The Past Use & History

of Our Horses: 1900’s

Charlie Armstrong with his team horses working a field

Charlie Armstrong was a rancher who had 200 head of horses and

200-300 head of cattle. That was his way of life back in the early

1900 and into the 1990s. It was the bread and butter for his family.

The horses were always working grounds for hay, gardens, and logging

for homes. Also, they were used to go out on the land,

gather herds of cattle as

well as other range horses .

Napoleon Kruger training his

horse at Charlie’s Ranch

A man with such wisdom and a love

for his horses always said, “With

horses and cattle you will never be

broke or without food.”

Unity Ride

Picture supplied by Thomas Pierre

Present Day - Positive

Kids & Horses Go Together

Pictures supplied by

Thomas Pierre

Pictures supplied by Thomas Pierre

Present Day - Conflict

Present Day - Conflict

Aerial photograph from March 26th 2014

There have been a number of accidents on Highway

97 and in our own community relating to horses being

hit. Some collisions have been fatal to the horse(s).

Present Day- Conflict

Present Day - Conflict

Hwy 97 at the West Bench turn-off near the bridge into Penticton

Videos like this are sent to the

RDOS & the media

Costs: 2009 to date

• PIB - Staff time has been estimated at $ 30-40,000

• RDOS - Feeding stations in the past have been provided by RDOS since 2009 ~ $2500

• RDOS - The cost of consultants for Range studies and management options in 2009/10 cost = $4200

• RDOS - Staff time wages 2009 to date ~ $10,000

• RDOS - Funds committed in 2014 through C2C grant matching = $5000

• PIB $35,000 + RDOS $ 21,700 = $ 56,700

This money and time have been a bridge to this point but, this is an ongoing issue and requires a long term approach.

Excerpted from:

Field Observations -

Rangelands Associates -Nov. 2009

Issues:

• Horses are moving from rangelands to lawns, gardens,

orchards, back yards and roads where the animals are a

human and traffic hazard

• During the winter months there's inadequate food supply

• Rangelands are severely grazed, impacting, natural

and culturally significant wildlife and fauna habitat

excerpt cont…

Grassland Health, Forage, and Habitat

• PIB is roughly 24km by 12km or 47,000 acres

• possibly 1/3 of that supports grasslands or open

forests with grassland understories

• Repeated annual, season long grazing has

eliminated/suppressed most of the more productive

grassland forage on the better sites, therefore

greatly reducing forage supply

• Overall grassland forage productivity is low, and

wildlife habitat has been severely impacted

• Horse health reflects the poor forage condition

Horse health

reflects the poor forage conditions.

Present horse population

exceeds humane carrying

capacity of the rangelands in

the present depleted condition

excerpt cont… Grazing Utilization: See handout provided

Main forage crop is Bluebunch wheatgrass

Grazing definitions - % of current year’s growth grazed off • Light = 15-40% , Moderate = 40-60%, Heavy = 60-80%, Extreme = 80-100%

Much of the report discusses moderate to heavy and severe

grazing habits:

“Season long grazing at heavy to extreme levels of grazing utilization,

repeated annually, is a treatment that forage plants on dry rangelands

simply cannot withstand”

“Fortunately, the principles and practices to reverse the downward

trends are not complicated, and with some livestock control, are not

difficult to implement”

PIB 2009 horse count from livestock

owners research paper. • Jeannette Armstrong # h = 20/Z/E

• Arnie Baptist # h = 8/Z/B

• Wesley Burk # h = 8/Z/B

• Suzette Cohen # h = 8/Z/G

• Chris Eneas # d = 1/Z/E

• Ray George # h = 6/Z/B

• Joice Jack # h = 30/Z/H

• Larry Kenoras # h = 5/Z/G

• Cheryl Kruger # h = 2/Z/B

• Dolly Kruger # h =10/Z/G

• Eneas Kruger # h = 5/Z/G

• Paul family # h = 30/Z/E&J

• Joe Pierre # h = 30/Z/E&J

• Thomas Pierre # h =20-30/Z/E&J

• Twobuck Pierre # h = 30/Z/E&J

• Glen Willams # h = 4/Z/C

• Total count 217

Represents 16 Horse Owners Total number of horse trailers 6 at that time

Aerial Counts Mar 26th 2014 ~558 horses

• The following maps and counts were conducted Mar 26th 2014

• The MoE/FLNRO donated 6.5 hours of helicopter time, Andrew Walker – biologist, GIS data logging and photography

• Councillor Dolly Kruger accompanied the flight on behalf of PIB. Presently working on all facets of this issue, Dolly is knowledgeable about the territory and this was an ideal opportunity to assess the current situation; numbers of horses and state of the range

• Jay Major also accompanied the flight as an additional ‘spotter’

Map of Flight Area The GIS numbers correspond to

locations with groups of horses for example:

Site 91/100 70 horses (Marron Valley)

Site 102/103 25 horses (game farm)

Site 116 25 horses (game farm)

Site 145 13 w/ 2 foals (West Bench)

Site 150 12 horses (Green Mtn Rd area)

Site 154 20 horses (Clay banks above Hwy 97)

Flight Team

L-R Andrew Walker, Dolly Kruger, Jay Major

Pictures from fly over

As moisture

infiltration and water

storage is decreased

due to soil

compaction, the site

becomes effectively

drier for plant

growth. When there

is a decrease of root

mass and surface

litter increases, the

potential for erosion

during severe rainfall

or run off events is

increased

Moving Forward

What options do we have?

