A privilege to live among wild horses

Most people who read my Fish Springs Flier already know my feelings about the wild horses. Ever since we found the little mile-high valley of Fish Spring Flat back in 1978 we fell in love with it and all it's wild animals - including a few interesting homesteaders too.

I remember the day when my husband and I were driving around the bumpy old dirt roads when suddenly a band of beautiful, healthy horses - wild horses - came running alongside our truck. We were thrilled and felt blessed to be a part of this magnificent moment. It was better than any cowboy movie. Ever since that day I've felt privileged to see the wild horses that frequent Fish Spring Flat and the surrounding Pine Nut hills. They are strong, fascinating and very healthy and they don't need expensive vet bills and horseshoes hammered onto their hoofs. Nature takes good care of them.

These resourceful horses live off the land, eating various grasses and other vegetation and drinking water from the Pine Nut Mountain springs and creeks. When the creeks run dry, as they have in this extreme drought year, the horses come down to the East Valley reservoir. Sometimes they get water and grass from unfenced yards. There is a Nevada revised statute requiring people to fence off their yards if they don't want range livestock on their property. This is open range country and signs are posted to remind you of that. Legally, horses always have the right of way.

Then how come just a couple complaints to the BLM can justify taking the horses away? It's a difficult situation as most of the residents like to see them, but it's getting dangerous as the traffic has increased and at least two of the horses have been hit and killed by fast-moving vehicles. Please slow down, neighbors.

Fish Springs is one of the last communities in Carson Valley to have free-roaming wild horses. They've been gathered up and taken away from other neighborhoods like Johnson Lane and Ruhenstroth. People move here for the peaceful quiet and natural environment, which includes wildlife. If they don't want deer or horses in their yards, they should fence them out. Personally, I feel very blessed and privileged to share the land with the wild horses as they are one of the last vestiges of America's old west.

Turkey Day

Only four more days until Thanksgiving - whoopee! It's the most fabulous feast of the year and a lot less complicated than Christmas. Many of our friends grow much of the food that they'll be serving to their family, so pretty soon they will have to get the potatoes, carrots, onions and pumpkin out of the root cellar or cold bedroom closet, and the peas, green beans and corn from the freezer. Some down-home folks, like my neighbor Dolly Schreckengost, even raise their own turkeys, but she really loves her pet birds and she would never eat one. Then there's Gary Welch who raised a 40-pound tom turkey that wouldn't even fit in his oven. I guess he could roast half of it in the oven and barbecue the other half.

Our best wishes to everyone for a most beautiful Thanksgiving Day, one that's filled with scrumptious food, and loved ones to share it with you. Special thanks go out to the Douglas County Road Department guys who did a really nice job recently on our Fish Springs/East Valley shoulders. We appreciate you.

-- Linda Monohan may be reached at 782-5802.