February 19 2021
It was finally here, the day we could finally begin gathering together the family of Romeo, torn apart and taken away from their wild desert home, today was the day we could finally begin to piece their lives back together.
The planning for this day began months before, in October 2020, during one of the largest wild horse removals on record at the time, with helicopters chasing 1,970 Red Desert mustangs into traps, many of which I had known for nearly a decade, the spirited lead mares and their valiant stallions, their young foals that had grown and now had their own growing wild horse families.
As the days drew close to this thing that would take away so many wild horses from their wild desert, Meg Frederick one day asked me - which ones, Angelique, which ones do you need safe?
My heart needed no time to think before answering it was the family of Misun!
As a son of Romeo with his own band of mares and foals, his sister Tata Wakan, and his mother Bella, as a band that held a literal piece of my soul, I was unbelievably grateful that someone who had the connections to help had offered that light at the other end of an incredibly endlessly long dark tunnel.
And that was how this particular journey began.... two women in love with wild horses, now on a mission to bring a Red Desert mustang family back together, in a place that would allow them to heal from the trauma of being removed forever from their wild desert lands.
This is the first step in a journey that would take us over a year, a step that would prove to be the one that gave us strength to keep on in a very challenging and often discouraging journey, to find and bring together this family of mustangs from two separate holding facilities, and to the sweet sanctuary of Return to Freedom.
Rose & Isabelle with their mother's and family in their wild home the Red Desert
A lot happened between the day they were taken from the desert and this day.... phone calls, prayers, planning, desperate hope, emails, more planning, and more phone calls!
And a lot of anxiety.... because others felt they had more right to Isabelle than any sanctuary there was drama and deceit - secret Facebook groups we were banned from, information shared with others deemed more worthy, all because we dared to want for this filly more than to be a blue-eyed trophy mustang in some random corral.
But we had friends too.... friends that joined the FB group and let us know things we needed to know, and sometimes just to laugh at the hysterical hatred directed at us.
And now here I stand, at some ridiculous hour of the morning, in the dark and cold of maybe 10 degrees and a wind chill I would not want to guess - a dear friend also in that cold dark hour with me, hoping to adopt another special young mare with which she had fallen in love. We soon were joined by a crowd of others, but by some miracle and insistence of friends that I be out there before a sane person would go, I was at the front of the line, I had the girls tag #s, and I was so very close to being able to adopt the two beautiful daughters of Misun!
Rose and Isabelle cling together in the BLM pen during the adoption event in Rock Springs WY
The gates would not open for a few hours, when the sun was up, and after the more sane people showed up with coffee. I don't even remember if I ate that morning.... I was SO nervous and anxious and scared that something would yet go wrong!!
Thankfully I was not alone, Meg was not able to fly out from her home in the mid-west to this particular adoption, but instead for company was Carol Walker and Rachel Reeves, I would not have made it through that day without either one of them.
Although we had the tag #s for Isabelle and Rose, and I was approved to adopt three mustangs that day, what we did not know was if their brother was also going to be available that day, and I could not be both in the line to complete paperwork for the girls, and go look for their brother in the corrals.
As the gates finally opened I hustled to maintain my 1st in line spot - you can bet your life I would've tripped anyone who tried to get past me - knowing their tag #s allowed me to walk right past the paper list on the wall, right to the desk with my name on the pre-approved adopters list, and hand my paperwork to the very person who tried so very hard to keep me from adopting the filly we called Isabelle, and give her the girls tag #s as my choice to adopt, there really was something very satisfyingly karmic in that moment for me.
Meanwhile, Carol Walker headed to the corrals where those mustangs offered for adoption that day were being held. Ohhhhh, and did I mention, only so many mustangs were offered for adoption that day?!? There were hundreds being held in the Rock Springs facility, but only 60 some mustangs originally offered to the public that showed up hoping to adopt.... and I was there for three of them, not knowing if young Romeo would be available or not - and because it was unknown, and I had to make sure I got the girls, Carol went to look in the corrals for me, promising to call me if she found him.
