Posted on 09/28/2017 10:03:33 AM PDT by street_lawyer
The critical issue is whether or not the horses are “destroying their natural habitat and thereby starving for food. Pictures published by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the wild horses show healthy, well-fed horses capable of winning a national jumping completion. https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2017/09/27/db9d4fb1-6dde-45f7-b7a7-1f14b9866c8d/resize/620x/771dc9e69e24fe30c9354f38c0c35744/horse-smash.png
In September of 2016 BLM categorically stated that it would not euthanize wild horses. Its solution was to round up all the horses and sell for slaughter those it deemed “unadoptable”. government estimates that each one of the 45,000 wild horses will cost taxpayers $50,000 over its lifetime. That would mean $2 billion dollars, which is slightly more than the $1.7 billion in cash payments that the Obama Administration gave Iran earlier that year; furthermore, the National Academy of Sciences accused BLM of over counting in an effort to remove the horses in an effort to appease cattle ranchers. Some government estimates are as high as 70,000 horses and burros. Phoenix wild –horse lover Michele Anderson spoke out against the slaughter of horses for food. “"That means to kill-buyers who can truck them to Canada or Mexico for slaughter, which is horrific,"
The congressman to contact is Chris Stewart, R-Utah because he is the one who was the author of the euthanization amendment. His amendment did not make the horses available for sale since he believes that would result in their slaughter for food. Other congressman who support the euthanization amendment include Mark Amodei, R-Nevada referring in a congressional hearing to wile horses as “these things”. Others who support the amendment are Ken Calvert R-Calif,
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla prefers contraceptives to limit horse populations. The population of horses on the Out Banks of North Carolina is successfully limited using a fertility drug called PZP, according to David Price, D-NC. Stewart is opposed to contraceptives stating that they have been tried for 30 years and have not worked.
The House Appropriations Committee is leading the fight by removing language from the Interior Department’s budget that would have prohibited “the destruction of healthy, unadopted wile horses and burros in the care of the Bureau of Land Management or its contractors.
The same committee in July proposed a change to end the prohibition on the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection of horse meat.
Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wile Horse Campaign (MWHC) said that ““The Stewart amendment is a mass slaughter amendment, and its proponents are trying to hide that fact from the American public.” According to Simone Netherlands of MWHC, there are 27,000 wild horses on 22 million acres and the reports of starving horses is “fake news”.
Nothing wrong with a good trail and general riding horse - in fact my big hunters would not be good trail horses. Besides the fact that I would be hitting every low lying tree limb and getting all the spider webs, a springy hunter trot is NOT the way you want to spend 2-3 hours! that's why the Plantation Walkers are so popular . . .
The English-speaking peoples' prejudice against the horse as food is said to originate with the worship of the horse-goddess Epona. Dunno if that's true . . .
Used to be one at our barn that was named RT. That stood for Rotten Thing. She was a kook and her ground manners were appalling, but she could jump the moon.
LOL. Appaloosas are extremely smart, have a self preservation instinct that is unbelievable and most will not be told what to do. They will, however, when asked do the impossible. And if asked right, will behave like angels. They really don’t want to fight, they just refuse to be bullied.
I’ve always that if you could train and ride an Appaloosa or Arab that you could train and ride anything.
One thing I’ve noticed is that their looks are really improving. The old ewe-necked, big-headed, rat-tailed Apps seem to have fallen by the wayside.
Most of those were draft crosses. Go to my facebook page and I’ll post an album of Edward Curtis indian photos from late 1800’s, early 1900’s. You’ll see pictures of appaloosas and mustangs. Most really good looking horses.
I think it was a result of people breeding for the markings and color and putting conformation a distant second. We've seen this also in halter classes . . . and dog shows.
Well, breeding for color throws a lot out the window sometimes. I see it here in paints a lot.
They ARE good looking horses. Figure that (1) the Indians were still dependent on having GOOD horses for daily life and (2) photography was still a big event in those days, the folks would put their best foot forward for the photog and put on their best clothes AND get the best horse out of the corral -
I have no doubt that we will be eating horse meat if the republicans don’t get behind President Trump and the democrats control congress. They already control the bureaucracy.
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