‘The Wild Horse Is Us’

Nice comment Lee, I appreciate very much your informative, balanced look.

It is strange that eastern dudes and wannabe cowboys point fingers at the BLM who are in a better position to observe and deal with growing wild mustang populations than most. It is a matter of fact that allowing wild horse populations to grow expodentially spreads disease,creates malformed animals,and leaves most dead of thirst or starvation in both winter and summer months that do not have the protection of private reserves where employees can care and feed for the animals in a captive environment setting. Around here,local Indian [Paiute-Shoshone],wisdom marks the mustang as an animal not worth the waste of time in deducing solid candidates for further training from the ''shoeheads''[inbred,health and disease problems]. These native-Americans comprise among the finest trained cowboys[buckaroos],in America,working on ranches from the IL,TS,71,Spanish,Maggie Creek,and others where areas of the Great Basin have been littered with the carcasses of the mustang herds grown too large to be properly managed. The Owanee Desert, home to one of Americas largest wild herds,is covered with the bones of these horses. In the world of unintended consequences in which the dogooder environmentalist or conservationist perpetually resides,ranches forced out of business by more stringent environmental standards,have left the mustang without a human advocate on-scene deprived of the forage and grazing needed for survival.Alkali soils,held in check by human hands and irrigation diversion which has been abandoned,move to take over the region killing off grazing grasses needed for wild equine survival creating one of the most inhospitable environments anywhere in the western hemisphere.The author means well,but ignores the fact that neither Comanche,or Paul Reveres horse were mustangs,but of a mixed breed .Indeed,even during the American West of the 1870s-80s,horse purchasers from the Armys cavalry arm to settlers and ranchers would eschew the capture and training of mustangs to opt for cross-bred horses provided by breeders and ranchers. Violent diseases wiped out hundreds of thousands of these animals,and those who raised these sought to separate the wild from the domestic driving them into more and more remote areas.While the horse should be protected as a matter of species survival,it is not for meddling easterners and others to attempt to transform life and livlihood in the West in order to salve conscience or to demonize those who have lead the hard life of the stockman ,rancher or other who in the end,becomes a better steward of the environment surrounding him or her[as several ranches are operated by widows],than governments or city slicks. I speak here from a lifetime of experience,seeing both sides of this issue,who has seen the West from the Rockies to the Pacific on the back of a horse and keeps, along with other stock,a gelded mustang.

uhh... you should prolly stay off the Internet "AshMann".. my comment had ZERO to do with yours. I read it, gave it a "Heheh" then wrote something completely un-related.

How am I being ignorant? Seems like a BIG word for you and maybe you don't understand it. I do have a B.S. in Environmental Science, I have done a lot of ecosystem studies in regards to impacts of invaders species on and native, and in particular, endemic plant and animal species.. how again? Prolly better if you stear clear of adult / rationale / issues that really should not be discussed by emotion driven people. Why are you talking about your 'daddy' and 'uncle' etc? how is that related to wild horses and donkeys again? Are you letting your emotions get to you? Do you know what rhetorical question is (please don't answer any of those questions).

Ok. So here's one from Trona, Ca, which has more than its fare share of donkey issues. About 20 years back, donkeys were coming into neighborhoods and destroying property. Kicking in garage doors, knocking down fences.. bad stuff. The BLM had to go through mountains of red tape, heavily laden with bleeding hearts whining and moaning the entire time.

So a bunch of dudes got together and shot like 30 of them one night. At least that's how the story goes.

I was in Death Valley.. believe me, DONKEYS are not indigenous to this region. AT ALL. But there are springs back there so once the minors released these now feral creatures, their populations did ok. And these beautiful babbling brooks ... FULL of donkey crap.. festering and putrifying in the sun. And all I see is bleeding hearts amongst the flies and stench and stagnation.

Do something. Don't be hypocrits. You make lots of noise.. go adopt! Get of your lazy butts! You are probably welfare recipients anyways just sitting around living off the fat of the land soaking up free money! Go get a donkey!

