by R.T. Fitch
Emmy Award Winner Ginger Kathrens confronted by cattleman McNabb and crew
While Emmy award winning cinematographer Ginger Kathrens was held in a designated “protest area” , during the Pryor Mountain round up, and required to have “security” escort herself and a small group of professional photographers, writers and authors about the Britton Springs BLM holding facility; cattleman and purported horse trainer Ken McNabb and his family were granted free and unfettered access to the entire facility. Mr. McNabb’s children had free rein to run and play anywhere they wanted while the unbiased professionals were held under close watch and moved only when they could be escorted by security on this publicly owned property. Is this not a contradiction of terms, morals and clear acts of discrimination? We think so.
Mr. McNabb confronted Ginger Kathrens, volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, on the morning of September 3rd after the attempt to procure a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to delay the unwarranted round-up of the Pryor Mountain wild horses had failed. McNabb sauntered down to the gate, from the BLM facility offices, with a microphone on his lapel and a film crew in tow. He clearly had rehearsed his attack on Ms. Kathrens and was unrelenting in stressing the “cattlemen’s” point of view. It was a staged assault and came off as a weak and shallow publicity stunt to all present, including attending major network correspondents (of whom gave him no notice or coverage what so ever).
But his unwavering support of the attack on the wild horses granted he and his family unlimited access to all areas of the facility while educated, forward thinking, tax paying professionals were treated like sub-humans by the BLM’s Operations “Commander” Jim Sparks.
Sparks (center) during one of his morning briefings
Sparks continually belittled and berated the non-biased Humane Observer Elyse Gardner while treating any polite questions from the observing professionals with disdain. It was not until the very last day that Sparks demonstrated a single once of civility to the volunteer observers but after a week of nose thumbing it proved to be “too little, too late”.
So more questions arise; Why was McNabb allowed free access to the facility, along with his unsupervised children, while Ms. Kathrens and company were confined to a “protest” area and were under the direction and supervision of a security guard at all times? Does one need to own cattle to be in favor with the BLM? Could this be considered discrimination and a clear violation of federal law? Did Jim Sparks and the “shoot from the hip” BLM step over the line?
More questions for you to ask your Congressman, Senator, Director of the BLM, Secretary of the Interior and the President of the United States. Please, make the calls and speak the truth.
Categories: Horse News, The Force of the Horse, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I Googled Mr. McNabb, he has no search engine on his official site, and though I didn’t read his whole site there does not seem to be ANY MENTION OF WILD HORSES ANYWHERE ON HIS SITE – appolgies to him if that is incorrect, but it certainly is not obviously promoted in any event, at least not this evening.
In a very brief search I did not find any published connection between McNabb and Wild Horses anywhere – just saying…
LikeLike
He was filming/taping for upcoming shows.
LikeLike
there are at least TWO mentions of wild horses on his press room page….
9/10/09 Update on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Gather …
9/2/09 McNabb Supports Round-Up of Pryor Mountain Mustangs …
in trying to defend his so called “expertise” on the whole situation, he is also quoted as saying that the BLM has granted him special access in the last few weeks to the ranges that these horses run on, & that he has been “privy to conversations within the BLM and has also grown up in the area, so he has valuable up-to-the-minute knowledge and historical reference that the special interest advocates attempting to block the roundup do not have.” he spends a lot of time trying to justify the position of the BLM & how it’s the special interest groups who are the ones responsible for the mustangs dying “excruciating deaths” & standing in the way of “wise management.”
he sounds pretty slimy to me.
LikeLike
Funny that you should mention this cattleman’s “story” of blaming WH&B advocates for “excruciating deaths” of the mustangs.
National WH&B Advisory Board Member, Dr. Boyd Spratling, currently serving as BLMs “pick” for representing Veterinarian Medicine (though he is ALSO the ex-President of Nevada’s Cattleman Association), said the EXACT SAME THING when being interviewed by Quarter Horse News about what happened at Jackson Mountains in NV after 185 wild horses died due to BLMs bungled management of the area in September 2007.
Yet, somehow, without basis or fact, he told reporters that it was the advocates that “drove the nails” in their coffins. However, the REAL story was exposed in a report titled, “The Jackson Mountain Wild Horses – A Case Study in Mismanagement”. It can be found on American Herds on the left hand sidebar at http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com. In addition to it trying to get the truth out about what really happened, it is also a tribute to all those who died and are already being forgotten…
By the by, over 2 years ago, a long list of questions were submitted to Dr. Spratling asking for “veterinarian counsel” on humane treatment of wild horses and burros during helicopter round ups BEFORE the Jackson Mt. holocaust.
