VIDEO - Wild Horses

[David A. Wright]

This thread is not meant to flame up passions for or against wild horses. Just show them in their environment. They are a fact of life around my neck of Nevada and I enjoy watching them.


These horses are a fixture around the lower end of Limerick Canyon, within a dozen miles east of Lovelock, Nevada. They roam here and also can often be found in the nearby ghost town of Lower Rochester. My wife and I took a day outting to Lower Rochester, Fitting and Packard ghost towns; then returned home via a circuitus route over very lonely and empty county. I've been at Rochester and Fitting previously, but this is my wife's first visit.

The videos are small and 8-15 seconds for reasonable upload speeds with my dial-up connection, but should open to a good size clearly in Windows Media Player or other WMP capable device.


WILD HORSE VIDEO #1


WILD HORSE VIDEO #2

[Bob]

Hi David - They look in good shape - which makes me happy also. I served 4 terms on a BLM Resource Advisory Council (RAC) and came to understand the Wild Horse and Burro (WH&B) problem in Nevada as well as anyone. Too many and the land, the habitat, and all the fauna including the horses suffer. Did you see a bachelor herd somewhere off in the distance worrin' the one stud in that group - that would be proper wild horse dynamics and would also gladden me. I fear in this time of budget shortfall and economic turmoil that our land, habitat, wildlife and wild horses will all suffer from too much passion and not enough common sense, compassion and love for all of God's creatures.

Thanks for posting.

[David A. Wright]

There were 23 individuals in this particular group. However, we counted a total of 46, including the 23, all within sight of each other on the canyon walls and atop them. Numerous colts were among them as well. My wife and I parked on the road and watched them for over 30 minutes before moving on.

One female was in estrus, I saw two studs take her, several others who took interest. There was also a yearling colt that tried. The running stallion in my videos is the same in both, he running to and fro, chasing off the other males. I never saw any actual boxing matches between him and the others that were taking interest in her, just shoving. The female seemed choosy, kicking a few paramours in the family jewels as they attempted to mount.

The road here is paved, accessing the Couer Rochester mine complex about eight miles away atop the range. These horses don't seem to be spooked by cars and people, as mine traffic is considerable during shift changes and during week days for deliveries, etcetera. I was there this past Saturday, so it was dead except for a Honda Civic with California plates driven by two 20-something females that happened to be out exploring. They stuck around for about 10 minutes before moving on.

I got out of the truck, but stuck by it, when videotaping these sequences, without any concern expressed by the horses. Three were within 20 feet of the passenger side of my truck munching away. A larger group were across the road and within 50 feet, in the general vicinity of video #1, the single stallion that ran then stopped to browse.

[bob3 was bob2]

We have a bunch of them right outside of Reno too, many times they venture right into the suburbs. We enjoy seeing them too. Tourists always look amazed when they seem them, which makes me wonder why haven't we found a way to promote the wild horses to the tourist which in turn would generate revenue to help manage them.

[David A. Wright]

Whenever I come to Reno, I always spot them on the southern hillside of the canyon just east of the last exit in Sparks. Generally above the first railroad trestle.

[bob3 was bob2]

Yeah, there's are lot of them there and if you take the Lockwood exit and drive back to the valley you will see a bunch of them right next to the road. You can sit right next to them in your car and observe them. I take the family out there all the time to see the wild horses and they love it. It's a great place to observe them. There's a bunch of them out at the Reno/Tahoe industrial area too. I will post up some photos when I get the chance.

[GaryB]

IIRC they herded up like 300+ around here a year ago. The environment around here really supports a fast breading, much to the dislike of hunters and ranchers.


Unfortunately due to the bleeding heart animal protesters, the people who hate them and government mismanagement, they'll never be truly safe from humans.