The Board of Directors of The Corolla Wild Horse Fund approved a resolution honoring the work of one of America's greatest mustang preservationists. For several decades Joty Bacca and his family haved worked to preserve the Bacca line of Colonial Spanish horses. And work is the correct word to use. The utterly selfless dedication that is required to preserve a line of nearly extinct horses is not a mere hobby. It is hard, exspensive work.
Yet for decades he has done this work. He has not done this work to get famous. He has not done this work to get rich. He has worked so hard because early on he realized that he has something very special in his horses and he put his life not only into saving the strain, but into helping others understand what was so special about these historic horses.
Something can be said of Joty Bacca that unfortuantely cannot be said of many men today. He has dedicated his life to something bigger than himself. To do so is truly to have life and to have it more aboundantly.
Valor is a Corolla mare that came to us nearly dead. She had been captured because she was so weak that she could barely stand on her own. It took a long time to get her healthy and a longer time to get her to trust people.
The first vet that saw her at my place was new and had never been out to our horse lots before. She was confused as to what I hoped to ever do with this wild mare that was but skin and bones. I began to explain the offsite breeding program to her and she very politely interrupted and said that Valor would not be a candidate for breeding. She said that she was unthrifty and would likely always be so.
This morning I looked at her as she stood in the pasture. She is the picture of equine beauty. In a few weeks I will breed her to Wanchese. I am not critical of the vet when I point this out. Few people could have ever looked at her and dreamed of a future for such a sickly looking mare.
I could and I have no doubt that Joty Bacca would have been able to see that same potential. When one considers the long odds against the Corollas it is easy to be pessimistic about our chances of being able to preserve them in captivity.
When I look at what Joty Bacca has done, the pessimism fades. One man can matter.
For what he has done for his horses and for what he has done to inspire others, Joty Bacca matters.
1 comment:
Having grown up in Southern New Mexico, I had at least heard of Mr Baca, and his horses, even if I did not understand the importance of what he was doing. Horses seem to be alot closer to daily life in many places out west..and as a result folks tend to view mustangs in a much more favorable light..a mustang pony is the go to mount for many folks who handle cattle for a living, and to many, as Mr Baca, it is of supreme importance to preserve that root of all that represents wild freedom in the American west. It really should be no different here in the east, but in today's world of interstates, air conditioners, and show horses..(don't text and ride plese) folks just are not as connected to horses.
How cool would it be if instead of a "Chicken in every pot," or a "car in every garage,or as was a popular notion in the early sixties, "almost everyone will have a personal light aircraft" the American people had stayed close to the horse..kids brought up knowing how to get around on four hooves, to care for horses, to love them and be loved..if we focused more on the healing, and calming power of the horse..just how many fewer children's "behavior problems," would be "solved" by opening a bottle of pills a couple of times a day. But then, that would not sell pills, now, would it?
Maybe we, as Mr Baca, and his family could keep these wonderful creatures happy and healthy, productive members of our ecosphere, instead of driving them to genetic extinction. Thank you, Sir.
Steve is quite correct in his estimation of Valor..it would have been so easy to let her slip away..instead, we have out in the middle pasture one of the prettiest, smartest, and most expressive horses you will ever see..she is a horse easily worthy of being The preferred mount of even the most noble of Spanish Senoras...Fortunately, she found Tim, and vice versa. -Lloyd
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