News and Information

Alan Comes to Visit

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:12:51 -0700

We invited Alan Day to visit the Ranch. Alan has been a rancher for 40 years and a man with a wealth of experience in managing a large herd of wild horses in an open range.

Alan Day, one of the two authors of the book “Lazy B”, is Sandra Day O’Connor’s brother and the man who created the Day ranch. He managed 1,500 horses for the Bureau of Land Management on a 35,000 acre range located in the Black Hills Country in South Dakota. A man that whispered to horses before there were any horse whisperers.

The First Foal

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Sandi walked out of the barn today and into the field to see the horses circling a small animal in the field. When she got closer she found it was a little baby filly. The little girl had just been born and she was tiny, weighing in at just 35 or 40 lbs. Sandi picked up the baby and carried her inside, with mom Luna following close by. She brought in some hay and settled them down inside the barn for the night. Since it was just four days after Valentine’s Day, the first foal’s name is Valentina.

Visiting Ila in Lumberton, New Mexico

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:38:26 -0800

You might think it would be easy to go see Ila and check on the horses. Well, it didn’t turn out to be so easy on this day in January.

A New Barn Was Raised

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 14:48:26 -0800

A new barn was raised just as the weather closed in at the end of the season. A second pad was prepared for another barn, but we decided to wait on raising that barn.

The plan is to use the first barn for storage and maintenance and the other for livestock. The second part will be configured with stalls and other features for that purpose.

Yellow Hills Adopts El Rito Mustangs

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 15:15:20 -0800

Yellow Hills Ranch adopted several horses from the El Rito National Forest. Horses adopted from the Forest Service are subject to a one year review period. Someone from the Forest Service comes to check on the them after twelve months. If they are satisfied with the care the animals received, they agree to transfer title to the horses.

Yellow Hills Ranch is working with Sandi Claypool and Ila Bromberg of Monero Mustangs, a New Mexico non profit organization. They are two people with a lot of experience with wild horses.

Wild horses right out of the forest benefit from a settling period. These horses will not be let out to roam in open land. They will be kept close at hand where Sandi and Ila can keep track of them. The daily routine will go on around them as normal, and the horses will be there to just take it all in.

Two Wells and a Power Line

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:34:00 -0700

Two wells were installed and a power line was brought 1.5 miles into the interior of the property. The wells will provide data to understand what water resources are available to the site. That will require flow tests to determine their capacity for recharge. A complete hydrology study is planned.