The line in today’s title was used by the NDBH follower who was chosen to try to discredit the work being done by our organization us this week on our Facebook page. We talk a lot about bloodlines being lost and what she is saying is that none have been. Once again, let’s remember that opinions are NOT facts. Let’s explore some facts:
Stallion Wind Canyon died a few years ago. He has no offspring in the park. He DID have brothers and sisters that shared the same sire: the late Stallion Cocoa, the late Mare Molly, and the late Mare Stormy.
Mare Molly has one offspring in the park: Mare Opal. Opal gave birth once and the baby did not survive. She has not had a baby since. Given the FACTS that Colorado State University HAS shared: mares return to fertility within 4 years of receiving GonaCon and the FACT they shared that they developed a 4-dose blend of GonaCon that was perfected on the TRNP horses that permanently sterilizes mares, common sense would say that Opal may be permanently sterilized.
Mare Stormy has 3 offspring still in TRNP: 2011 Mare Juniper, who to our knowledge has not had a baby since 2016 and then insert the same above regarding GonaCon and permanent sterilization. The other two she still has in the park are 2019 Colt Applewood and 2020 Filly Pixie. The ONLY reason those two are still in the park is because of Covid and the drought. They CAN still be captured and sold as they are in the age the park generally targets.
Cocoa left us plenty of offspring. Let’s see how that is working out:
Mare Escape has only Stallion Ollie Jr as offspring in TRNP. She has not foaled that we are aware of since 2016, so the same above applies regarding GonaCon & Sterilization. Since Ollie Jr is a new band stallion, he doesn’t have much in the park to carry on this line. One of his offspring were captured and sold in 2019. That leaves 2019 Colt Applewood, 2020 Filly Pixie, 2020 Filly Jewel, 2020 Filly Bess, and 2021 Colt Sterling. All of them are at the age the park targets for removals.
2007 Mare Maddie has no offspring in the park and has not foaled while we have been documenting this herd since 2016. Please insert above for GonaCon/possible sterilization.
2013 Mare Mischief foaled in 2016 and has not foaled since. Please insert above for GonaCon/possible sterilization.
2010 Mare Maiden HAS foaled just about every year that we have been documenting these horses. The only offspring she has that is still left in the park is her 2021 Colt Knight. Since they have taken every other baby of hers and the park admits not using science and genetics, why do we think they will leave this one?
2013 Mare Democracy has also foaled just about every year that we have been documenting these horses. She currently has 2 offspring in the park: 2020 Colt Bart and 2021 Colt Winchester. Insert above under Mare Maiden about taking every baby she has.
2014 Mare Skipper has also foaled several times since we have been documenting these horses. Her only offspring currently is Colt Arey. Please insert above from Mare Maiden about removing her all of her babies.
2011 Mare Juniper – see Mare Stormy above.
2013 Stallion Trooper. Trooper currently has no known offspring in TRNP.
IF there were roundups, like the NDBH’s “extensive advocacy” work that was talked about in these comments, went on as usual, the ONLY horses that would be left to carry on this bloodline would be Stallion Ollie Jr and Stallion Trooper. The others would have been captured and sold.
Now the fear is how many of our horses have been permanently sterilized? Those two stallions have no chance of carrying on this bloodline without viable mares.
This person also stated that she felt that the experimentation that went on involving the TRNP horses to produce a method of birth control that permanently sterilizes mares was a great thing. I will agree with her in this sense: IF the BLM or the NPS were in any way transparent with the public, there would be a place for a one and done method of sterilization that would be great for older mares whose bloodlines are well represented. If you think that the BLM or the NPS can be trusted to NOT permanently sterilize every single mare they can get their hands on, well, let’s just say we are not that naive.
More than likely the BLM is already putting this plan into motion: https://returntofreedom.org/sulphur-complex-utah-update-totals-reach-350-captured/
No where in that article does it state that the ages of any of those mares or that only older ones were treated with GonaCon. We believe there is no question on the dose they are giving.
This is why it is equally upsetting that TRNP park management has been giving all of the mares in TRNP aged 8 months old and up GonaCon. Again, if older mares aged 15 and up have bloodlines represented and are now permanently sterilized, that is good in our eyes. If they just permanently sterilized a bunch of 8-month-old fillies, that will be detrimental to this herd.
In the FOIA request sent to the NPS by our lawyers, we asked for records on the administration of GonaCon on the mares in TRNP. Since they did not give us a list of who was getting GonaCon, along with the dates they gave any doses to any of the mares, we have to assume that they are not keeping records on that. If they were, they would have had to give them to us under the laws of FOIA OR they would have to explain WHY we did not get those records.
If you want to believe that they simply “remember” who they have given GonaCon to and when, here is a short story for you.
Blake McCann, the Chief of Resource Management for TRNP – who has been in charge of the round ups and contributed to the GonaCon “research” came into our store when we first opened in 2019. The first photo shown here of Yoakum/Wind Dancer was hanging on the wall. He asked us who that horse was. When Wind Canyon had to be euthanized and he came to meet us where he was, he asked us who Wind Canyon was (see photo #2) and also wondered if his injury was from fighting with “that horse” – aka Stallion Trooper.
If the park management doesn’t know who these two very unique horses are within the herd, please tell us how they can tell the difference between the three gray mares in Stallion Sidekick’s band (photos 3, 4 & 5).
Factually, for this line, she is correct. We have NOT lost this bloodline – YET! We hope this helps you see what a critical time this is for this herd. The simple lack of the use of science and genetics to manage this herd in ANY way is putting the future of these horses at risk. Please see our blog posts with information on who to contact at Congressman Kelly Armstrong’s Office to FINALLY get these horses protected. https://chwha.org/2022/03/01/please-contact-congressman-kelly-armstrongs-office/
Thank you for your support!