Some of the questions included things like, “Has hoofwear been measured after round ups?” because of what American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign exposed in their Sheldon 2006 expose, which included a local vet’s diagnose of lame foals.
Also, “What’s the maximum distance they can be run before damage begins?” , “Any studies on impacts between age classes (foals, older horses vs younger)”, “What’s the maximum/minimum temperatures that should not be exceeded?”, and “What about impacts to burros?” To date, Dr. Spratling and/or BLM has failed to respond or address these issues in any manner.
If you want to see Dr. Spratling in action as he tells a mostly unsuspecting public about the “truth” of wild horses in the West, there’s a link to a recent local Nevada news show now on American Herds most recent post, “In The News”. He will be in Arlington, VA on September 28 at BLMs next National WH&B Advisory Meeting to continue “counseling” BLM on wild horse and burro welfare.
It would seem that BLMs hand picked cattlemen seem to share many of the same qualities; one of which includes reading from a spoonfed script that doesn’t require any basis in reality.
LikeLike
Thank RT for writing this.
I see Mr McNabb has an upcoming show on September 14th titled: “MUSTANG ADOPTIONS: Bringing awareness to the plight of the wild horse.”
Should be interesting to see him talking out of both sides of his mouth.
LikeLike
On what network is that Sept 14 program scheduled to air?
And, if that does not include his interview of Ms.Kathrens, would anyone with knowledge keep us posted on when that airs too. I will also be interested to hear from Ms. Kathrens how McNabb edits that piece.
Thanks, I’ll check out the press room.
Who talks out of two mouths? Oh yes – two headed snakes.
I’m going back to the Uranium page, as visable as cattle interests are and as highly blamed, I feel the real root is energy and mining. Mr. McNabb boasts his family as being in the Cattle business, and his horse training business seems to be just his sideline offshoot of the family business. Yes, it all sounds pretty slimy to me too.
LikeLike
There was no mention of “the plight”. It was about some contest of trained mustangs, and really just an advertsizement for the horse trainers. As far as I’m concerned it should have been posted as a TV add.
LikeLike
McNabbs adoption circus show about wild horse adoptions on September 14th is not going to teach the public anything.What it will do,it will promote wild horse adoptions and compound the demand for more desirable horses!Horses from the Pryor mountains,Sheldon and Great Basin herds etc..As Native Americans used to say..This guy “speak with forked tongue”.
Do not be fooled by McNabb’s clever ruse to promote wild horse roundups via his Mustang Diaries website and his upcoming television broadcast. It is precisely this type of propaganda that has kept the BLM making money off our wild horse species for 65 years. Thats right! In 1946 the BLM was founded and ever since then they have raped,reaped and ravaged this iconic species off the rangelands and into their personal bank accounts.
Get on your cell phones,house phones,fax machines,computers and even break out your stationary! Begin sending in your disapproval of this and other types of hidden agendas that people like Ken McNabb have to promote the exploition of Americas wild horse.
God Speed to the Wild Horses!
LikeLike
CORRECTION ON ERRORS IN THE LAST PARAGRAGH OF MY PRIOR COMMENT..
Get on your cell phones,house phones,fax machines,computers and even break out your stationary! Begin sending in your disapproval of this and other types of hidden agendas that people like Ken McNabb have been promoting and exploiting since the inception of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.
God Speed to the Wild Horses!
LikeLike
Why the heck was McKnab even talking about cattle anyway? As I recall, there is no subsidized grazing up in the Pryors so his argument doesn’t even make sense. What a publicity whore…
But whatever. Not like anyone really watches his show or has any sort of regard for him. I’d be pimping myself out to the BLM too if I was that desperate. Disgusting.
LikeLike
What was he talking about cattle for? He was doing it to placate to those meat mongering maggots. And it doesnt matter if anyone watches his show.. obviously they do if it is still aired.It is also obvious that all of the wrong people watch it and thats the scarey part.. It’s a televised classified ad for horse meat mongers like the killer buyers. So please Rachel?? Dont trivialize the impact that a scumbag like McNabb has on this situation.
Believe it or not he probably just recieved $100,000.00 donation from the beef industry just for mentioning there side.
