Re: CTR: Auctions

[Gretchen Patterson <tpranch@internetwork.net>]

WOW!  Look what happens when I don't get to read here every day. No
wonder my friends told me that I had to read this post, Jean!!!  You
mean all these years we've known one another (and I have considered you
a knowledgeable horseperson) and you don't know the difference between
Spanish Mustangs and BLM wild horse??  I am shocked and amazed...and
somewhat baffled that you could have missed the boat that far in all the
years we've ridden the same trails. I had no idea I was so quiet and uninformative...or
maybe some folks just don't listen much....
    There are less than 5,000 Spanish Mustangs left
in the world. That's endangered status!  And that doesn't even consider
that some of the bloodlines we preserve are so rare that only 20 (or less
specimens) still exist in the world.  BLM horses, by and large, were
returned to the wild from around the turn of the century up until very
modern times, esp. when the big ranch country converted to machine power
during during the Great Depression.  The ranchers merely released
their horses onto public lands in large numbers.  By then the REAL
Spanish Musatngs were virtually gone from the wild anyway, but this last
pollution destroyed the remaining Spanish character of most America's wild
herds.
    When the first registry which records America's
First Horse began, less than 500 horses had been found which retained pure
Barb characteristics.  So the perhaps 5,000 today sounds more promising
to the survival of the horses.  But if Mac and I and every Spanish
Mustang breeder were to breed every mare, we have every year we couldn't
produce 1,000 horses a year.   You need to learn something about
America's Rare Breeds and their conservancy before you start throwing rocks.
    We recently heard of a quality Spanish Mustang that
might have to go to auction.  It was only last week, and our Spanish
Mustang network found a buyer aware of the horse's history and saved him.
He is a splendid blue corn stallion called Wyoming Blue who had been sold
as "safe for a child to ride" to an invalid--an 11 year old stallion???--by
an unscupulous trader. In all the years we have been breeding these horses,
we have taken one two year old to the sale, and that was because we'd spent
months of extra feed, lot care and TLC trying to get him to grow and develop,
but he was an old mare's foal and never did well.  He sold w/o papers. 
I guess today I'd probably have shot him, but I have luckily only had to
face that situation once.  They are extremely hardy horses so culls
just don't happen that often.  They were selected by the Creator and
the wild places helped to build them for tough, brains and feet.   
    If you'd really like to know the many differences
in Spanish Mustangs and moderns--or most wild horses--or for that matter,
try reading Dr. Phil Sponenberg's papers at:
History and Type: http://www.conquistador.com/mustang.html
Foundation Strains of the Present Breed: http://www.conquistador.com/mustang-two.html

And look before you leap next time, okay?

Vik
Karma Farms
http://www.etexweb.com/personal/speir

Reply to karmafarms@internetwork.net
I'm writing this at Gretchens's.....
 

Jean Green wrote:

Ellen points out a considerble difference between horses and other herd
animals in behavior in a sale situation. This is only in our perception.
I have a small herd of spoiled cows, and trust me they are every bit as
herd bond and herd defensive as horses. They don't behave like horses
because they are not treated like horses. I have had two animals break
legs in the last few years. One was a calf. I put him in the trailer,
took him to a small processor and had him slaughtered and put the meat
in the freezer. The horse I took to the vet and had euthanized. I don't
think one suffered more than the other, but I suffered a lot more over
the horse than the calf, both financially and emotionally.

 When I take cows to the sale, I don't like the way they are treated any
more than I like the way horses are treated. Any time animals are bred
in mass and processed in mass, they are treated cruelly. The real source
of the cruelty is in the production of too many animals. So, why are so
many of us breeding horses? For money? Is there any one out there
actually making money breeding horses? I could go to almost any sale and
by 5 yearlings and two year olds for what it would cost to breed and
raise one to that age. I could also pick and choose what I want instead
of taking what I get.

Sorry, guys, but if you truly want to stop the cruelty and drive the
price of horses up above killer prices, quit breeding horses! Why is it
that we have herds of BLM horses being culled in mass, while there are
ranches that are acually breeding Mustangs and adding them to the
market? (Sorry, Mac and Vicki and the rest of you that are adding to the
problem) I attempted to breed Robin this year, and she didn't stick. I
think I just talked myself out of trying again. :)

I went to a sale to buy a saddle a few weeks ago and saw two very nice 3
year olds that sold for less than most stud fees. One was a lovely
rose-gray Arabian colt who sold to the sale owner for $300. I had to pay
for my saddle, get rid of my number and sit on my hands during the horse
sale to keep from buying another horse!

JeaninOK R4