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Friday, May 30, 2014

Two More Wild Horses Killed; BLM Goes Silent

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Wild Horse Shootings Swept Under the Rug?

Dead HorseMay 14, 2014
Emails from 2 BLM employees:
 1)    Winnemucca confirms they have been investigating:
“We have been investigating the two horses killed along Highway 447, MM 49, for the past week. Doing a lot of outreach with the community and local law-enforcement but still no leads.”
2)    From the John Maurer, BLM office:
“I am the investigator looking into the deaths of the two horses … I am particularly interested in what those two individuals had to say…”
Since May 14th … and still not a peep out of BLM about this?
At two recent North-Eastern BLM Stewardship public meetings, the illegal killing of wild horses was advocated by two separate public speakers. During the meetings, a local rancher said that he was a former military man and said that there were plenty of remote canyons up there and the people in the area could take care of the [wild horse] “problem” themselves … and that was what he had done while in the military.  And … another local rancher said that she would shoot any animal, whether it was a horse, wild horse or otherwise that came on to her property and ate her cows’ grass.
The members of the committee as well as numerous members of the public heard the illegal suggestions about killing/shooting our wild horses. BLM employees at the meeting did not speak up and tell the speakers that what they were advocating was a federal crime – until a member of the public brought it to the BLM’s attention.
And this was not the first time our wild horses have been found killed in that same area!
April 2012The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is investigating the shooting deaths of nearly a dozen wild horses in four separate incidents in California and Nevada since the beginning of the year. http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/04/30/10k-reward-for-killing-of-wild-horses-in-nv-ca/
February 2006 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Washoe CountySheriff’s Office received a report Tuesday afternoon, February 14, that some wild horses had been found shot to death along State Highway 34 about 40 miles north ofGerlach. Investigation confirms that three wild horses, two mares and a stud, were shot and killed. One of the mares aborted a foal after being shot. The foal is also dead.http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/newsroom/2006/02/horses_shot_to_death.html

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Comment: BLM Bible Springs Wild Horse EA; Bogus

Straight from the Horse's Heart


An Open Letter and Comment form Grandma Gregg
True to form, the BLM is attempting to hoodwink the American public and justify their efforts to rip wild horses from their rightful land by conveniently “forgetting” to mention in their Bible Springs Complex Environmental Assessment that wild horses have ALREADY been removed.
Our own Grandma Gregg has responded with true form and grace as she outlines the facts in her response, below. 
We have also made her complete response available for download (HERE) but there are a few flaws and inherent errors in all that Grandma Greg says; it makes sense…she states fact and uses appropriate figures and research to back up what she says.  That will never fly with the BLM as honesty, truth and integrity are traits unknown to those who work for us in the BLM and Department of Interior.  Science is a foreign language to these alleged servants of the public and without considerable pounding and beating the truth will just roll off their backs like water on a duck.
Please comment, please pound on them and let us all put the honesty impaired BLM back under the rock from whence they crawled.  Their actions are outrageous!” ~ R.T.
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May 20, 2014

