Living Off The Land

Up on the South Steens, horses are plump and happy. Yet over at Warm Springs they're barely getting by. Heading into winter, we want our horses to have a heavy enough later of fat on them to protect them from the bitter cold of winter. If you live in a cold region where the winds howl, you know what it's like to feel the frigid air, and frostbite is a real concern.

The old stallion, often referred to as One Ear Jack, knows what it's like to live in a harsh winter climate. Frostbite had caused the loss of half an ear. This is not uncommon among wild horses. Last year a mare was gathered that had just two little nubs the size of bunny tails where her ears should have been.

The terrain plays a big role in what a wild horse looks like going into winter. On the South Steens, grass is abundant, even as late as our trip in early November. A late fall warm streak helped a surge of new grass to burst forth in addition to the longer, yellow grasses of late summer. While the yellow grass lacks nutrition, it still is a good source of forage. And the South Steens horses were gathered just a year ago, dropping their number down to roughly 150 horses, less than a third of what had been here a year earlier.

South Steens

Meanwhile, down the mountain near Foster Flat, the horses at Warm Springs are struggling. Some carry enough flesh to be considered in good condition by our domestic horse standards. But take into consideration that our domestics will likely have feed in front of them all winter, are provided with shelter and often blankets to help them stay warm, and you (should) begin to see that being 'perfect' in weight may be an issue a couple months into winter.

On Warm Springs the grass is yellow, but not tall. There isn't the green that you see on the South Steens. The sage brush is over six feet high and plentiful in some areas. The horses haven't been gathered in four years and their population on this barren land is currently over 500.

Further on down the road, across the valley and near the Palomino Butte HMA, horses as well as other livestock and wildlife find themselves munching their way around deposits of soda ash, a result of soil heavy in alkali.

It is important for us to realize just what these horses go through on a daily basis...to see the big picture, if you will...when we try to make decisions concerning whether or not it's humane to gather. When horses start coming in looking like those we've seen from Warm Springs (posted yesterday), we need to weigh the options. Leaving them alone would create an even greater number of horses...can the land truly sustain them? Even if we took off all the cattle...how long would it last?