Nobody's Horses: The Dramatic Rescue of the Wild Herd of White Sands - Rilegato

Hoglund, Don

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0743290887 ISBN 13: 9780743290883

Casa editrice: Free Pr, 2006

Riassunto

A history of the White Sands Missile Range wild horse herd describes how its survival was threatened by such factors as water shortages, radiation, and military tests before the author and a team of cowboys and soldiers took on the daunting challenge of relocating and rehabilitating its 1,800 remaining horses. 60,000 first printing.

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Informazioni sull'autore

Don Höglund, DVM, is a doctor of veterinary medicine who has provided consultation and equine training services for the Pentagon, the Walt Disney Company, and many others. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Estratto. © Ristampato con autorizzazione. Tutti i diritti riservati.

PROLOGUE

I was not ready for a surprise on the morning after our first capture of White Sands wild horses. The roundup had taken the better part of a day, plus three helicopters, six ATVs, and one dozen men, but we had corralled more than one hundred starving horses. It was supposed to get easier after that adrenaline-pumping ordeal. But when I returned to the corral, I found a surprise waiting for me on the other side of the gate: a tiny sorrel foal, just hours old, alone and bleating for his mother. Two-thirds legs, knock-kneed, and wide-eyed, he was deeply distressed.

As I approached, the baby turned his face and ears toward me, willing to ask even a two-legged stranger for help. His face was beautiful, delicate with a white blaze down his nose, and long eyelashes out of all proportion with the rest of his features. He mouthed his lips and gums in subordination as foals do and then quieted as I neared him.

I stepped inside the fence to examine him up close as he sniffed me curiously. By the look of his ruffed coat and the dried sweat caked on his sides, he'd probably searched through the night for his mother before coming to the barrier in desperation. Severely dehydrated, he stood still while I looked him over. His umbilical cord had broken off recently just an inch from his gaunt belly. I bent down and put my nose to his mouth, trying to discern if he had nursed at all before ending up here alone, but he did not smell of mare's milk, and he nuzzled my ear hopefully. I looked more closely at his eyes. They were opaque. The colt was blind.

I spread both arms wide, knelt down, and wrapped one arm around the abandoned baby's neck and the other around his rear, then lifted and carried him to a small, separate enclosure where he'd be safe from the frequent scuffles and commotion in the herd. I hurried to my veterinary truck to retrieve a bottle, a blanket, water, and a supply of mare's milk.

I'd planned to serve as a cowboy, a veterinarian, a leader, a laborer, and a negotiator on this job rescuing wild horses. Now, it appeared that I was going to be a nanny, too.

Copyright © 2006 by Don Höglund, DVM

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Free Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0743290887
• ISBN 13: 9780743290883
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 249
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile