# Horse Neglect and Deaths at ISPMB



## boots

Thank goodness this may come to an end! People have been concerned for years. Last time I was by there it was 2015. The horses that I could see (I was kicked off several years ago when, as a tourist, I criticized their lack of planning) had food and were not thin.

But it was a wreck waiting to happen.

A couple things should be noted.
1) The land nor the organization is part of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe of Lakota. The land is private, although it is surrounded by mostly tribal land.

2) The author, Ms. Burns, may have few options, but there are social service groups that will help her get to Rapid City or Sioux Falls if she makes a call. 

I will look for photos that I've taken from Hwy 212 of the dump, er... sanctuary, showing how high up into the trees the horses were reaching for food.

Coincidentally, I'll be through there next weekend.

I get so sick of these frickin' hoarders.


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## KigerQueen

i LOVE what they were founded to do but it was poorly executed. I would chemically sterilize all studs over 10-15. after that half of all colt crops would be sterilized and pzp use put into effect. it alous them to remain in their natural state as close as possible with out the massive overpopulation. you need SOME breeding to keep the genetics alive but not at the rate its been aloud to continue at. and photoes you have/ can collect will help the case as well!


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## boots

The amount of land that crazy heifer has will not support the number of horses that exist. No matter what. Never would.

I question the quality of the genetics available at this point with the mismanagement of that herd.

She bought the place (a very small place by SD standards for SD grazing needs) with money that kind-hearted people donated. Every bit of hay has been bought with the same or donated by people up in that country. Those that have donated locally do not do so twice, I am told.


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## KigerQueen

dont disagree. its sad and i would hate to see the herds dispersed in their entirety. but at this point it may be necessary.


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## Fimargue

Wow. I'm completely stunned how someone can live with themselves being responsible for such negligence... Poor horses. I have a huge respect for your friend and hope the authorities will act rather sooner than later.


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## cbar

This place is supposed to be a sanctuary??? 

I really hope someone does something - those horses are in such a terrible state! Kudos to your friend for documenting this; I can't imagine it would be easy to be around such neglect.


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## KigerQueen

its heart wrenching for her. thats why she spoke out. she bottle raised over 7 foals in the almost 2 years she has been there because of dams drying up or dying. she loves mustangs and was apart of the blm when the first ones were rounded up. she left the blm because of how the horses where treated and she went to ISPMB with high hopes and is leaving devastated. and homeless too with a 30 year old mustang and a 16 year old dog.


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## Yogiwick

Interesting that the photos of the bad feet show pretty FAT horses. Maybe there are some "favorite" groups that get more food?

I don't know how tame the horses are but sounds like the few that are handled in well intentioned efforts are made worse (being hauled by a tractor would be traumatic for any horse let alone a wild/feral one). Not that there's any other good option it's just hard as I'm thinking of all the things the "good" people are trying to do and how it probably just makes it worse at the end :/.

It may be best to put down a large majority of those unfortunately.

2 weeks notice is pretty standard though :/.


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## KigerQueen

Employee: 30 wild horses died of starvation on South Dakota ranch | Local | rapidcityjournal.com

the spring they get fat. that is until they graze the pastures down to dirt then they starts looking bad. and there do seam to be some favourite herds. my fiance saw this happening when he dropped my friend off. there was a dead horse in the barn with a old truck parked over it as if to hid it. that is NOT normal at all. and the horses are not afrade of people but they are by no means tame. there are a select few but the majority are not.


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## boots

And where that nasty hoarder set up her torture chamber is in a remote area. A place most cannot conceptualize. 2.7 million acres with a population of less than 8500. 

So the "up by the house" the worker speaks of, is where the Sussman heifer will lecture people on how she saved the horses and how smart she is and how everyone should give her money. The horses up there are fed first. 

Not many have access to the areas surrounding the compound. 

Also, many of her native neighbors don't have a high opinion of white peoples' horsemanship skills, and have learned over the years to avoid getting involved with most whites (wasi'chu (wah-see-choo) = takes the fat/greedy).

This one sure perpetuates the stereotype, doesn't she? Okay. Off my soapbox.

I do believe, with enough exposure, the US authorities would get involved.

SUPER happy to see it getting some exposure!!!!!!!


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## KigerQueen

to add this year was a baby boom so the pasture depleted faster.


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## KigerQueen

Yes. she will have a native ranch hand for about a week before they disappear and just stop showing up. most of the time it was just colleen and she has lupus so the fact she was torurchering herself to do the work (strip the barns of manure, fixing fences, fixing shelters etc) to help them means something. i will admit i could not have done what she has. she is a stronger person then i. also the artical says sussman is facing felony charges for writing a bad check for over 9k.


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## powersandy

*Ispmb*

This is horrifying information and they should all be arrested. I have been signing petitions and donating $$ to ISPMB for years and I can't believe that they could let this happen. This is akin to the horrible hoarding situations we see with people who are "rescuing" dogs and cat. I hope that the Humane Society and the Law Enforcement will do something immediately. If they were in AZ, Sheriff Joe would get them!! Shame! Shame!


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## powersandy

Bless your friend


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## boots

Yogiwick said:


> Interesting that the photos of the bad feet show pretty FAT horses. Maybe there are some "favorite" groups that get more food?



BINGO.

It appears that the ones that have some flesh and functional conformation are kept up where they can be seen by passersby on Hwy 212. That's all about the heifer lets her tours see while she spouts what I think is bs and hits soft-hearted folks up for money.

She hits others people up for money, too, but most don't want to perpetuate hoarding behavior.


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## Yogiwick

I guess horrid feet are less noticeable from a distance!! You still think she'd do the "slipper feet" at least if worried about public image.

Horrible if that's the case, she obviously is fully aware of how bad it is to hide it like that.

It makes sense as the thin horses have better feet- they are in larger areas and can self trim, as opposed to corrals near a house or whatever.


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## KigerQueen

They cant do their feet because the vets "refused" to come out anymore. so you cant sadate an unhandled animal and trim its feet without one.

Another update on the story and another Interview from my friend colleen Burns. it runs deep apparently.

30+ Wild Horses Starve as Charity's Mission Fails: Former Employee | Rate My Horse PRO


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## boots

Yogiwick said:


> I guess horrid feet are less noticeable from a distance!! You still think she'd do the "slipper feet" at least if worried about public image.


It's not a big place. And years ago she got crossways with the tribe for crappy fences and horse being on tribal land.

When I was there she became agitated when I brought out small field glasses looking over the country to the south. You can't see that from the highway (212). You can't see much from the highway.


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## JCnGrace

After reading and seeing the pictures on the links you posted, well, my stomach is churning. Boots is being kind by calling her a hoarder, I can't type what I'd like to call her and her board members that refuse to do anything. I hope the prosecutors order a thorough audit on the books. I hope a lot of other things too that I can't type either. I am disgusted!!!


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## KigerQueen

well aparently the board members did not like her calling the sheriff back out when the horses had no water yesterday. Colleen has now been asked to vacate the premises by the 4th but she still has to feed her horse (as also stated in the letter) so she can still see what is going on.


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## boots

KigerQueen said:


> well aparently the board members did not like her calling the sheriff back out when the horses had no water yesterday. Colleen has now been asked to vacate the premises by the 4th but she still has to feed her horse (as also stated in the letter) so she can still see what is going on.


Stupid people. 

Things like this make me have little tolerance for high profile 'rescues.' Which this was. 

Ignorant do-gooders from far away places harming helpless horses.

Originally, I could understand the move from CA to SD based on cost of real estate, if nothing else. And although I didn't consider the original group of horses to be special enough to warrant preserving, I could accept that others did. 

But with her mismanagement nothing has been preserved and with her muddying the bloodlines all she accomplished is harming horses.


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## KigerQueen

well the bloodlines are not muddied per say... more... concentrated. the herds are kept away from each other at least. i feel bad for my friend. she was hardly paied and is now jobless, and homeless with her 31 year old mustang who she cant leave there (because he will die).


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## boots

I seriously question her ability to keep horses where they belong.

And I'm sorry for your friend's situation with regard to her horse. I even called a couple people both east and west river. I was unable to find a pasture for her horse. She may have a hard (for her) decision to make. No WAY would I leave a horse there.


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## KigerQueen

she would live homeless with the horse if she had too. it took her YEARS before sage was a "tame" horse. he was the rankest stud she had ever seen rounded up off the range. he is now a quiet gentlemen who has spent the better part of 20 years with her. i will see what i can scrounge up for him and her. worst case someone has an extra stall for him since he is used to stall board.


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## KigerQueen

ok a rancher who is across the street is letting her move her mustang there so he is taken care of.


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## WhattaTroublemaker

So I just read the PDF (which is astounding) and then hopped on Facebook. Look what's in my news feed!!! I recognized one of the pictures! The word is spreading!


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## KigerQueen

well the farmer backed out and now she has no place for sage. they wont feed him and they are kicking her off the property so she is panicking. bad enough she is leaving her filly there. but she is a baby born there so she is at least getting fed.


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## KigerQueen

glad that the word is spreading! the entire horse community will know what a horrid sham this is!


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## KigerQueen

ok so looks like she can get both her mustangs out of there thankfully. her sister set up a go fund me for her because she has not asked for any help for herself. things are getting hostile for her there though.


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## Yogiwick

It's GOOD that she is moving sooner rather than later.


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## KigerQueen

the ranch hand who helped move her just got fired too. looks like sussman might get banned from the Rez though. then they would either have to sell the land at a huge loss and move the horses or appoint a new president of the board who is NOT banned from the reservation.


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## KigerQueen

looks like ALOT of people are now paying attention to this. there is a collocation being formed my other sanctuaries and rescues against this too. also people are donating money to the hay suppliers themselves so they now have enough hay to feed the horses and almost enough for the winter as well!


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## boots

KigerQueen said:


> looks like ALOT of people are now paying attention to this. there is a collocation being formed my other sanctuaries and rescues against this too. also people are donating money to the hay suppliers themselves so they now have enough hay to feed the horses and almost enough for the winter as well!


Which, unless there are significant changes in the management of those horses, is almost a bad thing.

I hope the few horses from the original group, if any, can be identified and sent to a reputable sanctuary. (Does such a place exist?) And the rest euthanized. 

The land needs to heal. Those people had no respect for either the land or the animals on it. A sudden bounty of hay is not a solution.

You know, she took in any horse she judged to look like a "mustang" and everything that was dumped.


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## KigerQueen

is that why all the gila horses are duns? thought that was weird. and would not surprise me. i like that the hay is not comeing from sussman. the other sanctuaries are working with the sheriff's department and donating money DIRECTLY to the hay suppliers so NO monies go to sussman. the Horse.com interviewed sussman and said colleen could not be reached for comment though event she said no one even reached out to her and she has many people reaching out to her and she will talk to any reporter who asks.


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## boots

I must say that it is frustrating to me that too many horse owners don't consider the earth on which all depends. 

Not this Sussman heifer and not so many others. We, as humans may "want what we want." but the earth (some say our mother) can only support so much. 

Only so many of each species. It is how she operates. 

Sussman didn't "get it." And probably neither do the ones providing hay to the sad remains of an originally okay idea.


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## KigerQueen

i devised a system that would effectively track each horse, help pasture maintenance AND help population control. all horses will recive a brand. a letter and a for digit number brand will be placed on the neck (similar to a BLM brand). V for Virginia range horses, W for white sands and G for gilla. all horses brands/numbers will be tracked in a computer filing system (excel) that has the horses age, gender and other pertinent info (color, hight medical records). all studs over a certain age (lets say 10) will also be branded with an S for sterilized (they can chemically do it, cheaper and safer with no recovery time. can be done in the chute during branding). all mares over a certain age will be PZPed. the system will track their last administration date and when the next time it will need to be administered. 1/4rd of the colts will be aloud to stay colts, 1/4 rd will be chemically sterilized and the other 1/2 removed and trained or at least gentled and rehomed. 1/2 fillies born each year will also be offered to new homes all foals will be branded each spring.

All orphaned foals will be offered for adoption since they are already gentled and have already been removed from the herd. 

To accomplish this all pastures will be split in 2. a smaller pasture where the horses will be fed and pastured in the winter and not turned out untill spring after the grass has grown. and to turn them back out they are forced through a blm style shoot. all horses can get an annual check up, re PZPed, studs sterilized once they reached the age to, and foals branded, sorted etc. it will also serve as a sacrifice field so that the land can be salvaged (if possible). 

all water sources should have rock, gravel around them to help remove self trimming. 

and any horses who are injured beyond field vet treatment should be put down. sounds callous but numbers need to be kept down and honestly if it is going to cause a hole in funding its not worth is.


another option is to feed lease some trained geldings (orphans and removed colts) to outfitters. at least untill they can be adopted/ sold. that way they are not fronting the feed bill and still have a say on the care of the horses in case of injury, need to downsize.

you can tell i have too much time on my hands. not that this matters as thats too much work and no one would implement it.


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## reality

Internatienal Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros claim their horse population on grows at 7% to 8% and 20% to 25% like they do every where else. This might be why. Starving horses don't breed very well. For more information on feral horses Hors-sens and Nature


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## KigerQueen

they may claim that but they have hundreds of horses out together with no gelding or population control. they say 650 horses but when you add the numbers of each herd up (from their website) it equals over 800 head. thats NOT including orphans and horses in the "hospital" barns. she also has a "secret" pasture with pregnant mares she is "not supposed to have" according to a ranch hand my fiance was helping when he dropped colleen off last year.


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## KigerQueen

former board member cheryl rowe posted some pics she took Spet 3rd. A entire herd of skinny horses and foals. and she is NOT happy.
"just to be clear. Karen Sussman is not takeing responsibility for the care at ISPMB. She is painting a different picture. So i think i should share at least one photo i took on Spet 3rd 2016, so you can see some of what i saw that day. sorry i have no tolerance for lairs. she and she alone made all decisions."


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## KigerQueen

here is another interview and some disturbing video. this has been incredibly hard on colleen. 
Investigation Into Dying Wild Horses & The Effort To Save Them


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## KigerQueen

disclaimer that last interview will make you cry. and sick. sussman needs to face ALOT or criminal charges.


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## boots

There's so many kooks wanting their way (each with their own ideas about what should happen right now) the Dewey County Sheriff is having to go up and make sure the horses are fed appropriately. 

What a flipping mess for the horses and the neighbors.

For me: Add another to the list proving there is no such thing as a sane, responsible rescue.


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## KigerQueen

return to freedom seams to have it together. they have 300 head but ALOT more room per herd. and no breeding from what i understand.


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## boots

Those trees have been chewed on for years. What a life.

Went by the outfit Friday night and again today. Some hay out. Set up for lots of waste.

Saw that Black Hills so-called wild horse sanctuary with some horses leaving the place. Would like to know if the board and others are blocking the merciful euthanasia of the horses that are most ill. I hate people like that.

And pretty much, any outfit that takes BLM (taxpayer) money to keep feral horses is just a mooch and not a rescue. Like that Prairie Woman chica that sells cookware at Walmart. Just mooching off taxpayers. Not at all offering solutions. Preventing a healthy, sustainable plan for the feral horses.

The saying goes "Sucking off the government teat."

Keep your jobs, boys and girls, the line for handouts just keeps getting longer.


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## KigerQueen

dont disagree. did not know it was federaly backed. no better than long term holding posing as a sanctuary. they need a new type of non profit. one where 80% of the funding goes to the cause and only 20% to "administrative fees). did you know its legal for a 501 C (that is what ISPMB is) for them to ONLY give 10% to the horses and keep the other 90%? That means yes the non profit did not have enough funds to allocate to the horses, but the board members could charge HUGE administrative feed and get 6 figures a year doing so. disgusting.


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## boots

I get so angry. I apologize if the tone of my post was terse.

I wish people who want to help the feral horses would consider all the living things on the land.


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## KigerQueen

here is my thing with wild horses and it dose NOT sound nice to most. if they are a "wild animal" then why are we removing them in bad seasons? if there is not enough water we dont round up the deer, coyotes and javelina. they either scrape by or die. if there is not enough water then some will die. now i think its different when they are all but fenced in by ranchers who fence off the only water supplies. that is not nature or the horses fault, but for the most part if they wont make it then they wont. leave well enough along. numbers get to big fine, either round SOME up (id say younger animals) and pzp most the mares, it will cut reproduction by a lot for a cuple of years.
with the salt river horses. they are healthy but because of the beans from the trees in the spring most foals colic (and some adults too) and die. sounds mean but im glad. self managing population. less forage more beans eten. too many beans eaten leads to dehydration of the gut and blockage. when the numbers are just right they have more grass and eat less beans. the beans are good for them in small numbers because its high in protein but too much of a good thing and its not.


