The Senate Appropriations votes have been delayed again — we believe now until next week. Despite the uncertainty regarding the schedule, one thing is for sure: we cannot let off the gas.
The appropriations votes will decide if we preserve protections for wild horses or allow them to be killed and sold for brutal slaughter.
We need you to keep up the pressure. Call, call, call. Email. Tweet.
1)Click here to look up your Senators’ phone numbers. You can tell them: I strongly urge you to maintain protections for Wild Horses and Burros — and oppose any effort that would allow for the euthanizing, killing or slaughter of America’s wild horses. I am part of the 80% who opposes slaughter.
If you only have Facebook, search for your Senators Facebook pages, and leave a comment in a recent post. Tell them: I am with the 80% of Americans who say #NoHorseSlaughter. Maintain protections from killing and slaughter for America’s wild horses.
We’ll keep you updated via email and on our Facebook page throughout the coming weeks.
The American Horse Council Foundation (AHCF) would like to provide the industry with an update to its eagerly anticipated Economic Impact Study results.
The AHC would like to thank all of our study contributors for first and foremost their generosity to helping us complete this important project. As many will recall, the survey was disseminated in June 2017 with initial deadline of August 1, 2017. After several weeks of data collection, the deadline was extended to September 4, 2017. The decision to extend the delay has consequently shifted the overall delivery schedule of the final report. To ensure as comprehensive and thorough study as possible, the team also collected tax returns, past economic studies and industry surveys, and other data sources.
The AHCF is anticipating an initial release of key points from the data around the end of November/beginning of December. A formal “unveiling” to announce the final results will be held on Capitol Hill with members of the Horse Caucus, which will most likely take place in January due to the holiday congressional break. Several other venues are being considered across the US to provide briefings.
Fourteen states received breakout reports- California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin- of which the reports for each respective state will be finalized by the end of January/beginning of February. Each will receive an advance preview and insights into the results for their state as well.
As with past studies, copies will be available for purchase on the AHC’s website in January 2018.
THE STALLION ABOVE IS SAFE AND ON THE WAY TO CHILLY PEPPER – MIRACLE MUSTANG!
THANK YOU to each and every one of you who donated, sent prayers or shared our mission. It is an impossible task but because of your amazing hearts so many lives have been saved. (Proper thank you’s will be coming but it has been non-stop babies and rescue. Thank you for being patient.)
11 More Lives were saved this last week.Sadly, upon arrival to pickup the horses we were told the Stallion had shipped. As tears slid down my face I wondered how it could hurt so badly to lose a horse you had never met. But the pain was real, and so was the overwhelm.
But this week, we received a small miracle. Thanks to the work of Thunder Mountain in WA, enough time was bought for the stallion pictured above to be saved. He is currently on his way home, and should arrive with two Belgian x Colts we rescued.
Both of these colts are special needs, and one of them has a very large heart murmur on both sides of his chest, and the vet thought most likely he has a hole in his heart. So we have 3 special needs kids heading home and they should be here tomorrow.
Once again I stared in disbelief as the number showed up for “orphan foals”. Normally this would all have ended months ago, but as I picked it up I got the news that we have the chance to save 10+ who otherwise will ship straight to a horrible end.
At this point we are pretty much full, but we need to save this last group before the snow gets here. We are expecting snow later this week, but Matt will be arriving home tomorrow, dropping off the 3 in the trailer, and heading straight back up to WA in order to pick up the LAST big group of the year, IF we get funding for them.
_It seems like its always the same old story. But every life counts and it is the cold hard facts about rescue. It cost money to save these lives, and no one can do it alone. Thank the Lord this should be our last big trip for the year. It has been a long and extremely exhausting one, especially because it started with 3+/- months in South Dakota.
The new kids at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414 PLEASE MAKE CHECKS OUT TO “WIN”, as Chilly Pepper’s bank account is now under the name of our parent company
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
Our opponents have been spreading lies: that there are too many horses on the range, that they’re starving, and that we have no choice but to round them up and kill them. Wrong. Wrong. And wrong.
Wild horses only roam on a small percentage of protected public land. They are not starving. There aren’t too many of them. To make sure it stays that way, the best long-term management strategy is humane birth control — a policy recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.
The U.S. Senate vote on this issue has been delayed again for at least another week. That gives us time to push out this video and keep up the pressure on Capitol Hill. It lays out the contrast in clear terms: horse slaughter is barbaric and costly. 80% of Americans oppose it.
Every lawmaker should watch this and oppose any killing of our healthy wild horses and burros. Help us make sure that they do.
While we press the U.S. Senate to reject BLM’s request for slaughter and sue the BLM for illegal roundups, we have a third fight on our hands:
Next week, the National BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meets for the first time since its outrageous vote last November to recommend that the BLM kill tens of thousands of innocent wild horses and burros.
