Archive for Wild Horses

Look at all that space Mommy!

Stormy was coming up on seven weeks old and had never been out of her paddock and the adjacent paddock. We figured it was time. So we locked the herd in the eastern pasture, opened the gate from Mustang Paddock to the western pasture, and Read More→

May
07

A Special Telling Moment with Baby Stormy

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Over the weekend we took Firestorm out for an adventure away from the paddock where she was born. Her first trip away from home. While mom munched away I walked little Miss Stormy into the round pen for the first time… and was blessed with a special telling moment. Read More→

I have to keep telling myself that a mere six weeks ago this mustang, fresh from the wild, had never willingly been touched by any human. And I keep hearing about domestic mares who go all crazy when they’ve had a foal and won’t let any human near the new baby. I pinch myself several times a day. Actually several times an hour. Because, as those of you who have followed the blog/newsletter know, on the evening of my birthday this very special lady, who had already trusted me to handle her new baby virtually from birth, threw a switch inside herself and gave me the best birthday I think I’ve ever had. Read More→

Barely a month ago we adopted a pregnant mustang from the BLM facility in southern Mississippi. At that time she had never been handled or even touched willingly by any human. Her seven-hour trailer ride home turned into nine, delayed by two wrecks on the freeway. She was covered in stressful sweat and not a happy camper. But still, less than an hour after arriving home, she took a bit of forage from my bare hand.

This was clearly an unusual mustang. Read More→

Apr
17

What the Devil is the Wild Horse Model…

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…and why did I need to know about it?

Because domestic horses are wild horses.

Excuse me??

That was exactly my first reaction. But it’s true. Domestic horses and wild horses are genetically precisely the same. The horses in our back yard are really wild horses in captivity. Just like a baby tiger Read More→

Apr
15

No-Agenda Time – So Much Value

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No-agenda time is a ritual Kathleen and I began with Noelle after Malachi died. We’d go into Malachi’s playpen, open it up to Noelle, scatter a bit of hay around our feet, then sit there and talk, with no agenda whatsoever. Seriously, none. It yielded some of the best moments and lessons ever with Noelle. We began No-Agenda Time with Saffron and Stormy a week or so ago and the yield has been amazing. Last evening, just after sunset, Stormy fell asleep right at my feet. Shortly after, her mom, Miss Saffron, an untouched mustang from the wild just a few weeks ago, turned away and sauntered off to the water tub for a drink, maybe fifty feet away. Leaving her baby asleep on my boot. She won’t even let Stormy interact with the other horses through the fence. And has never before left her in our care. The trust it took to do that both surprised and overwhelmed us. How can we not exert every effort to be worthy. Read More→

Apr
03

This Morning. Baby Stormy Dozes in My Lap

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Two Weeks Old Tomorrow Read More→

Mar
27

What an Extraordinary Weekend!

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Stormy and Saffron

We’re only a week into this new journey and the most amazing things are happening. Barriers are crumbling like crazy. This past Saturday marked the end of Saffron’s first week with us. An un-handled pregnant mustang captured from the wild August 1st of last year. According to the BLM, she was supposed to deliver in May. But Stormy was born three days after Saffron stepped out of the trailer into her new home. We’ve been told that even mares Read More→

Mar
22

OMG Y’all… It’s a Girl!

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Yes, already! So much for BLM predictions of May :). Born yesterday morning (March 21) around 8:00am. We know because there was no baby at 7:20am when Kathleen drove off to work at her new passion, teaching American Literature to 11th graders at the renowned Webb School in Bell Buckle. And there was a baby when I went down to feed around 8:30am. A mere three and a half days after a nine hour trailer ride for mom! When Kathleen got my photo-text Read More→

Mar
19

Here We Go Again

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Watch the Video

For those who remember Noelle and Malachi, you’ll know why this is entitled Here We Go Again. Last Friday, March 16, we hitched up the trailer, called Laura to sit with the house, horses, dogs, and cat, and drove to the BLM facility on the campus of The Piney Woods School south of Jackson, Mississippi, arriving way too close to midnight. The next morning we adopted our second mustang carrying a foal conceived in the wild.

March 3rd marked three years since Malachi was born (see the blog). And June 3rd will mark the third year since his sudden and shattering death. We felt as if our hearts had been ripped right out of our bodies. It was a terrible time. So how did we know the time was right to have another go? That God was saying, “Now!” Read More→

Jul
04

Okay I Give Up. Kindle Has Won Me Over.

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Amazon announced last week that Kindle Books are now outselling all of their print books – paperback and hard back – combined!

Wow. It happened so fast.

