Too many horses, not enough funding
The horse world is abuzz right now. What to do with 33,000 mustangs that have been standing in long term holding facilities when adoption numbers are down, drought has destroyed rangelands, and there are 32,000 more wild horses that need to be managed?
This is not an easy fix.
I hear the complaints far and wide. "The BLM has mismanaged for years!" "We knew this would happen!" "Get those dang blasted cattle off the ranges!" "Just send them to slaughter, it's where they belong!"
Oh, yes...it's been a lovely couple of days out there for mustangs.
Wild horses running through chutes before being loaded for an upcoming adoption.
The BLM is facing a major crisis. For years, of course, these horses were sent to slaughter by any means a person could get them there. Velma Johnson spearheaded the fight to save our national treasure. Her grandparents had traveled by wagon across the US when her father was a babe. Her grandma's milk went dry, but one of the mares had foaled and they used her milk for the infant. That mare had been a mustang, so Velma of course grew up with a special bond and love for these horses. So when on her way to work one day, she came across a truck dripping blood out the back, she was horrified to find out it was jam packed with injured mustangs being hauled to slaughter.
I'm of the mind that Velma was raised in a much harsher time than we are now. I can't imagine that slaughter in and of itself probably was shocking to a farm girl. But to see them cramped and cooped up, and then to sneak out and follow these men and see exactly how they went about abusing the horses while capturing them...well, I think any of us would have turning stomachs.
And so it was that she fought the good fight and legislation was introduced to stop the slaughter of these symbols of the west. The BLM went from paying whomever could round them up to get rid of them, to developing an excellent marketing plan for our Living Legends.
And it worked.
Sort of.
The concept is good, but the horses breed well. And then we've got the cattlemen out there on public land. Oh, good golly...you'd think they were public enemy number one! Or maybe they're number two behind the BLM, I'm not sure. I just know that many so called wild horse advocates hate cattlemen, claiming there'd be enough grazing land if the cattle were just gone.
One of the many 'three strikes' horses now at the corrals.
Which of course is not true, nor will it happen. Cattle are there to stay. Contracts are written and will be upheld. And the cattle are there to stay. Did I mention they're staying? No point in arguing as it won't change a thing.
But in the meantime the horses are still multiplying. Herds double in size every four years. A herd of 100 is a herd of 200 in 2012, and in 2016 it's a herd of 400! That's a lot of Living Legends vying for a wee little bit of grazing land in the desert.
People like myself love these horses enough to adopt them. Not everyone loves them that much. Some people don't like them at all. Some say they admire what I do, but mustangs would never be able to do what they like their horses to do. To which I reply that's a load of bull you know what, because of course there's a mustang who can do it just as well as your horse can. You just need to figure out how to find that mustang. But I regress. Point is, you can only adopt out so many. The rest are just...there. They've been captured and pulled off the range. Now what? What do we do with the horses that nobody wants and can't be sent to slaughter?
We put them into long term holding facilities. Ranches that have enough land to house hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of wild horses that no one wants. And how many did I tell you were there? That's right...33,000 wild horses in holding facilities living out the rest of their lives, which can easily be 15-20 years!
And hay prices are going up. Yes, you knew that because you're scrambling to find feed as well. So is the BLM. In fact, three quarters of their budget this year is now going towards the care of horses in holding facilities. Which means they haven't got money to head out and do gathers. And if they don't do gathers, they leave horses on the range where there is nothing to eat because of drought. The result, of course, is a slow, agonizing death by starvation.
Filly born a the Burns Wild Horse Corrals this spring
The BLM has a possible solution. Of course, it makes people angry. It doesn't even matter what the solution is, someone will be angry somewhere. And while I wince, it appears to be the best option. Euthanasia. They haven't said how many, or how they'll dispose of the bodies.
You can't make everyone happy, though. Some folks are hollering that no animal should die. Others say send them to Europe for dinner.
Naturally, I have an opinion. But I'd like to hear your's.
This is not an easy fix.
I hear the complaints far and wide. "The BLM has mismanaged for years!" "We knew this would happen!" "Get those dang blasted cattle off the ranges!" "Just send them to slaughter, it's where they belong!"
Oh, yes...it's been a lovely couple of days out there for mustangs.
And if for some reason you missed the article in the local paper, the national news, or here online, let me just recap the whole thing for you.
Wild horses running through chutes before being loaded for an upcoming adoption.
The BLM is facing a major crisis. For years, of course, these horses were sent to slaughter by any means a person could get them there. Velma Johnson spearheaded the fight to save our national treasure. Her grandparents had traveled by wagon across the US when her father was a babe. Her grandma's milk went dry, but one of the mares had foaled and they used her milk for the infant. That mare had been a mustang, so Velma of course grew up with a special bond and love for these horses. So when on her way to work one day, she came across a truck dripping blood out the back, she was horrified to find out it was jam packed with injured mustangs being hauled to slaughter.
I'm of the mind that Velma was raised in a much harsher time than we are now. I can't imagine that slaughter in and of itself probably was shocking to a farm girl. But to see them cramped and cooped up, and then to sneak out and follow these men and see exactly how they went about abusing the horses while capturing them...well, I think any of us would have turning stomachs.
And so it was that she fought the good fight and legislation was introduced to stop the slaughter of these symbols of the west. The BLM went from paying whomever could round them up to get rid of them, to developing an excellent marketing plan for our Living Legends.
And it worked.
Sort of.
The concept is good, but the horses breed well. And then we've got the cattlemen out there on public land. Oh, good golly...you'd think they were public enemy number one! Or maybe they're number two behind the BLM, I'm not sure. I just know that many so called wild horse advocates hate cattlemen, claiming there'd be enough grazing land if the cattle were just gone.
One of the many 'three strikes' horses now at the corrals.
Which of course is not true, nor will it happen. Cattle are there to stay. Contracts are written and will be upheld. And the cattle are there to stay. Did I mention they're staying? No point in arguing as it won't change a thing.
But in the meantime the horses are still multiplying. Herds double in size every four years. A herd of 100 is a herd of 200 in 2012, and in 2016 it's a herd of 400! That's a lot of Living Legends vying for a wee little bit of grazing land in the desert.
People like myself love these horses enough to adopt them. Not everyone loves them that much. Some people don't like them at all. Some say they admire what I do, but mustangs would never be able to do what they like their horses to do. To which I reply that's a load of bull you know what, because of course there's a mustang who can do it just as well as your horse can. You just need to figure out how to find that mustang. But I regress. Point is, you can only adopt out so many. The rest are just...there. They've been captured and pulled off the range. Now what? What do we do with the horses that nobody wants and can't be sent to slaughter?
We put them into long term holding facilities. Ranches that have enough land to house hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of wild horses that no one wants. And how many did I tell you were there? That's right...33,000 wild horses in holding facilities living out the rest of their lives, which can easily be 15-20 years!
And hay prices are going up. Yes, you knew that because you're scrambling to find feed as well. So is the BLM. In fact, three quarters of their budget this year is now going towards the care of horses in holding facilities. Which means they haven't got money to head out and do gathers. And if they don't do gathers, they leave horses on the range where there is nothing to eat because of drought. The result, of course, is a slow, agonizing death by starvation.
Filly born a the Burns Wild Horse Corrals this spring
The BLM has a possible solution. Of course, it makes people angry. It doesn't even matter what the solution is, someone will be angry somewhere. And while I wince, it appears to be the best option. Euthanasia. They haven't said how many, or how they'll dispose of the bodies.
You can't make everyone happy, though. Some folks are hollering that no animal should die. Others say send them to Europe for dinner.
Naturally, I have an opinion. But I'd like to hear your's.