Our team will be there. But we need you to submit public comments to this committee now — so they know the American people reject their sham recommendation.
Please keep your comments respectful, but make it clear where you stand. Consider these points:
80% of Americans oppose killing our wild horses and burros and support protecting them on our public lands.
The vote to slaughter mustangs is unconscionable and completely unjustified in light of the cost-effective, scientifically recommended PZP birth control vaccine, which can be used to humanely manage wild horse populations on the range.
This board is supposed to represent stakeholders that include the public, science, wild horse advocacy, environmental and wildlife concerns. It’s time for them to stop doing the bidding of the special interest livestock lobby, which is making tens of millions of dollars off the BLM’s mustang roundup program.
We need to be heard because the Advisory Board members certainly aren’t speaking out on our behalf. The board ignored the overwhelming will of the American people AND the recommendations of the nation’s premier scientific body — the National Academy of Sciences — by voting to slaughter our American wild horses and burros. Only one member of this Advisory Board – our friend and colleague Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation – voted no.
It’s time to let this board know that Americans will not stand for their disregard of the public will and the welfare of our iconic wild horses and burros.
OCTOBER 2017
The UHC Roundup is an online publication that compiles news articles and events related to unwanted horses. It highlights UHC member programs and success stories spanning all breeds, disciplines, and regions.
If you wish to share your story of unwanted horses becoming wanted again, contact the UHC atafurst@horsecouncil.org.
UHC NEWS
UHC’s Operation Gelding Receives Grant From AAEP Foundation
The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Foundation has awarded the Unwanted Horse Coalition (UHC) a grant of $10,000 to support its Operation Gelding program. This marks the AAEP’s 7th year of support for the program.
1,953 stallions gelded $120,075 in funding provided $28,700 in funding approved 172 gelding clinics supported
Clinics offered in 33states 264 vouchers approved
UPCOMING CLINICS October 18,25, 2017
Stephenville Equine Sports Medicine, Stephenville, TX October 28, 2017
Brandon Equine Medical Center, Brandon, FL November 5, 2017
Clover Valley Veterinary Services, Port Orchard, WA November 12, 2017
SPCA of Texas, Greenville, TX December 9, 2017
Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic, Newberry, FL
Not only is BLM pushing Congress for permission to slaughter America’s mustangs, it’s blatantly violating the law rounding them up right now in Wyoming
We’re not backing down. Even as we push the U.S. Senate to stop slaughter, we’re fighting the feds’ illegal actions to destroy mustangs. Last week, we won two critical lawsuits to stop the Forest Service from shrinking wild horse habitat in California and the BLM from destroying an Idaho mustang herd by sterilizing every horse in it.
And, last Friday, we filed suit in U.S. District Court Wyoming to stop the BLM from illegally rounding up hundreds more wild horses than authorized by pretending young horses born this year don’t count.
We’re not going to let them get away with it, but we need your help.
We’re winning, but these lawsuits are expensive. They’re draining our funds and our staff resources.
As the BLM prepares for a possible pro-slaughter policy, the roundups are increasing and intensifying. Alarmingly, the agency is sending captured mustangs to private feedlots in Idaho and Utah where they may never be seen again. Our latest lawsuit challenges that too.
Our nation’s beautiful, majestic wild horses and burros deserve our protection, not helicopters rounding them up, shipping them out of public view to private holding pens, and putting every one of these innocent animals at risk of being brutally killed or slaughtered.
THE EMERGENCIES JUST KEEP COMING. About an hour ago I got the call, and it was even shorter notice than normal. We have 24 hours for Matt to get to Yakima and save 11 orphans and a mare & stallion.
Our budget is completely tapped, but we have to try. I don’t want to be the one who says “no, we can’t get them, send them to slaughter”.
It will cost roughly $3250 to save them, get the blood work for the Coggins test, the Health Certificate and the brand inspection. (The average cost is usually about $250 per horse including transporting them to NV). But this does NOT include any money for hay, grain or milk for the little ones.
We simply CANNOT raise funds to “save” them, without having some funds for feed and care. It is not responsible and we already are close to max numbers at Chilly Pepper.
It is so disheartening for the roundups to still be going on. But now it’s up to our entire Chilly Pepper family.
HOW MANY DO WE SAVE? HOW MANY GET LOADED ON THE NEXT TRUCK OUT?
THESE BABIES NEED YOUR HELP! We simply cannot do this with our current budget. Once they are safe, they will need gelding, feed and vet care until we can find them a home.
At some point we have to say “no”, and unfortunately we have been. However, we are the one rescue that is allowed access to these particular babies, so all we can do is our very best. They have no other chance.
Please help us save these babies and the mare and stallion. Matt will be on the road about 4 a.m. The number of horses we save will depend on the funds Y’ALL raise.
