I have been sick to my stomach ever since I read about this in a post by a remarkable photographer, Jen Rogers.
Last week two wild horses were brutally shot and killed near Simpsons Springs. Many of you will know one of them, the once colt, and now stallion, Jasper. He was the beautiful mustang with one blue and one brown eye. Ever since Ghost was rounded up, and the blonde, red-headed mare was rounded up by the BLM, (then she was returned to the range with an infection so bad that it resulted in her being euphonized by the BLM within hours of her release…) ever since that time Jasper became the horse I looked for every time I photographed the Onaqui. Years ago, he was in the Cremello’s band that Ghost was “shadowing”. You remember the Cremello, the stallion that was rounded up, and castrated by the BLM at the same time they rounded up Ghost… Anyway, as you can see from these few pictures of Jasper he was a kind an loving colt that grew into a magnificent, valiant stallion. He spent years watching over his little sister, the beautiful filly with two blue eyes seen in several of these pictures.
I can’t even begin to do justice in describing the lives of these two stallions. For a remarkably beautiful tribute and story of these two Onaqui stallions written by Jen Rogers you can click here
Jen is one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet. She fell in love with the Onaqui years ago, and moved to Utah just to photograph them. She knows more about the Onaqui wild horses than any other person, period. She also offers photography tours of the Onaqui. You will learn more about the Onaqui in one afternoon with Jen than I have learned in 12 years of photographing them. She personally and singlehandedly found homes for dozens and dozens of the Onaqui that were rounded up and put up for auction a few years ago. She started her own non-profit (Red Birds Trust), adopted several Onaqui horses herself, and has offer a reward of $5,000 (in addition to others) for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for these two deaths. For more information about the reward and additional information click here: reward
I HOPE THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR THE PERSON OR PERSONS THAT SHOT AND KILLED JASPER AND ARSHAN.
May they rest in peace.
Sorry day when stuff like this happens.
OMG…that is so sad…and really pisses me off. How can anyone be so cruel and awful and mean and wicked and nasty. Horses are one of my favorite animals and this is really maddening. I hope you are right about that “special place in hell” for the person or people that did this. And as for the BLM returning a horse to wild after if got sick under their “care” (and I lose that use that term trying to be nice), is abhorrent. This just sickens me.
Yes Greg,
It just breaks my heart as well…. Especially after loosing Pale Rider and Red cloud this past year. But the way this happened with Jasper and Arshan was just heart wrenching. How can people live with themselves ? I have no clue.
Thank for your comment..
Judy L Neill
Your photos are amazing and it’s fantastic that some horses can still live this way.
I hope whoever shot these horses bad karma is returned to them.
Keep up your fantastic work.x