Unwanted Horses

It had been three years since I last posted a blog to my account. The last post was regarding the drought we had in 2007 and the effect that, along with excessive breeding by horse breeders, had on horse rescues. At the time, we were seeing an unprecedented number of horses people were trying to get rid of. Now, due to the downward spiral of our economy, we are facing the same problem. Only this time, non profits are also faced with a reduction in donations, leaving them with less money to care for these animals.
Last year, under the leadership of our outgoing president, Pat Sneed, the Mustang and Wild Horse Rescue of Georgia (MWHR), placed elevan of our horses in private homes. We had to find homes for our horses and do it in a hurry as we lost our lease on 60 acres of beautiful pastureland. That left us with only 7 acres that we were leasing in Canton Georgia . Fred and Jeanne Wall are leasing use of this land to the MWHR at no cost.
Earlier this year Pat located a benefactor who had 20 acres of pastureland for lease in Jasper Georgia. We signed a twenty year lease with the owner, Charles Kaplan, for a total cost of $20. This land is overgrown with weeds and requires much work. We have to bush hog the briars and brambles and then overseed and, finally, put up fencing before we can put horses on it. This is a major project for us. We have already put in close to 100 man hours clearing the horse trail along the creek with many hours of work still needed.
About two months ago, Nancy Koch of Suwanee Georgia, donated two acres of pasture land to the MWHR. This property is located in Cleveland Georgia, but also needs to be fenced in prior to use.
Preparing the pastures and fencing them in will require an enormous amount of money, so the MWHR has its' first fundraising event of the year, a Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament coming up on November 12, 2011 at Stars and Strikes at 133 Merchants Square, Cumming GA 30040. The telephone number is 678-965-5707. We hope we have a great turnout so we can get started on preparing a home for some of the unwanted mustangs out there. There are many.
We have been active this year finding homes for mustags even though we cannot accomodate anymore at this time. In fact, we assisted in placing four.
Our "needs" list is long. At the top of the list would be someone with a tractor willing to help us bush hog the property in Jasper. Then, if anyone has any fencing they would be willing to donate we could put that up and seed the land.

Novel

I will be uploading some excerpts from my novel, Wyoming Territory
Here is the prologue

Prologue

The Wyoming Territory is rich in history. Famous frontiersmen such as Jim Bridger, John Colter, Kit Carson, Jebediah Smith and General John Fremont spent time exploring the land and hunting for beaver pelts. While exploring the Rocky Mountains, John Colter discovered an area of steaming geysers and magnificent waterfalls that he called “Colter’s Hell.”In 1872, that area was set aside as the world’s first National Park, known as Yellowstone. William Cody gained a name for himself hunting the large herds of buffalo that roamed the great plains of Wyoming. The city, Cody Wyoming, near Yellowstone National Park is named after its famous resident.

           

Forty miles east of Lovell, Wyoming, at the crest of Medicine Mountain, is located the Medicine Wheel, an ancient shrine with twenty eight spokes and a circumference of two hundred and forty five feet, built by some forgotten tribe. A Crow chief reportedly said, “It was built before the light came by people who had no iron. This prehistoric relic remains as one of Wyoming’s unsolved mysteries.

There is evidence in Wyoming of prehistoric occupation dating back more than twelve thousand years. These historic tribes were nomadic and known as the Plains Indians. They were the Arapaho, Arikara, Bannock, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, Nez Perce, Sheep Eater, Sioux, Shosone, and Ute Tribes. The Cheyenne and the Sioux were the last of these to be controlled and placed on reservations.

Wyoming was the scene of the last of the great Indian battles. Fort Phil Kearny, in northern Wyoming, had the bloodiest history of any fort in the West as thousands of well organized Indians fought fierce battles with the United States Calvary. These Indians were led by famous chiefs such as Crazy Horse and Red Cloud.

