Delmonico,
"Bucky" was one of the best all around cow horses I ever threw a leg over. His mother was a mustang. I hope to run into "Bucky" up in the "Great Pasture" some day. A neighbor bought about 10 head of young horses off the Mescaleros and they made outstanding cow horses. They weren't much to look at though.
But you are absolutely right. The mustangs of the U.S. need to be managed as a business, not as an endangered species.
I would never find this again but I once read somewhere that sometime in the early 20th Century, remount stallions were turned into some herds. So, at some time, somebody had the right idea.
Likely, most on this board aren't aware of it, “but the save the horse extremists” did away with the federal funding of the federal meat inspectors that were inspecting horse carcasses. That killed the horse packing plant industry which resulted in a huge population of back yard horses. (I consider my herd as back yard) Now they have brought back the funding but for all practical purposes, the industry is gone. A fellow just recently tried to open a plant in Roswell and due to “public outcry” our new governor stopped his permits.
So, unless things have changed, if I want to get rid of a ruined cow horse, I give him to our local horse trader. Once he gets a truck load of these, he attests that they are all broke and useable and they are parted out in Mexico.
The U.S. is in one of the worst droughts in history and corn and hay prices have soared over last years unheard of prices. Freight / trucking keeps escalating. Dairies are folding in Roswell due to the price of hay and there the Feds are, helping to further drive the market up in order to feed a bunch of horses that a whole lot of nuts don’t even want put in a corral?
I realize there is suppose to be no politics on this board and this is a long way from Shotgun’s original query but it hits a nerve I guess.
Bill