I will be staying home with Hope and Gypsum. They have been a huge roller coaster ride and are definitely not out of the woods yet. We still need prayers for them. The vet was here today and we are very hopeful, but all we can do is “one day at a time”.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who donates, sends their love and prayers and shares these updates.
Honestly Matt and I are so past “ready for a break”, but if y’all want to save these lives and help us care for them until they have a home, we are willing to keep going. As tired as y’all are hearing about the “emergencies”, you can be sure Matt and I are also tired of the phone calls and running 24/7. However, if we don’t stand together to save these lives, who will?
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414 PLEASE MAKE CHECKS OUT TO “WIN”, as Chilly Pepper’s bank account is now under the name of our parent company
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
I wanted to let you know that the Senate action on whether to legalize wild horse and burro killing has been delayed another week. (Congress is on recess this week for Columbus Day.) The earliest that it will be considered is October 17.
This is great news, because it means we still have time to get those videos in to Congress! So please read Grace’s email below about our new video tool, which lets you easily record your own video on your phone or computer — and it will be automatically sent to your representatives and Senators. Please record now and tell Congress: no killing of America’s wild horses!
Thanks for standing up for our wild horses and burros.
-Suzanne
Today, we’re launching a new effort to convince Congress to maintain the longstanding prohibition on the destruction and slaughter of healthy wild horses and burros. We’ve called. We’ve emailed. Now, let’s send a personal video message about why we’re fighting to protect these national icons.
With our new video tool you can easily record a short video that will be sent directly to your members of Congress. I just recorded mine — watch it now and then record your own.
We know you’ll have plenty to say but a few points we hope you’ll include:
Congress must maintain the longstanding prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros and oppose any effort that would open the door to slaughter.
80% of Americans oppose the slaughter of America’s wild horses.
The PZP birth control vaccine is a scientifically-proven, low-cost alternative that can used to humanely manage wild populations and maintain their wild free-romaning behaviors.
So record your own video now. It’s really easy. It’ll take just a few minutes of your time. And it will help us cut through the clutter in Washington and be heard on this critical issue.
We cannot thank you enough for all of your support and generosity throughout the year. Thanks to you, we are making a difference for horses and humans every day!
AAE thanks YOU, and all of the horses thank YOU!!
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Be sure to read to the end.
You will see photos of a lot of adoptables needing homes.
You will read about some big news, horse updates, AAE needs to share, some important upcoming dates to add to your calendars, and more.
As some of you know, we have been trying to identify a new location for AAE for quite some time. We have long outgrown our current location in terms of our capacity to expand our horse-human programs. We had a location that fell through at the 11th hour, and a subsequent location did not materialize.
Now, the situation is critical.
Our property owners are planning to sell the property as part of their retirement plan. We need your help in identifying a new location in El Dorado County, not too far from our current location (within about 30 minutes), as our volunteer base is centered here.
We need fenced acreage with ample flat areas functional for a variety of activities. In a perfect world, the property would be an existing horse facility with substantial acreage, fencing and cross-fencing, shelters, a covered arena, a barn, housing, and plenty of water. We know we’re not living in the perfect world, so we will humbly consider any combination with potential for our needs.
Affordability is another need.
Do you know of anyone with an unused ranch, facility, acreage or something in the middle.
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THE STORE IS COMING, THE STORE IS COMING
OPENING SOON: AAE’s USED TACK STORE
It’s been a long time in planning, and it’s almost here.
AAE’s Used Tack Store is opening soon in Shingle Springs.
Please be patient as we get things ready for our Grand Opening!
We have a huge selection of tack. We are working diligently to organize, clean and prepare. We can’t wait to open!
Your tack donations are welcome and much needed to keep us going. We hope you can hold off until November for future tack donations, so we can prepare our current inventory for our Grand Opening the end of October.
Your patience is appreciated!
Stay tuned for more info!
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It’s All About EqWINE
As it turns out, 2017 has been a super busy year and our event team needed a time out. We have had a lot on our plates, and we decided to take a break from the EqWINE event this year to focus our efforts on REHOMING AAE.
We would love to resume our EqWINE event in Fall of 2018. We two grow our event team to support two events. Ideally, a team for EqWINE and a team for Boots. We need fresh ideas to expand and improve the EqWINE event. Interested? Send an email to EqWINE@allaboutequine.org.
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SPARKIE UPDATE!!
Adopted!
Do you remember Sparkie, the emaciated mare that came to us the beginning of July?
She was “just an old mare the owner didn’t have time or concern for any more”. Sparkie had been living on a drylot with nothing more than dry weeds to eat. Lucky for her, her neighbors made some noise. They were given the mare with an offer to breed her if they wanted a “baby”. The former owner also provided a bag of grain and instructed the neighbor to give her “a can a day”. Fortunately, her rescuers knew she needed more than they could provide, so they contacted AAE for assistance.
