This month’s featured “rescue” might not be technical in nature, but shows the village that we are on the Virginia Range.

Virginia Range volunteer Rae was home sick and saw an ad in the paper for three "estray" horses that had been picked up. The law outlines how horses deemed estray are advertised for an owner to claim before they go to the livestock auction if no one comes forward.

Range Manager Corenna Vance immediately got in touch with the enforcement officer for NDA who sent photos of the three. The short version of this story is that they had been pulled from a domestic case where they were the only three horses on the property that no ownership papers could be produced when the owner passed away, so their origin had been unclear. From the photos, Corenna positively ID'd them as missing Virginia Range horses and instantly made arrangements for WHC to pay the necessary fees and take them in.

Kendra, Bravo, and Lil Ghost, all now 2-2.5 years old, had been missing since early 2021 (along with a few others from the area). This is a well known band, seen often, and the disappearance of these youngsters had been puzzling the volunteers who document them regularly.

Corenna called LRTC’s rescue team to help with their transport. Two of the volunteer responders, Wayne and Johnny who are also fertility control darters, didn’t hesitate to say yes to helping with the transport. These horses are from their area and they know them well.

Their feet are horribly overgrown and they will be heading off soon to the trainer for gentling so they can be handled for farrier care and the boys to be gelded by the vet before they can be ready for adoption. It will take several trims to get their feet back to a good condition.

We may never know how or why they were taken, but they are safe now. They have proven to be curious, friendly and enjoy scratches. While they can’t be returned to the range after being held so long, they are young and will get to mature into wonderful horses.

A big thank you to LBL Equine Rescue for providing a soft place for them to land until they begin training. So much gratitude for Rae picking up the paper that day. They were scheduled to go through the livestock auction the following day, but instead were held for pick up by Wild Horse Connection - the first day of the rest of their lives.