The Placitas Wild organization had never been happy to let their horses go, so when someone provided them with a little bit of land (40 acres), they decided to take back their horses and let them run as a herd. They informed us last week, but it took us a few days to realize that they really wanted to just let them go. Twenty some have already gone to adopters and five more have approved adoptions. They will not return. Thirty will be taken back to Placitas, including almost a dozen that had finished their training program and were waiting for adopters.

We announced this on FaceBook and everyone wanted to know what this means for us. The meaning for the FaceBook readers was mixed. Some people were happy to see horses going back to the wild, some were disappointed to have more horses concentrated on the land. Several were disappointed to find no more horses would be available for adoption.

What does it mean for us? First, and most important to our survival, is that it drastically cuts cost of operations. We will only be feeding eight horses, three donkeys, a mule, and a zebra. We won’t need volunteers or students. We can go home to the house we own, with it’s good water and relative quietness.

It gives me time to finish building the mustang training classes on the MagicMustangTamer.com site. That work has been coming together and it’s already possible for students to get started with the first 17 modules. That will be my major project for the next couple of weeks with an expected launch date of around the 15th of this month.

We still have horses and donkeys to train. The burros will be going to the Cerrillos donkey festival. The Mustang Camp herd will be brought into the pens for a training refresher and hoof trimming. The McKinley County Humane Society horses (Arviso and Pearl) will be readied to be adopted. Things will look pretty normal but totally relaxed at Mustang Camp. We won’t be going crazy, stretched thin by too many animals. It’s going to be nice.