As soon as the paperwork was signed for the girls, the check handed over to the BLM, and all was done, I stepped away from the tables and called Meg, sobbing from relief and joy, my first words were - they are ours!! They are safe.... we did it!!
And then began the next step of the girl's journey.....
Rose leading the way down the chute to their freedom ride.
Meg called in some pretty big favors that day.... and some really amazing people answered with such grace and love, giving a wonderful place of love and safety to these young fillies for several weeks until they would make the long trip to California.
Steve and Nancy Cerroni, from the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center, stepped in to help, Steve drove down from Lovell to Rock Springs to pick up these two girls and take them back to his and Nancy's place in Lovell, and I must admit, he did a lot for calming my own nerves, because even though I had all the paperwork done, I was not able to rest easy until we had them off of BLM property and away from the holding facility.
Steve Cerroni backing into the loading chute for Isabelle and Rose
I followed Steve most of the way home that day, living in Cody at the time, I was able to visit these beautiful fillies for the weeks they stayed here, bundled up with hand warmers against the bitterness of February and March winds, just sitting near them offering all the loving energy I could to help heal the loss of their freedom and family, giving them space to be the horses they needed, Steve and Nancy offering the safe solace of their ranch, knowledge of horses, and the love they have both for humans and horses.
Isabelle & Rose at the Cerroni's in Lovell WY
Yes - you do see a 3rd nose - that story is next I promise!
Weekends became only for them in that time.... another friend would come also and sit with me on those days, looking back I wonder at how incredibly lucky we were to be surrounded by such amazing humans that never questioned it all but just stepped in to help Meg, me, and these young mustangs.
There are many things that could have gone differently, we might have found someone who was ready to take the girls immediately to California, they might have stayed at another place waiting for that long trip west where I could not visit.... but instead we were granted two months together - time that I will always treasure.
First touches of their choice with me at the Cerroni's
At the end of March it was finally time for them to go west to the promise of sanctuary in a place unlike any they had known in their young life, a place that had people excitedly waiting to greet them and show them amazing grace and love.
It was going to be months before we were able to get into the holding facility in Colorado where their parents and aunties and uncles were taken to, and months longer after that before the rest of the family would arrive at the same place as these girls.
Isabelle and Rose are now grown into stunning young mares, they have learned many new things with humans, and they love the company of humans - especially their human, Meg Frederik, the bond between her and these two girls is breathtakingly beautiful, unbreakable, and wonderful to witness.
Isabelle & Rose now at Return to Freedom in Lompoc CA
Wait, does it feel as if some part of this story is not complete - wasn't there something about a brother too, young Romeo??? Why yes..... there is more! Soon...... I promise!
I want to add this to the story, the tale of bringing together a family is not an easy one, it is not short, it is not simple, and it certainly cannot be well told in a single blog.
Through all of it, the year plus it took us to find, fight for, and bring them to sanctuary, there was never any hesitation from Neda DeMayo - she is the founder and president of Return to Freedom, and she never faltered once in this journey.
When we adopted the three foals from Rock Springs, we did not know if we would be able to find and adopt their parents and the rest of their family, it was a very real chance that the foals would be the only part of the family found and adopted by us, but neither Neda or Meg wavered, it did not matter to them because that was the first step we were able to take, and it was taken on the blind faith that whatever else mayhappen, at least these foals would be given a wonderful home.
And that is the kind of faith and love that great character is made of - it is the kind of determination that carried all of us through the next year of ridiculous trials and challenges that nearly lost Misun his life from an injury received under BLM care, that saw mares starving to death with foals so tiny from malnutrition coming from BLM care, but we did it together as a team, we were able to find almost every member of the family of Misun and bring them together to the sanctuary of Return to Freedom.
Neda DeMayo & Meg Frederick at Return to Freedom - San Luis Obispo