Tag Archives: Cloud Foundation

Help Protect Cloud and His Herd

Submit a response letter to BLM scoping notice

Lynx, in Cloud's band, could be removed next year as a yearling.

Dear Friends of Cloud, his family, and herd;
The time is rapidly drawing to a close for you to be submit your letter to help prevent another removal in Cloud’s herd in 2012. I know you all care deeply for Cloud and his family, just as I do, and it is of vital importance that we all stand together to help the Pryor herd. It is therefore of the upmost importance that you submit a letter in your own writing to the BLM Billings Field Office postmarked by August 30th.

We’ve written our letter, which you can read here. I encourage you to take a look at it, and use it to help you with your own letter if you haven’t written yours already. You can also read over some talking points to help you get started. A reminder that BLM is not accepting emailed comments (we crashed their server last time!), so you can mail them yourself to the address below or you can email them to us at info@thecloudfoundation.org and we will mail them for you. You can also fax your comments to (406) 896-5281. Although we are all frustrated that this unique little herd is continually being threatened, please remember to be polite.

I hope you will all take a moment to help Cloud and the Pryor herd. Thanks so much!

Happy Trails!
Ginger

You can mail your letters to:
Jim Sparks, Field Manager
BLM Billings Field Office
5001 Southgate Drive
Billings, MT 59101

Pryor Scoping Letter Issued

BLM Seeks Another Removal in Cloud’s Herd

Little Lynx. Photos (C) The Cloud Foundation

Dear Friends of Cloud, his family, and herd;
The BLM Billings Field Office mailed a Scoping Letter to interested parties on July 28th, stating their intent to reach an “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) of 90-120 adult wild horses, one year of age and older in the Pryor Mountains. If they carry out this plan 45 to as many as 75 horses would be removed in 2012. We cannot allow this to happen.

Our position is clear — there is absolutely no need for any removals.

It is important that you respond to an action which would threaten the continued existence of the Pryor Wild Horse Herd. Please write a factual letter to the BLM using some of the information provided here. Remember that BLM will not consider your response unless it is clearly your message — no copying of the list supplied here. Please use your own words to communicate your polite outrage at such an unwarranted proposal.

You will note in our list of recommended response topics, the support of PZP, the one-year infertility drug. This comes as a departure for TCF. However, the remotely delivered drug given at the correct time of year has reduced the foal population and it has given us a good argument to fight for no removals. We still strongly believe in the long-range goal of natural management without helicopters or bait traps or drugs. We see PZP as a means to an end, and that end is a hands off strategy in which Mother Nature calls the shots as much as possible.

Continue reading Pryor Scoping Letter Issued

WHIN’s 3rd Annual Business Networking Expo

Our 3rd Annual Business Networking Expo, the 1st Annual WHINNY awards and the Rhythm & Hooves Benefit is coming along nicely. Winners of the WHINNY awards include such well-known artists as Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Lacy J. Dalton and Templeton Thompson as well as music industry notables such as Mike and Martha Borchetta and Bonnie Garner. Donations are coming in for our silent auction which will benefit the Cloud Foundation, The Equestrian Aid Foundation and NetPosse.com. Sponsorships are now available and information may be obtained by calling 615-730-7833. The events will be televised on HRTV on a delayed basis to millions of viewers.

Exhibitors who have signed up so far include:

My Girlz Clothing Company
Lisa Wysocky – Author, Clinician (new book coming out soon!)
Sciencepure Nutraceuticals, Inc.
Mountain Feather Originals
Rebecca Cagle, BS, CAPLC – Professional Equestrian Life Coach and Equestrian Book Author
Equinature, LLC
Colleen Kelly – World-Renowned Clinician/Speaker
Randi Thompson – How To Market Your Horse Business
Equestrian Aid Foundation
American Association of Riding Schools, Inc.
E3A Equine Experiential Education Association
Easy Mile Log
Canadian Natural Horsemanship Inc.
EQ Bookkeeping
Natural Solutions by Anke, LLC
Exclusive Equestrian Services
Equine Wellness Magazine

“We have some great exhibitors already signed up and since we are still two months away we expect our exhibit space to be sold out very soon. The events are really going to be fun for our attendees and we know from past experience that a lot of business will be done,” states WHIN Executive Director, Catherine Masters.

WHIN has more than 750 members in all areas of the horse industry and offers every kind of product and service you can imagine.

For additional information, please visit WOMEN’S HORSE INDUSTRY or call 615-730-7833.

Well Known Country Music Icon, Lacy J. Dalton, Wins Whinny Award

Nashville, TN – July 13, 2011 – Well known country music icon, Lacy J. Dalton, has been awarded a “Whinny” award for her efforts to save and preserve lands for wild horses. The award will be presented by the Women’s Horse Industry at their annual meeting October 6-8 at the Radisson Hotel Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dalton, whose credentials in music are substantial, has put her energy, money and name behind the Let ’em Run Foundation.

