September Monthly Highlights
Volunteer Highlight
Anne Hall is a dedicated and talented documenter in the Fernley area. She has been involved in helping wild horses for 13 years. She first got involved in wild horses for fun! She has spent over 16 years watching the horses in her area, getting to know them, watching foals grow into adults, and watching what it takes to survive in the desert of Nevada. Anne says they are amazing creatures and their will to survive is so strong.
Anne loves knowing their background, families and stories, but wasn’t involved in volunteering with local groups until 2007. One day that year, she was hiking in the hills and found an injured and orphaned foal. She did some research and found the proper people who could help the foal and contacted them. After she helped this foal, she was totally hooked. Anne has been working hard to identify the horses in Fernley and her devotion to the horses is incredible. Thank you for your hard work, Anne!
A beautiful photo Anne took
in memory of
Last month the Virigina Range lost the well known and well loved mare, Oriana. Tracy Wilson tells her story in a powerful and moving way:
“Oriana. She was the queen of the range. Admired by many for her incredible mane and beauty. But she was more than that. She represented what we all wish for our wild horses of the West.
She was truly wild. Elusive and wanting nothing to do with humans. Quick to move out if humans approached. Wise and fast. To watch her was to be impressed.
Though she was an older mare and there were likely many before them, in the last five years she gave birth to five babies. Five year old Chiara, though very dark in color, inherited her dam's long flowing mane. We will undoubtedly watch to see if Oriana’s now one and two year olds will grow those flowing locks as well. One of her babies had to be removed when it got separated from the band and could not be reunited. Another of them did not make it. Nature is nature and those who work tirelessly for our wild horses understand that no matter how sad us humans might feel, these things happen in nature.
RIP Oriana. May you run forever free. Your memory will always remind us what we fight for. Our respect for you runs deep and we will always hold it close to our hearts.”