I finally broke down and ordered my first non-fiction book on Kindle… and it took me almost a full hour to throw off the shackles of the printed page and become a huge fan. Why? Because I can Read More→


Free Box of 10 Note Cards with Kathleen’s beautiful horse photography when you purchase The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues. An $18 Value Free with Purchase of the book. Each card is blank inside for your individual note or greeting. Ten cards with envelopes. This offer is exclusive to Newsletter and Blog subscribers and Facebook fans. Go to the Summer Sale page and order from your favorite bookseller. Send us a copy of your receipt and we’ll take care of the rest. Event ends July 15, 2011.

Read what renowned education writer Jack L. Kennedy wrote about The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues for the Joplin Independent:

by Jack L. Kennedy

Joe Camp knows dogs and did well as the creator and producer of Benji movies a few years ago. Joe Camp knows and loves horses, too. He went into seven printings with The Soul of a Horse–Life Lessons from the Herd, a mixture of autobiography, prayer, insight and horse and dog raising skills. Now Camp has produced The Soul of a Horse BLOGGED–The Journey Continues.

Camp has a feel, a heart, a sense of perception that compels the reader to see the relationship between Read More→

May
25

Meet Happier, Healthier Horses

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Rarely a day passes that doesn’t bring emails or posts heralding happier, healthier horses who have left their stalls, shoes, and sugars behind and are living the Wild Horse Model as closely as circumstances allow. Horses who now trust and forge relationship by their own choice, not ours. Unsolicited stories from people we did not know before they wrote. And they are the fuel that drives us ever forward, learning and writing, to make a difference for horses everywhere. After reading just the few below, grouped together for the first time, Kathleen said to me, “When you first contemplated writing that first book, when you told me how important you felt these discoveries were and how much you believed that we should make an effort to get this word out, you said, ‘If just one horse-human relationship could be changed for the better, if just one horse could be living a happier, healthier life then the all the effort would be worthwhile.’” She paused for a long moment and wiped away the beginnings of a tear. “Congratulations my Sweetie,” she said. “Mission accomplished.”

I hope you’ll open your heart and listen to what these horses have to say.

AnneMai’s mare Taiga – out of the stall for good!

From AnneMai on the Island of Mallorca: “After reading your first book we have given our mare as much freedom as possible, no irons, outside at all times (she has an open shelter) and as natural feed as we can get :). She takes herself for walks all day eating a bit here and there. It is a joy to see her and to have her at home for the first time in my life. Thank you for giving us the courage to change all these things :))”

Carri’s mares – no longer stressed!

I love this story from Carri in New York. Like so many of us trying to find a way out of the boarding stalls and unhealthy lifestyle, she looked and looked for a place she could afford to buy. One day she realized that the hay field that abuts the back of her property was no longer a hay field. She had a “bright idea” Read More→

When we first discovered that the genetics of a horse prescribe a lifestyle of living out 24/7 with lots and lots of movement we threw up our hands in frustration. We had no access to land other than a 2.5 acre plot behind the house that was virtually straight-up-and-down steep with some of it totally unusable. Horses in the wild out in the Great Basin of the western United States – where their genetics evolved – travel 10-20 miles a day looking for grass forage, water, and staying away from predators. How could we even get close to replicating that with what we had to work with? But ultimately we discovered that it’s amazing what you can come up with when you really put you mind to it. With less than 1.5 usable acres we wound up creating a Paddock Paradise that generated approximately 8-10 miles of movement every 24-hour day for all six of our horses, and we did it quite simply and inexpensively using what we had available. It’s all explained in the new video, with specifics and on-the-scene videos (one of them quite whimsical according to Kathleen and I’m not sure how to take that :). Click this link and take a look: Our Paddock Paradise: What We Did, How We Did It and Why? Read More→

Mar
06

EBooks with Video – Who’d've Thought?

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I cannot believe that a few short weeks ago I had no clue about any of this. Kathleen had been into it for some time, but for pleasure, not for horses. Then a conversation with Casey Pugh, a vet tech friend, clicked on the light bulb. Quite by accident because she, like Kathleen, was using it only for pleasure.

What the devil am I talking about?? Read More→

Available Everywhere

Amazon- Paperback & Kindle

Barnes & Noble – Paperback & NOOKbook

Buy personally inscribed copies

This book has had more pre-sales than any book I’ve ever written and I can’t thank y’all enough for that. If you plan to buy it, for yourself or as a gift, please, please, please, go to Amazon and help kick it off with a good ranking. Personally inscribed copies are still available on the website.

