It’s a special time in any young equine’s life, when he makes the transition from boy to… gelding. Our brave mini donkeys Spuds and Augie recently made the switch, thanks to the steady hand of our trusted veterinarian and a little something to encourage their naptime. When they woke up, the procedure was already done… perhaps it was only a dream?
Excerpted from an article by Scott Sonner for the Associated Press.
RENO — Federal land managers agreed Thursday to spend the next two years studying a proposal by the wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens to establish an eco-sanctuary for nearly 1,000 wild horses across more than 900 square miles of Nevada.
The Bureau of Land Management will conduct a formal environmental assessment of proposal offered by Madeleine Pickens and her non-profit group, Saving America’s Mustangs, as a way to minimize the need to round up excess animals on the public range, BLM Director Bob Abbey said.
The agency also will analyze potential economic and social effects of the reserve that would stretch across more than 580,000 acres of mostly public and some private property Pickens recently bought south of U.S. Interstate 80 between Wells and the Utah line.
Under the proposal, Saving America’s Mustangs would improve and maintain fencing and water wells and oversee management of the eco-sanctuary horses, which would remain under federal ownership.
Phoenix, AZ — One woman’s hobby of capturing pictures of wild horses may be the key to saving their lives.
The U.S. Forest Service and others have struggled for years to decide how to deal with wild horses inside Tonto National Forest because of worries that they were eating too much of the fragile grasses. But with money and manpower stretched, rangers here never had even attempted to catalog the herd.
More than a year ago, a friend brought Becky Standridge to the area.
“I’d heard about these wild horses for several years, but I’d never seen them,” she said.
For the laid-off Intel worker, it was love at first sight. Standridge brought her camera and began amassing a vast album of the herd.
“I identify their color, their blaze, their socks. All the characteristics. Who’s who. What’s going on,” she said. “The horses are all very special. Their family bonds are very strong. Their freedom is extremely important to them.”