Protect the Harvest presents the First Annual Wild Spayed Filly Futurity:

Twelve selected fillies were offered for sale at the 2018 Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity.  These fillies are invited back to the 2019 Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity to compete in their own division for a $25 K purse.  The twelve fillies offered in this special event were selected from the Three Fingers, South Steen’s and Beaty’s Butte herds.  By the time of the sale, all of the fillies were spayed, vaccinated and handled for 30 days.

Wild Spayed Filly Futurity Goal:

The goal of the Wild Spayed Filly Futurity is to showcase the significance and abilities of these resilient, tough and beautiful horses.  It will also demonstrate their trainability and hopefully encourage more people to consider a horse from our American rangelands.  A second and very important goal of the program is to help find economical, safe solutions in controlling the numbers of horses on American rangelands which will allow people to appreciate them in a healthy, balanced environment in the wild.


For more information visit Protect the Harvest website.

Meet Three Fingers Peppermint Patty or "Pepper' as we are calling her. We picked her up from the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity sale on September 13, 2018.   Follow our progress on our Facebook Page as we go from wild to prepared to compete in a reined cow horse competition (Reining, cutting and fence work). 
MEET SOUTH STEENS SIENNA
After Three Fingers Peppermint Patty was unable to continue the program, we were offered a replacement filly. We received South Steens Sienna on March 11th from the Burns, Oregon BLM facility.

This will no doubt be a huge challenge and I will have less than half the time to train this little wild mustang for a reined cow competition.
Update July:
Sienna is coming along great! I have been hauling her a lot and will continue to do so. She has been working the mechanical cow as well as real cattle and really seems to enjoy it. Her turn arounds are also coming along. She is getting more confident and balanced. I am getting to where I can just hop on her and go with more confidence.
Update August:
Sienna continues to do great. She is getting more confident and coordinated. I continue to haul her at least once a week. We went to a clinic in Corning at Rolling Hills Casino and she got to work turn back and box a cow. She got used to the big indoor arena . She is still scared of people walking up the bleachers above her, but she is getting better. Her maneuvers are getting more solid and I am getting more body control over her. As well as riding out of the arena some.
Update September 2019:
We competed in the Spayed Filly Futurity at the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity.... and took home 4th place!! Pretty awesome considering the circumstances. Sienna was a rockstar and stayed focused on me and on her cows. Amazing, challenging, educational experience with this special little mustang!
UPDATE ON PEPPER:
February 2019:
Some of you know I have not ridden Pepper since our 10th ride in November. It was shortly after she came up sore. After a stall rest period, things got much better. We continued to work on the small things, like picking up feet, stretching, getting used to new people and lots of back scratches. We took walks around the barn and did light ground work. We found ulcers and treated them. She was becoming morat te relaxed, happier, put on weight and the soreness was going away. We were getting hopeful we could ease back into work again, but the lameness came back and got worse.

Working with a vet, farrier and chiropractor we were chasing around a lameness that was inconsistent and seemed to come and go. We were able to get good radiographs back over a week ago. According to the vet’s report “she has significant osteoarthritis on the dorso-lateral aspect of the pastern joint with fragmentation." She continues, "In my opinion, there is significant joint arthritis developing and she should not continue any athletic endeavors.” This was likely due to an old unknown injury as the degree of bony changes and arthritis shown would develop over time.

Pepper has changed from an extremely shy, scared and reactive filly to a brave filly full of personality and curiosity that will dig around your pockets for treats if you let her. In the process, she has taught me more patience then I knew I had. We are pulling Three Fingers Peppermint Patty from the Reno Snaffle Bit's Wild Spayed Filly Futurity and are finding the best situation for her where she can rest and be a horse. If you are interested in providing a home for this sweet filly, please be in touch. Thank you for your support!


July 2019:

Pepper has been at a friend's therapeutic riding facility since March. I have been continuing to work with her as well as she has had some teenage girls from the program work with her on the ground. Today, she went to her permanent home, to be out in pasture with a herd of sheep as a "sheep guarder". This is perfect for her as she is a dominiant mare and being able to move around and not stalled seems to help her arthritis.