LikeLike
With respect to the “security” forces Ginger Kathrens and Co. faced during this round up, there have been similar reports about other round ups having massive security forces present as well; all to “protect the public and the animals”.
The Spring Mt. round up in Southern NV brought in so many guns to line the 10 mile stretch of road, the whole community was afraid to even leave their driveways. An unverified report by an eye-witness at the now zeroed out Clark Mt. burro round up in January 2007 claimed they saw the COST of the security forces BLM put into place for the handful of attendees. Total bill for this one round up? $70,000.
Also, those who attended the last National WH&B Advisory Board meeting in June reported a large number of “authorized officers” proudly displaying their guns throughout the entire course of the meeting.
So, how about someone put in a request to BLM asking what it cost us, the taxpayer, to seal the Pryor Mt. Wild Horse Range from “all public access” and how much/how many officers they had to pay to do it?
Better yet, since no one has demanded an audit of BLM’s “management” of the WH&B Program for over 10 years (to the best of my knowledge), wouldn’t it be nice to know how much BLM really spends, not on caring for captured WH&Bs in holding facilities as they are so fond of telling Congress and the media, but on the guard dogs stationed around the hen house when the foxes come to town?
While BLMs hands are out to Congress and sadly shaking their heads about the “cost” of the WH&B Program (and why they MUST finally be allowed to shoot them or grant “Instant Title” through the For Sale Authority – aka, Instant Slaughter – “the fresh, nutritious and untainted meat to feed the world’s hungry and poor”, WY Representative, Sue Wallis), maybe its time the public start asking for some good old fashion government fiscal transparency!
Though BLM treated Ms. Kathrens and Co like potential criminals, the real questions are; “Who is really the criminal here? The ones trying to protect what federal law says is suppose to be protected or the ones stealing our wild ones and the habitat they need to survive?” Of course, the greatest irony of all is, they are using our own tax dollars to it!
LikeLike
To Preserve the herds,
You make very valid points.However The only oversight that people fail to see is, the BLM, and I am no constituant to the Department of the Interior,they have been threatened to be met with force from radical advocacies on several occasions. There are many inferrences on the internet that suggest physical force will be dealt out by wild horse advocates and alike.I don’t condone violence in anyway nor do I condone the way the BLM handled the removal of wild horses in the Pryor Mountains.However,I do understand why the BLM had warranted reason to believe there was going to be violence that day.
Where do we go from here?
If hindsight is 20/20, then why cant we see the footprints we left behind?
It’s because we didnt leave any yet!
Lets change that!
Starting now!!
LikeLike
Mustang Jack
While I certainly understand the abstract POTENTIAL of violence errupting in almost any situation, much less ones as highly charged as many of the multiple use issues BLM and other government agencies face on a continuous basis, I have talked to dozens and dozens of wild horse and burro advocates and organizations all over the world on a regular basis for over 3 years now. Not ONCE have I ever heard or read emails from any of them that inferred, suggested, or advocated committing physcial acts of violence against BLM employees or others involved with wild horse and burro management – not once.
I don’t know who is in your own circles or what your sources are that you used for your reference as, “threatened to be met with force from radical advocacies on several occassions”, etc. However, I would like to suggest that, if these are the kinds of people you are dealing with, you may want to stop any future associations with them as they certainly don’t represent the hard working, honest, law abiding advocates I know who routinely work within the system to try to effect change.
Also, can you provide references for the “inferences on the internet that suggest physical force will be dealt out” as I would like to know who advocates this within the Wild Horse & Burro community.
Finally, I am not aware of a single incidence of advocates acting “radically” or being violent towards BLM during the round ups. If you are , would you please provide links, etc. to these stories to help educate me on the “darker side” of this issue?
LikeLike
Preserve the herds,
I assure you if you do this for the next 35 years as I have, you will eventually experience the radical dark side of advocates as I have. Not only once or twice but several times.. I am not trying to give wild horse advocates a bad name. I am just stating that their passion for these horses is so deep they sometimes become inscenced and lose their sense of reason and say stipid things. I dont know who your sources are, but they are obviously of better nature than the ones that I have dealt with on occassion in the past.
As far as your suggestion for me stop dealing with the people that have made the threats..Well I dont deal with them. I just have personally seen and heard them over the last 3 decades and that is why I mentioned it.
Thank you for the advise just the same..