Thank you so much for all the support you have given to us and our efforts through the years to make life better for horses (and people) everywhere. Kathleen and I feel very blessed at a very blessed time of year.

We wish you all a warm and wonderful Christmas filled with love. – Joe

Amazon- Paperback & Kindle

Barnes & Noble – Paperback & NOOKbook

Buy personally inscribed copies

Nov
15

Look into the Heart and Soul of a Horse

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Due out December 1st.

I want to thank each of you who caused our publication year to be so incredibly special by helping to push The Soul of a Horse into seven printings and make it an official best seller. We are indebted to you all and appreciate you very much. This new book, this continuation of that journey which began with The Soul of a Horse, is for you. And for every horse on the planet. – Joe

Now the commercial :)

The Soul of a Horse BLOGGED – The Journey Continues can be pre-ordered and personally inscribed in time for Christmas. Click here.

This is Joe and Kathleen’s continuing journey from the end of the best selling The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd through their adoption of a wild pregnant mustang and on through their move from the dry rocky hillsides of southern California to the wet grassy hillsides of Read More→

Oct
05

Horses Never Forget Human Friends

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A new scientific study reported by Discovery News verifies that horses are closer to people who treat them well and the study praises the use of treats and words. Those who have read The Soul of a Horse will understand why that gets a big Yippee! from me, and I’m sure from trick trainer Allen Pogue as well. A full chapter in Soul (The Big Red Circus Ball) is devoted to these subjects. We have known for some time that the findings regarding treats and words are true but Read More→

Jun
11

Yippee! At Last! No More Excuses!

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Finally. Enough days of dry weather sandwiched together to get the grading done and get the pea gravel delivered and voila! We have a round pen. Kathleen returns for the summer (another yippee) in a couple of weeks – with her cameras – and then work with Noelle will begin in earnest. No more excuses. A Join-Up and a lead rope are in her future :). Meanwhile she will spend time Read More→

This 6-pound stone was taken from the tummy of a horse. It was
given to
us by Dr. Matt and we keep it on a prominent
pedestal
to remind us how important it is that we get
the diet right for our horses.

By popular demand the next tele-workshop will be on diet and nutrition. A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (TW2) – OR – Why Would You Ever Let Your Horse Eat That? This topic is a slippery slope, like running a military obstacle course, but we have a super group of guests who know the subject inside and out. First Read More→

Cloud (on the right), mustang stallion of the
Pryor Mountains winning a mare

Ginger Kathrens’ motion picture camera has followed the life of Cloud since the day he was born – the day she named him – more than nine years ago. Across those years she has filmed three incredible PBS Specials on Cloud and his wild herd, but the latest one Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions (I call it Cloud 3 :) is truly the best compilation of the the most amazing footage I’ve ever seen that tells a story story so remarkable Read More→

You’ll love it. A short blog: Next Saturday, May 1 at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central, etc) Kathleen and I are hosting our first TeleWorkshop: A Crazy Little Thing Called Love. If you haven’t checked it out, please do: http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/Workshop1SignUp.htm

Also wanted to report our new The Soul of a Horse Fan Page on Facebook is now above 2000 fans. Many thanks to all of you who have become fans. If you haven’t and would like to, we’d certainly love to have you: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Soul-of-a-Horse/106606472709815 Oh, almost forgot… for reasons unknown Facebook decided to change Fan pages to Like pages. Somewhat less honest I’m thinking but if you’d like to be a fan, when you get there click “Like” :)

Joe

6-14-09JoeNoelleSad400

Yesterday I spent the entire day uploading 77 photos of Noelle and Malachi to our new Facebook fan page for the The Soul of a Horse. I don’t think I have the patience to do this. And I know I don’t have the emotional stability to do it when it means going back through all the photos of our wonderful boy horse Malachi. But do it I did, buckets of  tears and all. The one above struck me hard. It was taken Read More→

Mar
16

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

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Pete'sHoof

Finally we’ve got the date set for our barefoot TeleWorkshop. Sorry it took so long. It’s called A Crazy Little Thing Called Love – or – Why Would You Ever Let Your Horses Go Barefoot? It’s not a “how-to” but rather a “why-to” workshop designed for people who are not yet convinced barefoot is the right thing to do, the loving thing to do. And for everyone who is already there but needs ammunition to ward off and convince all those friends and “not-so-friends” who think you’re nuts. This is a two-hour workshop with Joe, Kathleen, and Eddie Drabek, one of the foremost natural hoof specialists in the country, jammed full of facts, undeniable truths, and real-life experiences, with lots of Q&A after.  Send your farrier! Check it out.

