Wild addiction

What a wonderful journey this has been since we have made Colorado our home. I have painted more than I ever thought physically possible for so many years. I have since summer been painting our beloved wild mustangs. I am learning more about them, of them, and the needs for them. The more I paint them, the more of them I want to paint. It has become my addiction. I consider it a favorable one at that, lol. The problem, like any addiction, it can consume you if your not careful. My desire to paint the wild ones, has turned to now want to be with the wild ones. To connect with the wild ones. To bond and belong with the wild ones. Oh, dont you fret...I still have my wits about me! Though I am loving the road I am on, it has its ups and downs, its glory and its crowns.

In our time here I have met a wonderful friend (and another addicted horse lover, hehe) Gabriele Moritz. She is in the throws of fulfilling her addiction. I joined her a few weeks ago to make the drive to Canon City to pick up her little mealy mouthed bay gelding. I didnt get to make it to the corrals where the masses are housed, as we brought 'Shawnee' her trusted long friend, her pooch. Unfortunately Shawnee could not beg her way in, so I accepted the 'sitting' out to baby sit the pooch while Gabriele and photographer Lourie Zipf made thier way to the holding corrals to pick up her mustang. This is all started with the 'Extreme Mustang Makeover' competition. Gabriele (nearing 60) took the challenge to submit her application to train and compete in this summers Makever. This is an event to help promote the wild mustang and thier viability as a wonderful working horse and companion. She was accepted, and so there the journey began.

I anxiously awaited until I could see the trailer behind the truck coming down the road to home. As they drove in the parking lot, I couldnt wait to peek inside and see this wild thing, this living legend, this representation of what I have been passionately painting the last several months.

Finally she put on the brakes and I immediatly jumped on the back of the trailer to take a look see. What I saw were the biggest 'doe' eyes you could ever imagine on a horse. Cautious, pretentious eyes looking back at me, wondering where the road would lead to now. Known as #900, he stretched his neck and nose toward my hand at the rail on the trailer. My first encounter with a wild one. 

We made our way homeward, I considered it a good day in its end. No injuries, no accidents, actually pretty calm for all expected. #900 was unloaded and joined with one of Gabrieles other spanish mustangs for moral support. 

And here lies the beginning of a new journey, a new passion, and a greater addiction than one could imagine. Within the week, I had my first opportunity to make physical contact with this little mealy mouth wild mustang. It was a quiet moment on the outside, but on the inside...a rumbling....