Barbara's Magnetic Personality

Over the past few days, Barbara and I have been talking (via email) about the land behind Dreamcatcher.  It's the land directly in back of the houses in this photo.  In one of her emails, she said:

...It's a beautiful piece that goes way back up the valley.  The mustang mares broke out of their winter pen about a month ago and I eventually found them grazing a few miles up that valley.  It was really secluded and pristine with a small reservoir.  They looked so natural grazing back there.  But alas, I had to make them come home.

I wasn't sure how she could have rounded up fifty or sixty wild mustangs that had escaped.  So, I asked her how she did it.  Her reply may explain why she survived being hit by a truck:

As for retrieving the herd..it's my magnetic personality.  Just kidding.  After watching them from across the valley I finally called out.  They all looked up and when they saw me they came running......at full gallop.  I think they view me as the lead mare or some such thing.  Anyway when they started coming my way I just turned and started walking back home.  Soon I could hear the thunder of all the pounding hooves behind me as the herd came at full tilt.  When they reached me they just split down the middle without breaking stride.  One half of them galloping past me on the right and the other half on my left.  They ran all the way home and waited for me to catch up.

It's something they have done to me many times before.  I am not sure what it means but it seems significant to them.  Once I had a reporter ask me to go out toward the herd so he could get a shot of me with the horses.  As soon as I stepped into the pasture the herd came toward me at a dead run.  I stood perfectly still as they passed me on both sides.  The reporter thought he had died and gone to heaven with the shot he got.

Even though I am not sure why they do it, I have always felt safe.  I just knew they would not run me over.  It's a special kind of thrill to be in the middle of all that wildness.  And when the horses pass me they each look at me in a very direct way.  It's weird and wonderful at the same time.

IMHO, not only is Barbara very, very professional in the way she runs the non-profit organization and the operation itself, but the horses obviously need her.