I have a few interesting things that I would like to spend more time on but I'll just be quick tonight. Probably good to be frugal with words at times...
Toby is actually Max. We found his owner. Turned out to be one of John's employees! How weird is that? He'll go home tomorrow or Sunday. It's a long story if I were to go into detail, but it's really not all that interesting and I'm tired.
We got to help the neighbor kids get their 5 horses back home today. The parents were gone and the poor teenage girl seemed a little overwhelmed. They have a fence breaker who gets out all the time, and this time the others went with. Luckily one of my other neighbors was quick to saddle his horse. He pushed them home and we just put a lead around a horse's neck and bribed them with treats to get them back in the gate. Glad none of them were mean. Just one that was kinda pushy.
Biggest news - The BLM is going to do an emergency gather of Tonka's herd next week. There is apparently a lack of feed. They're going to be bringing in 500-600 horses. I really want to go down and watch but John was not at all interested in letting me go. This could be the experience of a lifetime! I'm going to see what I can do about childcare and maybe, just maybe, I can make it happen.
omg, that's ALOT of horses!! I wish they wouldn't do that considering the fate that awaits them if funds are cut off. I wish I could go down there,too. Maybe Tracey will be down there to document with photographs--or if you go....
ReplyDeleteThat IS a lot of horses. How do they determine there is not enough feed? It seems like with 500-600 horses, that range covers a lot of area...there's a shortage of feed across that whole area? I thought this was actually a rainy year? Maybe not down where those herds are? I'd like to hear more about it and I agree that it'd be fascinating to see! Would you watch the whole process or just bringing the horses into Burns?
ReplyDeleteI don't really know too much about how they determine if there's enough food. Maybe by the condition of the animals, as well as the apparent lack of vegetation. But it does worry me. Does this mean the whole HMA will be "zeroed out?" Or will they put some back? Or what? I'd hate if they just disappeared. A lot of good horses have come out of there, and I had hoped to adopt another someday. Not that I need one now.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting thing that I can't wait to hear more on is that when they went out there they saw NO babies. How could all the babies die? Cougar, wolves, disease? It's possible they were hiding though.
I was hoping to go down and watch the gather at the point where they run them into the trap. They don't allow volunteers to help drive them in, so that's the best i could do. But then I got to wondering if I could handle it if something bad happened, like a horse breaking a leg. It's a moot point though, I'm not going to be able to go. I'm kind of working on hatching a different plan though.
No babies? I guess if there really isn't enough feed, then they'd be the first to disappear...I'd like to hear more about it when you learn more...and of course, your plan!
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