Dear Friends,It’s been a while! I am hoping that this e-mail finds you well and the summer hasn’t passed you by. I am tempted to list everything that has passed in the whole year or more since I’ve written… but I’m not sure I could!
A lot has happened in the past year- mostly very good. One sad loss is that my grandpa Morty died-- but he lived life with a real spring in his step and music in his heart I think. I feel fortunate to have my little Shoebox house and a garden that friends helped me put in. My roommate, Laura, is back from traveling and so the house is full of flowers and farm produce. I’ve got the best little dog friend in the world: enter Fiddle!
He’s a Australian Cattle Dog “with a shot of border collie” who I adopted in January at around 8 months old. He’s originally from Kansas where he was in a shelter that was going to put him down the day before Rocky Mtn Cattle Dog Rescue brought him to Denver and I got him. We’ve been having a grand ol’ time climbing mountains with old friends and new friends, riding the bike path to work etc—generally he’s my little shadow and a lot of fun. So it’s Fiddle and the cats (Basil and Petra) and Laura and I in the house plus a lot of welcome visitors from near and far.My mom and I once passed a house on the isle of Capri (off the coast of Italy) that had a painted tile next to the front door which translated to: “the house of love and music”. That is what I like to have for the Shoebox house as well- it has been nearly a year that I’ve been here already!
My dad came out to visit in May and helped me make my garage into a studio—what a dream to be able to make livewires (yep, still twisting wire in my non-existant free time) in a artful space where I can spread things out… beats the coffee table! 
I’m still working with the film company and our third program about Cloud and the wild horses of the Pryor Mountains in Montana, Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions will air on October 25th on PBS’s Nature series. It has been a big learning experience to be working on a film project like this but Ginger has again made a beautiful documentary about these horses and I enjoyed being the associate producer (ie- doing a little bit of everything from filming to editing and production management). I’ll send out an e-mail reminder closer to October but you can also read a little more about the show here:
What has really spurred me to write a group e-mail on this cool morning, sunlight only edging the top of the maples in front, are the horses. (I can hear everyone saying “always the horses!” – nothing changes does it?)
Despite the efforts of many, many people, The Bureau of Land Management is still on a rampage to destroy our wild horses in the American west. As I write this they are zeroing out 12 herds in Nevada— tearing horses out of their wild homes to foreseeably make room for oil and gas and water extrication projects. On
September 1st they plan to remove 70 horses from Cloud’s herd of 190 – the only remaining wild horse herd in Montana and also the most famous in the world. Removing 70 would bring this herd well below the minimum genetically viable level of 150-200 as mandated by the nation’s foremost equine geneticist. BUT THE BLM IS NOT LISTENING. Ginger and I have been working nonstop to try and save this herd and prevent the BLM from carrying out this massive, unprecedented removal that would require that they take older horses. Horses like Cloud’s 18-year-old mother who is possibly one of the sweetest creatures I have ever had the honor of being around. Many of Cloud’s contemporaries and horses that Ginger has known their whole lives and I have come to respect and love over the past four years. 
So! We’ve got to stop or at least limit this round-up to 20 young horses. Older horses have little chance of being adopted and deserve to live out their lives in their wild home. The horses are fat and healthy, the range is beautiful but the BLM is bent on a mission of “managing to extinction” I am still a endemically a hopeful person, but I’m really scared. So it is definitely time to reach out to friends—we need help to save these horses. You can read more on our (new!) Cloud Foundation website- but please take the following steps.
-Call and write your congressionals – ask them to demand that Montana congressionals take care of this herd which is truly a national living treasure!-Call & write President Obama: 202-456-9000, fax 202-456-2461
-sign our petition, we’re trying to get 8,000 signatures before the 27th
Please help spread the word! We are trying hard to get national media coverage for this herd and all wild horses—do you have contacts with local or national media? here is a press release:
I will keep you updated and I hope I can share some good news about the horses next time I write!
If you’re ever in the Colorado Springs area, give me a call—I would love to see you and share Colorado with you (as would Fiddle). The Aspens will be turning gold before you know it.
All best,
Makendra
719-351-8187
