Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

Dear Susan & Dayton,

 I want to express to you what great joy our new mustangs have brought us!  I would like to introduce them to you by name:

 Mouse grulla medicine hat - Wakan Lakota

 Little Miss B's filly - Neeheewanna

 It has been a dream of mine, for as long as I can remember, to have a mustang.  I researched BLM mustangs in the past 7 years... thinking that was one of the only options for obtaining one of these magnificent horses.  While Buck and I were on a hunting vacation in WY and SD this Spring... we visited the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary.  I had found it on the internet.  I was so excited with anticipation, that I could hardly sleep the night before we had reservations to go on the 2 hour tour.  Dan was kind enough to spend time beforehand showing us the mustangs that were available for sale.  It was immediate that Neeheewanna had chosen me - although Buck said, "Don't fall in love with the first one... we have alot more to look at."  Too late - she was already impressed on my mind and my heart.  We had just finished our barn and had planned on just "looking" at the horses.  Dan is a true asset to not only the sanctuary, but to all the horses there.  It is apparent that he has love and respect for the horses;  they are a part of him.  His son, took us on the tour and was polite enough to stop the bus (which probably seemed like a hundred times) for me to take photographs.  This is where we first saw Wakan... he had only been born days before we got there.  Dan's son told us the beliefs of the Sioux about the medicine hat horse, which I was immediately taken by. 

The sanctuary for me was not only a dream come true (to actually see wild mustangs run freely in their natural habitat) - but it was spiritual as well.  I was moved to tears by the end of the tour.  It was an experience I will never forget.

 After the tour, we went back to look at the fillies, one more time.  I wanted to see if the connection I had with Neeheewanna was a fluke or something real.  She spotted us from the far side of the paddock and walked over to us without hesitation and stretched her head to mine.  That was all it took.  We had planned on only one horse, but I could not decide... they both pulled at our heartstrings.  So... we bought them both and made them part of our herd at home.

 It seemed like a long summer... but we were busy getting the barn and pastures ready for them... like new parents awaiting the arrival of their baby.  When Chuck delivered them... I didn't know what to expect... I did not expect what waited for us in the trailer.  Calm, trusting, cautious horses... both willing to please and both wanting human interaction.  NOTHING like the BLM horses I had seen at auctions.  It was apparent that these horses had been handled with care, respect and love ... right from the beginning of their lives.  We still cannot believe how great they are.  From day one, we have handled them, brushed them, lead them, worked on picking up their feet, cleaned their stalls with them in them, approached them, wormed them, and just spent quality time with them.  They  have been magnificent!  Everything that we have introduced to them, they have been willing and patient with.  EVERYTHING! 

I know we have two very special mustang horses, thanks to you and the sanctuary.  You will never know how much gratitude we have. 

With the uncertain plight of the BLM mustangs and government ... The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary is a godsend to these magnificent animals.  The work you do does not go unnoticed.  With the seemingly lack of concern by our government for the true welfare of the mustangs... places like your sanctuary may, in the future, be the only chance these wonderful mustangs have to survive in their natural habitat - to be the free and wild animals they were meant to be. 

 I truly believe that if the BLM had people like Dan working for them... more of their animals would be considered "adoptable" and not be in jeopardy, now of being euthanized.  I believe the mismanagement and mishandling of the BLM animals, right from collection... has deemed many of them unadoptable... not because they are "bad" horses, but because they have been scared to death of man right from being collected off the plains and nothing has shown them any different once they reached the holding facilities.  They are processed and pushed around... there is no respect, no care, no concern for their well-being.  In my opinion, the BLM could learn ALOT from the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary.

 Again, we thank you, from the bottom of our hearts - for not only our beautiful horses that we now have, but also the fact that Dayton Hyde has a love for the mustangs, and a vision for them ... and that the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary exists. 

 Thank you!

Mary Durosko & Buck Lainhart