The Past Use & History

of Our Horses: 1900s

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 Charlies 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 26
th
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 years 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 26
th
2014
~558 horses
The following maps and counts were conducted
Mar 26
th
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 owners 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, LGs, 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, Zo 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