What is PIB Council doing? • Council is committed to continue working on this

issue with horse owners, the community, the RDOS,

other Local Governments and agencies

• Council would like horse owner and community

input to support the journey we are undertaking to

resolve this issue

• Community engagement in all components of the

process through activities such as Land Use

Planning Workshop presentation, the community

surveys, and previous horse owner’s meeting

• We encourage participation in all forms, written,

verbal, recording or in person at future meetings

Next Steps - together

• Milestone 1 – Scale and Scope is completed o We know the how many and what the issues are

o Update to be given to next Steering Committee meeting, Friday May 16th

• *Milestone 2 – Research & Discussion of Options

requires the most intensive dialogue and exploration of costs (PIB applied for C2C Funding to continue this work) o Meetings with all relevant authorities – MoT, ICBC, LG’s, Ministry of Environment and FLNRO etc

o PIB to continue to work on the issue of the carrying capacity of the land:

• who owns what horses

• how can the herd be ‘right-sized’

• Milestone 3 – Draft Long Range Management Plan written for review

• Milestone 4 – LRP implemented

Examples of Conflict Reduction Options

Culling • Large groups of horses have been

shipped to slaughter houses

Shipping to slaughter is one strategy (and quick). The growth of a herd is 18-25% per year. In order for this method to maintain herd sizes, culling would have to be ongoing every year or two

• I.e., 558 x ~21% = 676 horses by fall 2014

Fencing/Cattle guards • Fencing 15-20 km @ $10,000/km x 20km =$200,000

• 12 cattle guards @ $3-5000 x 12= $60,000

• Maintenance of fence line is another cost $/year

$10,000

The questions this raises are:

Who would pay for this option?

Where do we look for the money to fund this?

How can we afford to maintain the fence

line?

Feeding Stations: band-aid bridging

Feed for horses per day to maintain a healthy

weight during winter season

• At an average of 10 lbs hay/horse x 200 head =

2000lbs/day x 30 days = 60,000 lbs or 30 tonnes/mo

• In 3 months its 90 tonnes; in 1000 lb round bales at

$100 each = $18,000.00

• And in bad years could be more

Vaccination Program Maintaining the horse population Introduce PZP Vaccine

The idea to manage horse herds through contraception was introduced

by Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick and his team, and is the ideal horse contraceptive,

still used to this day.

PZP Vaccine acts to block fertilization.

These are the 8 characteristics of PZP:

1- Efficacy of at least 90%

2- The ability to deliver the contraceptive vaccine remotely

3- Reversibility of the Vaccine

4- Safety of administration to pregnant mares

5- Lack of effects on social structures/behaviors within the herd

6- Lack of long term debilitating health side effects

7- Cost

8- Inability of the vaccine to pass through the food chain

This type of herd management would be to ensure the sustainability and

health of both horse herds and the lands they roam.

Vaccination Program • CritterAid has a dart gun; and may allow us access to it

• Pnue-dart caliber Co2 rifle costs about $700.00 US plus shipping. Darts for rifle cost is $30/10 which are reusable

• Contraceptive as mentioned in the CCP cost roughly $75-100/mare plus wages (until undertaken and completed, wages will be unknown

• PIB member, Dolly Kruger has taken the training and is certified to undertake this program

Who would pay for this option?

Where do we look for the money to fund this?

“At Colorado prison, wild horses

tame inmates” Over its 25-year history, the CHWIP has trained thousands of inmates

in animal care and horsemanship. The work provides inmates with a meaningful, productive way to pay their debt to society and saves

millions of taxpayer dollars.

Canon City, Colorado — It takes convict John Peterson four months of hard work

to turn a wild, aggressive mustang into a

saddle-trained horse.

The U.S. Border Patrol recently adopted

about 20 mustangs. Its Spokane, Wash.,

sector uses them to patrol rough terrain

along the Canadian border.

El Paso Texas Border Patrol adopted two and plans to buy more.

Other Options

• Corrals and stabling built in the community

to provide control and containment for the

animals

• With the infrastructure of corrals and round

pens in place, Band Owned businesses

could be developed for horse related

programs for children (clubs), farrier courses,

riding and horse training lessons,

• Tourism possibilities: rodeos, clinics, shows

and events

Thank you for your input • Thank you to everyone who provided input to this

presentation; to be used as a tool and a way for us to move forward on this issue

• I, Dolly Kruger, have been working on this issue as a concerned member, council member and horse owner

• Travis Kruger, (on behalf of Chief and Council) has put in many hours doing field work as well as overseeing and managing the conflicts resulting from the free roaming horse issues

• On behalf of RDOS, Zoë Kirk has put in countless hours and will continue to work collaboratively (long-term) with PIB on this issue

• Special mention to the MoE and Andrew Walker for the donation of flight time ($6000.00), gathering and supplying us the GIS data

• All documents and materials regarding this issue are available upon request