Upon vet exam, Sparkie’s age was guestimated well into her 20s. She was missing many teeth, and looked like she had probably never had any dental care. She was undernourished, anemic, and in dire need of dental treatment. Thank you, Dr. Stolba, Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center and Melissa Shurr, Certified Equine Dental Practitioner for such great care.
After veterinary and dental care, Sparkie made tremendous progress in her first month at AAE….
And within two months, she looked like an entirely different horse. A beautiful girl!
And here she is, not quite three months after rescue, looking good as new after a brief introduction to her new companion, a 29-year old Arab-cross that recently lost her 31-year old buddy.
Next time you see an underweight or emaciated horse and someone tries to tell you he or she is underweight because she is old, ask more questions. And, don’t assume because she is old and skinny, she cannot be rehabilitated to enjoy a good quality of life. More often than not, the horse is not fed enough or has a need that is not being met such as starvation due to inadequate amounts of feed or type of feed, dental problems, or other health issues. Politely ask questions, don’t be an ostrich. When you do not get a reasonable answer, seek assistance.
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Please submit a review of AAE!!
Great NonProfits – Top Rated Awards
If you love our work then tell the world! Stories about us from people like you will help us make an even bigger impact in our community. GreatNonprofits is the #1 source of nonprofit stories and feedback, and it is honoring highly regarded nonprofits with their 2017 Top-Rated List.
Won’t you help us raise visibility for our work by posting a brief story of your experience with us? All content will be visible to potential donors and volunteers.
Blue is a Nevada mustang that came to AAE after a plea for help with a mass on his leg and no one had been able to get help for him.
Here is Blue at intake in early 2017.
Blue was feral upon arrival. He had been haltered in the past, but he had substantial trust/fear issues and wanted nothing to do with humans.
It took many months to earn Blue’s trust, and he had some challenges along the way, including two occurrences of an immune reaction that affected his skin. He also had to be trustworthy to assure we could handle him for long term bandage changes after surgery. By August, we were finally ready for surgery.
The BLOB is gone, and thankfully, it was just a big (nearly 7 pound) mass of proud flesh. We did not find any underlying issues. Now the healing continues, be he is much relieved to not be lugging around that big “brain” on his leg.
Healing will take time, and we will not likely end up with a “normal” looking leg, but it should be a normal feeling leg. He is make great progress! This shot is between recent bandage changes. Mass-ive improvement!
Thank you to everyone that made Blue’s surgery and treatment possible. We know Blue is beyond grateful for helping him feel better.
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Save the Dates!
AAE’s Quarterly All Volunteer Meeting 10/14/17
Want to know the happenings at AAE?
Come to our quarterly meeting on October 14, 2017 at 6:00pm.
You don’t want to miss our exciting announcement!
Please bring an appetizer or dessert to share before the meeting starts at 6:30pm.
El Dorado Hills Fire Department
Station 85
1050 Wilson Bl.
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
If you would like to attend, please RSVP by signing up on our
Are you interested in one of our horses or burros?
Visit our adoption page for information about our adoption process, and send an email to adopt@allaboutequine.org
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VOLUNTEER with AAE
Highlighted Volunteer Need at AAE
Sierra School Field Trip Support
Sierra School is an educational setting where students with disabilities go to experience a positive and enriching academic curriculum and life skills education. Students at Sierra have been removed or taken out of their home school programs due to emotional and behavioral outbursts. Sierra school offers a safe place for students to learn new coping skills and appropriate behavior.
At AAE, students get to experience the joy of an animal and meet new caring staff members. Together students get to learn through hands on modalities and get new opportunities to connect with animals in need. Students must step out of themselves and focus on the task at hand, helping an animal.
Field trips to visit AAE are every other Thursday morning during the school year. AAE needs volunteer help from 9a to 12:30p on these days to facilitate activities for the students. With additional help, AAE can potentially accommodate weekly trips from Sierra School students.
The American Horse Council (AHC) is in the process of updating its annual Horse Industry Directory. Continuing in 2018, the AHC will be offering the Directory in an interactive online format, complete with active advertising, website and social media links, email addresses, and search ability.
The Horse Industry Directory contains over 1,200 listings that include breed registries, trail organizations, show and sport organizations, racing organizations, equine veterinary schools, equine research organizations, equine welfare organizations, equine publications, and state sources of information such as state department of agriculture, state trail organizations, and state veterinarians. No other publication provides this depth of resources and contact information for the equine industry!
Advertising opportunities are now available, and information can be found on the AHC website, or by contacting Ashley Furst at afurst@horsecouncil.org. Advertising in the annual Directory is a great way for your equine business or product to be seen in front of every segment of the industry; over 1,000 Individuals and 150 Organizations representing every segment of the industry receive this Directory.
