Meet Our Mustangs

It’s the content you’ve been waiting for: all about our mustangs! Caroline, Louisa, and I each recall the personalities of the three horses we worked with most. Keep scrolling to get an in-depth look at the 9 horses we rode on our 30-day pack trip last fall and the soon to be *stars* of our documentary!

Louisa

Chow

I can not say enough about Chow's dog-like personality. Chow was my go-to leader for my two-, sometimes three-horse pack-string. Even through the hardest and coldest of days he put a smile on my face by ruffling up my hair, trying to take hats off my head, grabbing trail mix out of my saddlebags (which were on the back of his saddle), and, of course, I fell in love with his super large stride and comfortable gaits. It was really hard to say goodbye to him at the end of the trip. Very early in the morning I would go hangout with our horses and brush them and talk to them and sometimes get on Chow and just sit with him for a bit. Needless to say, I love this horse so much and he stole my heart.

Nev

*Nev sporting a pumpkin costume at our Halloween “party”.*

Nev is small, mighty and very cheeky. He was named by one of our crowdfunding campaign donors after their beloved husband. I always put Nev behind Chow because sometimes he would decide to pull back or jump streams and I needed to have him closer to the front. Nev was a great pack horse, but definitely pushed my buttons. In the Wind River mountain range I think Nev hit every single tree with his left pannier and I would look back and he would smile at me. A lot of the trip I was spent yelling ‘come oooon Nev’, and that would turn into a laugh when I would turn around and see him looking at me with his upper lip in the air. The day we rode out of the Wind River Range and onto the Atlantic City area, Nev decided he was either done for the day or really itchy and got down on the ground, packs and all. After a good amount of yelling ‘get up Nev’ he slowly got up and kept walking the .01 miles we had to camp.

Spitfire

Spitfire got his name rightfully: he was the boss in the herd and had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He was not the most pleased to share hay and grain with the eight other horses he was surrounded by day in and day out. Spit is quick footed, spiteful and surprised us by being one heck of a good pack horse when he was not biting the horse in front of him or getting ready to kick the horse behind him (haha). Spit was what I would call a very tough and hardy mustang with many quirks.

Caroline

Dodger

Dodger was named by our crowdfunding campaign donors Eric & Samantha Heer (my parents!). He was our only palomino and that’s my dads favorite color horse, which is why we chose him to name, but he also ended up being my personal favorite horse in the herd! I didn’t ride him as much during the trip because he was such a great pack horse, but his big heart and loyalty won me over from the start. He was a super smooth ride and one of my favorite memories was riding him bareback at a gallop down the trail with Lou & Katherine on one of our rare (sunny!!) days off :)

TJ

TJ was named by donor Melanie Glenn, after Thelma Johnson, aka wild horse Annie, who was one of the main reasons the wild horse & burro act was passed in 1971. He was my main riding horse for the trip. I have to admit I started out not liking him very much & I gave him the undeserved nickname of “that jerk” - but he quickly proved me wrong by turning out to be an absolutely fantastic riding horse. He has a cute spot on his blaze, and a quirky little sneeze he would do every now & then on the trail. He would also sometimes stop mid-trail to reach past my leg to itch his side!

BB Gun

BB gun was leased to us by Camp Cheley out of Estes Park, Colorado, and he was one of our bigger mustangs. He walks out really well, so it was the most fun to ride him when I didn’t have a horse to pony. He’s also one of our fastest horses, and is inseparable from his best friend, Nev. He originally came from an Inmate Training program, hence his name.

Katherine

Bucket

Our little superstar, Bucket was most certainly our oldest horse but also the steadiest. An old pro at packing, we tried to take it easy on him, with it being such a big trip but when we really needed a good solid horse, he came to the rescue! He was a stoic and solitary dude who didn’t care much about having company of other horses. Bucket came to us from Yellowstone horse rentals with the name George and he is supposedly infamous at the rental company. We had longed discussed naming a horse Bucket and we couldn’t resist; it fit our brave little Bucket so well! He was almost always part of my string and I knew I never had to worry about the little paint when he trailed at the end of my line.

Thunder

Thunder was one of my favorite horses. He was another horse named by some of our crowdfunding campaign donors and it suited him well: comparable in size to Chow (if not bigger) he was a sturdy guy. Because he despised packing, we always either rode or ponied him and I rode him most days of our trip. He lumbered across Wyoming, leading our string with confidence. He wasn’t the fastest so we would often end up at the back of the group but I always appreciated his calm and easy-going demeanor.

Kayak

Kayak was named by one of our crowdfunding campaign donors after her favorite dog. In his black and white tux, he was all business. He’s a round fellow, which often caused us headaches trying to keep panniers balanced over his circular body; for that reason, I would switch between riding him and Thunder often. He was a quick walker and demanded the rest of the string stay behind him; when Dodger would try to walk faster and bunch up my string, Kayak would throw him a mean head toss and put him back in his spot in line. Although he was somewhat of a grump, I appreciated him keeping our string in order. He was a lot of fun to ride and packed like a champ. At one point when we were riding through the Wind River Range, we all had to pass through some tight trees. When I looked back to check on Kayak, he maneuvered his body, full panniers and all, around the trees so as not to run into them. Needless to say, he’s a pretty smart guy.

We couldn’t be more grateful to these 9 mustangs for carrying us through our journey. We also have to especially thank Camp Cheley and Yellowstone Horse Rentals for allowing us to borrow their horses for our trip! We can’t wait for you to see the documentary and see if you think our descriptions hold up ;)

xoxo, the wild women 💕

Women in the WildernessMarch 8, 2022Comment