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

This type of damage is widespread in Alpine areas:


1-feral-horse-damage-outside-exclusion-plots-vic.jpg

Feral horse damage outside of Exclusion plots, Cowombat Flat, Alpine National Park, Victoria. The creek line, as I understand it, used to be full of sphagnum bogs, sedges and fens. The Exclusion plots were established ten years ago and are allowing native plants, animals and frogs to re-establish without the impacts of feral horses upon them.

This report is a year old, but shows another point of view:

FEBRUARY 25 2020 - 10:43AM

4000 brumbies to be removed from Kosciuszko National Park


4000 brumbies to be removed from Kosciuszko National Park | Bega District News | Bega, NSW

The NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean announced last week that about 4000 brumbies would be removed from three areas in the Kosciuszko National Park.

According to Andrew Cox of the Invasive Species Council, Mr Kean supported by John Barilaro has backed a plan developed by the community panel and the scientific panel to put in place immediate measures to clear feral horses from some of the most sensitive areas of the park.

"The park's feral horse population, estimated to be about 20,000 in early 2019, appears relatively unscathed from the fires," Mr Cox said.

However, Peter Cochran, operator of Cochran Horse Treks, told 2GB's Micheal McLaren that the minister was being fed misinformation.

"Matt Kean proposes to take 4000 horses out of the three areas, but they are simply not there," he said.

Brumbies are destroying Kosciuszko National Park and must be removed


Brumbies are destroying Kosciuszko National Park and must be removed (smh.com.au)

January 13, 2021 — 5.39pm

The battle over the place of wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park has run for two decades but some important new evidence this week strengthens the case for reducing their numbers quickly.

Environmentalists say the huge feral animals are breeding to plague proportions and destroying sensitive soils in the high country. They threaten rare species, such as the northern corroboree frog, stocky galaxias fish and alpine she-oak skink, and also damage the Snowy River catchment.

Horse lovers, however, want the brumbies to roam free because they keep alive the pioneering tradition that goes back to the Man From Snowy River and the ANZAC Light Horse.

Trying to find a compromise, the NSW government in 2016 said it would gradually reduce the number of brumbies from an estimated 6000 to 600 by 2036.

This was published 10 months ago

All the pretty horses and all the damage done


All the pretty horses and all the damage done (smh.com.au)

Victoria and NSW are now sharply divided about what should be done to control wild horse numbers in alpine regions.

When the Federal Court last week dismissed an attempt to stop Parks Victoria from culling feral horses in the Alpine National Park, it put the spotlight back on a long and bitter fight in the high country between brumby lovers and environmental scientists.

The fight is far from over. The biggest herds of wild horses are across the border in NSW’s Kosciuszko National Park. And thanks to NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro, wild horses enjoy heritage protection in the state.

But the horses in the Australian Alps - an astonishing 25,000 of them at last count - respect no border and continually drift into Victoria.

Shortly before bushfires swept the mountain country over summer, photographer Joe Armao and I visited the high border country to try to understand the dispute.

It is so very sad when its time to say final goodbyes to them, I am sending your neighbour a big hug and condolences. It is so hard at the end, my ex racehorse had to be pts sleep at only 15, then my other one suddenly at 27, id had him 20 years. my boy now ive had since a foal, hes 9 and if he doesnt make it to 30, its going to destroy me. if i lose him at any time though will just break me. hes my best friend and gives me such a freedom i dont otherwise have.
the overweight folks on horses is a big thing too, lots of venues have rules, cant be 20% or more of hroses weight or something along those lines.Its also the tall men and the heavy western saddles on smaller horses.

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

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.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

This type of damage is widespread in Alpine areas:


1-feral-horse-damage-outside-exclusion-plots-vic.jpg

Feral horse damage outside of Exclusion plots, Cowombat Flat, Alpine National Park, Victoria. The creek line, as I understand it, used to be full of sphagnum bogs, sedges and fens. The Exclusion plots were established ten years ago and are allowing native plants, animals and frogs to re-establish without the impacts of feral horses upon them.

Its not just the Alpine areas, we used to shoot(wild pigs, not horses) on a huge property just out of Coen on the Cape.The damage done by the wild horses was a lot worse than the wild pigs.The property owners used contractors to cull the wild horses.
The majority of the horses and wild pigs came from the NP which was next door.
Until the Govt starts cleaning up its act with our NP's,they will always be a haven for vermin.
Carnarvon gorge is also another NP full of feral pigs.

Been doing freshwater fish surveys over the last 15 odd years for a couple of companies and have surveyed thousands of sites.

In every case where horses or cattle have access to a stream the banks are trashed and the instream veg decimated compared with adjoining properties, where there is exclusion fencing.

It's not common to see horses having this access compared with cattle, but I can remember some notable ones.

DL