4,534 Yakama Rez Horses-- $100 Each

[maloney]

Okay guys, check this out. Sorry to ruin your night, but these horses need some help ASAP.

www.ynwildlife.org/wildhorses.htm


They might as well kiss all those sweet horses goodbye, because they are all going to end up at the slaughter house. There is no adoption form, and ANYONE can buy a horse. So frustrating.... These horse have no value (since there is no market for a wild and potential skinny, and likely to be in-bred, as we have seen in the past), so who do you think is gunna buy them?

I'm glad they are making an effort to thin their HUGE herd, but this is not the way to go.


This is from their website:

Current Management of Wild Horses

An aerial count survey has been conducted in 2006 for near 90% of the Reservation. The total count reached 4,534 horses on the Yakama Reservation. Our program is currently developing a Wild Horse Management Plan for the Yakama Reservation. This should be finished by 2007.

Purchase Wild Horses From Our Program!!!

Wild horses are available for sale from our program. Prices are $100 each for unbroken horses. Tribal members will halter break and train horses for a negotiated price. For more information, please contact Jim Stephenson: office: 865-5121, ext. 6310, cell: 949-2189, or e-mail: [e-mail].

[maloney]

I forgot to mention, that you can get a permit to "chase" the horses and capture one.

Oh, but only tribal member are allowed to chase the horses.
The poor horses!

[Tockita]

maloneyd said:

Purchase Wild Horses From Our Program!!!

Wild horses are available for sale from our program. Prices are $100 each for unbroken horses. Tribal members will halter break and train horses for a negotiated price. For more information, please contact Jim Stephenson: office: 865-5121, ext. 6310, cell: 949-2189, or e-mail: [e-mail].

[/b][/quote]

Well we knew it was coming. Someone talked them into adopting out some horses to co incide withthe release of the movie Flicka. I think they normally they sell the overages to the kill buyers, where do you think Dyna, Feather, Vermont and ... came from? I think they came off a rez.. so adopting them out is possibly better.

The chasing issue is scary but atleast they seem to limit it to a tribal tradition and not to just any yutz that wants a thrill.

That said, I can not say enough good things about little Dyna .. except for being overly worming she has been a doll to play with. VERY smart, able to handle herself in a herd environment and easy to train (after Kerrie did the hard stuff up in WA ;D )

Even Angi who has worked with MANY wild horses is gaga over her! She is very pleased with Randle/Merlin as well! He is going to be an awesome guy, got sat on already and really didn't care.

[sunlightslady]

well I was pretty upset to see this I cannot see how people in the day and age can do this. I sent Jim a email. I wonder what and if he will reply???
Anyway good or bad this is what I sent....
Hi Jim,
I am interested in knowing how do you prevent the horses from going to slaughter? Is there any safe guards to make sure that they are going to good homes or is it a anyone can buy them situation? I am a Native American and I am for having the wild horses in America. I fear that that the horses will end up as many do being delivered to the Europeans as dinner. I feel that this isnt the best for US as Native American to have our heritage become profit for a slaughter house or trader. Is there a better alternative to the situation ? I seen that they were doing population control. Why did it get to the point that there were so many on the reservation? Why are the Yakima people allowed to "chase" the horses for capture? I thought we as people of the land treat the animals better than that. This e-mail is not intended to in flame I just would like to know.
Thank you for your time,

[bcfilly]

I think that about sums it up sunlightslady. Hope he replies.

[Charsgma]

These poor horses they are so in bred and very very wild!! Most of them don't have enough meat on there bones to become dinner..Being in Yakima I have seen many of them and nothing good ever happens to them (except for the ones CBER happens to get). They have to be dieing with the weather we are having. SO SAD!!!

[maloney]

I also sent Jim an e-mail. Mine was about two pages long, and included pictures of horse slaughter, plus all of the numbers of horses going to slaughter. I wonder if I will get anything back as well.

Please, everyone send him an e-mail with a little suggestion of requiring a form, or buy-back clause, or a contract. Maybe suggest some kind of requirment or some type of method that could hopefully prevent kill-buyers from scooping up these lovely wild horses. So, so sad.

These poor horses would have a great chance at life, but I'm afraid that the tribe is going to have to try harder to be sure these horses don't end up on a dinner plate.