Did you even read my comment desertdonkey, or just respond to the first sentence? I am truely sorry for the problems your friend is having, but that is human error- you can hardly blame the horses for that. I do not want more taxes, and I don't think they are needed. I think if some would get their act together a reasonable solution would be found. You are being so ignorant! Ever since I was a little girl I have donated to programs that relocate mustangs to areas where they may live in a controlled environment, while still being wild- and as I said many of my friends in the area have adopted mustangs- but it is irresponsible to suggest everyone do so. You're right, I don't live in the area- but I did, as you would know if you read more than the first sentence of my comment. And I am offended that you think that because I don't wanted horses killed I am an unamerican pot head. I have NEVER touched the stuff, My father, uncle and cousin are all in the military and my step father is a farmer- you don't get more hard working or 'american' than that.

Desertdonkey you disgust me. Adopt 9-10 horses- are you kidding? Not every one of these horses even are adoptable- they are wild, most of them have never been touched and now just because I don't what to see them extinguished I need to risk my childrens safety and the safety of other horses? That is ridiculous. I did live in the areas affected by the horses- so don't tell me I don 't understand. What bothers me is that unless it can make a profit it has to be killed apparently. Cows are destroying huge areas of land. They are very damaging grazers, as are their hooves- yet it is okay for them to run free range. Have a buffalo, horse, or any other animal even show up and we have to kill them. Something must be done yes- but just becuase I wish for it to be a compassionate solution does not make me subhuman! In reality having a heart and feelings is what makes me human- and your lack there of is what makes you trash. To group all of us together is ignorant. Because I don't want horses slaughtered I am suddenly a welfare program supporter? Are you kidding me? That is another system that needs to be fixed- but it isn't the issue here! I do love animals, but I have worked to acheive a balance in my life in regards to my view of them. My pets are for my enjoyment- not to fulfill a need for a child - or any other unbalanced reason. You are right on one thing, most of them are not majestic looking- now why would that be? Because their food and water sources have been declared off limits- ranchers only, and they have to survive on what little they can find. Are there food and water programs? yes, but they are a joke. Usually the "watering" area is a trough filled with mud- is it really any wonder that they aren't always as beautiful as their domestic cousins? Many people in the area I now live have adopted mustangs, but is has taken years of hard work for them to be docile. Unless highly skilled with horses this is not an option for most people. Also- someone was mad I appreciated someones comment about horses and the ice age? If you look at my comment I was using that as an argument for keeping the horses. Sorry for any confusion in that matter.

I'm sorry to say it but this country is not one that just does stuff, desertdonkey. We are a country that must first discuss, deliberate, discuss some more, pass a law, wait for it to come into affect, then see how things go and do the process all over when a problem arises. So there is no need to go and say that it is sickening to put animals above people. We are in a bloody republic. It is their right to say weather an animal is worth more than a human.

I'm sorry to say it but this country is not one that just does stuff, desertdonkey. We are a country that must first discuss, deliberate, discuss some more, pass a law, wait for it to come into affect, then see how things go and do the process all over when a problem arises. So there is no need to go and say that it is sickening to put animals above people. We are in a bloody republic. It is their right to say weather an animal is worth more than a human.

Who can stop them? YOU can stop them.

You can adopt these horses and burrows VERY CHEAP. Man up and do it! All I've heard is ignorant comments from BLEEDING HEARTS about why they think these horses and donkeys should not be killed (because it makes their hearts bleed).

Yet the people [like me] who actually live in places where where these "majestic" (lols) creatures live have to deal with them. See... these wild horses are a place in your mind. They are NOT real to you. It's just a myth or some other airy thing your bleeding minds have dreamed up. You've never had to deal with them. And you bleeding hearts are certainly not man enough to actually do anything about this problem other than whine and b!tch about it.

Don't be hypocrit! Get out there and adopt a whole bunch of these. If every bleeding heart that posted on here would adopt like 9 or 10 of these, than it'd be a big help. Hell, if all the bleeding hearts in the country adopted 9 or 10, this whole thing thing would be solved.

But you won't. Just like all bleeding hearts, you are hypocrits. You make lots of noise because you simply guided in all aspects of your live by your emotions.. uncontrollable sobbing whining sub human trash. You actually put animals ABOVE humans. That's sick! Disgusting... like your brains must be rotting or something. It's tragic.

Thing is, a lot of bleeding hearts are all for welfare. And that's all these horses are.. the BLM facilities that house these creatures are just welfare for horses. Bleeding hearts love this. They don't mind letting taxes get wasted on thes invasive creatures that should NOT even exist in certain ecosystems or the impacts.