Although the Directory will primarily be offered in an online format, we will be printing a VERY limited amount of hard copies. If you are interested in receiving a hard copy of the 2018 Directory, please fill out the order form here.All hard copy requests must be received no later than November 3, 2017.
The equine industry and its partners in the agriculture and small business sectors continue to engage Congress and the Administration on key elements of the GOP’s “unified framework for tax reform,” released on September 27. While the framework outlines broad themes for reform, AHC and its partners are focusing efforts on repeal of the estate tax, also known as the “death tax,” as a pillar for a 21st century tax code. Below are summaries of tactics used to move the legislative process forward, and highlights from conversations with congressional and administration officials.
Congress Hears from Small Business, Agriculture
On September 12 – two weeks prior to release of the GOP framework – AHC joined nearly 150 small business groups in a coalition letter to congressional leadership urging full repeal of the estate tax. When the government imposes estate taxes on an equine operation, surviving family partners may be forced to sell equipment and other assets to save the family business. Signatories represent a cross-section of American business, including builders and contractors, grocers, truckers and cattlemen. Advocates emphasized the fact that repeal of the estate tax would not only cost the treasury relatively little revenue in the short term, but ultimately increase tax revenues by $145 billion over a ten year period. Underscoring minimal, short-term impacts on the federal budget is crucial to moving tax reform through the budget reconciliation process, which requires Congress to demonstrate that the new and improved tax code will ultimately achieve deficit reduction.
“Budget Reconciliation,” a Procedural High Jump
Before moving forward with a tax reform bill, Congress must first pass a federal budget for FY2018 which includes instructions for tax legislation. The process, known as “budget reconciliation,” allows the Senate to pass a bill with 51 votes, therefore bypassing the 60 vote threshold necessary to avoid the filibuster that applies to most legislation. This parliamentary tactic is crucial for tax reform legislation, where Republicans must receive the support of the vast majority of their Senate members to pass a bill. On October 4, AHC joined more than 40 agriculture groups – including the American Farm Bureau Federation and American Veterinary Medical Association – in a letter to Congress expressing support for passage of a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions for tax reform. On October 5, the House of Representatives passed its $1.132 trillion budget, which it claims will achieve $6.5 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years.
Attention now turns to the Senate, which is expected to consider a $1.5 trillion budget during the next four weeks. To make sure lawmakers remain focused on the tax reform process, please call your senators and tell them “to pass a budget today that paves the way for tax reform.” You can contact your senators’ Washington offices by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121.
Status of the Debate
AHC and its partners have met this week with congressional leadership offices and White House staff, who remain optimistic that substantial progress toward tax reform will take place during the weeks ahead. Policy makers have also made it clear that to push tax reform across the finish line, the legislation must include major provisions that bolster the middle class. To that end, officials have underscored the importance of mortgage interest and charitable giving deductibility, the prospect of lower rates through consolidated deductions, and the overall simplicity of a streamlined code. The House Ways and Means Committee has created a template “postcard” to illustrate the taxpayer-friendly approach favored by proponents of reform. To view a copy of the proposed, streamlined tax form, click on the following link: https://waysandmeans.house.gov/tax-form-simple-fit-postcard/.
Horsemen and horsewomen can deliver a timely message by contacting their elected officials and expressing the need to modernize the code in general, and specifically to repeal the outdated death tax . Other issues that will emerge as the debate moves forward will include deductibility of business interest, expensing of depreciable assets, and establishing a top rate of 25% for sole proprietorships, Subchapter S-Corporations, and other small business entities. If you would like more information related to tax reform, please contact Bryan Brendle at bbrendle@horsecouncil.org.
Today, we’re launching a new effort to convince Congress to maintain the longstanding prohibition on the destruction and slaughter of healthy wild horses and burros. We’ve called. We’ve emailed. Now, let’s send a personal video message about why we’re fighting to protect these national icons.
With our new video tool you can easily record a short video that will be sent directly to your members of Congress. I just recorded mine — watch it now and then record your own.
We know you’ll have plenty to say but a few points we hope you’ll include:
Congress must maintain the longstanding prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros and oppose any effort that would open the door to slaughter.
80% of Americans oppose the slaughter of America’s wild horses.
The PZP birth control vaccine is a scientifically-proven, low-cost alternative that can used to humanely manage wild populations and maintain their wild free-romaning behaviors.
So record your own video now. It’s really easy. It’ll take just a few minutes of your time. And it will help us cut through the clutter in Washington and be heard on this critical issue.
Guest Worker Visa Reform Gains Momentum, Tell Congress to Finish the Job!
