Wild Horses

Students will learn about wild mustangs specifically in one area in Colorado. The Sand Wash Basin is unique but also has similarities to how things are done across the United States in herd management areas of the wild.
We discuss how the herd size affects the horse family unit, how stallions fight for their individual herds with the other stallions. We learn and see how colorful the horses are and learn about the basin itself. 
Having traveled to this area and learned first hand from our tour guide who continues to share the newest and latest information about the herds, learners will have a better understanding of the horses themselves, the environment and terrain of this area. We'll learn about what they eat, how a recent drought has affected their food sources as well as a recent round up to manage the herd sizes so that they all can have food. 
Learners can find out all sorts of interesting information about these horses, including some of their names, they family/herds and the most famous horse from this area, Picasso. 
We discuss the round ups in this area and why it might be necessary. We also will learn about how the horses are branded with a freeze brand and what those symbols mean. Learners will get to decode a brand as a group. I will also send other samples to do on their own if learners would like more information. 

As a teacher, I have immersed myself in the horse world. In order to properly discuss the wild horses, I have traveled to many areas where the mustangs live in order to accurately depict how they live. I have consulted experts in the Sand Wash Basin area in order to accurately discuss and show the wild horses. 
In addition, I have owned and ridden horses of my own for 50+ years. How horses live in herds/groups and communicate with one another are something that I have a very firm understanding of. I have hosted several in person as well as virtual trainings with families, children as well. I have also given many years of horseback riding lessons and taught my own children as well as many others how to ride and enjoy horses.

There is no formal homework for this class. I will provide learners with additional resources if they are curious and would like more information about these mustangs and their history. 

There is no formal grading system set up for this class. Learners will leave this class with a gained knowledge of this particular part of the world and learn more about the wild horses that live there. 

55 minutes per week in class, and maybe some time outside of class.

I will be using a couple of videos that I will send into the classroom after the class runs. The first is a video from Denver 7 news station that shows the history and beauty of one of the wild horses that is famous from the Sand Wash Basin named Picasso. The other 2 videos are of a horse I discuss in the class named Free Spirit. I talk about how he got his name and the two videos show him as a foal and show how his personality affected his name. 
The first video is from Youtube and was posted from Denver 7 News Station. The other 2 videos are from a Facebook sight that is a wild Horse Sanctuary called Wild Horses of Sand Wash Basin.