The story of rescuiing a newborn foal out of the mighty Red Deer River was published in the November issue of Saddle Up Magazine out of BC, along with the North American 24/7 Cop to Cop Newspaper.  The 24/7 newspaper published the story as front page headline news.  It is a police newspaper which is distributed to 36 American states and most of the Canadian provinces.  This paper is exclusively published for law enforcement agencies.  Thank you to Nancy Roman of Saddle Up and Seargent Steve Gibson of 24/7 Cop to Cop news for publishing the story and helping get word out about the plight of the Alberta Wild Horses.  We are grateful beyond words.   River, by the way is doing marvelous.  Â

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We were informed that the Sundre RCMP took the head of the filly to a local Vet.   The Vet xrayed it and found no bullet, hence they could not conclude that she was shot.  What then caused the mysterious round shaped hole in her head? (See Pictures).  We may not be forensic scientists, however, Bob was a police officer for twenty six years and has unfortunately seen bullet holes in people’s and animals heads.  Could it be that the bullet passed through her head and kept on going?  Bob also showed the pictures to a few retired fellow officers and they too were of the opinion it was a bullet hole.   One possible cause of death was given that she could have fell in that small hole she was lying in and died, yet none of her legs appear broken or swollen due to severe sprain.  There were also no indications that the filly had been taken down by a predator either, as there are no claw marks or teeth puncture marks on her neck or hind end.  She had been scavenged upon naturally after death, that much is obvious.   As for disease or something, she looked as though she had plenty of meat on her, not a scrawny sickly animal.  Inspite of any number of reasons one might come up for cause of death the pictures say 1000 words.  There lies the dead filly sprawled out with a red hole in her head.Š

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Bob and I were leisurely driving around the foothills west of Sundre today and instead of photographing Beatiful wild horses and other wild life, Bob ended up photograhing a dead foal.  We saw a bunch of ravens circling so we pulled over to see what they were feeding on.  Bob got there before I did and said to me “its a dead foal. “ My heart just sank, and I looked upon the gory site of a once sweet little foal. She was about four months of age, judging by her size and had a bloodied hole in her head.  The spineless road hunter shot her from the road about 25 feet away.  The filly was just grazing with her family and was senselessly gunned down.  We had seen her small herd all summer and fall in that particular area.  A picture of her Sire, Dam and newborn older sibling were featured in our 2007 calendar.   The herd had consisted of a bay stud, a buckskin and red roan mare and another 1/2 sibling foal close in age.   This is the eighth wild horse found shot in 2007.  Same killer? Probably not, but who knows for sure.  However, it was likely just some half-wit feeling powerful with a gun in his hand.   Will there be justice for this little one?  With your help there can be, please write to our governing officials posted on our site and cc a copy to the area media.  Currently there is over $10,000 in a reward fund for information leading to the arrest of the culprits responsible. Â

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After waiting six long months we got a report back from Dr. Gus Cothran of the University of Texas.   Essentially, in a summary email from Dr. Cothran he states that the horses are of the cold blood type.  They are a type of pony and in their dna tree of resemblance they fall into the group of the shire, dales and fell ponies and are also related to the Spanish horses.  The official mailed document however, will require a geneticist to decode all the scientific data.     Nonetheless, according to the Alberta Sustainable Resources Development, it doesn’t matter whether the Alberta wild horses came originally from spanish stock or were ranch escapee’s they are not considered wildlife and they see no reason to change their current status.  Currently, the horses fall into a grey area where they are not considered wild life but they are not considered domestic really either, otherwise they would fall under the protection of the SPCA, and any complaints would be investigated by them.   To date that hasn’t happened either.Â

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Be sure to read the article by Equest Life. It is listed in the “pages” section on the right. Or use this link.

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Our yearly fundraiser is underway and we have hundreds of calendars to sell.  They are $25 each which includes postage and handling.  We feature 13 pages of 8X10″ pictures of beautiful Alberta wild ponies with a story about each herd or individual horse. The pictures depict all four seasons breathtaking winter scenes, newborn foals including “River” the stranded foal and lush summer and autumn photo’s of our magestic horses .  All Proceeds go to WHOAS.  Please send cheque or money order to WHOAS Box 614, Didsbury, AB  T0M 0W0.  They make lovely and unique Christmas gifts.

