Hay, homes sought for wild horses

[Liberty Belle]

As much as I love horses, I think these guys are nuts! If you want to read some eye opening comments, click on the link at the end of the story and read the Rapid Replies....

Hay, homes sought for wild horses
Animal activist trying to find home for about 200 animals on land owned by Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
By Steve Miller, Journal staff

Karen Sussman and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe are trying to find homes for about 200 historic wild horses to keep them from the slaughterhouse.

Sussman, of Lantry, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, had obtained 82 horses from the historic Virginia Range in Nevada in 2001 and gave them to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which put them on a ranch on the reservation it had established for a conservation and children's program.

However, the programs didn't get off the ground, and the herd grew to 300 at the same time drought began gripping the region, reducing the amount of feed available for the animals.

The tribe, in danger of losing its ranch near La Plant, now plans to lease it out for cattle grazing, Sussman said. This week, tribal crews are attempting to gather the wild horse herd to move it off the ranch, she said.

Earlier, the tribe planned to auction the horses off for slaughter but now is working with Sussman to try to find people to adopt 200 or more of the horses, she said. Sussman plans to take 75 of the horses on the wild-horse society ranch near Lantry.

"Our goal is to save most of them," Sussman said. "I'm assuming I'll take whatever horses are not adopted."

However, the society's ranch is already crowded, with 300 horses from three separate wild horse herds occupying only 683 acres of rangeland. The ranch, like others in the area, has been hard hit by drought, particularly last year.

"We've had some rain this year, thank God, but we do feed a lot of hay," she said.

So Sussman is looking for people to adopt the horses, and she is asking for donations of hay and money to buy hay to feed the wild horses.

The Virginia Range wild horses were the first in the nation to be protected, under a county law passed in 1952, at the behest of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros's first president, Velma Johnston, known as "Wild Horse Annie." Johnston and the society were responsible for the passage of the 1971 federal law protecting wild horses and burros, Sussman said.

The horses on the Cheyenne River Reservation were filmed by Steven Spielberg's crews for his 2002 movie, "Spirit."

There are still about 200 wild horses from the herd in the Virginia City, Nev., area, but they are facing increasing pressure from burgeoning residential development in the Reno and Carson City areas, Sussman said.

"Part of the problem is these horses will come down into their natural habitat," she said. "Now, they're going into people's yards. That's a problem for some people. Then they have to remove some of the horses."

Sussman said her goal was to protect the horses and keep them running free.

She said the wild-horse society's ranch at Lantry raises money through donations and tourism.

Tourists pay fees of $20 an hour or $50 for a half-day tour.

"It's the only place anywhere in the United States where they're going to learn about and be able to see actual wild horse behaviors -- we simulate the horses in a wild environment," Sussman said. "Here you'll see a lot of interacting, especially in April and May during the breeding season. You'll see a lot of stud fights, battles over the harems."

Sussman said the society's ranch has kept the bloodlines of the wild horse herds pure. "Two out of the three herds here would no longer exist in our country," she said. "That was the point of us taking them. They would have been eliminated. The third herd that we have was expected to be eliminated in the next couple of years."

The additional horses from the Virginia Range herd on the reservation will put a further burden on the ranch's resources, she said.

Sussman said she hopes to raise $50,000 for hay and veterinary expenses.

How to help

The International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros is looking for donations of hay and money to help save historic wild horses that have been kept on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

The society and the tribe also are looking for a temporary holding area, plus the loan of corral panels.

To donate, call the ISPMB at 1-605-964-6866 or write: ISPMB, P.O. Box 55, Lantry, S.D. 57636-0055.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com
September 18, 2001

http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/09/21/news/top/doc46f32b4069ab2738654321.txt

[Faster horses]

The link didn't work, can you fix it so it will?
Thanks!

[Liberty Belle]

FH,
I couldn't make it work as a link either, so I copied and pasted it and that worked okay. Let me know if that still doesn't work for you and I'll try something else.
LB

[CattleArmy]

Some people actually have extra hay to donate this year?

[Sunraven]

I just don't understand this... this 'protect' the wild horses thing. These are feral animals, they aren't native, mostly they're pests, there's lots of them. The ground and hay could be better spent elsewhere, imo.

[Faster horses]

I was taught, if you can't afford them, you shouldn't have them.

[Texan]

[katrina]

[IL Rancher]

I just don't get it.... Scary part is that if folks are releasing horses onto public ground than we are just going to have a whole new supply of wild horses to do something with and these have zero heritage value..

[Liberty Belle]

Well, they got rid of ten of the "wild" horses, but the new owners still want someone else to provide free food for them.

School looking for hay donations
By Journal staff Monday, October 15, 2007

HOWES -- Takini School officials on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation are requesting donations of hay or grain to feed 10 mustangs recently adopted for a horsemanship program for its high school students. Organizer Doug Widow is asking community farmers and ranchers for feed for the wild horses, which came from a horse sanctuary near Lantry.

To introduce the public to the mustangs, the school will host a natural horsemanship workshop conducted by Philip Whiteman Jr. at 9 a.m. Oct. 16 and 17 at the school, 7 miles east of Howes on S.D. Highway 34, turn onto the Takini exit and follow gravel road for 7 miles. The public is welcome.

For information or to donate hay, call Doug Widow at 538-4399 ext. 234.