BLM attacking wild horses in Nevada ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
BLM attacking wild horses in Nevada ~ photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
BLM Cedar City Field Office
176 E. DL Sargent Drive
Cedar City, Utah 84721
Attn: Cedar City Field Office Manager
blm_ut_biblesprings@blm.gov
Attn: Juan Palma, State Director
jpalma@blm.gov
Attn: Elizabeth Burghard, Field Manager
eburghar@blm.gov
Re: Public Comment on Bible Springs Complex Wild Horse Gather Environmental Assessment
UT-C010-2014-0035
As an American citizen, environmental researcher and a life-long visitor to the state of Utah, I appreciate the opportunity to provide input on the proposed Bible Springs Complex environmental assessment. The federal government does not own land in the West. These are not “state lands” and not “federal lands” and not even “government lands”.” They are public lands. The American people own the public lands in the West and they are administered on our behalf by the national government under laws and regulations. This land belongs to all citizens of the United States, not the federal government.
The 1971 Congressional Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, (Public Law 92-195), declares that the land where wild horses and burros were found at the time of the passing of the Act, is to be devoted principally but not exclusively to the wild horses’ and wild burros’ welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept of public lands.   Definition of principally: First, highest, foremost in importance, rank, worth or degree, chief, mainly, largely, chiefly, especially, particularly, mostly, primarily, above all, predominantly, in the main, for the most part, first and foremost. It is the law of the United States of America and any policy or regulation or memorandum of understanding or environmental assessment or Record of Decision or Finding of No Significance that BLM or other governmental agency writes or proposes or agrees to or takes action on that does not come under the umbrella of the law is therefore illegal.
Extortion and Conspiracy
Extortion (also called “shakedown”) is a criminal offense of obtaining money, property, or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. The actual obtainment of money or property or service is not required to commit the offense. Making a threat of forcefulness which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property or service to halt future violence is sufficient to commit the offense. If the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) caves into the bullying tactics and threats of illegal action, by ranchers and local county officials in Utah who want to keep ranges open for cattle grazing for private or corporate profit, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the citizens of the United States of America have fallen victim to extortion. This shows a very, very sad state of affairs for our great nation.
The actions stated in the BLM’s environmental assessment propose a massive wild horse roundup in the Bible Springs Complex. Iron County Utah commissioners and ranchers recently and publically gave the BLM an ultimatum: Come up with an immediate plan to capture and remove wild horses from the area or residents will do it themselves. Ranchers are scapegoating federally protected wild horses for the damage of the range when in reality millions of cattle are permitted to graze on our public lands.
As an example, take a look at one cattle ranch with a public grazing permit as discussed in the below news article. This rancher’s private 7,000 acre property could support about 30 cattle on a year round basis, using BLM’s own 240 acres per horse per year estimate for comparison.http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b/rangeland_health.print.html Because the rancher has a grazing permit to use public land, he runs 300 mother cows and calves. In other words 90% his cattle operation is subsidized by his use of the public land. This exemplifies the reasoning behind BLM’s current proposal to capture and remove the wild horses from their legally designated land – pressure from local privately owned domestic livestock owners. And to add to the illegal actions, this rancher proposes to amend his personal ranch management problems by shooting the federally protected wild horses. If this ranch owner cannot manage his own land and livestock sufficiently enough to provide the lifestyle he wants, then that is proof that he is an incompetent ranch manager and he deserves the results of his deficient management. Instead this rancher is refusing to follow the law and BLM’s request to reduce his privately owned domestic livestock on public land. As proven by the BLM’s announcement to capture and remove wild horses from their legally authorized land the agency is cowering to his demands. This is illegal and known as extortion and must be stopped…(CONTINUED)

Click (HERE) to download the entire letter

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Wild horse study on effects of culling and contraceptives on behavior

