We are well into the fall season and your wild horses are doing pretty well considering all that they had to go through this year. From drought, to threats of forest fire and extreme smoke, at times conditions were hard on the horses. The drought conditions definitely affected the amount of forage out there and the horses seemed to be on the move a lot more than normal.
The Feral Horse Advisory Committee is still up and running and there are changes coming in the long-term management strategies. The Feral Horse Management Framework is now available on the government website. It outlines scenarios that are being examined for population management. There are six equine zones in the province and in this framework it gives the population numbers that was counted in January of 2023 in five of these zones. There was no count done in the Elbow Zone. Also outlined in the report are the thresholds that are being considered for the maximum number of horses for each zone. The total count for the province showed that there were 1,512. In all most zones the numbers were stable or down except for the Sundre Zone. Here the count for 2023 was 969 horses compared to the count published by the government for 2022 where the count was 642 horses.
It seems like a drastic increase in population but in reality it was not. The reason for this was that for 2023 a different grid pattern was flown compared to 2022. Why? However, the flight grids for 2023 were same flown in 2018 which showed a population of 1,015 horses counted in the Sundre zone. So in reality the population is down.
One of the factors I noted when being able to assist in this one particular count, was most of the horses that are in the Sundre zone are well away from areas where any potential problems could occur. The other point noted, was that there was such large scale clearcutting in this zone it caused the horses in some of the areas to be pushed into higher concentrations that they normally would be. So there are many factors to consider when looking at the Alberta wild horse population. WHOAS will always stand for the preservation of the beautiful animals in their natural environment.
As the winter months approach it is so nice to see that the horses are in excellent condition to endure the harder months to come. This young stud is just such a prime example.
We are pleased to announce that our annual fundraising calendar, which is our 20th edition, is now available. You can just click on the link above. This is our major fundraiser for the year and we thank you for your support.