Status update:
On September 15, the House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion funding bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 that will serve as a benchmark for negotiations with the Senate on a final package. Congress must negotiate a final bill by December 8, when the current continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal programs at FY2017 levels will expire. While the equine industry and its allies have taken an important first step by inserting some H-2B visa reform measures within the text of the current House spending bill (such as wage-survey flexibility), the fight to insert broader visa cap relief in a final spending bill continues.
Fortunately, Congress can fix the broken guest worker visa program by acting on legislation currently moving through the legislative process. AHC members can help push the legislative process forward by weighing in with your elected officials in Washington. Contact your federal lawmakers today and urge them to support H2B visa reform through the following vehicles:
FY2018 Appropriations – Tell your lawmakers to include H-2B visa cap relief provisions in the final spending bill. This must-pass legislation is the most active vehicle moving through Congress. Meaningful cap relief includes common-sense exemptions for returning guest workers.
Strengthen Employment and Seasonal Opportunities (SEASON) Act (H.R. 2004) – Tell your representative to cosponsor H.R. 2004, which will provide cap relief by establishing an exemption for well-vetted workers who have already held a visa. This bill currently has 30 co-sponsors, a number which must grow to gain more political traction. If your representative is already a sponsor, tell him to contact leadership to assure passage.
Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2017 (S. 792) – Call both of your senators and tell them to cosponsor S. 792, legislation that will expedite applications to meet labor demands during peak seasons. This bipartisan bill currently has 12 sponsors, and will need many more to win floor time in the Senate. If your senators are already sponsors, tell them to contact leadership to make the bill a high priority.
To contact your lawmaker’s Washington office, please call the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121, and ask to be connected to your elected official’s office. Also, you can your representative and senators by using #SaveH2B on social media.
Emerging Legislation, Next Steps
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is soon expected to introduce the Agricultural Guest Worker Act of 2017, legislation that would replace the cumbersome H-2A program with more flexible H-2C visas. The draft text shared with AHC from House Judiciary Committee staff would accomplish the following benefits for large segments of the equine sector:
The bill would replace the H-2A program outright, with a new program that creates incentives to hire foreign labor through legal channels;
Reduce financial and paperwork burdens on agricultural employers by discarding H-2A mandates such as free housing and transportation;
Create marketplace flexibility by establishing “at will” employment between visa holders and agricultural employers;
Establish a baseline of 500,000 visas, with a built-in “escalator” that can result in 10% increases in the number of guest visas issued in subsequent years. According to State Dept. stats, the number of H2A visas has fluctuated between 65,000 and 135,000 during the past five fiscal years.
The House Judiciary Committee postponed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, October 4 to formally introduce and review the bill. AHC will keep you updated on developments related to the Agriculture Guest Work Act, and other legislation impacting hiring practices for the equine sector. If you would like a summary of the draft bill, or have perspectives on immigration policy and priorities you would like to share, please contact Bryan Brendle at bbrendle@horsecouncil.org.
The Chilly Pepper family is sending prayers for Las Vegas, and all the loved ones who are affected by this tragedy.
However, we are in an emergent type of situation here at home. Gypsum and Hope are hanging in there, and are extremely tired of all the shots (twice a day each) and the meds they are receiving.
Hope’s pneumonia seems to be breaking up and she has not had a fever for the last few days. Gypsum is still struggling and we need to take both of them to the vet by tomorrow for further testing.
Gypsum has (hopefully had) an extremely life threatening infection. His good leg received this assessment by the vet. “The right front common digital extensor tendon had ruptured”So in addition to his contracted tendon, his potentially life threatening umbilical infection and pneumonia, his good leg is suffering. He needs another ultrasound ASAP and more blood work. We cannot wait as it could be life threatening if we do not stay on top of this infection,
Hope also needs more blood work and possibly additional medication as she is still coughing and wheezing from the pneumonia breaking up. We are hopeful it is just the gunk leaving her lungs, but we have to be sure.
It is always hard to ask folks to keep helping when so many do so much. But this is about the babies and the horses here at Chilly Pepper, and we are in an emergency situation at this point. We are simply “their voice” (and their private staff – literally 24/7 lol).
I am grateful a good friend had reminded me in the past of how important it is to keep emergency funds available. This saved our bacon on the last trip, but we now need funding for the additional vet care and the costs of caring for so many horses just increased substantially.
We spent nearly $800 on Gypsum’s vet care prior to picking up the horses and saving the 9 slaughter babies. This is the reason he has a chance at life, as Doc Rodger (at Crossroads in CA) is the one who caught the deadly umbilical infection.
We then spent another $1486 at the vet in Idaho (for Hope and Gypsum). The trailer repairs were $800, and we spent over $800+ on medication and Coggins for the 9 babies in Washington. This doesn’t include fuel etc. for the days we were out on this rescue, or to cover the ranch care while we were gone.
