I love the story of Goliath and Red Lady.  Today Skydog sent a very nice update and I wanted to make sure you saw this.  Lovely.

FROM SKYDOG

Good Morning and happy Saturday. Lots of people still asking about Goliath and Red Lady and one of the questions asked is whether they are on their own or can be with other herds. The answer to that is that they are currently enjoying their huge pastures and catching up and getting acclimatized here in a new land in a new state. Whenever we bring in new horses we keep them in a pasture for a month or two. That way they get used to us, the routine, regular food, new surroundings and then we determine when they can go out on the main body of the ranch and which horses would suit them best to be with. Luckily for us this used to be an elk farm and we have many 50 acre pens with high fencing that is incredibly safe and ideal for the wilder horses. At the moment they have the run of three pens and are busy exploring the whole landscape safely and quietly.

Red Lady is pregnant so we don’t want her having to get kicked by other mares as so often happens when horses first meet and argue over hierarchy. And in Goliath’s case – well he is enormous and studdy and we don’t want him having to tell all the other boys that he is the king now as somebody might lose that battle. So for now they are going to stay on over a hundred acres of joined up pens where they have a variety of terrains, woods, hills, pastures and new neighbors.

On one side of their pasture is Jagger’s herd who usually are out roaming on a thousand acres of beautiful high desert Oregon land and they don’t come this way other than to occasionally use the spring box near Goliath’s pasture. Well since the new additions they been hanging beside the North corner and spending a lot of the day talking over the fence as new neighbors do.

Goliath seems very interested in the mares (cheeky boy) and Red Lady actually seems just as interested in Jagger and Springsteen. It is really nice that they have company and companionship and don’t feel alone. Across the aisle they have the Kigers to watch and they can see the mare and foal pen too. Red Lady seems very happy to watch the babies play all day. I am sure she is aware she is going to have her own foal in a month or so and is keeping an eye on them as a babysitter from across the way.

The horses in Jagger’s herd are just gorgeous. We have the Sulphurs, Sage and Juniper, who are two mares we adopted from the BLM specifically to keep them together as they are incredibly bonded. They asked us to take them so they didn’t get adopted out separately and we have never regretted that decision when you see how close and dependent they are on each other. Apparently they had been adopted out once together but seized as the adopters didn’t take care of them and they had terrible rain rot and one was practically bald when she was returned. Then we have the Grullas, Lewis and Casey They were both rescued alone from different kill pens and are now very close and hard to tell apart sometimes except for Lewis’s white star.

The two funniest members of this herd are ZZ and Cassidy. ZZ is a zonkey who was rescued from being sent to a kill ranch in Texas where they shoot exotics. And Cassidy hopped on the truck out of a kill pen in Waco when we rescued Love. Jagger and Springsteen are the leaders of the herd and as with all the herds of wild horses it is invaluable to have a horse you can handle as the herd leader as you only need to halter one and the rest follow.

So now you have met Goliath and Red Lady’s nearest neighbors and they seem to be enjoying each other’s company in safety and peace. And that is truly all we want for these two, to let them settle in, get used to us and new horses and a different climate, hay and sounds and smells without any stress or anxiety. And so far so good they are making this home in record time……