[sunlightslady]

It is terrible and before I came to be a part of the horse rescue organization I can honestly say I did not know the plight of so many horses like I do now. It is so sad in many ways but can be very heartwarming to see so many people stand up for those who have no voice. Thanks

[earlybp]

This may be a little unpopular, but how is this different from the BLM? Besides the horse chasing thing? There are nearly 5,000 horses out there, so I doubt that inbreeding is a problem. And they say they are coming up with a management plan in 2007.
I mean, what do we want them to do, exactly?

[maloney]

The BLM is different then the Yakima Rez.
The BLM brands the horses, has records of each horse, and they require some type of contract, plus vet referneces are required as well as a certian kind of fencing and requires the fence to be at least 6 ft high. The BLM also does farm checks and requests photos of your place.

Unfortunatly, the Yakima tribe is not requesting ANYTHING, which heightens the chances of the horses ending up in slaughter or neglectful homes. These horses can go to anyone at anytime.

I know some BLM horses end up in the wrong hands, but they have a much better chance of finding a long-term home when requiring a certain criteria.

As for being inbred- some are, some aren't. But did you ever have the disturbing chance to see the Yakima Rez horses that showed up at the feedlot in the recent years?

I saw a young filly at the feedlot in 2005, where her front knees were touching, and her hooves were turned out, they were so crooked. Her neck was very ewed, swayed back and she had bugged out eyes.

There was also the foal who could barely walk his spine was so twisted. He also had the bugged-out eye thing, and that is a common sign of inbreeding. These horses were kept in back, and could not be offered for adoption thru CBER.

I just hope the managment plan includes birth control, rather than control via selling off to anyone.

[ebo]

I have a couple of the rez ponies--really are stunted horses. Their conformation isn't the best, but they are hardy little things. Both are smart and are true air ferns--and playful.

While the Yakimas are carrying on their wonderful tradition of chasing these horses, perhaps they could put the colts in a pen, hire an honest-to-god vet, and get them all gelded.

According to Sam (CBER) the tribe has been rounding up their horses for slaughter for years, treating them as a cash crop. If she's correct, the $100 is probably more than they get from chuck. Also, if she's correct, it would be cutting into their profits to geld the colts.

If this sounds racist, be advised that I paint all horse abusers with the same disgusted brush. Race is no excuse for reprehensible behavior.

[maloney]

Nicely said Ebo.

[earlybp]

Thanks for the clarification Ebo and Maloneyd. I didn't know that BLM did all that, and I am glad that they do.

I didn't think anybody here was being racist. It's more racist to not hold everybody accountable.

I have seen Vanilla Bean who is a rez horse, and she has the ewe neck and is stumpy in every way.

I'm not sure how we can really affect the outcome of these horses. They they want to make money off of their horses, so what do you do? It seems like if they actually pulled out the decent ones and did a breeding program and actively marketed their horses, there would be a market for the good ones. Not sure what they could do with the poorly conformed ones, but at least they wouldn't be creating more poorly conformed ones.
Hmmm....

[dcsmmi]

There are lots of herds like this guys. I've been fighting for the Sheldon horses for years now. Although many of those horses have crossed over from BLM herd areas, they are now on Fish & Wildlife lands - and even though both BLM and F&W are governed by the same Dept of the Interior - the same laws and regulations do not apply, simply because of where the horses are gathered. Wild horses in Nevada face the same thing - Dept of Agriculture has jurisdiction. Those horses are only housed a short time before sold at public sale. AKA - slaughter. I recently had a run in with a brand inspector here in Oregon over a horse found wandering in the hills. The person who found her called the inspector (thinking he was doing the right thing) - and she later insisted the horse be sold at public auction - no exceptions. This horse was feral. No idea where she came from. I had to explain to the sheriff (she called to claim the horse was stolen from the Dept of Ag - it was a source of income for them) - that the horse was found wandering on BLM lands - and even though one doesn't think of Lane County having wild horses - if I had to - I would take the horse to Burns for processing and a freeze mark if they insisted on pushing it. It always boils down to money folks. ALWAYS.

