2024 was a really tough year... and I have had some really truly awful years, but 2024 was just a little extra challenging and had some wicked learning curves in it.

It was not (just) the loss of several thousand wild horses from their wild lands, this kind of loss I have faced with wild horses I count as friends several times over, I have sat with the sorrow of those wild horses taken, and grieved deeply for and with them.

But this year I was not allowed to wallow in that grief.... instead it was very much a year that required I learn how to do a different kind of advocacy, it was a year that I sacrificed days, weeks, and even months of time normally spent in my wild home of the Red Desert with her wild horses, but instead that time was taken to observe and advocate for wild horses in other - equally important - HMAs of Wyoming.

It was a year in which I had to put away my rosy glasses and see people for who they truly and actually are... a painful thing to experience, to fully understand that some I had thought were true advocates and good friends, to me and the wild horses, are really not either of those things.

It was a year when I began to accept that how I speak and how I advocate for the horses is not really for everyone, not everyone will understand, accept, or support why I advocate in the way that I do, and that it is okay if I choose to walk my own path, no matter how lonely that may feel some days.

A rough year... one that at times I wondered what in the actual hell I was doing!

I was very much out of my comfort zone during the McCullough Peaks removal and the North Lander Complex roundup and removal - having to learn fast and understand well written BLM policy and procedures, the legalities of what could and should be challenged, and I had to understand and accept when it was too late to legally challenge a removal, and to somehow keep my center and follow my heart, trying to make sure I did the correct things, not too soon and not too late...

I managed to make some advocates angry because I spoke too loudly against BLM for one removal and then other advocates declared me useless because I would not publicly fight another roundup.

My reasons for each are written out in various blogs that you can find and read on this same website, so I do not feel the need to rehash them here.

So here I am now... a month into the new year of 2025, and in the chill of winter I have been finally able to pause and digest all of the things from 2024.

Would I change any of it? Well..... aside from the obvious wishful wish that no roundup or removals happened - absolutely not, no changes to my lessons from 2024.

2024 forced me to step into a new way of thinking, acting, and of advocating.

It forced me to be braver than I thought I could be... it taught me that it is important to understand all of the rules & regulations, that sometimes you need to follow protocol even when it seems pointless, sometimes you have to push a line that appears to exist but in reality does not, and that sometimes you can make a difference, even if only in the smallest of ways and that maybe only you will ever know - and that is okay, because it still helped at least one wild horse.

It taught me that it is okay to see people for who they are and still love them.... and that you can still care for someone and walk away when that relationship is harmful to you or others. It taught me that sometimes someone is not at all who they present to the world and it is far better to be ostracized by them than to be associated with them.

It taught me that not all wild horse advocates are actually in it for the horses.... that lesson was incredibly painful, because the horses are never anything but honest, and they deserve so much better than being used selfishly by humans in any way.

It taught me that it takes strength to step forward in faith offering kindness and positive energy when what I really wanted was to be angry, and being okay that others assumed I was betraying wild horses, and seeing that the person I offered kindness to in the end was exactly who I feared them to be, but I did what I did for the horses and it made a difference in how they were treated in the moment I was restrained, and for that reason I will never regret my choice.

And there was good in 2024.

Relationships in which I was granted kindness and encouragement unexpectedly in the midst of chaos... friends found that are amazing beacons of light in the wild horse advocacy world, and there were new connections made that I have hope will lead to new break-throughs & wins for wild horses in the future.

There were small wins here or there for the wild horses, and while it is easy to shrug at a small win that feels like nothing in the face of losing thousands of horses from their wild places, these small wins are important, this is a long game of chess and even the smallest of victories are important, together these wins will mean more one day.

And there were the horses... the reason I began this journey and have fallen so deeply madly in love with their wild sage scattered desert, the reason I don't give up and walk away when humans are just too much, the always amazingly spirited and always honest wild horses.

And now it is time to take the things learned and move into this new year.... I am not one for making New Years resolutions, I find myself far too easily distracted to stay on course, and to be terribly honest I think the universe enjoys throwing curve balls and knocking me off course!

But I did learn a lot from 2024, I grew in so many different ways, I have a better sense of what is important to focus on, what is rubbish and a wasteful distraction, and I am much more confident in walking the path I am meant to walk.

So what does the future look like for me and what I share with you?

Probably not all that different.... I will be in the field whenever time, finances, and weather allow, capturing video and images of wild horses in their wild lives, observing them as they allow, documenting their lives and the things that need to be shared.

I will follow any roundup and removals that happen in Wyoming or Montana, there are [of course] many roundups across the western states, but this is where I live and as I do not live a life with unlimited resources, I stick to the wild horses nearest to me.

I am working on a project that will share with you the story of one of the amazing and resilient wild mares of the desert, and how her life story shows how all of the wild horses of the desert are irreplaceably connected, regardless of the man-made and invisible to the horses, HMA boundary lines across their wild lands.

I will continue to learn BLM policy, I will question those policies when necessary and possible, and I will call out whenever those same policies and procedures are not followed correctly by BLM staff.

And I hope to share more of the three mustangs that were captured and now live with me and my husband - they are an integral member of our home 'herd' and they are partners with us in all things, including the battle to keep wild horses in wild places.

So yes, 2024 was a truly challenging and difficult year, but I am thankful for the lessons learned so that I may now confidently walk my own path with authenticity and integrity.

I hope that each of you reading this find the confidence and courage to walk to the beat of your own heart... I hope you know that it is okay if others dismiss you for walking a path they cannot see or understand, the only thing that matters is that you walk your path in authenticity, honesty, integrity, and with your heart, soul, and spirit.

Stepping into 2025 with gentle kindness for those that need it, the wisdom to discern the best way to act and when to act, with bravery as quiet or as loud as you need it to be when you need it to be, with strength of heart and character for the challenges we inevitably face, and may there always be joys found to balance the sorrows we suffer.

As always, thank you for being on this journey with us.