Published: May 04, 2008 11:40 pm         

Clay County woman helps others own horses

Spirit of Freedom Farm is home to dozens of horses

BRAZIL — When Jane Loughmiller adopted a wild mustang nine years ago, she had no idea that her dream would grow into a passion that has helped dozens of people realize their own dreams of owning a horse.

Loughmiller had never been around horses and knew nothing about them, she said, but she decided it wasn’t too late.

“I just knew that I wanted a horse. I had always wanted a horse since I was little,” she said.

“I adopted Stormy when I was 47.”

At the time, the Loughmiller farm – where her husband Dale had grown up – was home to cattle. There was one pasture where Loughmiller could put her new wild horse, who was just a baby.

She admits she didn’t know what to do when Stormy came to live with her.

“I went to different seminars, watched other trainers, I did a lot of reading, and Stormy taught me a lot,” she said. “Mustangs are great teachers – if you mess up, they let you know. You can get by with a lot with a domestic horse that you can’t with a mustang,” she added.

Initially, it was the price of adopting a wild mustang that appealed to Loughmiller, she said. Through a federal wildlife management program, individual mustangs are available for an adoption fee of just $125.

As for taking on a wild animal, “I decided that I didn’t care whether I ever rode him or not,” Loughmiller said, with a smile. “I just wanted a horse.”

Since those early days, Stormy has become a well-behaved, ridable companion who participates in riding lessons and who recently participated in a wedding. Also, in the intervening years, Loughmiller’s former cattle farm – a serene country setting in the northwest corner of Clay County – has become home to dozens of horses, most of them wild mustangs who were captured in Wyoming and Nevada by the United States Bureau of Land Management.

The farm, now called the Spirit of Freedom Farm, boards horses, fosters wild mustangs until they are adopted, provides training workshops and lessons, and has a steady stream of happy, usually first-time horse owners.



The Wild Mustang and Burro Program

The Bureau of Land Management “protects, manages, and controls wild horses and burros under the authority of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 to ensure that healthy herds can thrive on healthy rangelands,” according to the BLM’s Web site.

One of the BLM’s responsibilities under the law is to determine the appropriate management level of wild horses and burros on the public rangelands. The animals have almost no natural predators, and their herd sizes can double about every four years. Consequently, nearly 29,000 wild horses and burros roam BLM-managed lands in 10 western states. The population exceeds by about 2,500 the number that can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.

To help restore the balance, on a regular basis the BLM gathers some number of wild horses and burros and offers them for adoption or sale to those individuals and groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care.

Through a recently-created program within the BLM, fostering volunteers are selected to gentle and place wild mustang yearlings directly from BLM facilities. It was through that program that Loughmiller began increasing her herd in the last couple of years.

In 2006, her first year with the program, Loughmiller placed 23 yearlings for the BLM. In 2007, Spirit of Freedom Farm adopted out several more horses, and 2008 is already off to a good start.

Fostering volunteers like Loughmiller are selected by Wild Horse and Burro Specialists and are required to be past adopters who are skilled in handling wild horses and who have experience in gentling and training techniques. Not all past adopters qualify.

Several times a year, depending on demand and resources, Loughmiller makes the trip to Ewing, Ill., where the BLM has a holding facility for wild yearlings that have been captured in one of the western states.

She then brings the yearlings back to the farm in Brazil for gentling and adoption.

The BLM maintains records on fostering volunteers as well as on individuals who adopt wild mustangs. The animals are considered property of the federal government for one year after adoption, at which point a certificate of title is issued to the adopter.

Within the past week, Loughmiller brought four yearlings back from Ewing and accepted three additional yearlings from the St. Mary-of-the-Woods College program. Those three have already been adopted.



“You can never get enough …”

Loughmiller sets an example for new horse owners at her farm, she said.

“A lot of people, especially women, dream of eventually owning a horse,” she said, “and I’ve met so many women that are over 30 that … they still have that dream, but they kind of look to me, to my example as being able to do it, finally. They see, I guess, it’s not too late.”

