6W Ranch Training Tips
...And My 2 Cents Worth
(Sometimes A Little More
than $.02 worth...)
|| Home || || Abby, the Mustang Police Horse || || Clinic Page || || 6W Ranch Training Tips || || Wild Horse Photos || || The Mustang Foundation || || Mounted Patrol || || Links Page || || Horse Quotes || || Index || || 6W Ranch Mustang WebBoard || || Contact Us ||
The following are suggestions regarding methods that have worked
for the 6W Ranch. It is well to remember that the safety of the handler is the
priority and that a horse, whether domestic or former wild horse, can easily
injure or kill a much more frail human being. Always train and ride with your
safety in mind and that of the animal.
Thank you, The
6W
Bo Derek on O’Reilly re: Wild Horse Issues
Although I have much respect for Ms. Derek
and for a ‘Hollywooder’ to generally have a very
conservative stance, I about fell out of my chair when I heard her opine to
O’Reilly last night (01-13-10) about her stance on the wild horse issue as the
gather of roughly 2500 head is projected in Nevada. Her’s
was the atypical, ignorant espousing, of what they THINK the issues are about. So typical of those that the BLM has surrounded itself by for
support and promotion of the adoption program.
As many of you may know, my family and I
have supported the wild horse adoption program because of the…horses and their
mentality. We have found them to have an outstandingly different (not better)
personality, intelligence, and eagerness from that of many other “breed” of
horse. I am not saying that I do not enjoy, that I do not accept, or that I
disapprove of other breeds… I am simply saying that there is a mentality there
that until experienced, cannot be fully appreciated. I am also just as
convinced that others will say the same of the other breeds that they enjoy. I
am not here to argue nor never have that the mustang is the “ONLY” breed, for
the mustang is not a breed, but an American icon of the old west and not
indigenous to this continent. We have also seen the BLM prostitute themselves,
volunteers, and adopters in the advancement of adopting out “numbers” and not a
proper manner of administering a failing program.
To say that the adoption program is
failing, is the only,
one, single statement that Ms.
Derek made last night that was indeed, correct.
For us, we do not look upon the adoption
program as an omnipotent offering from a higher being, nor do we agree with the
absolutely ignorant advisors that the BLM has brought into their coffers to
promote the adoption program that fails to do what their moniker admonishes
them to do…. i.e.; “Land Management.” Holy Moly….What a concept.
Instead, there are those as Ms. Derek, who
make statements like (paraphrasing), for the ranchers to put fences
around their grazing areas to allow the horses to have a natural “migration”
(that word is a frikin’ unbelievable quote) to the
resources of feed and water.
This is the typical stance of those that
don’t understand ranching nor the battles that ranching families have undergone
over the past 150 years in securing those grazing rights…especially here in the
west. With the horses breeding like jack rabbits on limited resources that the
land can provide, Ms. Derek made the statement and echoed by O’Reilly, that it
came down to…..$$$$$$ for the ranchers. No balance for those eeking out a living in the drought parched West. Well, in a nation that demands leather goods, beef,
and all of the other industries associated with the cattle industry, the
consumer has no idea what it takes for that rancher to eek out that living on
500 acres of land when in competition with the wild horses for feed. These are
same folks that complain about the farmer or rancher with their mouth full of
steak or vegetables, while walking with their Gucci handbag or some fancy
Brogans. (O.K., yeah, I’m date’n myself with the “Brogan” comment, but I wouldn’t
know a fancy shoe brand if it hit me like a bull in the ass with a snow
shovel.)
In the mid-West or East, the land and
rainfall may support one cow/calf pair on ½ to ¾ acre. Here in the West, it is
an entirely different story with drought conditions creating a need for maybe
15+ acres to graze one cow/calf pair. This is a reality not accepted by
elitists and do-gooders in the name of the wild horses. Yeah, Ms. Derek and
others of the “doogooder” alliance say to just build
a fence on lands whose rights were secured by those ranching families for years
and years. Do they understand that a majority of the cattle rustling, grazing,
transportation laws, etc… were fought for and secured by those families and the
‘early to current’ Cattleman’s Association members?
Let’s go back to the beginning…. we have
an image (incorrect as it is) of the Native Americans on horseback. There were
no horses on this continent, save maybe some miniature prehistoric horses, that
was here prior to people, and the American Indian was afoot. That’s right,
afoot. Not until the horses that the Conquistadors brought over and got loose,
were there any horses for the native tribes to catch and put to work. The
Spanish referred to these renegade horses as, “Musteneo’s.”
The translation would be, “FERAL HORSE.” We are not dealing with a breed of
horse, we are dealing with what I believe is an American Icon, the Mustang, but
it remains a feral horse. The mustang in and of itself was a bastardized breed
being that of a standard Spanish grade horse, Andalusian,
and African Barb. I’ll really throw some off the trail to inform them that
after a little mixing, there’s also some mustang blood in their registered
quarter horses too. ~;o) Sorry, had to and it’s the
truth as I know it.
I hate to see feral cats put to the fate
that is to become of the noble animal, the horse. But if their numbers are not
“managed” (there’s that damned word again), not only will the ranchers, the
industry, and the families suffer, but the horses will suffer an excruciating
demise while starving to death or dying of thirst. An honorable death is more
befitting such beautiful creatures. They are not indigenous wild creatures,
they are domesticated stock which has gotten loose over the years and have
become wild.
The adopter and the unrealistic manner in
which the BLM promotes the program also works into the doogooders
hands who have a desire to “help” the program and direct it with the
tree-hugger mentality of those the BLM chooses to surrounded itself with in
promotion of the program, many of whom have no concept of proper equitation,
training, let alone which end the hay goes in and which end the manure comes
out. Yet these persons and groups are listened to by those who administer the
program because they can manipulate them in my opinion. They, the BLM, don’t
want a reality in the process. They cannot procure the number needed to sustain
the program (which is not sustainable under current administration).
When I speak of an
un-reality, we have seen the program attract those that attempt to enter the
adoption corrals with halter and lead rope expecting that the horses are,
“halter broke.” We have even seen folks show up with saddles and have
repossessed horses after an adoption because they were chained to a tree or
placed into a chicken coup or similar situations. The concept of, “wild horse”
(animal) doesn’t sink in to many an adopter.
Again, we hate to think of the fate that
some of these animals may have to come to, but then, what we’ve seen over the
past 20 years in the adoption program, many would be better off having a
dignified death than a fate of starvation, thirst, neglect, or misunderstanding
due to an ignorant program, involved parties, and an adopter who is looking merely
to save a wild horse or get a horse at a cheap price.
We live in times where folks are turning
their domestic horses out to fend for themselves and ultimately die because
they don’t know how to fend for themselves due to conditions we have created. I
feel for the horse, domestic or wild, in that they depend upon us as their caretakers.
Yes, they are indeed magnificent animals. A joy to gaze upon and protect…within bounds. They are a
part of our heritage, but they are not an indigenous,
“migrating” specie upon this continent.
We have been charged with the caretaking
of the animals by a higher source a long, long, time ago. A responsibility that
many do not have the slightest concept of what that responsibility may and does
entail.
An
opine of the 6W Ranch
If
you believe that this opine was an easy piece of literary license to espouse,
please click on the following links:
http://www.qnet.com/~sixwranch/abby.htm
http://www.qnet.com/~sixwranch/AbbyMPH.wma
Thank
you.
