Get Real

This memo is for all the treee huggers out there that are working SO hard to save the wild mustangs. I'm sorry but you've been watching too much TV. Wild horses are NOT native to the Americas. The indigenous people (or the first immigrants to the area) did not have horses. Horses were introduced by the Old World invaders - most notably, the Spaniards. Horses are an invasive species.

Hello? Anybody listening? Horses are an invasive species. Like kudzu or the nasty little clams trying to attach themselves to your boat. Or Formosan subterranian termites. Horses cause a TON of damage to the ecology. Just look at any pasture that has horses in it - torn all to h*ll. Nothing but dirt. And that's what happens when they are allowed to run wild - they like to go back to the same spot and turn it into dirt. The western ecosphere is way too fragile to allow the uninterrupted consequence of wild horses. All the "wild horses" - call that feral horses, need to be gathered up and taken care of.

Now you may be weeping and moaning and gnashing your teeth at the idea of gathering up the feral horses. Just like feral cats, this would be a better life, or end of life solution to a massive problem. I'm not suggesting that this land would be better used as pasture for sheep or cows - not at all. It takes years for the land to recover after horses. Give it a rest, then decide what to do with it. Restore the native grasses and let nature take it's course.

Now anyone that's had a horse for more than a minute will tell you - they need tons of care. Their feet need to be maintained. Their teeth need attention. Nutrition for elderly horses is ghastly expensive. Stallions will fight to the death. Mares reproduce like bunnies. The wild horse lifestyle is not all running with the wind in their hair. Adequate forage is difficult to find, shelter in harsh weather is non existent. As a custodian of the earth, these animals need to be gathered up and taken care of.

The next problem that needs to be resolved is slaughter of horses. Again with the weeping and wringing of hands. I'm not saying that the way it's been handled in the past is appropriate. ALL livestock needs to be treated with dignity and respect. Cows included. Chickens included. Turkeys included. But eliminating the slaughter of horses has had some unexpected consequences that the tree huggers need to be aware of. In the past, the slaughter of horses gave a floor price to the value of a horse. Even the most miserable, bad tempered horse was worth "x" dollars a pound. If a horse bit or kicked or had no teeth and was loosing weight, the slaughter house would take it. The value for the worst horse was at least $500. Let's be realistic, there ARE bad horses out there. And the poor animals that end up in a riding stable would be better off with an adequate end of life solution.

An old horse needs incredible amounts of calories in order to maintain their weight. Senior horse feed is pelletized for old horses that can't chew hay. It runs $15 -$20 a bag and an old horse can go through 2-3 bags a week. For an old, sway backed, past it's prime, no use, lawn ornament. I knew a lady that had her son's first pony, still on the farm, sucking up senior feed. Her words? "D*mn thing is 32 years old and just won't die!" Multiply that times thousands, hundreds of thousands, MILLIONS of old horses, left out in the field to slowly die, their owners unable to afford the expense of special feed.

So if we "Get Real", a few things would happen. Humane slaughter of horses would begin. The wild horses would be rounded up and given new homes, the old, infeeble, would be taken care of in a humane fashion. The horse market would return, the value of a horse would return and the slow miserable starvation of horses would end. It's the right thing to do.