I cannot and will not mention the names of the individuals that made or inferred such threats because the names are confidential. In fact some are still under investigation. If you are involved in the investigations then I suggest that you research files 1990-E52-1488 and 1991-S13-116 of the Federal Bureu of Investigation if you are not aware of the incidents. Those are just two for starters anyway.
I was mistaken when I stated that there are threats that have been inferred on the internet..I should have said there were threats made on the internet. They have been long removed. I am guessing for investigation reasons. However the threats were made on wild horse forums and an old BLM site that has expired quite sometime ago.
However,I am not here to dispute with you or anyone how and why the BLM does what they do. I merely mentioned why they had guns and blocked off public access roads..It was obviously for their protection against potential violence that they had to deal with in the past. I was not implying that a threat of violence was made in the Pryor Mountain roundup.
I have to mention.. just because you have not heard of such things in your last 3 plus years of researching this issue,that does not mean that they did not occur.
I know there are advocates that read this board that have seen and heard things that wont talk about openly.
Believe me brother..if you stay at this for as long as I have you will see and hear things that will make your skin crawl and give you nightmares..
Best regards to you sincerely..
LikeLike
Thank you Mustang Jack for the education.
LikeLike
Just FYI – there were blogs on some UTubes – a call to truckers to come and block the roads into Pryors – that is concievably a conspiracy to act against a government agency. And some are willing to go to jail just to get the FBI there for publicity – I won’t be in that group.
There have been other just off the cuff, frustation, hot tempers flaring “BLM should be cattle proded”, “Hate BLM”, etc, etc. I would’t say those were any kind of formation of terrorism.
I will research, as we should all, the past FBI cases so we don’t accidentially get ourselves in hot water, especially now with the Patriot Act.
In the United States, within our borders, we have the right to free speech of our own opinions, we have the right to peaceful demonstration, we have the right to investigate (actually that should be a responsibiltiy), to meet in groups of like minds. We do not have the right to acts, or to conspire acts, of terrorism against government agents or the government contractors – there will be consequences to that.
I have over 25 years of observation and personal experience in another movement, that when you go after someones lively hood, even a little dip into their pockets, even if it is percieved and not real, no matter ingorantly gained, or how corruptly gained -well, just heed his word, don’t lose your passion, but stay knowledgeble, know the law, pick your battles. I’m glad for his reminder.
LikeLike
McNabb’s actual “press release” and ensuing rebuttals can be found at the Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates’ web site:
http://www.aowha.org/war/cloud0903.html
I can tell you that the rebuttals were carefully researched and based on publicly obtainable documents.
LikeLike
“In my opinion, horses that roam this range in 10 years will have their own issues to deal with and while I am very concerned with the longevity of this herd, I cannot in good conscience allow horses on the range today to suffer in hopes of what horses might look like in 10 years”.McNabb said..
Id like to know how the BLM and ecologists formulate their AUM scale..
What method are they using to determine the amount of forage that a single wild horse has foraged on?? Let alone and entire herd.
For example,if a herd of wild horses are foraging on 100 acres of sparce vegetation, and that vegetation is being shared by other ungulates.. What exactly does the BLM use to determine that the entire 100 acres is being eaten by wild horses?
I personally have tried to find the difference between how wild horses eat range grasses and how elk eat range grasses. There are no clear distinctions between the two and how much they have eaten at any given time..
Okay! Now I am going to be told about how the wild horse is a non native, invasive,exotic species and it technically does not have any rightful place to forage among other wildlife. yada yada yada.. Spare me any interpretations of the history of the wild horse. Please?
The fact remains that the BLM and so called wild horse experts are usuing AUMs as a tool to remove wild horses from the rangelands. AUM’s are a myth rather than a methodical way to estimate wild horse degradation on the rangelands.
McNabb’s opinion is archaic and obscured..
LikeLike
I just have one thing to say to all of you “YOU ROCK”! I have been so busy that getting an article out a day has been a real chore but you guys sure make it all worthwhile as you discuss, plan and educate each other.
Keep up the great works, you are making a difference.
And to my friend Mustang Jack, please email me at rt@rtfitch.com…I have a proposition that you might be interested in.
LikeLike
I was thinking of contacting John Lyons (in Chute, CO) to help prevent the Pryor roundup, but I hesitated. Now I am glad I followed my gut. John Lyons first endevour when going west was cattle ranching (failed in the first year). I don’t know if he has any current involvement or offers the industry any support. I don’t think I want to know at this point.
