Any one come across feral horses in the alpine areas in there travels?

There is a horse abatttoir in Peterborough
Don.

Hi all

I go caving at Cooleman Plains. on the trip I did before COVID (new meaning to years BC) I could see the huge damage to the ground and the native vegetation that they had done and were doing. We could see groups of a dozen or so on the hills. They kept their distance except at night. They came into the camping ground and knocked stuff around. They were not cute nice little horses but large snorting males. Scary when you are in a tent. I can see the potential also for injury to small kids or naive adults.

The need to all be gone.

Mike

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Originally Posted by speleomike

Hi all

I go caving at Cooleman Plains. on the trip I did before COVID (new meaning to years BC) I could see the huge damage to the ground and the native vegetation that they had done and were doing. We could see groups of a dozen or so on the hills. They kept their distance except at night. They came into the camping ground and knocked stuff around. They were not cute nice little horses but large snorting males. Scary when you are in a tent. I can see the potential also for injury to small kids or naive adults.

The need to all be gone.

Mike

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Very true, there are plenty (or were 30 years ago) running around the Barrington Tops. They do a lot of damage.

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Originally Posted by BathurstTom

Very true, there are plenty (or were 30 years ago) running around the Barrington Tops. They do a lot of damage.

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Originally Posted by speleomike

Hi all

I go caving at Cooleman Plains. on the trip I did before COVID (new meaning to years BC) I could see the huge damage to the ground and the native vegetation that they had done and were doing. We could see groups of a dozen or so on the hills. They kept their distance except at night. They came into the camping ground and knocked stuff around. They were not cute nice little horses but large snorting males. Scary when you are in a tent. I can see the potential also for injury to small kids or naive adults.

The need to all be gone.

Mike

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Agree.
Any hard hoofed animal is pretty much incompatible with Australia's soils/bush/pastures. They have no place in Nat Parks.

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Originally Posted by rick130

The French seem quite partial to it, but it turns my stomach.
It's a really sweet smell when butchered, I can't handle it, I think because I've been around horses for so much of my life.

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Apparently being German born, I have eaten it as a kid, but also had frog legs on the ship coming over.

The way they are "culled" is absolutely awful, they die slow and painfully with foals often starving to death next to dying or dead mothers!
I actually have no idea how they survive out there though as horses are such Princesses haha.
There's a,lot of places that do round them up, train them and thry make amazing horses for people and go on to be wonderful mounts.
I think whilst their numbers are definitely too high out there, rubbish folks leave behind in the bush is a bigger issue damage wise [emoji3166]

I'm sure that as a kid hiking in the blue mountains there were Brumbys around the Blue gum Forest out from Govetts Leap.

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Originally Posted by Epic_Dragon

The way they are "culled" is absolutely awful, they die slow and painfully with foals often starving to death next to dying or dead mothers!
I actually have no idea how they survive out there though as horses are such Princesses haha.
There's a,lot of places that do round them up, train them and thry make amazing horses for people and go on to be wonderful mounts.
I think whilst their numbers are definitely too high out there, rubbish folks leave behind in the bush is a bigger issue damage wise [emoji3166]

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hey Epic, my neighbour had adopted ex racehorses over the years and given them a home and paying for agistment paddocks. Sadly she had to put Dancer down a couple of days ago, its hard when they start getting old.

I got on a saddle of stock horse once and couldn't drive it as it was a manual version without power steering. The bloody thing kept walking along a barb wire fence line using my leg as a buffer.

I also feel sorry for horses when I see fat people mounting them.

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Any hard hoofed animal is pretty much incompatible with Australia's soils/bush/pastures. They have no place in Nat Parks.

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I agree that horses should not be in National parks but my thoughts changed on hoofed animals when I went to Southern Africa.

There are millions of hard hoofed animals in Africa and the land does not seem any more degraded than here.

The most destructive animals are elephants who can knock over forests in a day. I have driven the Voortrek in Kruger and for many miles every tree is broken off.

One thing that Africa does NOT have and perhaps we should import something that will eat it is what we call Spinefix but is actually Triodia. There would be fewer exhaust fires.

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Confusingly, the word "spinifex" is also used as a common name referring to grasses in the related genus Triodia. Triodia however is native to inland Australia and refers to a group of spiny-leaved, tussock-forming grasses.

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Regards PhilipA