Week 12

This week's blog(s) will be a little different from earlier posts. I have gotten a request to focus on the R.O.A.M (Restore Our American Mustangs) act, to see what the details of it actually says/calls for, what it really means, and pros and cons. To do this, I am going to have to do some research, and I can't do all of the research and the summarizing and posting all in one or two nights, so I'm breaking it up a little bit. Tonight I am doing research, and I'm doing the research at some of the links posted below. But, since tonight is Tuesday night and thus blog night, I feel that I should update the blog with something. And guess what? If you read the last 5 sentences or so, you are officially updated! I will be back soon with more information on R.O.A.M. If you would like to get a head start on the information, go ahead and go to the links below:) [the first is the one that seems to be shorter and more to the point, so a good way to get good & quick facts.]

http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr1018

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s1579is.txt.pdf

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.01579:

Thanks for reading!

Week 10!

Alrighty! My blog posts seem to have become a Tuesday thing.

First off, the YEP(youth employment program). I still haven't had time to work on my powerpoint, but I'll be doing some today and throughout this week. I put a few photos in my journal, and other than that not much!

Second, a mustang-related topic sort of thing. This is not my idea, I heard about it from a friend of my dad who is a large animal vet. She, Christina, basically said that the opinion of alot of vets is instead of rounding up thousands of horses or just letting them roam all over the place unmonitored, we should give them birth control. This could be done by putting it in hay and then dropping it to them to eat or other ways like that. The idea would be, obviously, to control the population so they wouldn't need to be rounded up. Anyways, just food for thought. I think it's a pretty cool idea.

And last but not least, news/opportunities to make a difference.

Fence going up around Montana's Custer National Forest to keep mustangs out (news)

http://cbs4denver.com/wireapnewswy/Fence.going.up.2.1895526.html

Article about Extreme Mustang Makeover

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/39321/

Petition to stop summer roundups

http://environment.change.org/petitions/view/stop_the_summer_roundups_of_americas_mustangs_burros

week 9.

I'm writing my blog a little bit later this week than usual...

As for updates on the YEP program, I'm still working on my powerpoint, and I'll be presenting it soon.

This week, I found another petition online. This one focuses on preventing mustangs from being slaughtered for meat. It used to be illegal for people to adopt mustangs/horses and then, after obtaining a license to do so, to sell a mustang to a horse meat plant to be slaughtered. Now, it is not only legal for them to adopt and then sell a horse for meat but it is also legal for them to actually establish a horse meat plant. The petition is against that new law.

http://www.petitiononline.com/MAhorse/petition.html

If you would like to learn more about the issue, you can go to these sites. This is where I got my information.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6884764/site/newsweek/

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/montana_senate_passes_horse_slaughter_bill/C37/L37/

Thanks! That's all for this week.

Week 8

Allllrighty!

This week hasn't been very eventful as far as horse interactions go, but I have been working on my powerpoint presentation as my final project for the YEP program. The presentation will cover from when horses/mustangs first arrived in the US to today and everything in between that I can cover in 10 minutes.

As promised, I'll be posting links to sites that have information about current issues and how to make a difference. Below are two links. The first is a link to the cloud foundation & information about how to contact local newspapers & law makers / officials in California.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-wild-horses.html

The next link, for those of us who aren't in California or who don't necessarily want to write letters/emails, is a link to a petition about opposing euthanization of wild horses because of their surplus numbers.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-wild-horses.html

Thanks for reading! That's all for this week.

Week 7

Alrighty! Very little has happened this week in comparison to others... Friday I wrote & submitted my press release (to MHF for review, then I will submit it to some sort of magazine or something). In it I focused mainly on telling people around my age the benefits of getting the job, which include major flexibility, learning, getting paid, and getting a chance to make a difference. The reason I took this approach instead of just telling people about mustangs and what I've learned about them is that, for one, in all honesty I am more likely to read something primarily about a job having to do with mustangs, a little bit about somebody's experience with that job, and then a little bit about mustangs rather than somebody's story about just their experience learning about mustangs. Also, if I succeed in encouraging people to get the job rather than just telling them one story or a few facts about mustangs an myself, it's more likely that they'll learn about mustangs and they'll tell others about mustangs because they would also be reading and researching and writing... Anyways, I hope I took the right approach on that.

