New Corral Resident: Chaco Bay

I wasn't really wanting to adopt another equine, but stuff happens.

Billy Hibbler has been gathering excess horses off the Navajo Nation, just north of Chaco Canyon. The local residents decided they would rather have the cows and sheep have grass than the wild horses. Billy has enlisted a bunch of people with saddle horses and ATVs to gather these animals.

Last Saturday, the wranglers were all out there when the weather got pretty nasty, blowing like crazy and sleeting. It got dark and Billy wasn't back to the rendezvous point. He was last seen chasing the herd on his little yellow saddle horse. They waited until ten at night and gave up hope he would be coming in the dark. Everyone had livestock to feed back home, so they left him a truck and horse-trailer and went home to worry in warmness.

I had stayed at Navajo City because the roads were too bad to drive. Billy's significant other, Vicky, had come by to get gas on her way back to wait for him or call Search and Rescue. She suspected he was dead. I suspected it too, but John said Billy was too tough to die just yet. We decided to detour from a beeline home out to Chaco to see if we could help.

The Navajos have this thing about horses. They really like owning a few but they just let them run at large. Bands of horses form and herds grow. People loose track of their horses, never catching them. Here at the end of 2007, there are about 300 horses in that area. The Tribe recently sent out letters telling people that they had to reduce the herds, so these people told Billy he could round up as many as he could catch. They also said that in the past, when cowboys had come to round up horses, suddenly all the relatives would show up and claim the horses out of the corrals, so the cowboys did all the work and ended up empty handed. They told Billy that wouldn't happen to him because the horses HAD to go.

We drove up to the rendezvous point about the same exact time that Billy rode in, his little yellow horse looking more like a gray from the Chaco mud. He had gotten caught by nightfall and found himself in the dark on a high ledge, the sleet making safe footing impossible. He squeezed himself up against a cliff to block the wind and pulled his saddle over him to keep the sleet off. It was a bad night. He pulled bits off his t-shirt and burned them inside his coat to keep warm. He survived. John was right.

I looked at the group of young horses in the corral. There stood a bright bay pinto that captured my heart. Little stud horse, only 2 years old. I didn't think there was much chance they would let me have him as he was about the prettiest horse on the planet, but the next day, I found out he was coming my way. I gave Billy an old mobile home John had salvaged in exchange.

I named my horse Chaco Bay. He arrived in his new home mid-morning and learned to eat hay (he thinks its totally yummy compared to dead brown Navajo Nation grass). He hasn't figured out that there is water in the trough and has been trying to drink from the puddles, so I put water in lower wider containers for him to find. He has such a pure mind. No baggage. Not really spooky either. I can stand about 3 feet away from him. I've been stepping back when ever he turns his head to look at me, so now Chaco stands facing me. We are going to have fun.



I'll be keeping notes about his development here. I wanted to challenge myself and see what I could get done with a mustang in 30 days. He will be eligible to be registered as an American Indian Horse. Wouldn't he look fancy in some ceremonial war-pony gear?