Habitat for Horses

Scientists at the Morris Animal Foundation have published their research on the effects of culling and the use of the contraceptive GonaCon-B.
Wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota were studied for a year before and after no-kill culling and treatment of specific mares with contraceptives.
Culling was found to have a greater effect on the herds behavior than the use of contraceptive.
Excerpted from the study below:
There were no differences in any behaviors between treatment groups before GnRH (GonaCon-B) vaccination and culling. Females vaccinated against GnRH managed their time differently than controls. They fed less, rested more, travelled less, and performed more maintenance behaviors than their control counterparts, but engaged in the same amount of social behavior. The estimates across years, however, indicated that pronounced behavioral changes occurred in how stallions engaged with females in social behaviors. Stallions herded all females less and harem-tended more following the changes in population density, demography, and social perturbation that resulted from culling. The date of observation in relation to forage availability explained some differences between years, while the increased mean age of stallions as well as the decreased band size in 2010 also explained some of the differences. None of the models indicated that herding or harem-tending varied due to the treatment status of females, but rather implied that the paradigm shift in competition influenced how band stallions managed their family groups. Because the same stallions were observed in both years, the effect of age potentially reflected the additional year of experience each male possessed, in the context of competition pressure.
~ HfH
Behavior of feral horses in response to culling and GnRH immunocontraception
By:
Jason Ransom, Jenny Powers, Heidi Garbe, Michael Oehler Sr, Terry Nett, and Dan Baker
Highlights
•We examine behaviors of feral horses contracepted with GnRH
•We examine social behaviors of feral horses before and after management culling
•Differences in behaviors between treated and control female horses were minimal
•Social behavior of harem stallions changed markedly following population culling
wild horses
Wild horses – Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Abstract
Wildlife management actions can alter fundamental behaviors of individuals and groups, which may directly impact their life history parameters in unforeseen ways. This is especially true for highly social animals because changes in one individual’s behavior can cascade throughout its social network. When resources to support populations of social animals are limited and populations become locally overabundant, managers are faced with the daunting challenge of decreasing population size without disrupting core behavioral processes. Increasingly, managers are turning to fertility control technologies to supplement culling in efforts to suppress population growth, but little is quantitatively known about how either of these management tools affects behavior. Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) is a small neuropeptide that performs an obligatory role in mammalian reproduction and has been formulated into the immunocontraceptive GonaCon-BTM. We investigated the influences of this vaccine on behavior of feral horses (Equus caballus) at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, USA, for a year preceding and a year following nonlethal culling and GnRH-vaccine treatment. We observed horses during the breeding season and found only minimal differences in time budget behaviors of free-ranging female feral horses treated with GnRH and those treated with saline. The differences observed were consistent with the metabolic demands of pregnancy and lactation. We observed similar social behaviors between treatment groups, reflecting limited reproductive behavior among control females due to high rates of pregnancy and suppressed reproductive behavior among treated females due to GnRH-inhibited ovarian activity. In the treatment year, band stallion age was the only supported factor influencing herding behavior (P < 0.001), harem-tending behavior (P < 0.001), and agonistic behavior (P = 0.02). There was no difference between the mean body condition of control females (4.9 (95% CI = 4.7–5.1)) and treated females (4.8 (95% CI = 4.7–4.9)). Band fidelity among all females increased 25.7% in the year following vaccination and culling, despite the social perturbation associated with removal of conspecifics. Herding behavior by stallions decreased 50.7% following treatment and culling (P < 0.001), while harem-tending behavior increased 195.0% (P < 0.001). The amount of available forage influenced harem-tending, reproductive, and agonistic behavior in the year following culling and treatment (P < 0.04). These changes reflected the expected nexus between a species with polygynous social structure and strong group fidelity and the large instantaneous change in population density and demography coincident with culling. Behavioral responses to such perturbation may be synergistic in reducing grazing pressure by decreasing energetically expensive competitive behaviors, but further investigation is needed to explicitly test this hypothesis.
1. Introduction
Gregarious relationships can impart individual benefits such as decreased depredation, increased foraging efficiency, and increased fecundity (Pusey and Packer, 1997). When resources to support populations of social animals are limited and populations become locally overabundant, managers are faced with the daunting challenge of decreasing population size without disrupting core behavioral processes. For example, the limited contiguous habitat and finite resources found on public wildlands cannot sustain overabundant populations of large ungulates, and managers continuously seek innovative and publically-acceptable tools for managing these species (Powers et al., 2011). Historically, such populations have been reduced by culling, using either lethal methods such as hunting, or non-lethal methods such as capture and translocation. Limiting fecundity through the use of immunocontraceptives is becoming a more commonly considered tool for controlling wildlife abundance. However, these tools can be accompanied by physiological changes that may alter behavior and ultimately influence population dynamics in unforeseen ways (Ransom et al., 2014). The paucity of quantitative data on natural behavior of wild free-roaming fauna, especially pertaining to those treated with fertility control agents, impairs our ability to understand species’ influences and roles in ecosystems and thus our ability to effectively manage populations.

Habitat for Horses is a 501.c.3 nonprofit equine protection organization supported solely by donations. We have around 200 donkeys and horses under our care, plus one ornery, old mule. Most of them are here because law enforcement removed them from their previous owner. Our ability to rehabilitate and rehome them comes from the financial support of people like you. Please support us by making a donation for the horses we all serve. 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Field Report/Video: Cloud the Stallion has a New Son

