The Past Use & History of Our Horses: 1900's - Charlie Armstrong with his team horses working a field

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