I am trying to figure out, still, exactly what I'm supposed to be putting up on the blog. So from now on, each week I'm going to post a little bit about what I'm doing, how I'm feeling or what I'm thinking about what I'm doing, and then post some sort of online news, fact(s), article, or something like that, having to do with mustangs (or burros, if it so happens), of course. This week, it's going to be a link to a petition on theanimalrescuesite.com (which, is by the way, a great site. You should go everyday and click! I do). This petition is urging the BLM to stop wild horse roundups.

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4663

So if you could take a few seconds to sign that, that would be great. I've signed a bunch of petitions from the animal rescue site & humane society and I never get spam mail, so you don't have to worry about that.

week 6

Well, I'm back in Nashville now. I got back Monday, August 2nd. I've done a few other things since my last post. For one, I wrote and submitted my current issue essay. I focused on how mustangs are effected by drought. I didn't want to write just about harsh BLM roundups, so with my aunt I though about other issues and we came up with the drought problem. Basically, I said that we obviously can't magically make it rain, but the BLM could establish man-made, long-term desert 'oases,' per say, so wild horses (and burros) would have a reliable water source even during a drought. I also said that before any roundups take place, the BLM should ensure that there is enough or slightly more than enough water at their facilities for all of the animals, and once they arrive the water is given to them gradually so they have enough water but not too much at one time. If the BLM did these things I think many mustang deaths in the wild and during roundups would be prevented. Also, there may not be a need to roundup mustangs in a particular area so they won't die of dehydration in the wild because they have enough water in the first place.

And... that was my essay. I also found a wildfire partner! Her name is Catrina... she has a horse at the same ranch Shelby is at.

By Friday, I am going to have written a press release and submitted it to the MHF and then to a magazine or something.

that's all for this week! Bye...

Week 5

Once again, plenty has happened since my last post. Marie (my pen pal), my Aunt Vicki, and I went to the BLM in Ridgecrest wednesday. First, though, Vicki & I went to the ranch Marie keeps her horses (Candy and Spirit) at to see the horses and pick her up. Both her horses are really sweet, but the young mustang especially so. He let us pet him wherever, lean on him, walk around him and everything. He's only a year old and Marie hasn't had him for long. We had a good time at the ranch, took a few pictures, and then we started driving to the BLM. It was a pretty long drive... Several hours, I can't remember exactly how many. When we got there we were the only people there other than a woman who worked there. When we got there, she showed us a video of how they round-up mustangs, then we took a tour of the facilities, starting with where they first bring the horses in to vaccinate/de-worm them, trim their hooves, attach their halters and so on. Next we drove around in a golf cart to see all the horses and burros, which they had separated by age and gender. We stopped at the fillies corral originally so we could get a few pictures of them, but when we walked up to the fence 4 horses started over towards us and over half of them followed, sniffing our hands and stuff (probably looking for carrots - sometimes people go to the BLM just to feed/socialize the horses, so now they're very gentle and used to people). They even let us pet them with 3 fingers if they could see us.

After we did that, we went back around t the front and asked a few questions. Here are some of the random facts we gathered, then and during the tour of the place...

- on average, horses stay at their facility for around 4 months before being adopted.

- they geld all geldings before adoption, but occasionally if a colt was born on the facility and weaned right before adoption, they will not be gelded. however, if the new owner gelds them on their own, they can get a $50 mail-in rebate from the BLM with proof that their colt was gelded.

- To trim their hooves, they put the horses in a small, padded hallway/chamber like thing and using hydraulics turn them sideways.

That's all for now!

Week 4

So, since my last post a pretty fair amount of stuff has gone on! I finished & emailed my history essay which I am glad to have done, and I went riding twice, once with just my Aunt Vicki on a trail through some hills and another time with Vicki, Kimber, and two friends in an arena. It was fun to be back on horses again! Since I was the one taking the all pictures I currently have in my possession, I don't have any of me actually riding yet, but once I get some I'll put them up. The picture to the left is one of my friends on Murphy and my Aunt on Shelby, her mustang.