Straight from the Horse's Heart

Update by R.T. Fitch ~ author/president of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Cloud walking much better today
Cloud proving that he is well by adding his 2 cents worth to the “Stud Pile”
Please excuse the brevity and total disregard to any journalistic skills but Ginger Kathrens, of theCloud Foundation, and myself have been up on the mountain for two days in row and it is beginning to tell on my stamina BUT; I am elated to say that we were privileged to spend the entire beautiful day with Cloud, his family and dozens of of other wild horses who names Ginger knows at the drop of the hat while I can’t even remember my own the bulk of the time.
I won’t be very formal and will leave the final report up to my much more knowledgeable, and sometimes more resilient, partner Ginger but for layman’s speak there are two important developments to note, today;
One is that both of us are in total alignment with the observation that Cloud is walking much better today and improved markedly as the day went on…the inserted video will highlight this.
Cloud and new babySecondly, late in the afternoon while Ginger and I were planted for hours watching Encore, prisoner of the band stallions, we heard some distant noise so I opted to investigate and hike to the source.  Well it turned out to be Cloud defending his two mares and foal from Jack the bachelor stallion who was trying to steal them.  I knew that Ginger would want to film this but part one of the fight was over before I could even say, ” What the …heck?”.  But Jack was stupid enough to come back out of the woods for a second attempt and Cloud kicked the living you-know-what out of him with his hind legs WHICH I was watching closely due to his recent injury.  He did great with no hesitation and trotted back to his band in a victory trot without any hitch in his gitty-up.  Looking good in my book.
So in a nutshell, Cloud is good and getting better, his new son is cute enough for me to use the word cute in public (which is not real macho but totally describes him) and tomorrow we are continuing our spring documentation of the magical and wonderful wild horses of the Pryor Mountain Range.
The Cloud Foundation and Wild Horse Freedom Federation are working in tandem for the betterment of the wild horses and burros.
Keep the faith, folks…the Force of the Horse® is with us.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Wild horses still run in desert near Maricopa | InMaricopa.com



InMaricopa.com


Wild horses still run in desert near Maricopa
By Michael K. Rich


July 19, 2010 - 12:00 am


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Wild and free, horses still roam the nearby desert.

Cell phones, laptops, the Internet…the world is transforming into a place in which everyone is connected one way or another through a complex series of wires, signals and telephone lines.

However, neighboring the city of Maricopa, spread across 372,000 acres of land, you’ll find 600 to 1,000 horses running wild and free. These majestic animals survive, as they have for decades, living off the land and fighting for dominance, living on their own terms.

If only people could truly disconnect themselves and live so free.

“The horses do what they want; they have no master; they are what freedom used to be,” said Emmet White.

The 72-year-old White is a Pima Indian, referred to as “a cowboy” by many of his peers. White has many stories about his interaction with the horses and growing up in the Indian community, but this tale begins before White or the wild horses set foot on the land.

Long, long ago

To understand how the horses came to live on the land, it’s helpful to get some historical perspective.

Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Francisco Kino first visited the Pima and Maricopa people living along the Gila River in 1694. He and other explorers to the area described the tribes as friendly, living in a series of villages located generally between where the modern communities of Sacaton and Gila Crossing lie today.

Their economy was based on agriculture, using the land adjacent to the Gila River to cultivate beans, corn, pumpkins, watermelons, muskmelons and cotton. However, it wasn’t the descriptions, which would impact the Indians’ culture, that these explorers, missionaries and others brought back to the civilized world: it was the animals.

Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, the Indian communities relied essentially on their hands to complete day-to-day tasks. Yet, many of the people who came through the area left behind horses and other animals that became entrenched in the lifestyle of the community, said Robert Johnson, a 51-year-old member of the tribe and cultural educator at the Huhugam Heritage Center.

“The horses, donkeys and other animals became a way of improving agriculture in the area, and a further means for the tribe to protect itself from the Apache,” Johnson said.

“We were not originally horse people,” White said. “We adapted.”


Those frequent travelers who left behind sick and tired animals were not only exploring Spaniards, but also 49ers, who passed through in route to California to search for gold.

In the spring of 1849, many of these gold hunters, an estimated 25,000 to 40,000, took one of the northern routes up the Platte River Valley and through the South Pass in Wyoming. They made their way to Salt Lake City and then across Nevada, more than 2,000 miles across mostly unsettled country.

However, another 9,000 to 20,000 travelers took one of the southern routes, which included the Gila Trail and Cooke’s Wagon Road, as well as other trails across northern Mexico. Most of the southern trails came together at the Gila, where travelers left wounded or exhausted animals that the tribes adopted and nursed back to health.