Ken McNabb and his family tout the label of christian cowboys/girls. He ended his 09-02-09 mass emailed newsletter with:
Please contact the following people in support of the round-up and management of the wild horses:
Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar … Read More
Call: 202-208-3100
BLM Director Bob Abbey
Call: 202-208-3801 or 866-468-7826
Fax: 202-208-5242
AND (me —choke, gasp, wheeze)
As always, may God bless you, your family, your horses and the trails you ride,
Ken McNabb
LikeLike
I just watched another PBS program on the internet: The Wolf That Changed America.
My hope and wish, to save their own souls, is for Mr. McNabb, his family, all those _____ BLM people, Salazar, etc. to have the same “awakening”.
LikeLike
Recently ran into a survey at the Save Our Wild Horses website and thought it was a good idea. Maybe you may want to stop by too and give them your thoughts on how to best help our wild ones or just pass it along! This is the header on the survey….
“With the much publicized Pryor Mountain herd roundup in the news it becomes even more important for advocates to band together to get the word out to the public about the issues relating to our wild horses and burros. With the planned removals of wild horses and burros being stepped up we are attempting to learn how we can be more effective. Please take a moment to fill in the survey below so we can better understand how to relate wild horse and burro news.”
http://www.saveourwildhorses.com/survey.htm
LikeLike
Roxy,regarding any threats or even words that were interpreted as threats towards officials conducting roundups have been a lot worse than suggestive speech. Believe me or not,in the past the BLM has received many proposed threats from radical animal right activists aka (whacktivists). It’s not so much anyone from wild horse advocate groups. They mostly have been made from the so called mavericks that use the internet and postal service as their delivery devise. As you know Internet access can be made from any school,library and even from some hotels and motels.Making tracking and finding the individual that make the threats a virtual impossibility..I don’t believe that you have to waste anytime researching endless past case files just so that we wont make the same mistakes. I do believe that the people like us that represent wild horse advocacies know how to use good discretion. We know how to get our message across without threatening the use of force. We really need you to utilize your time more efficiently as you have been doing.The best advise that I can give is to leave Pandora’s box closed. We don’t need to know what’s in it.. Thank you for your invaluable time.
LikeLike
I am no expert but sounds like there needs to be some house cleaning and they all need to go dam sounds like a bunch of criminals trying to worm there way in a lil old womans purse ya think??? Dirty is Dirty no matter how you try to
explain it the horses belong to the land and to themselves not the BLM who is and should be held in a court of Law at least one who isnt taking bribes by the cattle side of this. Maybe its time to get like PETA you may not like some of the ways they do thing but wow people listen.
LikeLike
Unfortunatly there is not enough land to let these horses live on. In the old wild horse bands they could go wherever they wanted. If BLM didn’t help to regulate, it could get way over populated. As much as we would love to just leave the wild horses alone if we do they could over populate and breed in too close.
LikeLike
Hollie, to date there has not been a documented case where the horses have been “overpopulating”. In fact, the Pryor mountain round-up was conducted under the premise that the horses were starving and thousands of photographs and eye witness accounts (mine included) indicated that there were no skinny horses nor was thier habitat over grazed. I can send you to an album that contains pictures of every single horse gathered for documentation.
The deadly Calico round-up was conducted because the BLM said that there “might” be an over grazing problem next summer. They conveniently left out the fact that they increased the cattle grazing permits, last year, by 300 percent and that there are multitudes of privately owned cattle on that public land.
So with no insult intended you have been pulled into the rumors and propaganda perpetuated by the out of control BLM.
Also, if herd management were an issue there are more humane ways of handling the issue than chasing terrorized wild horses down a mountainside in 90 degree + heat in the summer and frozen ice and snow in the winter. Dozens of horses have been killed, recently, due to this total lack of competency.
LikeLike
Wait until you read this one!
http://www.horsebackmagazine.com/index.html
An Exclusive Interview
Former Sen. Conrad Burns
By Steven Long
In the world of equine welfare there may be no person subject to derision than former Montana Sen. Conrad Burns. An ardent supporter of horses as a commodity to be sold for whatever reason their owner deems profitable, the former auctioneer lost his seat in the U.S. Senate to a farmer, Jon Tester, after passage of the Burns Amendment. The law was passed in the dead of night after it was attached to an appropriations bill nobody had read. For the first time, in an exclusive interview with Horseback Magazine, Burns how revocation of the law came about.