So it was well over $3800 in unexpected emergency costs in just the last two weeks, and we are spending over $2000 in feed for the babies and the new horses. (Many of these horses did not belong to Chilly Pepper originally). We were just asked to help place horses. However, apparently they are now “our horses”. So this is where your donations are going. Without you none of these horses would be safe and most of them would already have been slaughtered.
So we are looking at 7 extra adult horses to feed and care for at the worst time of year, in addition to the ones we already had. We try to be really careful and responsible and we do say “No”. However, due to the emergency situation we had no choice but to pick up these horses.
Some of them are in pretty good shape, but there are a few who are pretty thin. We are looking for sponsors for these ladies, and especially for Granny, an older Virginia Range horse that is now our responsibility thanks to trying to help place her. But she is such a sweet mare, so we will figure it out.
There are so many crisis in our world right now, but we have to keep feeding and caring for these kids. If you would like to help us give these babies every chance they deserve, they would so appreciate it. Both of them have survived unthinkable odds, and by the Grace of God and some pretty amazing Angels, both of them are still here and wanting to run and play.
Please help if you can. Each and every dollar adds up, and these beautiful little souls are gifts from God.
THANK YOU FROM ALL THE HORSES!
* A quick note. We moved from LRTC to WIN due to some of the projects being more closely connected. However, we are still working with LRTC and will continue to do so. Our Large Animal Rescue training (at LRTC) (and some awesome Angels) is what made it possible to save Hope. We want to once again thank Willis Lamm for helping us come up with a safe and successful plan to extricate Hope from the trailer full of wild and very anxious horses.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414 PLEASE MAKE CHECKS OUT TO “WIN”, as Chilly Pepper’s bank account is now under the name of our parent company
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
We’re a week away from critical votes. The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to mark up its spending bill next week, with full committee votes the week after. Since the House lifted the longstanding prohibition on the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros in its spending bill, it’s critical that the Senate maintain these protections. These votes will likely determine what the final budget language is — and the lives of tens of thousands of wild horses literally hang in the balance.
When we meet with Senate offices and ask them what makes a difference, they always tell us to keep up the calls and emails. They REALLY matter. Our opponents have the money and power but we have the people. Keep it up.
Tell them: Maintain longstanding prohibitions on the destruction of healthy wild horses. Oppose any spending bill that would allow for the killing or sale for slaughter of healthy wild horses.
The roundup underway right now in Wyoming is a stark reminder of how important these votes are. Images of wild horses chased relentlessly by helicopter, driven into barbed wire, captured, and separated from their families are heartbreaking. Even worse is the thought that every one of the nearly 2,000 wild horses captured could be killed if the Congress does not reject the BLM’s request to destroy them and sell them for brutal slaughter.
Wow. In less than one day, you shattered our goal of $8,000 to get an ad up in Alaska this weekend. As of this morning, we’ve raised over $20,000 thanks to your help. The ads will run this Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in Anchorage — and we’re planning additional advertisements in the coming weeks.
We also learned early this morning that the U.S. Senate “markup” is delayed yet another week. We’re now expecting these critical votes to take place sometime around October 10th.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will officially unveil the GOP template today at 2:15 PM EST. To view today’s event via livestream, please go to the following link:speaker.gov/live.
On September 27, 2017, GOP leaders released a “template” laying out key elements to characterize comprehensive tax reform legislation. The nine-page document identifies significant tax breaks for individuals and corporations, and includes a special focus on tax relief for small business. Below are highlights that will have the most significant impact on the equine sector, among other corporate and individual taxpayers:
Business Reform
Small Business : The framework establishes a maximum tax rate of 25 percent on small businesses operating as “sole proprietorships, partnerships and S corporations.” With an increasing number AHC members filing as sole proprietorships and partnerships, this can potentially provide significant tax relief. Under current law, small businesses (pass-through entities) can pay federal taxes at rates as high as 39.6 percent.
Corporate Tax Rate : The plan proposes to lower the corporate rate to 20 percent, down from the current 35 percent corporate tax rate.
Expensing: The GOP framework “allows businesses to immediately write off the cost of … depreciable assets” for five years or more.
Business Interest : The plan imposes “partial limits” for deduction of business interest on C corporations. The tax writing committees will review interest deductions for non-corporate taxpayers during the legislative process.
Estate Tax : The GOP proposes to eliminate the estate tax and the “generation skipping transfer tax.” This is positive news for family-owned operations.
Streamlined Tax Brackets: The plan consolidates the number of individual brackets from seven to three. Under the proposal, the IRS will create three tax brackets at rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent.
Standard Deduction: The plan will double the standard deduction to $24,000 for married couples filing a joint return, and $12,000 for single taxpayers.
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) – The GOP proposes to eliminate the unpopular AMT, which doubles the amount of time taxpayers must endure to calculate their tax liability within any given year.
