The mare that we brought back from Iowa a few weeks ago has aborted the fetus she was carrying to be born next year. She must have been 4 - 5 months along and this was very distressing. It was a stud colt and probably would have also been palomino like my new baby Goldie who would have been his full sister. I am looking into the possibiity that she was carrying twins but can't be sure right now. Twins arent uncommon in horses but their surviving full term is not common at all although there have been many who have. So it was a sad day for me yesterday, seeing that little thing about 12 - 18 inches long with all of its features, ears, tail dock, perfectly formed legs and boy parts, nostrils, tongue and hooves broke my heart.
I got the newsletter for one of my horse Magazines that I submit to and read the other day and was very pleasantly surprised to read this article :
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13130
I subsequently asked Carol Walker one of the members of a few equine photographer and artist groups that I belong to who I have referred to before on previous posts, about it. I am going to quote her reply to my question on how factual this information is which I thought might be very useful to those of you that do care and believe me every e-mail towards this cause can make a difference, we are hanging on by a slim thread at the moment but this has given a glimmer of hope.
"Dear Lori, It's not too good to be true - it is true, but there are still issues. Yes, Madeleine Pickens, wife of T. Boone Pickens has announced she will take the horses in long and short term holding - and the BLM is giving till the end of next year for the puchase of the land and relocation of the horses to occur - and Deputy Director Bisson of the BLM says he has a couple of backups of other individuals as well. However, it was extremely disturbing to me as I sat at the BLM wild horse and burro advisory board meeting and the advisory board had a recommendation to sell horses abroad - this would really mean a death sentence with slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico - and only one member of the advisory board, Robin Lohnes, was not in favor of keeping euthansia of the 33,000 horses in long term holding as an option. Also, the problem remains - if Pickens takes the horses in long and short term holding, this frees up all the spaces for the BLM to continue rounding up more horses - they have planned possibly 5000 to be removed this year - one roundup is going on in Utah right now. I got interviewed on my way home from the meeting on Tues by channel 4 in Denver:
So if you are asking what can I do, this is from the Cloud Foundation: What You Can Do Now: With a new administration we have the chance to change BLM’s poor management of wild horses. Please contact President-Elect Obama’s office at: Link
• Request that Mr. Obama appoints a Secretary of the Interior who cares about our public lands and our wild horses - the BLM needs change from the top down!
• Write about your hopes for the future of wild horses in America—the BLM’s “management to extinction” policies must be changed "
Carol has also updated with this news:
"They interviewed me just after having gotten home from the advisory board meeting. The BLM will continue to round up horses this coming year - they are currently rounding up one herd in Utah, the Sulfer herd, they will be rounding up a herd in Utah in 2 weeks and removing 447 horses, they plan to do "emergency" removals in Nevada of about 2000 - 3000 horses and in Wyoming they will remove horses if the State of WY demands it, and they are also planning to remove 60 horses from the Pryor Mountains. Carol Walker "
The statement that got to me the most was in the one article that Carol linked us to, the last two paragraphs "There are eight million head of cattle on public lands and only 23,000 horses. Who's eating the forage?" she asked.
"These are our public lands," Walker added. "These are our horses. We should have a say in how they’re administered and we don't."
I am going to post this as it is and hope that all the links work and are correct. I will check them after pubishing and make any changes if need be.
Okay that is my bit for the soapbox again for now. I hope some of you will take the time to read this and give it some thought, in a way the American people are being led down the same path as the mustangs and we are willingly let it happen because we are not being told the truth and being educated on the facts.
((((Hugs))) and thanks for listening.
Lori
2 comments:
I am sorry to hear about the miscarriage - very sad.
And I am glad you are standing up for the mustangs!
{{HUGS}}
Sad about the baby. Breaks my heart as well. I am so behind on my blogging..I will go back and read the mustang post..I am never shy about an opinion. I am optimistic about the new administration handling our public lands better and creating more public awareness about the plight of our mustangs.
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