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.
Animal Recovery Mission and Respect4Horses have been working with the BLM and the Army Depot in regards to the Walker Lake Herd, a herd of approximately 104 horses living around Walker Lake in Hawthorne, Nevada on Army Depot property. On October 20th the BLM signed a Record of Decision to roundup and remove this herd by the end of November 2010.
Although Wyoming has at least one ethics law concerning its legislators, nobody seems to have gotten around to enforcing that pesky thing. Sue Wallis (“Slaughterhouse Sue”) hasn’t even bothered with a revolving door – she has just parked her butt in two different chairs at the same time – as a Wyoming State Representative (R) and also as the Executive Director of a trade/lobbying “mutual benefit corporation” called United Organizations of the Horse (UOH). UOH states it is concerned with “excess” and “unwanted horses” and claims that’s the reason it’s pushing so hard to reinstate horse slaughterhouses in the United States.
Only days before Wyoming Representative “Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis makes a bid for a third term in her contested state seat Newsweek ran a two paragraph article that appears to have been penned by the renegade Recluse resident herself. Classic evidence of Wallis’ authorship includes misrepresentation of facts, poor grammar, lack of a grasp for mathematics and self-serving quotations.
WY Rep. Sue Wallis, the “Grand Dame” of bloody horse slaughter, may soon learn that the good people of Wyoming have had enough of her self-serving ways and negative regional publicity as they head to the polls on Tuesday to choose between the horse eater, an Independent or a Libertarian.
Research indicates the long-term horse contraceptive, porcine zona pellucida (PZP), extends the breeding season in wild horses, raising concerns over the social consequences of the drug on herds.
On October 27th the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a press release stating that it would hold a “media day” at two of its mid-western wild horse long term holding facilities November 9th and within minutes Horseback Magazine (HB) editor Steven Long responded to the BLM’s Washington D.C. public affairs officer, Tom Gorey, that HB correspondent Laura Leigh and chief HB photographer Terry Fitch would be in attendance.
While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sends mixed signals over the state of New Mexico’s attempt to establish a state run Wild Horse sanctuary Governor Bill Richardson stands firm in his conviction that the wild horses need proper protection.
The BLM’s comment period for the Augusta Mountains HMA Preliminary EA for a Wild Horse Gather closes on 11/6. Please take the time to email your comments to Jerome Fox at AugustaMts_HMA_PrelimEA@blm.gov (mailing address and fax are in the letter). This plan is to capture 344 horses, including 50 outside the HMA. Mares captured within the HMA are to be treated with the contraceptive PZP-22 and released, the 50 horses outside the HMA are to be removed to adoption facilities.
It didn’t take long; only several weeks ago New Mexico announced plans to purchase 12,000 acres of private land with the intent to turn a portion of the property into a wild horse sanctuary and already the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is attempting to interject itself squarly into the middle of the state’s proposal.
Ah, the BLM, as usual busy destroying horses’ lives and human jobs. On October 15th 2010, a BLM contractor helicopter drove a frightened young, wild foal so relentlessly that the foal broke a leg, wranglers shoot him and hauled his mother away for adoption or a lifetime holding pen. Local people lose another opportunity to prosper with their wild horses. The road not taken. Let’s go down that road…
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