These American equines would often breed with Spanish steeds to form new mixes of horses. “The horses are a symbol,” White said. “They are something special given to us by the Holy Spirit.”

Recent history

A then 12-year-old White and several of his friends crept quietly toward a group of horses. It had long been a sort of ritual of passage among the many members of the tribe to rope and ride the horses in the herd, and White was not one to back down.

He lassoed a horse and pulled himself up on its back.

“The horses were strong and very tough; we always tried to ride the smaller ones because the large stallions would not have it,” he said. “It is funny because back then there were hickory trees with big thorns, and the horses always seemed to buck you off into one of them. It was like they knew.”

While riding the horses was part sport, it was also a mode of transportation for the young Pima Indian.

“When I grew up it was either walk or find a horse to ride,” White said. For many years, White rode horses in the herd and only gave up the hobby as he became older. However, experiences with the herd were not reserved for tribal members.

Former city councilman Brent Murphree’s family managed nearly 1,000 acres of farmland, which bordered the Indian community, when he was growing up.

“Many people say those were the good ole days, but if you look how we lived back then compared to today, life was really a lot more difficult,” he said.

Some of those difficulties revolved around the herd. Several times a year, the horses would get into the family’s acreage and eat the crops. “They would break the stalks and make it difficult to harvest,” he said. However, the Murphree family had a solution—dirt bikes.

When the horses came into the fields, Murphree and his brothers would mount up on their dirt bikes and chase the horses off the land.

“It was kind of an odd sight to see us chasing these horses on dirt bikes,” he said. “I remember one time I was chasing a group off and hit a branch and flew off the motorcycle.”

In addition to the trouble they caused in the field, the herd used to wander onto State Route 347. “I remember the year before they put the fence up, nine horses were killed; it was very dangerous to drive down that road,” Murphree said.

Cultural symbols

Today, the horses have become somewhat of a symbol of a time past and are not an everyday part of tribal life.

“Every family used to have a horse for work or transportation, but those days are long gone,” Johnson said.

The tribe does not actively manage the herd, but does operate a solar-operated well to help keep the horses hydrated, according to Cliff Targowski of the Gila River Indian Community’s natural resources conservation department.

At one time, the tribe would round up the horses and auction them off, but due to financial reasons, that practice has stopped.

While the herd continues to inspire a sense of the romantic West in passersby, Johnson said it can still be a nuisance. The stallions will oftentimes find domesticated mares on the ranches in the community and draw them away into the pack, Johnson said.

In some cases, it takes the families three months to track down their horses, he added.

“A lot of the cowboys just chase the horses away when they come near a settlement,” Johnson said.

Herd behavior

Wild horses, or mustangs as they are known, are no different from many pack animals and have distinct markings and behavioral patterns.

“The horses live in herds of typically one breeding stallion, one to 12 breeding mares, their nursing foals and weaned colts and fillies,” said Bobbi Royal, the director and co-founder of Nevada-based Wild Horse Spirit, a hands-on, non-profit wild horse rescue, sanctuary and advocacy organization.

Once the weaned fillies and colts reach the age of three, they are typically driven from the herd to prevent inbreeding by the dominant stallion. These then go on to establish herds of their own.

“Horses are very attached to their mothers and don’t want to leave the herd,” Royal said. “The stallions give them no choice though.” Those males that don’t find any females to join their pack will often form bachelor herds, she added.

Along the Gila River, there are essentially four larger herds, consisting of 25 or more head and many other groups of two to three, according to Johnson. The stallion in the herd serves as the protector of the group and will stay and battle if danger approaches, while the group also features a lead mare that navigates the group to safety.

Battle for control

A combination of time in the herd, size and temperament determines the pecking order in the herd. While a herd will stay together for many years, each breeding season brings about opportunity for change.

During this season the stallion of the herd will aggressively drive back any mares who try to leave the group by laying his ears back and twisting his head and neck in a snaking motion.

Stallions will also battle for control of the herd in this same manner, in addition to nipping and rearing up with their hooves. If a stallion is displaced from a herd, they typically go on to join a bachelor herd.

While characteristics of life in the herd are amazing to observe, Royal says it’s the toughness of the horses at which one marvels. “These horses will eat almost anything and travel more than 30 miles to find water,” she said.