The Let ’em Run Foundation is working with other organizations to begin to set aside huge tracts of land for these horses, to help manage the herds and to fence off areas where they should not roam. The group’s dream is to create the “Comstock Wild Horse Sanctuary” where these horses can be preserved, protected and allowed to run free for our children and our children’s children.

“We are very pleased to award Lacy a Whinny for her efforts. More and more people are starting to understand the need to preserve areas for our wild horses and organizations like this and people like Lacy are making this happen. She is to be applauded for her efforts by everyone who cares about wild horses,” states WHIA Executive Director, Catherine Masters.

Lacy is presently recording 2 new CDs. The first, called “Songs of the New West”, is a collection of Outlaw Country songs which include many as yet unrecorded songs by Lacy and friends, along with classics like “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones and “Friend of the Devil” by the Grateful Dead. In addition, fueled by feelings generated by what Lacy describes as a “Thermonuclear Divorce” from longtime husband and partner Aaron Anderson, she is working on a CD called “What Don’t Kill You Makes You Strong” after its title track.

The awards will be given out on October 6 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Rhythm and Hooves benefit to save horses. The event will raise funds for three equine charities: The Cloud Foundation, The Equestrian Aid Foundation and NetPosse.com. The benefit will be a part of the WHIA’s Annual conference (October 6-8 at the Radisson Hotel Opryland) where women from around the world will gather to exchange information and business.

For additional information on the WHIA and its upcoming conference and benefit, please visit Women’s Horse Industry or call 615-730-7833.

The Fight to Save Nevada’s Wild Horses

The Cloud Foundation files lawsuit against BLM

Dear Friends of our Wild Horses and Burros;
I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July! In the spirit of freedom for our wild horses, the Cloud Foundation filed a lawsuit against the BLM in Nevada to prevent the removal and warehousing of over 1,700 wild horses from their vast 1.7 million acre home in northeastern Nevada (Maverick-Medicine, Triple B, Cherry Creek and Antelope Valley West Herd Management Areas).

The exhausted old mare run was nearly hit by the Sun J helicopter at Antelope in January

Taxpayer dollars paid to the infamous Sun J helicopter roundup crew alone will total approximately $600,000 and that’s just the beginning of the expenditures. The costs in short-term holding, where all the horses will go at least temporarily, will be $8,000 per day based on the target number of horses to be removed. Incarceration for life will add millions to the price tag — all funded by American taxpayers.

The cost to the horses is the permanent loss of family and freedom… what wild horses live for. Some horses will pay the ultimate price — losing their lives either during or as a result of this planned operation.

The Cloud Foundation is represented by attorneys Rachel Fazio and Julie Cavanaugh-Bill. We are the primary Plaintiffs in the case and are joined by plaintiffs Craig Downer and Lorna Moffat. In order for the judge to rule on our plea, the BLM has delayed the start of the roundup (originally scheduled to begin on July 7th) until the 16th of July, The hearing will be held at the Nevada District Court, 400 South Virginia Street in downtown Reno at 10 am on July 14th. Please come if you can to show your support of Nevada’s wild horses!

Continue reading The Fight to Save Nevada’s Wild Horses

Rhythm and Hooves Awards to Recognize Country Music Industry

June 29, 2011 – Nashville, TN – The Women’s Horse Industry is pleased to announce an awards program dedicated to the men and women in country music who have a passion for helping and saving horses.

The event will be held in conjunction with the Rhythm & Hooves benefit auction on Thursday, October 6 at the Radisson Opryland. Nominees from the country music industry will be presented awards for their efforts with horses. After the awards are presented, there will be an auction to benefit the Cloud Foundation, The Equestrian Aid Foundation and Stolen Horses/NetPosse.com. “These are great equine charities and we hope the Nashville music industry will help us raise money by providing items for the auction,” states Debby Lening, VP of the Women’s Horse Industry.

“I know that there are a lot of country music artists and other music industry executives who have a real passion for helping horses so we thought that it would make a lot of sense to identify, recognize and award them for their efforts,” states Catherine Masters, Executive Director of WHIA.

If you would like to nominate someone from the country music industry for these awards, please send an email to: whra44@yahoo.com with the nominee’s name and why they should be nominated.

Continue reading Rhythm and Hooves Awards to Recognize Country Music Industry

Wyoming, Its Wild Horses, and the BLM

One band was urged on by their stallion

A Note from Lauryn

Dear Wild Horse and Burro Supporters;
Rock Springs, Wyoming, is not exactly what I would call ‘close’ to Colorado Springs. Nevertheless, our new intern, Erin Clifford from Michigan, and I hopped in the car and started up I-25 northbound, picking up our fellow wild horse advocate friend, Rachel Reeves, along the way.