I also made a video of me with JJ and Shelby to send to one of my pen pals when I went riding with Vicki. In the next few days, I have to start my research/outline for the current issue essay and find a pen pal back in Nashville. So there's lots I've done and lots to do, and that's all for right now!

What's new?

<- Shelby!

I am currently on vacation in California to visit my friends & family out here. On Thursday I wrote a pretty good rough draft for my history essay, and I'll be finishing it handing it in sometime this week. There seems to be so much history having to do with mustangs and horses, but it's sometimes difficult to know if a particular fact has more to do with mustangs or horses and if I should put it into the essay. Wild mustangs are basically horses or descendants of horses that were released by or escaped from people who probably tamed them. So is it relevant what battles or journeys tame horses were involved with if those horses' descendants are mustangs? I hope so, because I'm putting those sorts of things in my essays.

Friday I got to visit my Aunt's mustang, Shelby! I didn't ride him then because there wasn't that much time, but we did feed him and let him run around in a pen for a while. He's about six years old, and he is so gorgeous. He's pretty big, too. Most mustangs are supposed to be short and small (about 14 hands, which means about 56 inches), but Shelby is over 15 hands. It was fun to go see him.

On another note, about a week ago there was a BLM mustang roundup that may have caused the death of 13 of the horses. The horses died from dehydration, or had to be put down because of other illnesses. One horse had to be put down because he broke a leg because of the round up. The BLM says their deaths have more to do with the drought, but animal rights advocates say their deaths had more to do with the round-up. I think it was probably a combination of the two. But of course, had they not done the round up and if they don't continue then more horses could die of dehydration in the wild. It's a tricky situation. I think this issue will probably be my subject for my current issue essay. It's interesting, I'd like to research it more, regardless of whether or not it will be the focus of my essay.

That's all for now!

Scratching the surface

As of a few days ago, I've started my research on the history of the American mustang. As it turns out, they have a pretty extensive history. As the title of this entry would suggest, I'm just now scratching the surface. Basically I've learned that mustangs originate from horses brought over by conquistadors in the late 1400's. They were spread north and east from Mexico and what are now the bordering US states of Mexico by the Native Americans. Once more Europeans started arriving in America, they also brought horses and some of those horses were released into the wild which obviously increased the wild mustang population. Until the mid-1900's, people would just release their horses into the wild, and mustangs could be brutally captured and then sold for horse meat or other purposes. Many people became enraged about the treatment of these horses, so in 1971 the US congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, which gave the responsibility of managing wild horses and burros and the land they roam on to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). As far as history goes, that's an overview of what I've learned so far.

In looking for information about the history of the mustang, I also came across lots of current information. I learned part of what the BLM does is keep track of the carrying capacity of the land mustangs are on and when their population exceeds that the BLM goes and and captures mustangs to sell them or put them up for adoption. I learned the mustangs can double their herd size in just 4 years. I also learned that there are almost 37,000 mustangs roaming across 10 states, and that Nevada alone holds almost 18,000 of those horses.

I'm researching these topics so I can write my essay on the history of the American Mustang and then so I can write one on a current issue they are facing.

Here are the sources I found all this information at-

www.nationalwildhorseadoptionday.org/

www.blm.gov

the DK Horse Encyclopedia

My first post!

Today is the day I start my blog. This is actually my first blog I've ever set up, so this is all new. So far, I've basically just been getting everything organized and started. It just occurred to me not everyone reading this actually knows much about what I'm going to be doing! The first link posted below leads to my job description, basically, and the other link leads to the Mustang Heritage home page.

http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org/forms/yep_opportunities.pdf

http://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org

So now that you have some basic idea of what I'm doing, I'll talk about what I've done thus far! First of all, I found out I got the job last Saturday, which was very exciting. I was at camp for a week, and when I got back Friday I received an email from my horse trainer pen-pal, Marie with her introduction video. yesterday (Saturday) I went out and bought a journal, and today I start on all the actual work. I've obviously already started the blog. I've also written in my journal, and I'm going to do my introductory video and taxes. I'm also going to kind of form a plan for what days I'm going to be working on what, and I'll start researching and writing essays and such tomorrow or the next day. It's all very exciting. Not too much going on in the way of actually learning anything yet. I'll try to post once I get everything set and ready to go which should definitely be less than a week for now. Okay, that's about it for today!