Fort Laramie in southeastern Wyoming, became a haven for the emigrants and people seeking gold as well as a critical station for the Pony Express and the Overland stagecoaches, thus becoming a vital post for the military in its wars with the Plains Indians. It witnessed the growth of the open range cattle industry and the coming of homesteaders, or “sod busters” and the building of towns.

In 1869, Wyoming’s territorial legislature became the first government in the world to grant female suffrage by enacting a bill giving Wyoming women the right to vote. Thus, Wyoming came to be known as the “Equality State”. It wasn’t long after the signing of this act that Ester Hobart Morris of South Pass City, became the first woman ever to be appointed as justice of the peace. Mrs. Louisa Swain, on September 6, 1870, in Laramie, became the first woman in the nation to cast a vote.

While all of this was going on, the large ranchers in Wyoming were complaining of unbridled rustling by small “nesters” and that railroad contractors fed their crews with beef purchased from these rustlers. Without adequate law enforcement, the cattlemen took matters in their own hands hanging without trial those they thought were guilty. Regardless of such efforts to stop the rustling, the problem continued.

The infamous “Hole in the Wall” was located in Johnson County and seemed to attract various outlaws who preyed on cattle interests.  Included among this group were Tom Horn, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to name a few.

The cattlemen took it upon themselves to hire and send an “expeditionary” force of Texas gunmen, led by a former deputy United States marshal to go in and rid the area of these unsavory individuals who were rustling their cattle. Each man was promised a fifty dollar bonus for each “rustler” killed. The plan included the force, under the command of Major Frank Wolcott, to go to Buffalo Wyoming in Johnson County to replace the county government with individuals who would be more favorable toward the large cattle interests. It was this bunch of individuals, with nicknames that conjure up the best of the Wild West, and their shenanigans that caught my interest and brought my novel to the Wyoming Territory.

Much of the historical information I gathered was from G.B. Dobson’s web site, About Wyoming Tales and Trails and from the characters he described that many of the names used in this novel are derived.

During this time when the Wyoming Territory was going through its growing pains, Sweden was experiencing its worst recession since 1650. While the population in Sweden was increasing by an alarming rate, it was estimated that over forty per cent of its soil was unproductive.

People were leaving for America in great numbers aided by firms based in New York who sent representatives to Sweden to arrange passage on ships carrying iron to America. These ships would provide cheap passage and would only charge twelve dollars per person for a voyage that would last about seven weeks. It was an emotional time for these people, saying good bye to their brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. Watching the countryside where they grew up pass by for the last time. They were never to see their family and home again.

These immigrants were often met by the Bethel Ship Mission in New York City, an organization which helped people arrange travel west. Many of these Swedish immigrants found work with the Northern Pacific Railroad helping build the Yellowstone Division. Once they saved up enough money, they purchased land close to the track so they could once again get back to farming. It is here where my main character, Esben Hjerstedt (my mother's maiden name) and his mother went to live with his uncle, who was living in Wyoming while he worked for the railroad.

This is a novel of fiction and even though historical facts are found throughout, it in no way depicts the life of anyone, living or dead. I have added a few words from the Lakota Sioux dialect to twist the tongue and cause some angst to the reader. I hope you enjoy reading it.

New Happenings

It has been years since I blogged and thought I would start it up again. I am currently writing a new novel and will be keeping you posted on its development