HORSEBACK MAGAZINE: You’re a lobbyist now, right?
CONRAD BURNS: Well, I’ve only got one client I lobby, but right now I’m doing a lot more international consulting.
HORSEBACK: Well good for you. Who are you lobbying for?
BURNS: The Quarter Horse Association.
HORSEBACK: The AQHA?
BURNS: Yep
HORSEBACK: We support them in every way we can in our little magazine.
BURNS: Yep, that’s right. How’re you doing?
HORSEBACK: Old and fat Sir, old and fat.
BURNS: I can relate to that.
HORSEBACK: I’m working on this story that’s going on up in Montana with the Pryor Mountain wild horses. In my research I obviously ran across the Burns Amendment. Can you tell me how that came about and what prompted it?
BURNS: Well, Harry Reid came to me and said, ‘I’ve got a problem in Nevada.’ And I said I said ‘What kind of a problem do you have?’ because we don’t have a problem up in Montana.
HORSEBACK: So what happened then?
BURNS: So he and I, up in his office, got together and we crafted that amendment because they’ve really got that problem of over grazing down there. That’s how that came about.
HORSEBACK: It was actually Reid’s idea, huh?
BURNS: Yeah, well it was his problem. I just helped him solve it, that’s all.
HORSEBACK: Well, you did a pretty good job of it.
BURNS: I don’t think they’ve sold any or anything like that. It wasn’t really designed for that. The premise of it was to take a strong look at how we manage our resources and how they affect the herd of the horses.
HORSEBACK: One thing I can’t figure out with this BLM stuff for the life of me is if you have millions of acres of vacant land and there’s 100 miles between towns, why on earth can’t they put all those wild horses out there and nobody would ever care.
BURNS: Well, you see, some of that country won’t sustain them year round. You’ve got spring growth, which is fine, but if you are a rancher, then you’ve got the dry season, and you’ve got to save some of your country for pasture and you’ve got to have supplemental feeding. And when you fly over that country and look down there, there’s something down there, you just don’t see it,, There’s sheep herds, and there’s also a few cattle run on that same country. They’re managed because you can’t just graze the whole thing off in the summer and then expect those animals to go through a very tough winter.
HORSEBACK: One more question Senator. What do you think about this EU thing on the slaughter issue? That just kind of stopped everything dead in its tracks, didn’t it/
BURNS: I don’t know a lot about it but I know one thing. We don’t have any slaughter plants here. That seems like that’s a problem Canada and Mexico are going to have to solve. I think they are still accepting horsemeat for human consumption.
HORSEBACK: They are, until April when the EU says horses have to be in quarantine for six months.
BURNS: I think we will probably have some science that will disprove that it takes that long for residue to dispel. I’m not sure, but I’m going to let the veterinarians and the folks who handle horses to make the decision. As you know, we’ve got lots of people who’ve got lots of ideas, but six months is a long time.
HORSEBACK: Well thank you Senator. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.
BURNS: I’m still grazing the green side.
Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses
——————————————————-
Im my personal opinion,if the interview between Sen. Burns and this person horseback is in its entirety, I believe it can used to as way to have the Burns bill overturned. The bill itself was clearly created in and submitted deceptively on the eleventh hour. However,with this interview it is also condemning to Sen. Burns as being bias and unwarranted.
Yes, we all know the bill was slipped through under false pretenses..Until now no one has had this exclusive interview with the Senator. I guess he feels safe from the scrutiny of the public and no one can touch the bill now. Well if this interview doesn’t get the bill overturned then nothing will for decades to come.
Congress needs to see and hear this exclusive..
LikeLike
“I’m still grazing the green side.” Burns.
STILL? – Wow – says volumns!
LikeLike
Sen. Burns said it all in that last statment..Al but saying he is living high off the hog. In this case off the horse.
LikeLike
So Mr. McNabb thinks he is a pro horse trainer and the BLM is doing the right thing?
How many miles over rocky ground in 90 degree heat does he run his ranch bred foals?