At Spirit of Freedom Farm, Loughmiller provides six large pastures with run-in shelters, a 45,000 square foot outdoor arena, a 60-foot sand round pen, a lighted grooming shed with running hot and cold water, on- and off-road riding, two BLM-approved corrals, overnight facilities for horse owners, a tack room, farrier, veterinarian and training services, and stables, although the farm encourages pasture boarding.

It was never her plan to be running such a facility, Loughmiller said Sunday, but one horse led to another. Now, she personally owns four mustangs and a miniature horse.

“It’s one of those things where you can never get enough,” she said with a smile, as she watched potential adopters visit with one of the newest yearlings.

Loughmiller said fostering mustangs “was a way for me to be able to go through the excitement of picking out horses and then adopt them out to someone else.

“It’s very rewarding to me to see other people be able to achieve their dreams of having a horse.”

Nina and Ivin Hylton, of Cory, spent Sunday afternoon feeding and petting a new yearling from Wyoming. Nina Hylton had her heart set on the little strawberry roan, whom she had already dubbed “Dusty Rose.”

Hylton said it is important to her that Spirit of Freedom Farm boards horses.

“Even though we’ve got the acreage, we didn’t have any of it fenced in,” she said. “Most people aren’t already set up for [a horse] … This way, you can get one sooner.”

Adopters and boarders often drive from many miles away to visit with their horses.

Susan Dunbar, of Sullivan, said she had been scared of horses all her life.

“My sister got one out here, and I came out and was actually petting some of them and wasn’t scared … I thought I might as well go for it,” she said.

Dunbar’s horse, “Rowdy,” who she adopted two years ago, has helped her get over her fear, she said. Now Dunbar owns two mustangs, and she works with trainers at the farm to continue to learn.

Heather Smith spent Sunday walking her brand new yearling colt, “Liberty” – her first horse.

After spending several years volunteering at the farm and working with Jane Loughmiller and the mustangs, Smith said it was “awesome” to be adopting her own finally.

“The only way to get experience is to come out and spend time and play with them,” Smith said. “That’s where you’re going to gain confidence and experience, and then find a good person to help you with your horse, because that’s going to help you learn how to interpret what your horse is doing and how it’s behaving, so you can be safe with your horse.”



Natural Horsemanship

Loughmiller uses and encourages “natural horsemanship” methods of training, she said, which is a type of training that appeals to a horse’s instincts and herd mentality.

“It’s all gentle methods,” she said. “We use … the games they play with each other in the pasture, and basically transfer those cues to the human-horse relationship.

“Another thing about the mustangs is that they’re very intelligent, and they also have learned all these games growing up in the wild,” she said.

Loughmiller said she stresses the importance of working with the horse “on the ground” – where the human is standing on the ground, rather than being in a saddle – “and that gets them prepared for riding.”

Such training is then transferred to riding when the horse is old enough, Loughmiller said.

The natural horsemanship methods have worked well for “Aladdin,” a mustang who was adopted in 2006 by Becky Hoover and her daughter Alicia, from Indianapolis.

Alicia Hoover, 12, has cerebral palsy, which is part of the reason the Hoovers got involved with horses, Becky Hoover said.

“Horses are great therapy for all people but especially for people with special needs,” she said.

Alicia Hoover is able to lead Aladdin around by his lead rope, and she takes therapeutic riding lessons in Indianapolis so that when Aladdin is ready to be ridden, she will be ready as well.

For some new horse owners, the idea of having a “wild” horse inspires some fear.

Becky Hoover said, “All horses are wild if nobody does anything with them … we train him, and he does things for [Alicia] … if you invest the time and energy and love that they need, they’re great.”

Hoover said when her daughter is happy – which is pretty often around the horses – she squeals. The horses have become accustomed to the sound, Hoover said.

“They’re pretty adaptable. He’s been really good.”

For more information about Spirit of Freedom Farm, call Jane Loughmiller at (812) 239-1211 or visit the Web site at www.spiritoffreedomfarm.com.



Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.