Itemized Deductions : While GOP leaders state that many of the deductions that “riddle the tax code” will go on the chopping block, the plan keeps deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions.
Next Steps
AHC is conducting meetings with congressional tax writers in conjunction with major agriculture stakeholders, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, among others. So far, the coalition has focused on repeal of the estate tax and the need to expense capital investment as pillars of the tax reform process moving forward, two messages which are clearly laid out in the GOP template. To view a copy of the GOP framework, please click HERE.
To learn more details about the tax plan, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will officially unveil the GOP template today at 2:15 PM EST. To view today’s event via livestream, please go to the following link: speaker.gov/live.
IRS Releases New “Winnings” Rule
Also on September 27, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published final rules in the Federal Register (FR) to reform federal withholding and reporting requirements for pari-mutuel winnings. The new rule arises from a notice of proposed rulemaking issued in late 2016, on which the equine industry submitted comments, laying the groundwork for the new regulatory flexibility. The tax rules will effectively exempt large numbers of winnings from the federal definition for “amount of wager.” The new threshold effectively exempts a large number of bets from triggering the imposition of a 20 percent withholding on winnings, thereby reflecting a consumer trend toward “exotic wagering pools” in modern betting. To view a copy of the final rule, which will be effective 45 days following today’s publication in the FR, please see the following link: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-09-27/pdf/2017-20720.pdf.
Save the Date for the AHC’s 2018 Annual Meeting & National Issues Forum
The AHC is pleased to announce that its 2018 Annual Meeting and National Issues Forum will take place from June 10-13, 2018 at the Capital Hilton in the heart of Washington, DC.
The Capital Hilton is a new venue for the AHC’s Annual Meeting, as the past several years the meeting has been held at the Washington Court Hotel just a few blocks from Capitol Hill. In 2018, the AHC decided to give meeting attendees a glimpse of a different part of DC with a hotel that is just two blocks from the White House. Additonally, some changes have been made to the schedule to ensure attendees are able to attend the meetings that they would like to.
Historically, the AHC’s Annual Meeting, when all AHC Committees and the Unwanted Horse Coalition meet, has taken place on Monday. While the AHC’s five main committees will still meet on Monday, the Unwanted Horse Coalition meeting will now take place on Sunday.
With the growing industry and public interest in aftercare and retraining/rehoming, the UHC felt it was best to shift the 2018 meeting schedule around to allow more time for a robust discussion during the UHC’s meeting.
The National Issues Forum, sponsored by Luitpold Animal Health, will take place on Tuesday, June 12th. The agenda is still being finalized, but at this time topics include a Youth Panel, Tax Reform, Data Insights and Implications, Immigration, and Aftercare.
Please check the Events tab on the AHC website for information as it becomes available. If you have any questions about the Annual Meeting and National Issues Forum, please contact the AHC at 202-296-4031 or info@horsecouncil.org.
With our movement battling on so many fronts, I wanted to send around a quick update:
U.S. Senate Vote Coming Soon
The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee is now expected to mark up its spending bill next week, with full committee consideration of the legislation the week after. Since the House passed a spending bill that lifts the longstanding prohibition on the destruction of healthy wild horses and burros, it’s critical that the Senate maintain these protections. These votes will likely determine what the final budget language is — and the lives of tens of thousands of wild horses literally hang in the balance.
If Congress fails to protect wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has said it would like to “dispose” of so-called excess wild horses and burros by killing them. So it’s no surprise the agency is already rounding up wild horses with renewed gusto. BLM-contracted helicopters have returned once again to the Wyoming Checkerboard, where 46 wild horses were captured and removed from their homes on the range yesterday. The roundup will continue until 1,500 wild horses lose their freedom and their families. Other roundups pending in Wyoming and Nevada will remove 10,000 more wild horses from the range.
Several weeks ago, we exposed what we dubbed the Salt Lake City Slaughter Summit. Pro-slaughter politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists gathered in Salt Lake City, excluding members of the humane management community. Despite their spin claiming a scientific and humane approach, the truth came out this week: A survey released by summit organizers shows that 99 percent of participants support eating horses. Of the top six “highly-supported options” for how to address horse and burro issues, three involved eating horses, one involved killing horses, and two involved selling horses to be killed. Protecting wild horses didn’t make the cut. What a sham.
With key U.S. Senate votes coming soon, roundups increasing, and our opponents pulling out all the stops, our movement is activating on all fronts. We’ve gathered more than 300,000 petitions signatures, we’re holding meetings with key members in DC and in home offices, our latest round of billboards are live, and we’re planning new advertisements to be released soon.
Our opponents have a lot of power and a lot of money. But we have the opinion of the American people and an incredible movement behind us. Together, we can win this.
