Vol. 79, No. 105
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, February 21, 1978
Chuck John turns wild horses such as this into domestic
steeds, then gives them to private parties. Once saddle trained
and gently broken, these wild animals can be quietly assimi
lated into the horse community.
Trainer readies horses
from the wilds for adoption
Story and Photo
By ANAMARIA BELL
Of the Emerald
Blue is ready to be adopted. She’s tall,
sleek and four years old. She’s also a
wild horse.
Her caretaker is Chuck John, who for
four years has trained wild horses for the
public to adopt.
“I was too old to rodeo and win, so I
thought I might as well go on to a differ
ent field where I could be just as good,"
he says.
John acquires the horses, for almost
next to nothing, from the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), which rounds up
the horses in Eastern Oregon.
In turn, he trains them for two to three
weeks and makes them available to the
public for $40.
"My goal is getting wild horses to the
public in a way that the public can handle
them,” says John.
“Patience, along with good common
sense, is very important. By being gentle
and patient, you’ll never have to fight the
horse,” he adds.
One of his first objectives is teaching
the horse to "sit tight.”
He explains, “You just tie them up, get
them to eat grain and drink. Then, you
brush them. Gradually, the horse will
relax and become used to you.”
The next step is to saddle the horse.
John leaves the saddle on continuously
for three or four nights Cintil the horse
gets used to it.
But mounting the horse is a more pre
carious undertaking.
"You move around as little as possible
but just enough to let him know you’re up
there,” says John. ‘‘Otherwise, the
horse will become startled and probably
jolt you off.”
John plops the stirrups gently, shakes
his hand around until the horse gets over
the fear of having him on his back. He
rides the horse in small circles and
gradually widens them, until he can ride
normally.
John’s project is different from any
other of this type because it is not pub
licly funded. If there is a problem once
the horse has an owner, John will work
with it for nothing. He says he tries to find
time to assist the people with any tips
they might need.
John spends about 40 hours a week at
the bam, although he holds a full-time
job as a foreman at Georgia Pacific.
“My job there comes first,” he says,
“The wild horse project is just a side
interest.”
When asked if any person can adopt a
horse, John replies, “Yes, as long as
they have the ability and the facilities to
adopt.”
John trains horses for adoption, but
he’s been known to keep horses for him
self.
“Sugar,” a chestnut-colored Shetland
pony was one horse he could'not part
with.
"She has seen all my kids grow up,”
says John, and he says she is just as
much a part of the family as he is.
Amazon
‘Surplus’ in
repair fund
really deficit
By MARY BETH ALLEN
Of the Emerald
The blame for a sudden deficit in the
Amazon Student Housing Project building
repair reserve fund has been placed by
University Housing Office officials on a mis
interpretation of complicated University ac
counting systems.
Robert Minshall, Student Housing busi
ness manager, said in a Feb. 15 memo to
Richard Romm, assistant housing director,
that an Amazon repair fund surplus of
$36,270 reported in December to the Ama
zon Family Policy Board was incorrect and
that the Amazon budget really showed a
deficit of $45,810.
Minshall’s memo states that the deficit is
“due to a difference in the fund balance
shown on controller’s report and what had
actually been funded and a change in the
estimated percentage reserve required for
future repair projects.’’
The "estimated percentage reserve’’ re
fers to the 2 percent rate of replacement
value of Amazon that the housing office has
decided to use for budget purposes. The
State Board of Higher Education had re
commended a 1 percent replacement value
rate.
Judith Barker, president of the Amazon
Community Tenants, says, "I’m not sure
how that surplus showed up and then went
away.”
She says current housing office figures
on the Amazon budget conflict with office
budget recommendations submitted to the
state board last spring.
Barker says she is bothered by the fact
that even though the housing office knew
last spring the repair reserve fund was in
the red, no money was designated for that
fund, while $10,000 in debt service funds
were earmarked for Westmoreland.
"There was not a surplus in actual
money,” Romm said. "It was the way the
controller credits the account,” that the cre
dit showed up previously.
According to Romm, Minshall, who was
hired last fall to fill the newly created posi
tion of housing office business manager,
met with the Amazon policy board in De
cember and reported the surplus. “On
paper, it looked like a reserve,” Romm said.
But after becoming familiar with the ap
parently unconventional accounting proce
dures used by the University Housing Of
fice, Minshall reported that the Amazon
budget actually showed a deficit, according
to Romm.
"It was an accounting sort of thing,”
Romm said. “There was no loss of money
or change of income or way the money was
spent or even allocated.” The budget fig
ures were “interpreted differently’' by Min
shall this month and the “matter in which
the budget was read," accounts for the de
ficit, according to Romm.