Here is a video message about the American wild horse crisis in February 2010. The numbers are bigger now with 53K wild horses in holding and perhaps 15K left on the range.
Thank you Arlene Gawne and team for bringing this YouTube message to the public.
In 2009, 2010 and 2011 we all tried to help The President understand the need to save the mustangs. Sadly he appears to want The New Energy Frontier above and beyond anything else.
If you don’t like what’s going on then contact your representatives and senators because they are your voice in government. Congress funds the rotten Wild Horse and Burro Program under the Bureau of Land Management.
Request a Congressional investigation, forensic accounting and a moratorium on roundups as well as fertility control until the truth comes out that there are hardly any wild horses left out on America’s public land.
This year the EPA passed a fertility control pesticide for use on America’s wild horses and burros. Our indigenous horse has been formally labelled a “pest” by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. We want the erroneous classification reversed. Pests and invasive species are weeded out and disposed of . . . Why did the EPA sell out?
(Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)
Stop the roundups and the extermination!
So here it is: we turn out the horses that can go out and not run like fools. Most of the time, we turn a horse out for the first time in the late fall when show shoes have been taken off and after they have been woerkd hard earlier in the day. We never turn out two horses together, but our paddocks all share a fence, so they can still get interaction with the other horses that way. If I have a horse in show shoes that behaves outside, we put splint boots and bells on. Some horses just get bells. We try to turn out all of the horses that can be turned out at least once a week, most of the time twice. I have a few that go out everyday, especially the three and under horses. I had a park horse named Cedar Creek Uproar that went out every single day, show shoes and all, and he would trot 10-15 minutes, then graze. He only lost 1 shoe in the two years I had him, and it greatly improved his overall attitude and made him much more reasonable in some of his odd stall behaviors. I have not had any serious injuries on any of my horses, including the ones that never get turned out. I did have a two year old pull a hip muscle badly, but she recovered well and competes in open English Pleasure with much success now as a five year old. She was laid up for about 3 months, but she was my horse, and I no longer turn a horse out without working it first until it is used to the great outdoors. In her case, she was running hard, stopped, spun and lost her footing, and hence, pulled the muscle. I would say of our 30 horses in full training, 15-20 of them can go outside to play. I personally like it, but see many happy horses that come from programs that have no turnout at all. It takes a lot to keep a horse happy, and I don’t think turnout necessarily has to be part of that equation, but I like to add it whenever I can.