When we finally pulled up the drive to the BLM office the first thing I noticed was my tax dollars at work: a shiny new building complete with landscaping and the works.

Our little group of advocates joined together outside the building, which included our carload, a few other superb advocates from Northern Colorado, and two delightful women who came all the way from California! We totaled ten people, but our signs and presence were enough to frustrate the folks inside.

During the meeting itself we were surrounded by a lot of ranchers, most of who belonged to the Rock Springs Grazing Association – the largest grazing association in the country. Each of them gave a sentence or two on the plusses of helicopter roundups and how necessary they were, same ole, same ole. We had some great points brought up by each of the wild horse advocates who spoke. Trying to explain the issues we have with helicopter use during roundups in only three minutes is no small feat!

Continue reading Wyoming, Its Wild Horses, and the BLM

Take Easy Action for WY Wild Horses

Photos courtesy of Living Images by Carol Walker.

Comments Needed for the Divide Basin Herd

With roundup season starting up again, it is imperative, now more than ever, that we all raise our voices in support of our wild horses and burros. BLM is still soliciting comments for their planned roundup in Divide Basin, a larger herd in southern Wyoming near Rock Springs. We ask that you submit your own comments regarding the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Divide Basin Herd Management Area (HMA). There are gross inadequacies and faulty data utilized in the scope of this EA which will come as no surprise. What is a bit more surprising is the rush to create a non-reproducing herd as an alternative, which is what they want to do to in White Mountain and Little Colorado! If a roundup is conducted this summer, the herd will be reduced to only 415 horses on over 700,000 acres with many of these horses being non-reproducers! The Cloud Foundation’s comments for this EA are available online here. Read on for a sample format!

Comments need to be submitted by Monday, June 20th, no later than the close of business at 4:30 PM Mountain Time. Comments can be submitted via mail at:

Divide Basin EA Comments
BLM Rock Springs Field Office
280 Highway 191 North
Rock Springs, WY 82901

Continue reading Take Easy Action for WY Wild Horses

Celebrating with Cloud on his 16th Birthday

Dear Cloud Friends;

We were able to find Cloud this past Sunday on his 16th birthday!

May 29th was a blustery day on the Pryor Mountains as we bounced up Tillett Ridge Road in a gale force wind blowing out of the north. Icy rain fell in intermittent sheets — the polar opposite of the weather on the day of Cloud’s birth.

Sixteen years ago the sun was shining. It was warm. Light clouds floated overhead. I set up my camera and was filming a brash, young stallion who was flirting with his father’s newly acquired filly when I spotted a flash of white moving through the trees and panned the camera.  A pale colt tottered out of the forest beside his palomino mother. The rest of his family followed — Smokey and Mahogany, his sisters; Diamond, his yearling brother; and the other mares, Isabella the pale buckskin, and Grumpy Grulla. Pulling up the rear was Cloud’s stunning father, the unforgettable Raven. The foal struggled to keep up with his mother on their trek uphill to snow drifts under the canopy of Douglas firs.

Sixteen years later, here I was again, bumping up the road and emerging onto the ridges of Tillett. We spotted Cloud and his family nestled in on the south side of a cluster of firs — sheltered from the cold wind and rain. By the time we set up the camera, Cloud had raced out of the trees and disappeared over a hill. When we began filming, I could just see the top of his head bobbing up and down and I could hear the screams of the stallions. Then Cloud trotted into a clearing with a trio of bachelors, including Jasper, the nearly two-year-old son of Flint. He is the little grullo you see with the big mark on his face. The other two are Galaxy, the black, and Gringo, the bay — both five-year-olds.

Continue reading Celebrating with Cloud on his 16th Birthday

Congressman Honors Cloud!

Adelina as a yearling, 2010 - named in honor of Congressman Grijalva's granddaughter (the filly is the granddaughter of Blue Sioux & Red Raven)

Updated News

Dear Friends of Cloud and the Mustangs;
Our apologies, Congressman Grijalva represents Arizona’s 7th District in the U.S House of Representatives, not New Mexico. Congressman Grijalva has always been a great friend of wild horses and burros, and we sincerely thank him for introducing the House Legislation below which honors Cloud and all wild horses and burros. We encourage you to contact Representative Grijalva, thanking him for his support of all mustangs and burros with legislation that costs the taxpayers nothing, but does much to encourage their protection on our western landscapes.

We strongly urge you to contact your Congressional Representative and urge them to co-sponsor Congressman Grijalva’s Resolution!

Below you will find the legislature, which was submitted to the House of Representatives on May 27, 2011:

Continue reading Congressman Honors Cloud!