It was the night of Thursday, December 2nd, 2010, and Carol Poole couldn't sleep. The Facebook image of a frightened black mustang mare who had landed in the "kill pen" at the New Holland auction haunted her. The forlorn mare, whose neck brand identified her as one the BLM had taken from the wild, was destined for a one-way trip to a slaughterhouse unless someone stepped in to save her. When nobody else did, Carol realized it was up to her.
Even though she wasn't really thinking about adding another horse to her band of three at her 10-acre Almosta Farm in Oakham, Mass., Carol knew she had to intervene to save the mare's life. Carol is a devoted wild horse advocate who has been working passionately to end the relentless spate of BLM roundups. With fundraising help from a bevy of like-minded supporters on the PA Kill Broker Owned Facebook page, a chunk of the $595 "bail" money was chipped in to cover the costs of the mare's purchase price, as well as the coggins certificateand health exam that she would need to make the interstate journey from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. And by the morning of Tuesday, December 7th, the mare was home free.
But how in the world did she find herself in harm's way? Carol made it her mission to find out. She contacted the BLM's Steve Meyers, who looked up the brand and discovered that this horse had been trapped and removed from the 65,000-acre Three Fingers Herd Management Area in eastern Oregon back in 2002. She had been adopted in 2004 by a person who was identified by Meyers as Amish. We don't know what happened to her in the interim, but we do know that the New Holland auction is often used as a dumping ground for horses owned by members of the local Amish community. According to the BLM's records, the mare is 10 years old.
When she walked off the trailer onto Carol Poole's farm in early December, the little mustang mare appeared to be sweet, serene, and surprisingly easy to handle. But her eyes were "glassy and watery," Carol recalled, signaling that all was not well. And within a day or so, the mare's demeanor changed so dramatically that Carol is convinced she had been drugged prior to the sale. By the day before Christmas, Carol admitted that "we still can't get near her" to touch her, pet her, or to remove her halter, which has obviously been attached to the mare's head for a long time. "She doesn't want anything to do with humans," Carol said, sadly, and "she shies away if you move your hands. I think she's been abused."
But Carol has no intention of giving up on this shy, gentle creature whose fearfulness cannot hide a quiet dignity and nobility of spirit. To honor her, Carol determined that the mare should have a name befitting her wild heritage, and after consulting with William Firecloud, Jr., she has chosen to call the mare, "Wash-Ah-Kah Chon-Teh," which is Dakota Teton dialect for "Strong Heart."
For now, "Chon Teh" (pronounced "Shon Tay") has a roomy paddock across from three other horses (including another mustang), access to a run-in shed, fresh water, and as much hay as she can eat. Slowly, she is allowing herself to get closer to people, and she seems to understand that she is finally in the arms of people who have no wish to harm her.
Carol dreams that she will one day be able to return Chon Teh to a western reserve where she can roam in wide open spaces with other mustangs. "I personally don't think any wild horse belongs to any person," Ms. Poole emphasized. "The only reason we took her was to save her life." And in doing so, she has given Chon Teh the most precious gift of all: a second chance.
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