! My heart headed for the dirt. Someone yelled from the main office. It was Ron. He got the loader running in moments and I drove ahead, opened our gate and waved him on. Now my heart was slamming around in my throat. I’m not sure Rover and I even touched the ground as we followed.
The loader stopped long enough to take on the mattress and extra padding and they sped out into the field.
Jean had come back for Dr. Fritz with the tractor to go back to our benefactor and Hadar. I waited alone. After nearly forever, I spotted the loader at the farthest east end of the field, moving slowly. I was sure they had him. After another forever, the loader and the tractor stopped, not far from the rendezvous road. No Hadar aboard. What on earth was going on??
It turned out that despite our best efforts, it took longer than anticipated for the loader to get on scene. And with a speed incredible in such an old horse, Hadar shook off the tranquilizer ahead of schedule and headed for the forest. Our benefactor got around him, headed him back out into the field and started to move him towards the rendezvous point. Unless you’ve been out there, you can’t imagine what that took after an already long stalk: watching Hadar, watching out for hidden well heads, moving through grass, burned brush, rocks, vines, urging Hadar along. An appalling journey. Dr. Fritz came back and we loaded more darts. Hadar was so close.
Taking the fresh darts, our benefactor disappeared into the grass again. More time passed, then, with a calm voice that couldn’t hide disappointment, our benefactor said the gun had failed even more and couldn’t send the darts far enough. The constant pressure of letting more air into the gun had made the compressed air leakage worse. Hadar took off again.
We could have been angry, sad, disappointed, but we were not. We all realized, as our benefactor put it “We know we can get him.” There are two prerequisites, repair of the air rifle and better communication with the front end loader. We are so used to instant communication. Out here, there are no cell phones, no regular phones and because of the terrain VHF is intermittent at best. The next time we go, I will go for the front end loader the instant Hadar is sighted.
Wearily we made our way back to Marsh Harbour, glad to know that the mission is not impossible. And, we do have to get Hadar in, even if not for the mares. He is in great need of dental work, and supplemental feed to help him fill out once his teeth are improved.
Sitting under the awning at the Tiki Bar at the Abaco Beach Resort, as yet more rain came down and Dr. Fritz and our benefactor had a snack before they bashed their way back across the squally Sea of Abaco to Hopetown, I thought about what an amazing evolution this has been from day one. I cannot think of another place where once can be sitting at a seaside resort after days spent literally in the bush chasing a wild stallion, feeling so very humble and grateful that such wonderful people have rallied to help the horses. Our benefactor , Dr. Fritz, Jean, Ron from the farm, and Paul Baker who is the administrator of the farm and who has lent his men and equipment. There is great strength here, and determination, and Hadar will come home.
It was a grey day but that didn’t stop a really good tour of the Abaco Horses’ Preserve. On June 26, Harold Ross, Terra Ross and Rachel Ross, along with Capt. Mike Bernedret Enjoyed almost cool weather as they watched the horses have breakfast and then followed them as they went for water and then took naps under their favorite palms.
The day opened at 8am under grey skies and a strong thunderstorm as Dr Fritz and I drove the 35 miles from Marsh Harbor to The Preserve. We stopped at Abaco Foods, The Farm, to check in with Paul Baker and his construction foreman Ron Simmons who is a full bearded red headed beef of a man from Texas via Arkansas in his fifties, and who, in another life, was the crew chief of a NASCAR Truck Team. We wanted to make sure again that the front end loader and an operator were available and at the ready. We will have to take this step every time until the mission is accomplished.
Today, we didn’t even see that wily old horse, but it was a heart piercing day that opened up full of rain but then turned completely sunny and warm with a 10kt breeze from the southeast. While hunting, I had time to reflect on the past.
Hadar once was the alpha stallion of all the horses even though there was another herd under a series of stallions who changed with some regularity. Hadar never sought to have all the mares under his control. He also was different in that when his favorite Mare Hamal damaged both forelegs, he let his other mares go and stayed exclusively with her. After she died and he was brought into the Preserve with the rest, he left the herding business to the other stallions.
There still were too many fights and all the stallions but one were turned back out of the Preserve. It was a hard, hard, frustrating decision, and it still hurts. But there were no facilities for treating serious wounds which could happen at any time. There have been some terrible ones, and I could do nothing but pray. Some healed. Some didn’t.
