The plight of wild horses

I've seen some discussion on the outrage of the roundup of wild horses. I'd be interested to know what you think should be done to manage these horses. I saw a piece on the Today Show about the roundup and they re-iterated that there is not enough forage for the horses. The horse advocates said it would be better if they were left alone and died by starvation or predators, thats the balance of nature. The BLM says they are against killing(by euthanization) to cull the herds. So they put them up for adoption, hoping us so -called horse lovers will help them out. But, no-one seems to want to step up and provide homes, there are currently 33,000 horses being held waiting for homes and no-one is adopting. So what do you think should be done to help the wild horses?

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Permalink Reply by Anni on September 10, 2009 at 9:42am

What an unthought-out and under-funded mess the state of the BLM is... my biggest pet peeve with the BLM is the holding pens. My three year old mare was rounded up as a yearling, and sat in one of those pens for about a year and a half because no one adopted her. Her hooves were in absolutely horrible condition because there wasn't the room to walk for miles over rocky ground that normally trims down the wild horses' hooves naturally. She was thin thin thin. I love her and am so glad to have her, but would rather see the incredible excess euthanized (where we KNOW the conditions they are dying in, rather than an unfortunate auction where they are won by horsemeat bidders in Mexico/Canada) humanely, or birth control more effectively administered to control the herds before releasing them back into the wild.

Horse lovers can help the Mustangs out to a certain extent, but let's be honest - many well broke horses are being offered up for the same price as it would cost to adopt a Mustang. Many people are not equipped to handle these horses, and they end up in rescues. They are wonderful, amazing horses but we can't well adopt them all up - who has the time/money to devote to all these horses?

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Permalink Reply by donald r. barr on September 25, 2009 at 3:56pm

Ok girls take a breath, the wild horses can be saved, we are going to have to look at various options. one is adoption, the blm want to get to 27000 so that at 15 percent reproduction they can find homes. we need more horses than that, there are places that can have wild horses and they can be keep in check by mountain lions and wolfs, and that is normal in wild herds. It keeps them in prime health and that is a good thing, it takes the weak and sick out. That is why eskimos don't kill wolfs , they keep the herd of karibou strong.Now for the idea that these horses are wild and can't be trained, bull shit. I have never trained a horse before and I have a wild one out in the back yard that I have had for 2 months and he gives me a kiss in the morning before i go to work. I have watched these horses for about 3 years now and about 75 to 85 percent of these horses can be trained if they are not too old, 4 or less. The problem is beef , oil and natural gas they want the land, and the horses are in the way. The blm is a stuck record, that would be cd to the young foke. adopt adopt adopt. The beef industry doesn't want wolfs, montain lions and the such. The western beef industry on goverment land is about 2% of the beef in the united states. that is not that much and they need to go .They only pay 1.35 cents to run a cow and calf on goverment land for a month. That opens up the way for wolfs and the such. but with about 55 thousand horses with a 17 percent repro rate that is little over 9,000 horses to adopt, that is too many. So it is clear that adoption could be done better and preditors will also help not only in keeping the herd strong but its numbers in check. But one thing does sicken me , that is when people talk bad about these horses ,go to youtube put in pauls valley adoption blm and wacth me with the will horses. You know I heard some where that people are going to boycott beef products for the month of jan. boy I bet that would send a message, The whole beef industry drops billions over 2% of the western beef. well that is what I heard, its time to cowgirl up and get the job done and quite crying in youir milk,, get involved go to a horse auction. that will get you started.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on September 25, 2009 at 6:09pm

I would love to stop crying in my milk... hearing something positive from people like you helps that.... I rescued a mustang too.... :) and my trainer goes to the competition and then gets his mustang adopted out too...... thanks for your post and the update!! I will forever boycott beef... :) JL