R.T. Fitch
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.
The Cloud Foundation, with thanks to Xtomic and our website creator, Jay Ferguson, live-streamed the Department of Interior Public Workshop (June 14) and the BLM Public Advisory Board Meeting in Denver, Colorado (June 15). We felt that the public workshop was an excellent start and look forward to future workshops and conference in which the DOI (and specifically BLM) begins to work with the public to manage our wild herds. Step one is to enact an immediate moratorium on the ongoing roundups.
Official inquiries at the Jerez horse slaughter plant in Mexico have been announced by the EU. After meeting with Animals’ Angels in November of last year, EU officials responded to our formal complaint regarding conditions and treatment of horses at slaughter plants in Mexico.
Unless urgent action is taken, wild horses and burros in today’s America face a bleak future. Though the unanimously passed Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 originally set aside somewhere between 53 million and 88 million acres for their preservation in the wild, the rights of these animals and their public supporters have been undermined and denied by the very officials charged with protecting them.
Reno, NV (June 16, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation has learned that Todd Davis and Joshua Keathley have changed their pleas this morning from not guilty to guilty, waiving their planned trial in the case of shooting five free-roaming horses in northwestern Nevada (about 40 miles southeast of Cedarville, California). The pleas were made in Federal Court in Reno before US Magistrate Judge Robert McQuaid.
As the equine advocates and the BLM struggled to understand each other’s viewpoints the whining drone from the bloody misfit could be heard speaking out of turn. The facilitators and BLM committee members were patient and tolerant but you couldn’t help but see them whispering amongst themselves and taking notes as “Slaughterhouse” and her only associate Dave “WhatsHisName” (did I hear someone say “DOINK”?) continually were shut down and told to sit down and wait until their appropriate turns. Either their personal hygiene was lacking with massive ear wax build-ups or they are truly so thick skulled that they just don’t get it. They were the scourge of the gathering by demonstrating that between the two of them they didn’t have the courtesy or the common decency of a gnat.
My frustration reaches a peak on a day like today, when I feel all the friends of the wild ones have been taken on a big ride. As usual,the BLM controls the conversation and frames the scope of what is allowed to be discussed. A “workshop” is called, but it is not to discuss anything of significance, it is a PR show to go over the “salazoo plan”, the cattlemens’ plan. The room is full of brilliant and dedicated people who want to effect change and have solutions, yet I feel the BLM is not listening, they are staging an event to be used by their new PR firm to show they are open to public input.
Denver, CO (June 14, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation has learned that the San Francisco based public relations and public affairs firm, Kearns and West, with ties to big energy and offices across the country, has been hired to push the Salazar Plan for Wild Horses and Burros through Congress in Fall 2010—despite public outrage. Kearns and West has expertise in crisis management as well as accomplishing policy and regulatory goals. Their clients range from Mineral Management Services (MMS) and PG&E to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Department of Interior (DOI) has enlisted the firm using the Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) as the go between. Senior mediator of Kearns and West, J. Michael Harty will facilitate an unprecedented public workshop in Denver, Colorado at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th Street, on June 14th followed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Public Advisory Board Meeting on June 15th. Both days will be live-streamed and viewing available on http://www.thecloudfoundation.org. The public and members of Congress are encouraged to watch. The public will protest on June 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a press conference at noon.
How does one express what is going on. It is a scientific fact that the wild horses are a benefit to the range land and its biodiversity based upon there physiological makeup, grazing habits, and over all free roaming behavior. It is just as much a scientific fact the detrimental effects of cattle on the range land and its water sources, yet the BLM have raped the land of its horses and continue to increase cattle grazing in the area, at the taxpayers expense, all under the guise of establishing appropriate management levels of wild horses. Yet nature has been establishing what are considered appropriate management levels of all forms of wildlife including the wild horses for thousands of years, based upon environmental and predatory conditions, and doing an excellent job of it. Yes, there are continual fluctuations of numbers of varying species but all in ecological balance based upon natures mandate.
If there is one thing you learn as an equine welfare advocate, it is perseverance. You learn that change never happens overnight. You learn to accept change with little victories. You learn that weeks turn into months and months into years. You learn that for change to occur, you must stay steady on your path. You learn that you cannot do it alone and that you must work with and engage people that may have differing opinions on the road to a mutual goal. You learn which battles to fight and which battles will draw you closer to your goal
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has closed and locked the gates of the Broken Arrow feed lot facility outside of Fallon Nevada while disregarding public outcry over the insufficient care of 2,000+ wild horses being imprisoned there.
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
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