Eventually, the inside Stallion Mimosa jumped the fence and killed Stallion Sirius who had been his former ‘assistant.’ That’s another long sociological story. That left Hadar, Capella and Achernar outside and they left the area where Sirius was killed, moving to the farthest South East reaches of the farm. Achernar succumbed to (we assume, from his symptoms) poisonous sage, and Capella was seen twice by other people in company with a totally strange horse. Neither he nor the other horse (assumed female) have been seen in over two years.
So Hadar, once King, is living practically at the end of the known horse world, all by himself. It must be specially hard, horses are social herd animals and Hadar was fiercely loyal. Now there is no one else. Even though age obviously is creeping up on him, he’s still sharp, fast, and wants nothing to do with us. I want so much for him to be with the mares again.
I reflected on all this history as Jean and I drove out to look for him. What a glorious day, a gentle, cool breeze, grasses and vines leaping up after the rain. Almost giving off their own internal light. The scent of green things floating over a rolling savannah like field surrounded on three sides by deep forest. Watching everything moving, swaying gently in a slow, eternal dance. Though the savannah once was part of the citrus groves, there was a lean, clean primeval feel to it as the tractor (an 18 year old Massy Ferguson) rumbled slowly along. Old Messy could have been a safari elephant. The sadness and disappointment of not seeing Hadar was balanced by the sheer natural joy of the day.
Jean and I looked carefully as we went. Jean spotted one of the darts that missed Hadar yesterday. This was a major expense savings, as the darts are about $40 each, but even better, the tranquilizers had not discharged and so now there is an extra dart full.
The days in the forest and in the fields and with the horses are extraordinary. Days glow with the beauty of wide open skies, tickle with birdsong, fill one’s nose with fresh sweet air. It means so much, trying to keep alive the last of the horses who overcame abandonment and a harsh climate to thrive here, once upon a time. I dream of seeing them once again in safer numbers, the rare pintos too, back and roaming thousands of acres once again.
I think too about the support we have from our Board, the financial support and expertise provided by Marshall Field and his sister, the support, medication and expertise provided by Dr Tiffany Marr, and the support and help from Dr Bob Fritz…and I am grateful and thankful.
I hope you follow the story as it develops, and stay with us on this heart filling adventure.
Next week, we will try again.
Mim
Dr. Fritz and I went out today, Wednesday May 16. to capture Hadar the outside stallion. It was a grey, rainy, cool morning. The plan was to use a tranquilizer gun, a front end loader and a lot of padding.
First, a trip to the Abaco Foods, Ltd. farm to meet with Paul Baker who oversees all management. He’s been instrumental in making the project even remotely possible. It would be the farm’s front end loader that he graciously permitted two of his men to use once we tranquilized Hadar. As a refinement, we were accompanied by Ron Simmons (Agricultural Manager) and Victor Bevans (a contractor up from Nassau) who followed us about three miles through the forest and out to the field in a sturdy four wheel drive flat bed truck. They could see where the action would be and they could get back to the farm quickly to bring the loader around.
Then we had two prep periods, one at the Preserve base to load equipment, and another before we set out into the field. The second period got the dart gun ready, darts loaded with tranquilizer, etc.
Jean and I took the tractor out alone beyond that point. Jean has been visiting Hadar more and more often, Hadar’s not really concerned about the tractor but he will spook if it gets too close.
We searched the area slowly for about half an hour, I was ready to give up and finally, there he was at the very end of his usual pasture. Near the forest, we could manage but if he ran right into the forest we wouldn’t be able to get him out. Jean maneuvered up wind of him, so that Hadar would turn his rump to me. Then followed a very long crawl on my knees through rain soaked cow grass, vines that grabbed at my knees, and small palms that gave some desperately needed cover. It took a half hour of crawling to get ready for the first shot. Without radios, it was hard to signal Jean to increase distraction, I didn’t want to wave my arms. Just as I was ready for the first shot that sharp old horse threw his head up and spun around to run, I missed him by inches.
There was one more dart. More maneuvering on knees. A long, careful crawl to large clump of ferns finally gave me good cover, I was within maybe 30’ of him and darned if he didn’t throw his head up, spin and run. I swear the dart flew through his tail hairs.
We’re pretty happy though, we learned a lot. He’s very consistent, I can get around him with great care and patience. We need one more person on the tractor to keep his attention. The logistics of communications, getting the front end loader on scene quickly and many other details all have been refined. We try again tomorrow.
