By Laura Bold, AWHPC Supporter
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Foster was adopted out from one of the BLM facilities to a man who then died one year later. Apparently the family then sold him to a young woman who boarded him and then really did nothing with him. She quit going to see him, then quit paying board and just abandoned him all together. He was still a bit wild and my guess is she just didn’t know how to handle him. As a result he was locked in this stall and he had been at this boarding place for about three years. He was cared for regarding basic needs but virtually no attention, just stuck in a stall. He was locked in to prevent the young woman from sneaking in to take him without paying all the back board owed. It was a bad situation.
I met him by a chance meeting going out to watch my young cousin take a riding lesson where he was boarded. We went around to see all of the different horses and my cousin took me to see the “mustang". I had always been an advocate signing petitions and donating to the cause, but had never met a mustang. My heart just instantly connected with him and I knew I had to help him. I whispered that to him. He heard me, looked right at me and came close to me through the bars. I just told him this should have never happened and that I didn’t know what I was going to do, but that I would do something to help him.
asked the owners if it would be okay if I came out to visit him if I paid them a little towards helping with his board. They were fine with that. So I started going out to see him first just a few days a week then slowly it became every day. I would take my lunch and go sit with him outside of his stall. He got carrots or we'd share an apple every time I saw him. Each day I came around the corner of the barn he would see me and I’d wave a big hello. He started to trust me and I just fell in love with him. I asked the stable owners what it would take for me to have him as my boy? They said there was no legal way for them to sell him because of the lien, they were stuck. They were very happy for me to be giving him attention however. So in talking to an equine lawyer who said there was nothing to be done but to take it to court, which was not worth it for the stable owners. There was no contacting the owner. She was gone and would not respond to any kind of attempted contact. This would have been thousands of dollars for me to pursue it legally which I did not have. In the end, we all decided to just do a handshake under the table deal and he was mine.
I started paying his full board, but they wouldn’t let me put him out to pasture until I proved that I could catch him. They didn’t think I would be able to because he was still too wild in their eyes. I had to have the trainer take him out and put him in a round pen at first as they wouldn’t let me handle him. So about once a week they would put him out for me. I would run around the outside of the pen and he would follow and buck and kick and run off some steam. We bonded a lot in the beginning. Finally they would let me take him out myself to the round pen or to the indoor arena.
Once we started going from his stall to the indoor arena just across the hall we started to play using a big ball and cones and follow the leader. Totally at liberty and he would jut follow me around. We did this for a maybe a month. Then they said if you can take him to the outdoor arena and catch him then we will consider letting him into a pasture.
So the day came and I went to his stall got his halter on and got really close and said “This is it kiddo. This is your chance to shine. It’s your next step to getting you some freedom so you have to do really good for me". I know he heard me. We went out; I let him in the outdoor arena so he could buck around and let off some steam. Then the trainer said ok now go in and walk all the way around the perimeter of the arena and then catch him. He followed and walked with me all the way and stood right next to me to put his halter on. Yay! He was such a great spirit!
Well he then got to be put out in an acre pasture. First freedom he had had in years. Our relationship grew through many trials and learning together, as I had never had a horse of my own, let alone the experience of training one. In the end I didn’t want to ride him or put metal in his mouth, so we became very good companions. Every day I went out to see him and we would play at liberty or go for walks on the utility roads around the property where he was boarded.
In February Foster contracted some kind of bacterial infection that caused colitis. For three days we tried to save him. I stayed overnight in the barn one night and was there all hours of the day. It broke my heart when the vet said there was no way to pull him out of it. His gums were turning purple and his body was going in shock. So I wanted him to be outside with the sun and the breeze and not in the barn to leave this world. I led him outside and let him do what he wanted, I just followed.
He left in a most incredible way. First, he walked over to the back of the barn to his first stall that he had been stuck in. Then he walked to his first pasture and walked in and around the whole perimeter, checking in with the horses that he knew. I just kept following him as I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but it needed to be on Fosters terms whatever was happening. So he continued to walk and went up to the fence line on the pasture he had currently been in with three other geldings. He went to each one at the fence line and touched in with them with a very weak whinny.
The opposite pasture held a big black draft horse named Harley who was one of Foster’s best buddies. They had spent time together in a pasture for several months and became good herd mates. Foster walked over to Harley and Harley put his head over the fence and over Foster’s head and hugged him in close. They just stood that way for several moments. Foster said goodbye to everyone in his own way and then we helped him to cross over in the hay barn. It was a soft place, soft floor, for him to go.
I stayed with his body for a couple of hours into the dark. I did not want to leave him. They let me bury him on a parcel of five acres that were not used for the stables. He would be out with the deer and the coyote, a suiting place for his body to rest. They nicknamed it Foster’s Field.
He was only with me for a year and a half, far too short. But his time with me will forever be in my heart. He taught me many things and we learned together to have a truly trusting and compassionate, respectful relationship. It was a rare bond of which I will probably not have again in this lifetime.
So I am inspired to help our wild ones. Foster should have stayed free. I am glad he was with me for his last time here, and that he got to see the good side of humans, and to be loved. He is deeply missed.
To join Laura's community Facebook page, 'Because of Foster', click here.