A federal district court in Washington DC has granted a  Summary Judgment Motion Against Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar et al forbidding removal of the West Douglas Herd of Wild Mustangs from their range in Colorado. This could be huge for all mustangs.

In the case of Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition vs Ken Salazar, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, Read More→

Categories : Mustangs, Wild Horses
Comments (19)

Patience is not a concept I’ve had much contact with in the past. Like so many homo sapiens, I’ve always wanted everything to happen right now. I think it’s genetic. The shortest distance has always been a straight line. We humans tend to be that way. Especially in this millennium of instant gratification. But since my introduction to horses, I’ve come to learn Read More→

Jul
21

No More Salt Blocks

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Noeele-Joe-7-20-09

I have never been licked by a horse before. Lots of sniffing, nudging, lip nibbling, and just hanging out close by. But never a full-blown, full-tongue lick on the arm. Especially by a mustang who’s never even had a lead rope on. That is I’ve never been licked until yesterday. Kathleen and I (and ALL of the dogs) were sitting in the play pen Read More→

Jul
11

Keeping Your Head

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Patience has never been my long suit. And the ability to panic at the least little thing seems to be embedded in my genetics. So maybe you can imagine what was going on in my tummy the morning that Noelle, our unhandled wild mustang, decided she would take a walkabout out in the free world. Read More→

Below is a portion of a chapter from my next book, which might give you a hint as to why we adopted Miss Noelle, who was pregnant with Malachi when we brought her home.

I was astonished when I learned that we were at risk of losing America’s wild horses. How could that be? These horses are not only a living laboratory, as a group they are a legendary icon of Read More→

Categories : Mustangs, Wild Horses
Comments (2)

A friend asked us if we had a name for the foal yet. We said no, and he said, “Well, the mom is Noelle. How about Foelle?” I threatened to send his email address to all of y’all :)

Today was a good day. Perhaps not the best day Noelle and I have had, but still good. And Kathleen did take some photos and video. It was an unseasonably Read More→

Feb
18

Omigosh y’all! Noelle is bagging up!

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Day 60 – Dr. Matt was here this morning and pointed out that Noelle is bagging up and will probably foal within the next 30 days… at least two months before earlier predictions!

Holy moly! The best laid plans and all that. Did I ever tell you that this is our first, as in FIRST, experience with birthing a foal, never mind one from a mustang who has never been touched (willingly) by anyone but me! Gleep and gulp! Even this morning when Dr. Matt got too close Noelle had to leave my side.

Since the last note I have been able to rub and scratch on both her right and left sides, down to the withers and down the leg to the knee. This morning on her right I even reached down her side toward her flank, and down her spine a bit. And I’m cleaning out eye boogers on both sides ?

I’ve begun a bit of halter desensitization, putting just the weight of my hand on the halter loop. At first, of course, she pulled quickly away. But the first time she didn’t she was instantly rewarded with a bite of hay. Now she rarely pulls away and – on occasion – she’ll even drop her head a bit, or give to a slight tug to the right. Again, instant reward. A rub, a good word, and a bite.

Today I’ll begin trying to approach and get approached without hay in my hands. And we’ll begin a new supplement for mama and baby.

Now, to shake off the sudden onset of tension and pledge to embrace whatever happens and deal with it at the moment. As you’ve heard me say before, God has obviously never felt obligated to let us know what’s in store. He does keep things interesting.

Joe

This morning Kathleen said to me, “Do you realize that you’re always saying, ‘I wonder when I’m going to be able to do this or do that with Noelle.’ Just a few days ago you were saying you couldn’t wait until you could scratch her on the neck. Seriously, just a few days! And here you are scratching her neck, her chest, her leg, her ear, her face and are you satisfied, even just a little bit? Have you taken a moment to just sigh happily Read More→

Day 15 with Noelle, our new pregnant Mustang who had never been handled before arriving at our place is coming along beautifully. Today she and Benji actually “joined-up” completely on their own. They sniffed noses and touched each other. Unfortunately we didn’t have a camera in the paddock at the time, and the funny thing is that Benji won’t Read More→

From the journal January 3, 2009 – On the evening of December 20th, 2008, we arrived home with my Christmas gift from Kathleen, an untouched pregnant Mustang adopted from the BLM in Reno, a six-year-old buckskin lady who chose us – well, chose Kathleen. I had missed her completely in our survey of the 150 or so mares in the five-and-over pasture at the BLM facility the week before.

Just imagine being the very first person ever to be touched by a wild Mustang, and being the first person to touch her foal. Shivers skitter up my spine every time I think about it. Two horses Read More→

Comments (4)