Hay Airlift Successful in Saving Starving Montana Horses
Billings Flying Service airlifted about 20 tons of hay, one round bale at a time, Thursday morning to hundreds of hungry horses on a ranch east of Billings along Highway 87E.
R.T. Fitch’s life has been anything but ordinary. Straight out of high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force Band during the Vietnam era, and while stationed in Hawaii, he spent weekends at Sea Life Park training penguins, sea lions, and whales. His path through life has taken many unexpected turns—including more than a few lessons in love—until meeting his wife, Terry, brought a lasting partnership and a shared passion for animals.
Over the course of his adult career, R.T. worked internationally in multiple countries, gaining a broad, global perspective that colors both his worldview and his writing. Now rooted in Texas, he and Terry live on a small farm surrounded by four-legged companions with paws, claws, and hooves. Together, they have devoted years to equine rescue and wild horse protection.
An ordained volunteer chaplain and professional Santa Claus for a local historical society—with Terry by his side as Mrs. Claus—R.T. brings warmth, wisdom, and joy to every season. His work reflects a life of service, wonder, and connection to both people and animals.
He is the author of Straight from the Horse’s Heart, a moving collection of true rescue stories and spiritual reflections, and Fangs of Light, a supernatural tale steeped in symbolic and metaphorical storytelling. The first in a planned trilogy, Fangs of Light blends myth and mystery to explore themes of identity, redemption, and the power of empathy—offering readers not only suspense and intrigue but a deeper look at the light and shadow within us all.
Billings Flying Service airlifted about 20 tons of hay, one round bale at a time, Thursday morning to hundreds of hungry horses on a ranch east of Billings along Highway 87E.
Billings Flying Service has donated use of a helicopter to airlift hay Thursday morning to some of the more isolated horses at the former Leachman Cattle Co. Home Place ranch east of Billings.
“In 99 cases out of 100, people have options,” said The Humane Society of the United States president and CEO Wayne Pacelle. “Any time someone gets an animal, they have an ethical responsibility to care for that animal.”
BLM Statement Regarding the Prospectus Submitted by Saving America’s Mustangs Foundation to Build and Establish an Eco-Sanctuary for Wild Horses
“Mr. Speaker, last week, at the request of a lady named Madeline Pickens, I met with Mr. Bob Abbey, who is the head of the Bureau of Land Management, to talk to him about dealing with the wild horses, the mustangs that roam out west in the western States. The Bureau of Land Management has somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 of these mustangs in pens around the country; and the cost of this is estimated to be as much as $2,500 per horse per year. The Bureau of Land Management just last week started rounding up another 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 of them to take them to holding pens and move them to Oklahoma.
Today, Tuesday January 25 at 9 p.m. EST, President Obama will deliver his 2011 State of the Union Address, which will be streamed live on YouTube. We have submitted a question to President Obama for an exclusive YouTube Interview that will take place just two days later, on January 27. Votes are needed in order to have this question considered and addressed.
We want to know…
“Will you support a ban on slaughter of American horses for human consumption and begin protecting wild horses by ordering a moratorium on round ups and a full investigation and reform of the Wild Horses and Burros program?”
Fourteen hours after leaving Missoula, Montana, my plane landed in Houston’s Hobby Airport. None of the locals thought the 50 degree weather they were experiencing was warm, but I stood happily outside in shirt sleeves waiting for the shuttle. I doubt that I will ever complain about the cold weather of South Texas again, even on the rare day that it reaches freezing. Walking through frozen pastures at -10 is enough to convince me that the South is a place to call home.
HOUSTON (SFTHH) – Wyoming House Bill 51 sponsored by Rep. Sue Wallis, currently under investigation for alleged fraud, ethics violations and battery charges, died a quiet death in the house committee last Wednesday. Dubbed the “Industrial and Energy Development Protection Bill” it would have required taxpayers and organizations that wanted to question an industrial or energy development permit to post a bond to satisfy any delays or loses that the defending company might incur during the legal challenge.
On behalf of America’s wild horses, American taxpayers, and my Saving America’s Mustang Foundation, I would like to express my deep disappointment in the BLM’s late Friday (January 21st) evening press release announcing its rejection of my proposal to create a eco-sanctuary for wild horses in Nevada.
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management has named a 30 year agency bureaucrat with virtually no wildlife management training to head the delicate Wild Horse and Burro Program. Karla Bird has drawn fire in the past for her support of secret closed door BLM meetings where the press is excluded.
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