[halfwayhome]

The bottom line is that the rez people, for the most part, do not really care where the horses go as long as they get their blood money. That is why they sent a few semi truck loads to the FLO last year, mostly ungelded stallions, mares and pregnant mares and foals, it was the worst, most disgusting mess I have ever seen, those poor babies getting run over, the stallions all fighting for territory because there wasn't enough room, so very wild and scared that a normal fence would not have held them, beaten up and injured by the round up, truck ride and each other. These "chases" are also bad, they run horses into the ground that they are riding chasing them in as well as using 4wheelers, and trucks and whatever else, it is barbaric and because its on the reservation, any state or US rules do not apply. We saw one horse brought back to the lot owner that was used to run wild horses in and he had been ridden for 3 days with no feed or water provided- he had lost a ton of weight and was crippled. one guy came to the lot and purposefully BOUGHT a draft colt from the FLO to turn out to cross breed with the wild horses to get more wild horses, only bigger and meatier...so yeah, they are all about the money, its not tradition or good management, if they would have had that , there wouldn't be the problem as it exists now, the average person cannot handle these horses and shamefully, most will end up going to slaughter, you can bet on it. The few that do get "adopted" will be a drop in the bucket, and if you have driven around the rez like I have and seen the horses crammed into little corrals and starving, you wouldn't really call that an adoption or a true "horse person".

[Tockita]

Well I'm very happy to have Dyna here and am so HAPPY that CBER listed those fillies!
I'd love to hear tales or see pics of some of the other babies, TNT, Nitro, Blast...

Dyna isn't going to be a big horse but she has decent confirmation for a possibly inbred rez stang.

[Admin]

I for one am absolutely enraged!! Media time!

[sunlightslady]

"Why should we be responsible for there lack of interest in the well-being of the horse? And if it's because they have no money, then they need to get a job like the rest of us. "
I hope that comment was directed at those Native Americans that do not work. My family all have very well paying jobs and have since high school. (though I wont tell you how long ago that was)

Ohh and I never did get a reply from them.

[maverick]

On behalf of the Rez horses both my mare and I would like to say don't shy away from adopting a Rev horse.
Dulcinea/Zesty my mare is an X-Rez horse her self and is fantastic! I have never meant a more loyal horse.
Also her conformation is great, she is a smooth ride and she is very intelligent.

[earlybp]

As an organization, the Yakima reservation probably has a wide spectrum of opinions about the care and future of the horses. It's entirely possible that this Shxmyaa guy is trying to deal with this problem, and the $100 wild horse sale was a compromise between the folks who want to slaughter and those who don't.
I am not being an apologist for what's happened. The best way to get someone to act right is to make the assumption that they're like you and would do the right thing when given the right information.
It's hard to know without a face-to-face with the folks, what their true intentions are.

[earlybp]

Plus Shyxxmaa, in his letter, has offered to let us come down and help out.

[maloney]

Yes, and I think help is greatly needed in placing these horses. If these horses are going to be placed in good homes, it's going to take some good people with only good intentions for the horses.
I just feel like too many politics are going to get involved, people are getting greedy and then they are just going to be looking for a way to make a quick buck.

I researched some more last night. I found it interesting that it was only very recent that it was made public that the reservation has so many horses. 4,534 was their headcount. Many people, probably including most of us, did not know they had even 1/4 of that. They are now considered the biggest wild horse herd in America. That is amazing.

I'm sorry, sunlightlady, I am in no way trying to put a label on anyone. I have these feelings only based on what I saw show up at the feedlot and from hearing horror stories of how *some* horses are neglected on the reservation- both privatly owned and wild. I have heard people say "Well don't have any money.", but that is no excuse why any horse should be starving. That is irresponsible, and those people should not own horses. The fact is, is that it happens everywhere.
So when I said "Why should we be responsible for there lack of interest in the well-being of the horse? And if it's because they have no money, then they need to get a job like the rest of us." --------I meant this about everyone regardless of race, sex, martial status, income- whatever. A horse relies on us for everything, and if you can't provide it, then change your life so that you can provide for the horse.
Same with children. If you can't afford to take care of your kids, then stop having kids and get a job. Period. The government, nor the tax payers should never, never have to pay for your dependents, because you don't want to provide for them. (I also understand that some people simply cannot provide, since they are severly disabled, etc)

I do understand that not everyone wants the horses to go to slaughter or to be neglected. I'm sure a lot of of Yakama tribe members want them to go to good homes. Let's hope this will happen.

I myself also adopted a Rez horse, who is infact quite the charcter and very sweet, despite have a large wounded knee with severe proud flesh, and had never been handled in his life. He was very gentle when we loaded him up even though he did not quite know how to step up into a scary place. I was impressed with his fearlessness. He never showed any fear since the day I got him. If there was anything wrong with him, it was that he was not afraid of anything! Thus making it very difficult for him to respect your space and learning how to lunge. He was like a big squeshy cushion and he would love to climb in your lap.

