Well the heat of summer is certainly here. Fortunately our central Alberta foothills have been getting enough rain to keep the forests green and the grasses and other plants flourishing. There is an abundance of forage for the wild horses and other wildlife, making life for them right now good.
The nuisance bugs have not been too nasty yet, but already the horses have begun to tree-up during the mid-day to escape the heat of the sun and the flying pests. The horses have gained back good body condition and coats and all the foals are looking very healthy and strong.
This little beauty is almost identical to one her mare foaled out two years ago. It is a very adventurous and carefree little foal seemingly always getting into trouble.
Thanks to good grass and lots of mom’s nourishing milk, these two babies are full of energy and thriving. It is so thrilling and heart warming to watch the foals frolicking amongst their herds.
Our WHOAS facility has received lots of visitors the last while who are interested in the herd of horses we had to rescue. We have also had to take in another lone little stud that also got himself into trouble with some domestic horses. We have our hands full right now.
It is still very disappointing that the AEP outwardly refuses to collaborate with WHOAS in our work to provide solid management strategies for the Alberta wild horses. The herd of horses we had to rescue we believe were purposely pushed out of the forestry through an open gate and then forced onto the private land where they were rescued from potentially the meat buyers.
The inaction of the AEP shows that they have little willingness to do something about situations like this and just close a blind eye to it. In one response to our concerns we received a statement defending their inaction by passing the buck to another government department. Their policy direction says “. . . once they get onto Private land we have no jurisdiction whatsoever. That falls completely under LIS and Agriculture and Forestry.” However, in all our past dealings, including the horses on private land, we have only dealt with just the AEP. This lack of cooperation for the benefit of all parties involved, especially the horses, makes it extremely difficult for WHOAS to work toward solutions for the wild horses. These solutions are for the benefit of all stakeholders involved. This is still so disappointing as we have worked so hard.
Thank you to those of you who have contacted the government about this sad situation but we have heard nothing back from the government despite all your emails and letters. Again, contempt for public opinion? We still encourage you to continue contacting the AEP, your MLA or the Premier to express your disappointment in their actions.
Because of this we know that we are going to have extreme difficulty in gentling and finding homes for the very mature horses from this herd. It was not their fault they ended up here. We are however working on the youngsters starting the gentling process so they can be handled safely and eventually finding forever, loving homes. Here are the pictures of the two yearlings and two, 2-year olds. Maybe you would like to come out and see them.
A. Yearling filly
B. Two-year old colt 
C. Two-year old filly
D. Yearling filly
Our adoption application is at the top of our web page. Send us an email if you would like to visit.
This is where they belong, roaming free and wild, the same as these three beauties.