White said he has seen the horses even dig in the ground to find water. “It is amazing; it is like they know exactly where the water is,” he said.

And the horses aren’t too particular about their diet, even eating tumbleweeds and branches. But two of the lesser-known facts about these animals are their digestive system and ability to prevent wild fires, Royal said.


“A herd will eat the grasses most responsible for causing wild fires, and their digestive system is such that seeds pass through it. This means they are constantly reseeding what they eat.”

Where to find the horses

There are an estimated 600 to 1,000 horses roaming the Indian community, mostly running in packs of five or less. However, there are three larger packs with more than 25 head each. Here are the areas those packs frequent:

• The Gila Butte herd roams east of Interstate 10 between Gila Butte and Goodyear Village and can be observed on any given day.

• The Pima Butte herd roams between Pima Butte and just east of I-10. They cross back and forth under State Route 347 at the Gila River Bridge and are usually spotted along SR 347.

• The Estrella herd roams mostly in the scrub-mesquite growth along Santa Cruz Wash and the Estrella Range. This herd can be seen only sporadically along Beltline Road; it is the largest of the three packs never coming in contact with humans. If the herd is spotted, it's usually taking water from the irrigation canals. They raise a dust cloud when in motion.

Photo by Robert Johnson

(A version of this article appeared in the summer issue of InMaricopa the Magazine)






Horse slaughter issue likely to grab more congressional attention

Habitat for Horses

This article from a pro-rancher website Agri-Pulse. That they do not give all the facts should be of no surprise. They have money which gives them a great deal of political clout. You can comment below their article after you click “Continue Reading” link. ~ HfH
horseslaughterWASHINGTON, May 13, 2014-Legislation that would permanently ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and prohibit the sale of horses to other countries for human consumption may get increased traction in Congress as a temporary ban on slaughter facilities ends.
Currently, under the fiscal year 2014 omnibus appropriations bill, companies are effectively banned from conducting horse slaughter operations in the nation until Sept. 30. This was done by prohibiting funding for USDA inspectors to conduct work in the three facilities that were gearing up to begin operations. That legislation, however, did not ban the sales of horses to Canada and Mexico.
Two pending bills (S. 541, H.R. 1094) in Congress would permanently ban U.S. horse slaughter facilities as well as interstate or foreign sales of horses for human consumption. The Senate bill, offered by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has 28 co-sponsors from both parties and is awaiting action in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The House bill, offered by Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., has 170 cosponsors and was referred to three committees. Meehan and other lawmakers recently requested that the House Appropriations Committee reinstate the temporary ban in the FY 2015 agriculture appropriations bill.
The horse slaughter issue essentially pits the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and animal rights activists against farmers and ranchers who are dealing with an overpopulation of wild horses, which are chewing up pastures and rangeland.
Former Congressman Charlie Stenholm, D-Texas, who has lobbied for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and fought to allow horse slaughter facilities to open, said keeping those U.S. facilities closed has not reduced the number of horses sold across the border, where the animals may not be treated as humanely as in the United States.
Stenholm said there are more horses being turned loose as people learn they cannot afford the animals, and that there is no practical market for them. Stenholm estimates there are about 50,000 horses in the wild, mostly on public lands in the western United States.
As for other options, euthanizing a horse and burying the carcass can cost between $400 and $2,000, Stenholm said, noting that a farmer also would lose out on a potential $500 from the sale to a slaughterhouse.

Habitat for Horses is a 501.c.3 nonprofit equine protection organization supported solely by donations. We have around 200 donkeys and horses under our care, plus one ornery, old mule. Most of them are here because law enforcement removed them from their previous owner. Our ability to rehabilitate and rehome them comes from the financial support of people like you. Please support us by making a donation for the horses we all serve. 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Videos: The Beauty of the Equine Spirit

Straight from the Horse's Heart

A collection of Equine related videos
“‘Feel Good Sunday’ is a much needed commodity, this week.  We have been flanked by stupidity, egos and senselessness so it’s time to recharge our batteries as it is a busy week ahead of us.
These videos were forwarded by a good friend and we hope that you enjoy them as much as we did/do.
Hope you are well, my friends, and keep the faith.” ~ R.T.
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