I also must say that adopting a Rez horse is not a bad way to go, at all. They are also very hardy horses with some mighty thick skin. Giving immunizations was like stabbing a cow.

[Tockita]

maloneyd said:

I also must say that adopting a Rez horse is not a bad way to go, at all. They are also very hardy horses with some mighty thick skin. Giving immunizations was like stabbing a cow.

Ahhh yes I need to test that theory... there is a syringe in my fridge with Dyna's name on it, but I keep forgetting to take it to Angis and stick her with it

[mkgbuegel]

Thick skin and really thick hoof walls! I have found them to be very willing as well and mostly fearless. Layla will do just about anything I ask, except pick up her back hooves. That still scares the cr@p out of her.
I think they are great little horses with tons of heart. I wish I could adopt more of them.

[chatty]

I can not send a letter to the tribe, for my in-laws are part of it...Yes Bob has gotten one horse of the RES. She past a few years ago...He did not do the chase, but told the men what he was looking for and they call with this baby buckskin...There is more than paying the 100.00 dollors..Bob is naming elders (you see the fart does care) off that have their views about letting the right people take horses...
This is Bob's words..."They know who sells for slaughter and well not deal with them..But can't answer for the other tribes in Washington that have wild horses"...The two other RES start with a O and a C...

[lorsadoon]

Does the Yakima Tribe have a casino? If they do, maybe they could use some of the money they enjoy from our "donations", to take care of their own horses. They certainly make enough money off us Euro-Americans to do so.

I think Ms Shxmymaa sounds more like a snob than anything else. Her own horses are not
even good enough for her.

Why did she find it necessary to list Jim Stephensons hertitage in her letter. Maybe she is a racist also. The term racist, bigot and snob are not exclusive to just one race color.

I feel bad for those horses.

[Synthia - Equine Switzerland]

I am a bit stunned-I came to this site to find a way to help horses and find racial bashing. I can see where there would be some concern by this group about these horses, but to target a group of people seems counterproductive in my opinion.
Yes this is my first post, yes I am new here..so maybe I should be quiet.
Given the fact that the area in which the main rescue that you focus on, CBER, is in the same valley as the Yakima Indian Nation it seems that you would not want to ruffle feathers of the local people by making blanket statements. Maybe the Yakima Nation will work the kinks out of their program-every organization has to grow and change to meet changing circumatances.
Maybe this is a great opportunity for CBER to help these horses and gain access to another sorce of horses.
I have been to several other boards...the thing that I find amazing is that some where almost everyone comes up with a thread that seems to target a group of people in a destructive, not constructive manner-such a shame to see.
JMHO

[chatty]

PLEASE STOP...by what that has been said makes wedgie wants to leave...Us as part of any nation, be it even a purple nation will hear words not to nice..It's how we take it....Bob just laughs and for me "How many time do I have to say I'm not white" Yes people will say things to me about other groups thinking I'm white...NOT....Remember words are only skin deep, past that we all look alike...

the person "wedgie" referred to in this post is actually Synthia-Equine Switzerland, who is now posting under the Synthia name...

[maloney]

Okay guys, I feel responsible because I started this thread. It's quickly sprialing into a black hole, and although I was mad in the begining, I wanted to help these horses not start a protest.
Let's just see if we can help these horses, okay?

Anyone willing to go to the Rez and help?

In the guy's e-mail he did offer to accept help. Not sure how much help or what kind of help they need, regardless being there is the only way we will know for sure where these horses will end up.

Of course I'm mad about there lack of contracts, etc, but the only way to change is to do something. I chose to write a letter because I cannot go there. I much too far away. I have also done a lot of research on the stats...sad but true these horses are at risk for slaughter.

So who's willing to step in and offer adoption assistance? Maybe offer to be a "screener"?

Thanks guys.

[maloney]

Welcome Wedgie---

Thank you for your concern, but this board is not supposed to be related to CBER. There was an offical CBER board. which is different.

Although many of us on this board are volunteers, and supporters of CBER, we are not "The CBER Board" this is the "Rescues Only Board".
And welcome!!


the person "wedgie" referred to in this post is actually Synthia-Equine Switzerland, who is now posting under the Synthia name...