A Nowra horse breaker believes the NSW government could learn from departments overseas which are successfully controlling their wild horse populations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The NSW government plans to reduce the number of feral horses in Kosciusko National Park from 6000 to 600 over twenty years by trapping, mustering, fertility control and ground shooting, leaving a small core population.
While Henry Goodall said he was no expert, he has worked with horses all his life, ridden in the high country and has written a thesis on the economics of different control procedures.
“The government needs to research what they are doing in the US,” he said.
“But they have done a lot of really good, interesting range land work, there’s got to be work done there that is applicable to what we’re talking about here.
“There has been a lot of work done with Mustangs by the Bureau of Land Management. They have done some amazing stuff in Nevada, Utah and all those western mountain states.”
However, Mr Goodall said the US had a much wealthier horse industry to support the re-homing and re-education process.
“They have a lot more people to re-home them and have a more established horse culture. A lot of people in Australia struggle to make it a business, in the US you could argue they have a thriving horse industry,” Mr Goodall said.
“There are people there with plenty of cash and they set up a ranch and re-home mustangs, they feed them and let them live a life of Reilly.”
Mr Goodall also pointed out New Zealand authorities have also successfully controlling feral horses while creating both a socially and economically valuable control process.
“The Department of Conservation (DOC) controls Kaimanawa horses in the North Island by primarily removing colts,” he said.
“They hold a muster, get them in the yards, and cull or remove injured, old or unhealthy horses to maintain the core population at a lower limit.
“The point is, DOC create value in that control process and bring the public on board by having a wild horse challenge. They get a dozen recognised horse people from all sorts of disciplines who have an emotional and economic investment in horses and offer them a young colt, which they bring back in 90 days and show everyone what you can do with them.
“There are people doing everything from dressage to western pleasure with their horse. While there’s healthy competition, there’s a lot of crossover which unifies the horse world, and they see what each other is doing.”
Mr Goodall said breaking in a brumby, who had been separated from his mother as a foal and was running with the wrong herd when he was captured, was an interesting process.
“The owners told me they had a horse they would like me to break in, then they said ‘well it’s a brumby, how do you feel about that?’. I immediately thought it really raised the bar,” he said.
“He had a much better sense of me being his alpha male. He was a lot quicker to pick up on that, he had a really good instinct, a domestic horse might not listen or try and walk over you.
“The horses I’m working with will call out from their paddock when they hear me, he was very much like that.
“He would always whinny and once I was half way through the breaking in process he would trot over to me from the other end of the paddock because he knew I was secure and safe, he knew I would give him a feed and a pat and look after him.
“Brumbies are very trainable. They are a clean slate and make tough, loyal, smart and willing horses. I'll never hesitate to work with them. They're challenging but very rewarding.”
In an almost romantic twist Mr Goodall took the pony back to the mountains from where he came for a pack horse ride shortly after he was broken in.
“He’s a tough little nut, hardy and good to take back there,” he said.
“He will never be a show ring winner but he would be a fantastic second horse for a capable 10 to 12-year old child.
“The boys I was riding with were giving me stick saying ‘hold onto him, he might take off and join the wild bush horses’.”
Wild horses are perceived by some as an important part of Australian history, while others believe the feral pest should be controlled to protect fragile natural environments and water catchments in the mountains.
“I can understand it and I’m sure environmental destruction happens,” Mr Goodall said.
“I wouldn’t say I saw evidence of environmental impact, but that’s not why I was there, I was there to go for a ride through the mountains.
“There was plenty of clean water where we were, while the unseen impacts weren’t observed by me there was definitely evidence of pig rooting.”
Mr Goodall questioned the proposal to shoot the brumbies from the ground and the aftermath of those kills.
“As soon as they go up there and start shooting, horses are smart and as soon as they start getting shot and there’s loud noise, they will wise up to it and bolt and they’ll be harder to get,” he said.
“I think it would have to be a targeted approach, maybe target bachelor groups, because they split into two different groups. You will get a dominant stallion, and a bunch of mares, then you have bunches of bachelor groups of 16 or so stallions.
“They have specifically said there will be no removal of carcass plan, then you run in to an issue of bush walkers coming across that.
“They shouldn't be shot and carcasses left to rot, any control procedure should make some use of the horses. If they have to be shot then at least use the meat and hides. There’s plenty of issues post control.”
Australia has an estimated 400 000 feral horses mainly in the northern and central parts of the continent and Mr Goodall said it provided more than enough opportunity for people to observe horses in the wild.
“We’ve got a national park that’s set aside for preservation and conservation,” Mr Goodall said.
“There are wild horses in other parts of NSW and Australia, there’s plenty more out there if people want to go and see them.
“The NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman stated the area is set aside for conservation and it needs to be looked after. I think it’s a pretty good point really.”
Mr Goodall has ridden in parts of the Kosciusko mountain range since he was a boy and has been fortunate to observe brumbies in the wild.
“No doubt there was a bit of a blood rush, your horses let you know where they are,” he said.
“I’ve seen quiet a few horses there, mobs of about 10 to 15, with a stallion and lead mare, the classic herd family structure and a few young ones.
“Maybe 200 to 300 metres is the closest we got, the stallion would trot over and see what we were doing and the lead mare would take the rest of the mob away and then he would follow, they were a bit wary or naturally cagey.”
Mr Goodall believes the media has the most important role to play in the roll out of the operation and said the public’s perception of brumbies, considered by some to be part of our national identity, is somewhat misplaced.
“If the media starts talking about slaughter and using emotive language it won’t help the argument at all. You need to remove that emotion and that’s really hard to do,” he said.
“A lot of the horses we saw there weren’t the best types, there is not really good nutrition there and they’re under developed. I can’t help but think those hard winters have an effect on their nutrition and they never get the chance to grow out.
“I watched The Silver Brumby with my boys recently, and it’s a lovely tale but the silver brumby on the moonlit background rearing on the top of the rocks, I don’t think is very accurate.
“I’ve seen brumbies in the snow when I was skiing in the back country and it’s amazing, but that’s purely an emotional response and that can cloud people’s response when you are trying to make a rational well informed decision about managing them.”