Transcription
Hello, my name is George Ronnise, and I am one of Wild Horse Annie's kids from 1970-71. I was part of her letter campaign where children across the country wrote to Congress and to our president about saving our wild horses. We have a bit of rain coming in right now.
Uh, the main reason I'm doing this video is just to speak for our horses. I am neither anti- nor pro-BLM. I am very pro-wild horse. I am pro-looking for options that are sustainable. Looking at helping the BLM come up with more sustainable options or possibly find another department within the government to take the program over. Um, just thousands of options.
But when it really comes down to it, our wild horses today that are in holding, there's 64,000 in holding. That's wild horses and burros. And there's a deep concern that a lot of them may end up being euthanized to alleviate, um, costs. And I am hopeful that we can come up with more creative solutions than death.
I'm I'm just tired of everywhere you turn on the TV, it's that this dead person, this war, that war, this, you know, annihilation. You got them versus those and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And it it's just getting old. Um, there are kind, compassionate alternatives out there. It just takes thinking outside the box, thinking beyond the fence, thinking beyond the herd management areas, thinking beyond holding.
And we need to get back to 1971 and encourage every kid, you know, from 2 to 18 to grab their crayons or colored pencils, whatever, and write their representatives, write the president, and encourage them to explore better solutions than death or holding for years and years and years.
Um, some of the ideas I have, and I've got a 2-year-old Mustang mare there off the Little Book Cliffs of Colorado, training horses and getting them adopted. Programs like the new upcoming um, Forever Branded Partners program, which is taking trainers like myself—I call myself a gentler more than a trainer because I'm I'm building off trust techniques and and freedom-based training—but it's to get hundreds if not thousands of trainers together and train a handful of mustangs each year and help find them homes in private homes.
And the adoption rates have been around 6 to 8,000 horses a year, but the removal rates have been anywhere from, and these are rough numbers, anywhere from 12 to 22,000. So, they are pulling off a lot more horses off range than they are getting placed into private hands.
Some ideas are, um, Border Patrol is already using Mustangs. The Marine Corps color guard is using mustangs, but how many mounted police units and mounted sheriff's units are out there that could be using wild horses? How many um outfitters are out there that could be using wild horses and burros? How many ranchers are out there that could be using wild horses and burros?
Um, 64,000 horses is the number that I have seen in in jeopardy. It's probably far less than that, but that sounds like a big number, but there's 3,100 counties in the United States. When you divide 64,000 by 3,100, you get roughly 20 horses per county. I personally have 20 horses on my ranch. Some are in for training, some are boarded, some are sanctuared here. It's it's a hodgepodge. But the ones that can be trained and will be trained and get placed is about a third to half of what I have here.
If other people would step up and do what I'm doing, I mean, I've got Delta County covered. Got the 20 horses. Work on those and then bring in some more when they get adopted out. How many other people can do the same? How many rescues could do the same? How many equine therapy centers could do the same? Um, if I can do it and I'm just a one-man army, why can't others? But there's just there's such a versatile horse and a versatile donkey that we demand is out there. We've got to get them into the hands of people that want them across the country, just not out here in the West.
Freya, you want to get dressed? Sassy ponies over there. We had a little rain rolling in and out, which is nice. But um, anyhow, everyone think how many how many kids do you know? How many farmers and ranchers do you know? How many um do you know anybody in a mounted search and rescue? Do you know anybody in a um police or sheriff that has a mounted unit? We got to get these horses good jobs where they're cared for and loved and really appreciated for their abilities. I would say these horses are far wiser than your typical domestic horse because that ingrained wisdom of living out on the range is phenomenal. They're super sure-footed. Come here. Would you like to get dressed? Would you? Yeah.
And so Freya is going to be two years old on June 6th, and she's going to be at an adoption event where 16 other trained wild horses from the Little Cliffs—No, don't eat the halter. Wear the halter. So what can you do as an individual to make a difference? Be it for one horse, be it for 20. Can you help enough people make a difference for 20 wild horses and burros in your county? What resources are already in place? Be it police, sheriffs, search and rescue, ranching, pleasure riding, equine-assisted therapy, and the list goes on and on. You can't tell me that we can't find homes for 20 horses in each county. And if some counties are running low, then maybe we can get 40 horses in a county. Huh.
So, this is not a scripted video. This is just me thinking out loud. So, it may be a little disjointed. I will summarize it and put points. I will add sources of where to write, ideas of who can write. But I'm saying, forget the phone calls. They just go off in the middle of nowhere. Forget emails. They can just disappear. But if you flood that mailbox and you've got staffers of every congressperson and every senator going to get their mail and they're having to bring it back in large boxes, that will make a difference because it's something physical, just like you. Huh? Something physical. I love these horses. I have for over 50 years. Don't trust the government. Trust you.
What can you do? Not they, not them. What can you do to make a difference one horse at a time? That's all I ask. And if you can't make a difference, find somebody that can and encourage them and support them. Whether it be me, whether it be uh Forever Branded Trainer, whether it be your local 4-H or FFA or what have you. Let's just all get together. The goal is 20. Put that on the wall. Put it on on wherever you see it. 20 wild horses and burros. So, it's a combination of 20 wild horses and burros per county that you're living in. Who can you talk to? Who can you reach out to? Who do you know? Make a difference. And every kid you know, whether it be the neighbor's kid, whether it be your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, encourage them. I will I will kind of put together some points, little bullet points, highlights to talk about in the letter. Feel free to draw pictures. Um, share photos that you've taken of the horses out on the range or mustangs that you have. God, I love these horses. Thank you.