Archives-Advocacy & public lands

By Pat Jarvis “Last year over 170,000 horses were abandoned in the U.S. and this year it seems more and more horses have met that same fate. Even our wild horses and burros are being rounded up by the BLM only to be held in holding pens or sent to slaughter.” – Annie Oden, President, Horse Protection League The more I learn about the Colorado Unwanted Horse Alliance (CUHA) and one of the rescue organizations, the Horse Protection League (HPL), the more I admire, and am in awe of the people who have dedicated their lives to helping the “unwanted horse”. CUHA’s statement is “Horses are a cherished symbol of our Western heritage and an important part of our culture and economy. Today, Colorado’s horses are facing a new threat due to the tightening economy, over breeding, loss of farmland to development, and increased costs of feed and care. The American Horse Council defines unwanted horses as those whose current owners no longer want them because they are old, injured, sick, or unmanageable, or fail to meet the owners’ expectations. The CUHA added a further component: an owner’s inability or unwillingness to continue to own and care for a horse.” The CUHA is a not-for-profit corporation which works to reduce the number of Colorado’s unwanted horses and to promote public and private collaboration and education concerning their welfare, ownership, and disposition. Some of the CUHA’s programs are Equidopt, Grants, Research and Tax Write Off. You can learn more about these programs at counwantedhorse.org. Through the CUHA […]

Introduction The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has instituted its Animal Disease Traceability Program (ADTP) to improve its ability to trace livestock, including horses, in the event of a disease outbreak.  The new system applies to all livestock moving interstate. Under the new federal regulations, horses moving interstate must be identified and accompanied by an Interstate Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (ICVI).  The new system is built on methods of identification and movement documentation that are already employed in the horse industry, e.g., written descriptions, digital photographs, brands, tattoos, electronic identification methods, and interstate certificates of veterinary inspection. The person or entity responsible for moving the horse interstate must ensure that it has an ICVI or other document required by the new rule. The ADTP will be administered by the states with federal support. The new rules also apply to movements to and from a Tribal area.  In those cases, the Tribal authorities are involved in the system. Background The horse industry has been dramatically affected by serious disease outbreaks in the last ten years, which have halted or restricted the movement of horses and the commerce surrounding the horses.  The new program is intended to help the Department, state authorities and the horse industry better deal with such disease outbreaks and to minimize disease effects on horses and economic effects on owners and the industry. This new rule is based on the previous National Animal Identification System (NAIS), which was the original voluntary system proposed by USDA to deal with disease outbreaks and traceability.  Since the

Did you know that there are more horses than cows in Boulder County? In fact, there are approximately 15,000 cows (H. Lovins / Nat Cap Solutions 2011), and approximately 15,330 horses (Deloitte Touche/American Horse Council, 2005; and National Agriculture Statistics Service, 1999). Boulder County ranks fourth in the total number of horses in Colorado, with 6% of the state’s horse population (NASS, 1999). The horse community contributes approximately $94 million to the GDP of Boulder County every year (Deloitte Touche/AHC and NASS). This annual economic contribution includes hay and grain purchases, tack and supplies, trucks and trailers, tractors and equipment, veterinarians, farriers, horse trainers, lessons, breeding, horse sales, horse shows and clinics, therapeutic riding programs, and many other categories. The market value of all farm products in Boulder County is $34 million (Cropland Policy, p8). The market value of horse hay in Boulder County is $8 million (Lovins’ estimate of 21,319 acres in forage x ave. yield of 3T/ac /2 (half to horses, half to cattle) x $8/bale average price.Thus the market value of horse hay alone is 25% of the market value of all farm produce. A large proportion of Boulder County farmers produce hay and other forage for horses, in addition to other crops. Selling horse hay is a huge source of economic security for local farmers. Horse people maintain undeveloped (“open”) land throughout Boulder County as grazing land and for hay production. Many horse owners manage their horses on 40 acres or smaller parcels, whereas it is difficult to manage cattle on small