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We are finally back on track after a busy season of tracking the herds in the Sundre area.  Over the summer we have had some tremendous lobbying done on our behalf by www.wildhorsepreservation.org, they had hundreds of supporters write to our Prime Minister, Premier and Travel Alberta, regarding the senseless capture season/anilation of Alberta’s wild horses.  We are very grateful to our American equine friends, many thanks to them.  The Humane Society of Canada is making Alberta’s Wild Horses one of five top priority campaign projects this year as well, which we greatly appreciate.  equestnetwork.com has international readership and they did a tremendous article about the Alberta wild horse capture season which is unfortunately now underway in spite of everyone’s lobbying efforts.   Please don’t stop the writing campaign, we can’t give up or let up. 

Articles about “River”  the rescued foal will also be featured in the Saddle Up magazine November issue along with the 24/7CoptoCop Newspaper.  The DNA report is in and we will be announcing the findings next week. 

Doreen Henderson

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Ever dream of working with a wild horse? Wonder what the differences would be from one that has been around humans all it’s life? (more…)

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A wild foal was rescued from a gravel island on the Red Deer River late last week.  You can read more about this dangerous venture on their blog.  We are pleased to report that a week later the foal is doing fine, slurping back his bottles of milk and travels with the couple when they leave the ranch for more than a day.  They don’t leave him with staff, instead they take him along like they would a child.  The devotion his human care-givers show the little fellow is remarkable, he is in excellent hands.  We will kee you updated on his progress.  www.northernhorse.com Thanks, Doreen.

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A package containing the hair samples from eleven Alberta wild horses was mailed to the University of Texas, Equine Genetics Lab on March 4th, 2007. The samples included six of the horses that had been shot earlier this year and five live colts. The colts were the four featured in the last blog and Wyley, WHOAS rescued colt. Due to the fact that all the wild horses west of Sundre look remarkably the same as a Spanish mustang, we believe they are one of the same. Their features include the roman nose, or Iberian head, their height is around 14 hands with the muscular build and weight is around 800 - 900 lbs. Included in a mustangs descriptive features includes an unusually long mane and tail, color patterns such as black, bay, chestnut and dun with some buckskins, palimino’s, roans and a few paints. A primitive dorsal stripe is often found down their backs (see the picture of the mare that was shot with the two foals, she has a dorsal stripe). If these horses were mere mongrels of the equine species then they would come in all different shapes, sizes, colors and features, would they not? Interestingly though some American Mustangs that have been genetically tested have bloodlines that include a few breeds of domestic horses, yet they do not deprive their mustangs of protection because of this, unlike Alberta. Conversely though, many domestic North American horses include Spanish Mustang bloodlines, not the other way around, an example of this is the prized Quarter Horse whom has the mustang in his gene pool, as do many other North American created breeds. Which breed came first? The mustang. Furthermore, American mustangs enjoy legal protection and so does the Sable Island Horses which inhabit a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker passed a law in 1961 which allowed the wild horses to remain there unmanaged not interfered with and unharassed. They are still protected today. The Sable Island Horses are comprised of many different breeds, as their ancestors were abandoned on the tiny island a few hundred years ago. It will be interesting to find out the results of the DNA testing of the Alberta Wild Horses near Sundre. Some wild horses in the Brittany Triangle in British Columiba have also been tested and found to be of Mustang descent. Two wild horses of the Lloyminister Alberta/Saskatchewan in the Bronson Forest have been found to have bloodlines dating back to the days of the conquestador. I will attach pictures of a Sundre area wild horse, one from Bronson Forest, and another from Nordegg, Alberta. It’s not all that easy to tell them apart. I will locate and post pictures of the Sable Island and the Brittany Triangle horses at a later date, along with a photo of a domestic North American horse for comparison as well. It will take several months before we get the DNA test results back but when we do, we will post the report on this site, ASAP.

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These two framed photo’s to the left are of Bronson Forest Wild Horses of Lloydminister, Alberta/Saskatchewan, courteousy of Ray Sproull.

This photo below is of Nordegg Alberta Wild Horses sent in by Darren Smolski of Kilam, AB

 

The horses from the Nordegg area are probably the same type of mustang as the ones in the Sundre area, as they are in the same general locale.  Their height and weight and physical characteristics appear simular.   

Whereas the Bronson Forest wild horses are around 12 hands high and six hundred pounds.  They are approximately the size of  a Welch pony.  Their terrain includes heavy brush which makes it much easier to get around in with their smaller size.  It would be difficult for a larger horse to get through and survive in theses particular conditions.  Hence they have evolved to survive in their surroundings.  Â

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