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## KigerQueen

*Its OVER!*

its over! the nightmare is finally over! the sheriff is takeing possession of the horses and is looking to re home, geld and do proper medical care! Karen is being Escorted OFF the property. they are looking for boots on the ground to help. and the FEDS are prosecuting Karen! Someone on the study from Princeton in 2010 stated that the horses need care then (can we say 40 studs on 1 acre?) and they deemed the horses no longer functioned like wild herds. and concluded the study stating they could not study them for behaviour as they no longer acted like wild horses. so ouch.


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## KigerQueen

also they are going to try ans salvage the gila herd . they are not is as bad of shape. hopefully some genetics can be kept alive. but at this point it might just have to be written off as a loss.


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## boots

Um... ranchers don't "fence off the only water supplies." That is a pure lie used as propaganda by pro feral horse groups and repeated ad naseum by people who frequent those sites. 

Quite a bit of ground the horses run on doesn't have any natural water sources. Often a big reason why it wasn't homesteaded 150 years ago.

IF a rancher gets a lease on some of that ground, the rancher supplies water and tanks during the time of his lease. Benefits all animals. When I leased government ground, I even put screen 'ladders' up into and out of the tanks for the rodents or birds that needed water so they wouldn't drown in the tanks. Of course, I do that on my own places, too.

IF there is a natural water supply on government lease ground the rancher has to keep it usable while his cows are on the land. Usually anywhere from a month to almost the year. No one does this while the land is vacant of livestock.

Horses hooves compact dirt sometimes stomping a spring into nothing when there are too many horses. Or too many of any animal using that water source. Sometimes there will be water/a spring on lease ground when the rancher leaves and the next season - nothing. Not a trace when he gets back. So he finds other ground or buys and hauls water. Of course, it gets blamed on cows. 

When there is a bad drought, the area's game and fish increases the number of licenses available to reduce herd numbers of elk, deer, antelope. 

I've had that done in two areas where I *own* land and I let people come on and hunt at no cost to keep animals from suffering the effects of drought. And I have seen large herbivores die from dehydration and/or starvation. Watch an antelope fawn try to nurse off its' dying mama when she's too weak to stand and you will know it happens. And then know the fawn will either die a slow lonely death or be eaten while still alive by coyotes (who are varmints and can be harvested anytime).

There are ranchers who put tanks on the borders of 'public' land so the feral horses could water year round and they got in trouble by both government and "wild" horse kooks for tampering with nature.


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## boots

But to topic: Glad she being charged.

The neighbors are going to have a healing ceremony for the land.


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## KigerQueen

Hundreds of SD sanctuary horses impounded, future uncertain | Local | rapidcityjournal.com


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## Blue

I say the continuing story here bares paying attention to. I'm relieved something is finally being done and sincerely hope that the worst case horses get the relief of euthanasia sooner rather than later. What a truly horrible thing that she has done to these incredible animals. Has Sussman been allowed back on the property? Is Colleen still fired? Or will she be allowed to help care for the remaining herd?


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## KigerQueen

colleens role is done. Sussman is STILL in denial and is trying to blame it on colleen and she is STILL taking donations -_-'.


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## KigerQueen

so alot of horses are getting adopted out. we suspect sussman is hiding a few since only "1" horse needed to be put down and according to colleen there is a mare wondering around on a broken fetlock, a filly with a fracture and the gray mare in the news vid. someone took in 9 orphaned foals and one is an absolute mess.


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## boots

What are these people thinking? The horses finally have a chance for something better.


Wild horse sale being moved after auction is harassed | Wyoming News | trib.com


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## WhattaTroublemaker

I haven't seen it personally, but I have a high interest in moving and ranching on land that is part of the BLM or managed by it, so I've done my research on wild herds. I'm completely for the adoptions. There are a lot of wild horses out there that I'd LOVE to get my hands on. 

There are so many issues when it comes to wild horses, and so many kooks on both sides. The people who think they should be completely left alone are out of their minds IMO. Yes, a hundred and fifty years ago maybe, when predator populations, drought, and food shortage was keeping numbers down. But now, farm land is being destroyed, springs, and who wants to see whole herds of horses die of dehydration when they can be adopted out? Certainly not the people protesting the gatherings?! 

For me, I have no trouble taking something out of the wild if it will fare better in human hands. We've taken orphan deer, birds and other wildlife that would have otherwise died if left alone, so why is a horse any different?


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