“The announcement landed in the midst of the holiday season, when most people were not closely following the news and instead were focused on celebrating – timing that struck Kman as deliberate.  Members of the public had six weeks, until the end of January, to send comments.  Kman started calling news reporters around the state to sound the alarm: “They are getting rid of the horses.”  She also contacted her fellow advocates at North Dakota Badlands Horse and Wild in North Dakota, both of which helped to find homes for removed horses, to see if they could work together to save the horses.  Both groups declined, so Kman’s Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates would be waging a battle alone.”

~ Patrick Springer, Untamed

Hello and Happy Thursday to everyone!  This quote from Patrick’s book seemed in line with the way my week worked out, and I wanted to share that with all of you today.

As a reminder, Patrick’s book, Untamed, is now available and can be purchased here: https://chasinghorses.com/products/untamed-the-story-of-the-wild-horses-of-theodore-roosevelt-national-park

The last chapter of this book on the history of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park wild horses is all about US – by US I mean every single one of you that makes up Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates.  Each one of you who answered our Calls to Action, shared our posts, donated to our nonprofit and helped in countless other ways over the years!  I consider it truly an honor to be included in this amazing historical documentation of this book and I hope all of you are equally honored!

Our organization also received a few other compliments this week:
”You’re a big part of why the horses are there to enjoy.”  Bill Marcil Jr, Chief Executive Officer Forum Communications Company – North Dakota’s largest newspaper and Publisher of Untamed

Another follower commented on one of my social media posts and said:
“Get better okay, you’re our Wild horse warrior. I’ve never seen someone so relentless.”

I started my week off meeting with a follower who insisted on buying lunch.  We met her to pick up donations she had for our next online silent auction (details coming next week on that!) During our lunch, she also thanked us for our hard work and dedication to saving this herd.  She talked about what it meant and why it was important to her.  She also let us know she is happy to help in whatever ways she can. 

I want to interject here and just remind everyone, while I am quoting “you’s” and “us” here, to me that includes every single one of you that are part of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates.

The day after my lunch, I had a meeting with another follower who asked if we could connect to discuss how she can apply things we did to help get the SAFE Act passed Something she, like many of us, is deeply passionate about.  After our chat, she sent me this email:

“Thank you so much for your time today. You are a welcome knowledge and thank you for sharing so many different strategies, perspectives, and ideas with me. The horses are very lucky to have you working on this issue and advocating for them. I hope you continue to feel better and thank you again for your time today, I’m so grateful.”

I walked away from that meeting happy to have been able to empower her to take some new actions.  That is something I truly take pride in with every single one of you!  These last 4-5 years were never about me, they have been about a group of like minded people who came together to tell our government “No!” when they told us they were taking our horses.  I have watched so many of you become outspoken advocates for these horses and THAT has been some of the best success stories our organization has had!

I am sharing all this with you today for two reasons:

1. To remind all of you what a great achievement we accomplished together
2. To remind you that there is still a lot of work for us to do.

I have found myself, especially now in this time battling illness, in a  “We saved them, now what?” space.

I want to say there will always be a need for us to be on the scene advocating for these horses.  We have moved away from a sole focus like others of just tracking and documenting these horses to making advocating for the best management plan and practices our main focus.  While we will still track and document and share stories of these incredible horses, none of that really matters if they are not being managed properly.

The biggest way we are working on this is through the federal legislation that was introduced by Senator Hoeven.  This is something we work on every single week as we continue to hold meetings with members of the House while we wait for word on the Senate vote. 

As a very small nonprofit, your donations help keep our advocacy going!  Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our ongoing work for federal protection for this herd.  We are also asking people to consider making a re-occurring monthly donation to help our ongoing work.  This can be as small as $5!  Imagine if a small amount of our over 100,000 followers we have donated $5 each month! 

One time or re-occurring donations can be made through our website or through PayPal at the links below. 

Donations can be made on our website: https://secure.everyaction.com/pIMNkwr21021HO0xWm0UOg2

Donations can also be made via PayPal here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XNYNCNVLTULGC

Just a reminder, CHWHA continues to keep our content FREE!  This includes regular blogs, our library of information as well as our Horse Talks, videos and our Annual Virtual Summit.  Your donation also helps keep that information FREE so advocates can continue to be educated by some of the best people we have had the pleasure of meeting!

Other ways you can help:

We will be holding an online silent auction in May.  We will have details next week on that and will get the website set up for you to upload your donations.  Donations can also be made by emailing us at info@chwha.org

July 2-4 is going to be an AWESOME time in Medora and at Theodore Roosevelt National Park!  We are hoping to be able to share details with you soon! What we CAN say is that it will be 3 days of sharing educational information, having crafts for kids and being available to talk about our ongoing advocacy work IN the beauty of Theodore Roosevelt National Park!  If you want to donate specifically to help make this event a success, you can make your tax-deductible donation for that here: https://secure.everyaction.com/0gcZkMjeAkmt_zfGj9gnvQ2

Thank you again for your continued hard work and support advocating for these historic wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We appreciate your support more than we can ever fully express!

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