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
I believe the BLM has tried birth control for mares with varying degrees of success. There was a contraceptive vaccine program was attempted to control the mustang population, but proved to be too expensive. The vaccinations need to be re-administered every couple of years.
ReplyDeleteIn Oregon the BLM has gelded and released stallions back into the wild. Since the 1980s the BLM has conducted this practice to prevent passing down unwanted traits and poor conformation to foals while allowing gelded mustangs to remain on the range.
I've also read that “the BLM plans to stepped-up the use of fertility control vaccines for mares in long-term holding areas to prevent them from giving birth in captivity.” At the BLM holding facility I visited, the mustangs were held in pens with other horses of the same sex. Unless the studs are climbing over the fence at night the mares should not need fertility control while in captivity. This makes me wonder if the fertility control vaccines they are giving the mares to prevent them from giving birth in the holding areas are being used to cause the mares to abort if they are pregnant when rounded up.
H.R. 1018, The Restore Our American Mustangs Act, will allow for the research, develop, and implement enhanced fertility control for mares, stallions, or both, such as surgical or immunocontraception sterilization or other safe, humane, and effective methods of fertility control.
Very interesting information! Samantha, is there any place that you can buy or adopt a mustang that is already trained?
ReplyDelete@Georgette: I have found a few sites you can look on to either find a mustang online to adopt or find out about events like extreme mustang makeovers where you can adopt a gentled mustang. Here are a few links I think should be helpful-(the first link would probably be most helpful.)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mustangheritagefoundation.org/apps/trainers/lookup/
http://www.gentledmustangs.com
http://www.coloradoci.com/serviceproviders/whip/index.html?halter
http://www.myersstables.com/php/news_pics.php
That first link .. the Mustang Heritage Foundation. Would be a great link to check out. They currently have a program going on where they are offering cash, from $700 to $850, for each horse they train that gets adopted. The person who is adopting the horse has the BLM price they need to pay to adopt the horse. So, you can get a trained mustang for $125. It's a great deal both for the trainer, the adopter and the mustang. Let as many people know about the program as you can.
ReplyDelete