No Water No Hay What This Means To The Mustang

This past year we have experienced extreme draughts in the Southwest and here in the Southeast while parts of the Midwest saw flooding. This means that the first cut of hay was missed in the Midwest and in the Southeast many farmers only got a first cut, missing the second and third cuts due to lack of growth. We have seen our hay costs tripling in the past twelve months. So how does this affect the horse? There has been an overpopulation of horses recently due in part to the number of baby boomers who have become horse owners and the breeding industry wanting to take advantage of the growing market. The Thoroughbred breeders have always kept their breeding mares pregnant in order to increase the number of foals they can sell for millions of dollars to syndicated buyers. If these horses don't produce income at the track, they are dumped on the market as well. Then you have ancilliary breeders associated with the Thoroughbred breeders. These breeders provide nurse mares to nurse the Thoroughbred foals while the Thoroughbred breeders start the impregnation process of their mares all over again. This leaves the nurse mare foals who happen to be lucky enough not to be lined up in front of a hole and shot, or sent off to pharmeceutical labs to be used as test animals on products such as fly spray, looking for someone to adopt them.
Now horse rescues are being inundated with requests to take in starving and unwanted horses. The equine community, always a fractious community, is pointing fingers at each other with some saying the closing of the two slaughter houses in America exacerated the problem while others blame greedy breeders. The fact remains we have a problem we have to fix.
So what does this mean to the Mustang? Well, beside the obvious that forage and water is a little more difficult to find in the habitat of these animals, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is having a difficult time in their attempts to find adopters. Why would someone adopt a wild horse for $125 when they can get a trained domestic horse for the same price? In general, people who end up adopting Mustangs don't have the disposable income to absorb the increased costs to feed these animals. Also, the reduction of water and forage on the Herd Management Areas (HMAs) will increase the pressure put on the BLM by livestock breeders to remove more Mustangs thus increasing the number of unwanted horses on the market. These HMAs(originally 303) were set aside specifically for the wild horses and burros by Congress in 1971 when they passed Public Law 92-195. When this law was passed, there were an estimated 50,000 wild horses and the BLM was put in charge of the welfare of these animals. And what has the BLM done in the ensuing 36 years? Well, they zeroed out 100 HMAs and reduced the number of wild horses to approximately 20,000. They have about that many in their holding corrals across the United States awaiting adoption costing American taxpayers in excess of $10 million a year. We don't need more unwanted horses on the market. We have to leave these horses in the wild.
One obvious step to alleviate the overpopulation of unwanted horses is for our Congress to hold the BLM accountable for their actions and make them leave the wild horses on our public lands as mandated by PL 92-195. The only way that will happen is for concerned citizens to contact their Congressmen and Senators and tell them to make the BLM to stop circumventing the intent of the law and leave the horses on their rightful HMAs.

The Mustang Horse

When asked if he could name the most significant animal on the American continent, Frank Hopkins, arguably the greatest horseman and winner of over 400 endurance rides ranging from 50 miles to over 3,000 miles, all on mustangs, replied: "The Mustang is the most significant animal in America. " Many would have to agree.
The Mustang was responsible for settling the West. Small in stature, big in heart, this little horse carried explorers through unchartered territory most times carrying a quarter of their weight on their backs.
Frank Hopkins, who participated in more endurance races than any other man in history spending over 60 years in the saddle, said that the Mustang has the qualities to make the ideal saddle horse. What are these qualities?
Well, first he said endurance. The mustang can keep going day in and day out. Frank quoted General George Cook: " ... if troops can't overtake a band of Indians in two hours, its better to give up the chase because they'll never in this green world catch them. Those wiry ponies of theirs can go ninety miles without food or water. They wear out all the cavalry horses we have on the frontier.
The second quality he listed was intelligence. "You can't beat Mustang intelligence in the entire equine race." The Mustang has had to fend for itself for generations. No body was going to look after them so they had to figure out how to survive and that took superior intelligence. The ones who are here survived through the evolutionary process of the survival of the fittest.
The third quality he mentions is economy. The Mustang can live where a stall fed animal would starve. The Mustang has learned how to pick his own food from the country and can live where a cow would starve. A Mustang knows how to take such good care of himself that he is always ready to go.
When Frank was listing qualities that made the Mustang superior to other horses, he failed to mention their feet. It is well know that due to the years they spend traveling 10-25 miles a day in the high desert country and the mountainous terrain, they have developed very tough hoof walls and soles. Terrain that would cause a domestic horse to pull up lame, hardly is noticed by the Mustang.
So why are so many people intent on destroying this exceptional horse? It is a long and complicated story that we will touch on in our next posting