Volunteer Highlight

This month, Johnny Takacs, an unwavering Virigina Range darter and documenter is our featured highlight. Johnny has a great story, and tells it best. Go for it, Johnny!

“I grew up on 175 acres in Connecticut and was on the back of horses before I could walk. Most of my teenage years, I spent hours riding after school. Years later, I saw pictures on Facebook by John Humphrey and contacted him about where to find the wild horses. He, in turn, put me in touch with Deb Walker and the rest is history.

My favorite part of darting is just getting out on the range with the horses, feeling their freedom and knowing I'm doing something to keep them wild and free. All my life I've been fascinated with the history of the West, and I love horses so it was a no brainer to get involved. I've lived in Nevada 4 years and been working with the horses for three and a half. My life before being a darter, documenter and rescuer was working as a union carpenter. It was not nearly as fulfilling as being on the range, but it made it possible for me to live my dream.”

In Johnny’s narrative, he doesn’t mention he was in The Mustang! The Mustang is a film about a violent convict who has the opportunity to participate in a rehabilitation program where the prisoners train wild mustangs. Johnny appears about two minutes into the film. This earned him the nickname Hollywood!

Thank you Johnny for all your hard work and dedication to protecting the Virigina Range mustangs!

Horse highlight

This month, we’re bringing you two stories of families from the Virigina Range. One is a dad trying his best to keep his adventurous, silly kids in line— a task all parents, horse and human, can related to. The other story is a touching tale (or tail!) about three generations of family living free together.

Dante and His Kids

Father's Day came and went this month, but a dad’s work is never done. With 3 new foals, Dante has his work cut out for him — keeping them safe and making sure they don't wander off.  His face says it all, good job Dante!

Three generations, together forever

Seeing families living on the range is a heartwarming and touching experience. The love, devotion and fierce family bonds are evident to anyone who gets to watch the magnificent families. Having a data base with over 3,000 individually identified horses gives the Virginia Range volunteers a unique opportunity to follow and track families. Volunteers also dedicate their time to photographing these horses. A special photo by Deb Sutherland really exemplifies these bonds. The below photo shows three generations of mares together! Pinkie is the cranky mare in the back. Her daughter Sandra is on the left and Sandra’s 2019 filly Lucky Star is on the right! Don’t they all look similar?