Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Skywalker and S’aka – big and little – mosey across the grasslands of Spring Creek Basin. 🙂

Alkali sacaton and grama grass. What more could a wild pony want during the gloriously golden days of Colorado autumn?

Happy birthday to my mom, Nancy!

It’s a pretty amazing one – the big 7-0!

She just had knee-replacement surgery, but she’s taking it all in stride (get it?!) and hopes to be back in the saddle soon. 🙂

I’m so grateful for my mom (and dad, too!), for all she (they) has/have done and do for me and my brother, and the people in their community. Most of all, of course, I’m glad for the gift of horses!

Love you, Mom! 🙂

Sweet Mariah glows at the setting of the sun on another perfectly glorious fall day in Spring Creek Basin.

Do we need another reason to fight for them?

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This is a good place to note that the Onaqui herd in Utah needs our help. This herd, like Spring Creek Basin, Sand Wash Basin and Little Book Cliffs in Colorado, is beloved of many, many people. BLM is proposing a roundup there to remove as many as 235 horses from this herd to the low end of AML (appropriate management level) of just 121 horses. That would be devastating to the herd, which is made up of at least four distinct groups. It also would undermine the success of the PZP program ongoing with volunteers and local BLM employees. Fertility control projects need to be given the chance to be successful – as it is in the Onaqui herd – as it is in Colorado where used.

Wild Horses of America Foundation – http://wildhorses.org/ – has information on its website to help you craft a comment letter to BLM. Please personalize your comments and be respectful. Remember that BLM *IS* currently working with volunteers for this herd, and their work needs to continue in an atmosphere of respect and collaboration.

Please send comments by 4 p.m. Oct. 31 MST:

Email: blm_ut_cedarmt_onaqui@blm.gov

Mail:
Bureau of Land Management
Salt Lake Field Office
2370 South Decker Lake Boulevard
Salt Lake City, UT 84119

Subject (for email and mail): Population Control, Gather, and Research for the Onaqui Mountain Wild Horse Herd Management Area Project

Does Gaia ever look anything other than completely glamorous?

Did I mention the wind? It doesn’t slow Comanche down on his trek to evening water.

Onward we go!

Because we WANT TO, we CAN DO better for our mustangs and wild burros.

Apparently, that is a difficult concept. It does take time to turn the wheels of government. Over the course of nearly 46 years, we’ve gone from rotary-dial phones to computers in our pockets that are smart enough to take pictures and connect us with the world. But we can’t – can’t?! – seem to find ways to manage our wild horses and burros in balance with the interests that compete for the bounty of their homes.

Kudos to National Advisory Board members for recommending that BLM commit to $3 million in funding for fertility control in 2019. (By the way, PZP doesn’t cost $2,500 per dose per mare, and it certainly doesn’t have an efficacy of only 20 percent. PZP costs $27 per dose per mare, and my time and labor come free of charge. It has proven efficacy of more than 90 percent.)

Shame on them (with the exception of Ginger Kathrens, who is huge strength in a small package!) for recommending that tens of thousands of horses and burros be DESTROYED in order to cover up the ineptness of 46 years of poor management that enabled these iconic and beloved animals to be the scapegoat for the poorness of human-caused issues.

Whatever will they do when our mustangs and burros no longer exist to blame for the poor conditions of decades of overgrazing and otherwise poor management – not only within the Wild Horse and Burro Program?

Ranges without the magic of mustangs will be, simply, barren.

I am saddened.

But we are not defeated.

And I wake up grateful every day for OUR local BLM folks who work with us to ensure the health and longevity of our mustangs and their range.

Is she simply, superbly, unimaginably gorgeous, or what?

She’s in her 30s, folks. The wisdom of that single, stunning, wild mare is unfathomable. I’d project even a fraction onto our law- and policy-makers if it were possible. Just imagine the huge reservoirs of wisdom lost via roundups. All pieces of unimaginable wild beauty … lost to the world that created them. Yes, we need to preserve the land that sustains them … but that is possible without destruction. Houdini is living proof.