Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Mustangs

> Unfortunately we don't have enough moutain lions left
> to keep the horses in check.  Or wolves.  Wolves could
> take down a horse too.  Bears.  What about bears?
> Not enough of those either.
>
> Regardless of a healthy horse's ability, the point is to
> trim down the youngest and the weakest which could
> be done by preditors here in the US if we had a balance.
>
> Too many mustangs, not enough wolves.

Bears don't tend to attack large herbivores, on the whole.

Mountain lions are on the increase just about everywhere that I'm aware of,
and haven't made a dent in the wild horse populations most places.  Wolf
populations are exploding in areas such as ours, where they have been
arbitrarily introduced.  But horses are one of the more difficult species to
nail.  So the net result of the exploding wolf population is that the elk
populations are being decimated, the ranchers (cattle, sheep, AND horses)
are taking it in the shorts, but the wild horse population is relatively
unaffected.  It is far easier for a wolf to bring down a captive horse in a
corral (documented case about 3 years ago of a QH yearling killed in a round
pen just outside of a woman's house, between where I live now and town) than
to take down a free-roaming feral horse.  Sorry, but I'm not overly keen on
having wolves brought in by federal agencies eating the young horses that
I've worked so damned hard to breed and raise.  If you'd like some in NM,
I'm sure Lemhi County, Idaho would be glad to part with several, and send
them down to you.

Heidi


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