BLM Seeks Comments on December Wild Horse Roundup in Nevada

by Fran Jurga | 9 November 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

The following press release has been made available from the Bureau of Land Management and is posted here for the information of anyone concerned with or about the next major action in this important and sensitive area of horse world politics.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca District, Black Rock Field Office is proposing to gather and remove about 2,500 wild horses in several areas north of Gerlach, Nev., in Washoe and Humboldt counties. The proposal and associated impacts are described and analyzed in the Calico Complex Capture Plan Preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA). The BLM would appreciate receiving substantive comments on the EA by November 12, 2009.

The proposed gather is needed to achieve and maintain the established appropriate management level (AML) and prevent further range deterioration resulting from the current overpopulation of wild horses within the areas.

The proposal is to capture and remove excess wild horses from the Calico Mountain Complex: Black Rock Range East, Black Rock Range West, Calico Mountains, Granite Range, and Warm Springs Canyon herd management areas. The gather is expected to begin about December 1, 2009 and continue through the end of February 2010.

The document may be reviewed online at www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0.html.

Questions and written comments should be directed to: Dave Hays, Field Manager, Black Rock Field Office, BLM Winnemucca District Office, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV 89445-2921. Comments may also be submitted by e-mail to wfoweb@nv.blm.gov. E-mail messages should include “Calico Complex Capture Plan (Fox)” in the subject line.

Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Comments received during the public review period will be analyzed and considered as part of the decision-making process.

(End of document from the BLM)

Paul Revere Weeps: City of Boston Seeks Homes for Veteran Equine Officers

Tonight's news report from the New England Cable News Network sums up the shock and sadness in this city tonight as we learn that the Mayor plans to go ahead with the dissolution of the oldest mounted police unit in the United States.

Horses and humans lose their jobs sometime this summer.

These horses have stood watch over our famous World Series celebration riots, labor strikes, Pope visits, the Sacco-Vanzetti trial (and executions), Super Bowl victories, Larry Bird's NBA Championship years, JFK, the Big Dig, Civil War peace jubilees, anti-busing school desegregation demonstrations, the Ryder Cup, the Coconut Grove nightclub fire, two World Wars, the Tall Ships, several National Democratic Conventions, the Molasses Flood, student revolutions, The Great Boston Fire, the Boston Strangler, Fourth of July concerts with fireworks (they didn't flinch) on the banks of the Charles River, and over 100 Boston Marathons. And a whole lot more.

Next week will be their last Boston Marathon.

They even survived Michael Dukakis, John Kerry, Teddy Kennedy and yes, even Mitt Romney.

The first official retirement home for horses in the USA was Red Acres Farm in Stow, Massachusetts, built so these horses would have a place to go. But, sadly, it's gone too.

I received the sad news today from Paula McVey Walsh, wife of one of the mounted officers you will see in the video. Thanks, Paula.

Save Boston's Police Horses!

by Fran Jurga | 19 March 2009 | The Jurga Report

Police horses took to the outfield to control angry crowds at Boston's Fenway Park during the 1912 World Series. The horses have served the city since 1873. Double-click on photo to see enlarged view; photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

They’re always there, whether it’s bobbing over the heads of the crowds outside a Red Sox game or with billowing sails behind them on a spring day on the Charles River. You hear them clip-clopping up and down the cobblestones in front of Paul Revere’s house and you see the familiar horse trailer parked in the strangest places downtown. And no one will ever forget the day that Boston Police horse fell down a manhole.

But everywhere you go in Boston lately, there’s a hushed tone of concern: “Did you hear about the police horses?” “How can they shut them down?” “The first horse I ever patted was one of those big guys!” and, most often comes the follow-up, “What can we do to save them?”

In a city that’s more like a town, and in a town where a horse is technically a “hoss”, there is outrage, indignation and an outpouring of support to keep the clip-clop on the city’s register of official sounds.

Horses have patrolled Boston streets since 1873. For many years the force favored Morgan-type horses but lately has bought and trained draft crosses that tower over crowds at events like the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory parades. Boston Police horses galloped onto the Fenway Park outfield when a riot erupted at the 1912 World Series.

But across the country, from Honolulu to Cincinnati, police horses have been menaced with the budget ax in the past few years, although Philadelphia’s new commissioner bucked the trend and pledged to bring back the disbanded mounted unit there.

Boston horse lovers are not letting their street-savvy steeds go without a fight. An online petition has been launched with plenty of room for your signature, whether you live in Boston or not.

Click here to go the petition to save the Boston Police Mounted Unit.

Click here for the “Save the Boston Police Mounted Unit” Facebook page, which already had 891 members when I wrote this post!

Supporters of the Boston Police Mounted Unit may also write to:
Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis
Boston Police Headquarters
One Schroeder Place
Boston MA 02120

Or contact the office of Boston Mayor Thomas` Menino:
Email address: mayor@cityofboston.gov
Tel: 617.635.4500
Fax: 617.635.2851

Thanks to farrier Sean McClure for his help with this article.

Churchill Downs Turns Pink, from the Spires to the Backside

posted by Fran Jurga | 17 November 2008 | The Jurga Report on Equisearch.com

If they had run the Derby yesterday, the blanket of roses draped over the winner's withers would have been pink instead of the traditional red ones.

Yesterday was not "business as usual" at the iconic Louisville racetrack, as 900 breast cancer survivors joined the state's First Lady, Jane Beshear, in raising awareness and funds for the prevention of breast cancer among the racetrack's employees.

Beshear's "Horses and Hope" program has been hosting awareness events at Kentucky's racetracks through October. Beshear has built on her relationships in the equine industry to deliver breast cancer education and services to racetrack workers and their families by hosting fundraising events at the state's tracks. So many supporters showed up at Churchill Downs that a second dining room had to be turned over to the group!

"There are over 80,000 equine related employees across the Bluegrass, many of whom are uninsured or underinsured," Beshear points out. "These individuals are the backbone of our signature industry and I am committed to giving back to the people that help to make Kentucky the horse capital of the world."

A committee of women who work in the equine industry is the engine that drives the program. It's called "The Pink Stable" and yesterday they turned the racetrack pink! Pink is the symbolic color of breast cancer awareness and fund-raising and not a color normally seen at the racetrack. All that changed yesterday!

Jockeys, outriders and grooms wore pink clothing or accents, and a pink cosmopolitan was the drink of the day. Winston, the mascot horse of the Kentucky Derby Museum, wore panniers as he circulated through the crowd so that donations to cancer research could be deposited in his saddle bags. A feature race was the "Horses and Hope" Stakes, and cancer survivors were invited to pose for the win photo in the winners circle.

While the fundraising group partied in the clubhouse, a mobile medical unit was set up in the stable area, offering breast cancer awareness information and free mammograms to women working in the barns and at the track.

October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the twin spires of Churchill Downs have been swathed in pink spotlights.

It's wonderful to see an initiative like this to help racetrack workers. The event also brought 900 racegoers, mostly women, to the racetrack to meet Jane Beshear and be part of the fundraiser. Many of those women are probably not regular visitors to Churchill Down, so horse racing won, too!