America’s Mustangs In Danger

posted in Mustangs | Monday, April 12th, 2010

Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area – BLM 2006

Recently the Bureau of Land Management announced that the mustang budget is overrun. They are spending  far more to keep the “unadoptable” mustangs in long-term and short-term holding facilities than they are to maintain the free-roaming wild horse herds. Citing rising costs of fuel and feed as the reason, they plan to take drastic action. They have presented you, the taxpayer, with their idea of the options.

1.  Sell the excess horses without limitation to whoever will buy them
2.  Euthanize the excess horses

Not only is the idea of destroying these symbols of our American heritage unbelievably sad, but it will cost the BLM lots more money to euthanize the unadopted horses, and it won’t be pretty, no matter what method they use.  No “chicken soup” stories are going to come out of this epic disaster.

Sale without limitation, on the other hand, will cost the BLM far less. They might even recoup some dough. And since “without limitation” means exactly that, there will be room for the wildest hearts, the most beautiful tempers, and the most indomitable spirits in the slaughter caravan. Before the U.S. slaughter facilities closed, the BLM did make some attempt (or lip service thereto, at least) to restrict the possibility that America’s mustangs would end up in them. However, there is no law to protect the mustangs from slaughter and hasn’t been since 2004.

The BLM needs your help to come up with creative, non-Armageddon-style solutions to the problem. They’ve worked hard for many years to preserve America’s heritage in the mustangs, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much.  Write to your Congressional representatives.

Help is springing up everywhere. The BLM has asked ranchers and landowners to donate new pasture facilities for long-term support of the excess mustangs. Now let’s all think about it. Anyone who has the facility to do so should seriously consider adopting a mustang, but please, do it considering it to be the lifetime commitment that it is. On the BLM web site you can find out how to donate to the mustangs. Be sure to check out the petition at American Wild Horse Preservation. Look out for grassroots programs sprouting up in support of the mustangs.

Ideas we have heard of so far:  It has been suggested that there should be a place on the tax return to give a portion of your refund to the mustangs.

It has also been suggested that the livestock grazers, who use public lands and are a large, vocal part of the reason the mustangs are in this trouble, be taxed on their use of YOUR PUBLIC LANDS, a new, special tax or use fee specifically for funding the mustangs, whose resources their livestock consume. This idea, while appealing to those who don’t run livestock on public lands, is very unlikely to ever come to fruition. Last month, the Obama administration issued final responses, denying petitions and a lawsuit filed by five environmental activist groups to increase the grazing fees. Read about it in the New York Times.

NY Times article

It has also been suggested that funding and running the wild horse and burro program be moved out of the purview of the BLM and into the hands of the private sector and regional nonprofits located where the animals are.  Pick one of these ideas or make up your own, and HELP SAVE THE MUSTANGS!

The Mustangs of Fresh Start Horse Rescue

Fresh Start Horse Rescue has been saving mustangs since its inception in 2005.  Fresh Start is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located near the Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area in Colorado.  Currently, six mustangs reside at Fresh Start – three from Spring Creek Basin, one from Utah, and one from California. All are adoptable, but none are in danger of slaughter or euthanasia. They are safe here and they know it, too. Our primary challenge with them is that we don’t have time to do everything, and to be trained to be useful they require more consistent quality time than we have to give them as individuals. We are looking for an individual or two who use natural horsemanship methods to train wild horses and would be willing to share some of their time with these mustangs, who are hungry to learn.

Avalon *Sponsored*

Our first mustang was 2001 lady Avalon. She came to us through the livestock auction. As she was being unloaded out of a cram-packed stock trailer, I caught my first glimpse of her and it was love at first sight! Her owner said, “She rides good,” which didn’t hurt, either.  She was unbelievably head-shy, and had just weaned a foal (or had it taken away). We brought her home, rattled, traumatized, and loved.  She’s been used only for trail riding while living with us and has become very friendly (dare I say, “affectionate”?). We believed for the longest time that she was from the Spring Creek Basin herd. She looks just like she came from Traveler’s band. But upon looking up her freeze brand number, it turns out she’s from California. She is adoptable.

Silly Wizard

We’ll look at Wizard next, who is a 2001 gelding out of Utah.  Wizard went through the auction hell too, and he was sold to a dealer. We bought him from the dealer after the sale. This was in 2005. He was underweight and had a terrible cold. By the time we had him trailered I was covered with thick, green mucus. Yuck! He seemed to actually be choking on it. When we got him home we were able to halter him, but he was very frightened and it took a long time. We discovered an apparent bullet hole in his neck, covered over by skin and fur. He must have been severely traumatized and has had a really difficult time overcoming his past, but he is now training with a rider bareback and under saddle. He has gained so much confidence that he’s taking obvious pleasure in pushing his trainer’s buttons. He craves attention–all the attention–and enjoys stimulating adventures and environments such as the recent Four States Ag Expo, where Horsemanship for Women™ trainer Karen Scholl used him as a demo horse in one of her presentations, teaching him to circle confidently on the longe line.

Cassie

Cassie *Adopted*

Here she is with one of our most faithful past volunteers. She’s a tall, leggy, 2004 mare, a mix of red and blue roan. She came from the 2005 Spring Creek Basin mustang adoption with her friend Puzzle, and they eventually ended up unwanted by their new family. The folks drove up to our place and just opened their trailer and drove off (We caught up with the fillies’ paperwork later). Cassie hasn’t been worked with much, but seems eager to establish a relationship. She is forming a special bond with her new sponsor and will do even better when she is adopted by someone who can give her the consistent, daily training she needs.

Puzzle

Puzzle

Feedin’ her face. She’s got a sturdy build and an adorable face and a very nice way of moving. She gets along well with other horses. She is also from Spring Creek Basin, born in 2003. Puzzle is unafraid of people, and is learning to trust. She has begun round penning and approach and retreat games, but has not yet been petted, roped or haltered. She’s a clean slate.

Panda

Panda *Adopted*

Panda, once known as “Shadowfire,” is a 2005 pinto from Spring Creek Basin. She is in ground training, and is being adopted. Her biggest problem when she came to us was that her feet were so long they looked like ski jumps, and she was obese. She’s not obese now, but definitely what you’d call an easy keeper! Her owners said they’d never handled her, but we had her haltered in fifteen minutes and her feet trimmed the day we got her. So, they must have been kind to her. She’s one of the most curious horses I’ve ever met, and has a gentle, quiet temperament.  She was “dropped on our doorstep” too, in a manner of speaking. We received a phone call one day, that this horse had gotten brand inspected and signed over to the horse rescue and when can you come pick her up. [!] Well, we don’t encourage this sort of thing, but . . . what’a ya gonna do.

Starbright

Starbright

Named for her beautiful eyes, this petite little 2005 pony is also from Spring Creek Basin. Like Puzzle, she has a beautiful way of going. She has a sweet, yet feisty  personality, and loves to be scratched (under the chin is best) and brushed.  She is halter broke and started ground training.  Like Wizard, she tends toward being reactive, but unlike him, she has never been abused–except, of course, for being rounded up by helicopter and forcibly separated from her family group, like the other mustangs.

Scout

Scout *Adopted*

A good, trained gelding from a herd in Nevada, who was given to us without any paperwork. The brand inspector and a BLM representative worked together to get him identified for us. He would go anywhere and do anything, and he was adopted by a volunteer who has since moved to New Mexico, where they now happily reside.