Everytime I come up on a formerly pristine desert spring and see it filled with piles of donkey and horse $hit and it's putrifying and there's flies and stench and stagnation... all I see is piles of bleeding hearts in there. Disgusting.

Walk the walk, talk the talk.. you have NO real experience with these animals. Man-up. Don't be hypocrite. Do something. Adopt some of them.

I joined in the outrage yesterday, but my comments did not make it in the mix. I have been following a lot of the comments made yesterday. I haven't read much of them this morning. I hope folks are off the kick of where horses came from and whether or not they survived the ice age. Those are not rellavent points, I think. More importantly, what are other methods of solution that can be found for the population of the horses? You know, Mother Nature has a way of fixing problems such as these. From time to time God, Himself, will step in and manage situations. The horses belong to him, in the first place. No one owns these horses, and they belong to everyone. They should not be coraled. Someone is being very selfish and controlling. The way I see it, the government spends $1.09M for each horses (do the math - $39 M, 66 T/horses). I'm not that good at math, so perhaps I'm wrong. Wait...it's more than that. Millions to thousands. Anyway, I have 23 acres of land in the mountains of NC. I have wanted a horse all of my life. I would like a young black and white paint, filly w/her mother and father and $1M each to fund their needs. I don't understand why a horse cost a million + dollars a year to maintain, but those are the figures provided in this report. They would not be beasts of burden under my care. They would be my friends for life. I would love to hear from an official on this matter. MOre than likely, no one of that stature is even bothering to read any of our comments. And, unfortunately, the horses are probably being killed even as we speak. Who can stop them? Who can get in their car and drive or take a plane or a bus or a train and get there to make them stop? Who has that power? Phylosphy and opinions are great, but who can really get something done to fix this? The weather is beautiful here right now and the horses would be very happy here long before they would be happy in a crowded coral or being chased by helicopters in the open plains or killed because you blew managing the situation. Man has failed those horses. Please take me seriously and be in touch. You have my email and I will be checking it regularly. Or, tell me how and who to contact. In Jesus name, I pray God will not leave an ill-fate in the hands of "man" to correct their mishandling of this situation. Horses are magestic creatures and should not be handled with such disregard. As far as comparing this situation to the over-population of deer - people eat deer - we don't (I hope) eat horses. Someone be in touch, please. Thank you to all of you for jumping on this so vigorously.

From Black Hawk, Sauk

"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."

Thanks Wired--- Here's the rest of the pertinent quotes to my point(s) that I found-- they just all wouldn't fit in one post - I think maybe we should all listen (belatedly) to the wisdom of these beautiful words/thoughts & take right action to correct things, before it is toooo late:


Prophecy-
Only after the last tree has been cut down;
Only after the last fish has been caught;
Only after the last river has been poisoned;
Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten. ~Cree Indian Prophecy
--
"Treat the earth well: It was not given to you by your parents,
It was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
We borrow it from our Children." ~Ancient Indian Proverb
--
Man has responsibility, not power. ~Native American Proverb (Tuscarora)
--
Dakota Prayer
Grand father---Great Spirit- Fill us with the light-
Give us the strength-to understand-and the eyes to see-
Teach us to walk the soft earth-as relatives-to all that live.
--

"The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. This we know.
Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth."

Kiwani : excellent post. Very uplifting and sad at the same time.
Chief Seattle, 1854

"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
-Chief Dan George
--
Where are the Buffalo? Gone.
The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land.
How can you buy or sell the sky? The warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.
Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water.
How can you buy them from us? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways.
One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs.
The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on.
He leaves his fathers' graves and his children's birthright is forgotten.

There is no quiet place in the white man's cities.
No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand - the clatter only seems to insult the ears.
And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frog around the pond at night?

The whites too shall pass - perhaps sooner than other tribes.
Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.
When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.
Where is the eagle? Gone.
Where is the buffalo? Gone.
And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt,
The end of living and the beginning of survival.
~Chief Seattle 1855
--
Black Elk's Great Vision
"Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,
And round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw;
For I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit,
And the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops
That made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight,
And in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter
All the children of one mother and one father.
And I saw that it was holy."
~Black Elk, 1931
--
A Great Truth
"The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. This we know.
Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth."
Chief Seattle, 1854

I meant to say that my last post, below, was posted for John Brian, as he couldn't get registered to the site.