LikeLike
Ken Mcnabb is a joke!! My mom has personally met him as she worked as caretaker on the True’s diamond ranch which he just recently partnered up with and a sale in July I think it was. I personally saw and interacted with many of his so called ” ranch broke horses”. they were turned out into 1000 acre lots and not touched by a human hand for months. They were flighty, standoffish, scraggly, and several of them would run away with you. We heard that many of the horses were returned due to unsatisfied customers. ( who could blame them?) There were over 100 horses but Mcnabb personally handled about 3 even though he claims to have trained them all! As for Mcnabb himself – he is very rude and snobbie. Tried to tell my mom she was going to let them use my horse ( which my mom was keeping at her house for me ) to round up cattle. I dont think so!!! A close friend of my moms who is also a farrier told her that his horses were so bad to trim and shoe that he told Mcnabb he would never do it again and he would also tell every farrier he came in contact with not to do them. So steer clear of Ken Mcnabb. Hes a fraud and knows nothing of horses
LikeLike
I have met Ken also. I also trusted a horse to his care. Not a good experience. I have to say that each and every “trainer” has their own personalized training methods, but what should not change from trainer to trainer is a minimum, good standard of horse husbandry. My experience may be different from others, things may have changed. I can only speak of my experience here. I will not be sending horses to this trainer in the future.
LikeLike
I just watched Ken Mc Nabb’s show on the wild horses and sadly he DOES make sense. I do NOT approve of the roundups BUT I ALSO do not like horses starving to death.
The Pryor Mountain Mustangs graze up high and seem to most always have food but others – as he showed on his program do not – even in a rainy year.
I do not know what the solution is but either we need to drop bales of hay to them or move them to places where there is grass to eat. Letting them starve – even IF It is natures way is cruel.
LikeLike
First off I would like to say that I have raised, owned and riden horses all of my life. I grew up with a father who raised horses. I have also lived and worked on cattle ranches so I have seen both sides of the industry. I can see the frustration of horse lovers on this sight,but I can also see the side of Cattlemen trying to make a living in the desolate ranges of Nevada. When I read on here I see the majority of the people who write on this site are animal lovers who really have no concept of what a horse is capable of. In my opinion people who keep their horses in a 20×20 pen are being more cruel then those cowboys who work a horse all day on a ranch. A horse is a true athlete and is much happier and stable when given a job! I love horses as much as the next person, but to me a horse is NOT a pet. I would say that most people on this sight have no concept about land management and how many acres it takes to sustain an animal. They are so caught up with their LOVE for animals they refuse to look at the situation with rational and common sence solutions to the Mustang situation. I believe the BLM had made a great decision to hire someone like Ken Mcnabb because he is involved in both industries. . He loves and understands horses and he also has knowledge in range managment. I believe that we should preserve the mustang in its wild state whole heartedly but I also believe that it should be done without losing the concept of them being “wild”. This takes land management and population control…period!
LikeLike
But his unwavering support of the attack on the wild horses granted he and his family unlimited access to all areas of the facility while educated, forward thinking, tax paying professionals were treated like sub-humans…
REALLY???
Talk about biased! So, you’re saying Ken Mcnabb is uneducated and biased because he does not agree with your point of view? Hmmmmm…….
I believe Mr. Mcnabb is a tax paying American, entitled to his opinion just the same as you are. Ken also has many years of experience as a horse trainer and he his a horse lover and God fearing man. Ken has dedicated his whole life to natural horsemanship and a gentler and more humane way to train and treat horses. Know your facts before you write a story next time.
LikeLike
This is a blog, check out the definition of a blog while keeping in mind that this is my blog and my opinion rules, here. Plus, being that you were not there, I saw in person Kenny disrespect Ginger Kathrens, publicly, and watched him crawl into bed with the BLM. It was disgusting.
You are a little late, anyway, as all of this occurred in 2009…at this rate you would fare pretty poorly in gunfight duel. KABOOM, your toast.
LikeLike
I would recommend if you don’t want people to read your article a few years later, then take it down.
Sorry Doc Holiday, I didn’t realize it was a gunfight – you got me.
LikeLike
This is because the liberal media is far from being unbiased, the ranchers know that everything they do will be turned into something far from the truth!!
We have friends that own a stock auction yard, they unfortunately have to survey the crowd on horse auction day. This has to take place to protect the legitimate horse buyers,these crazy extremist will take pictures of people buying multiple horses and label them as kill buyers. Now true there are kill buyers that attend these events, in my opinion being the horse business that this is really not a bad thing. We have people who breed any old grade mare to any old grade stallion or worse yet they just let them run around and breed each other because they like seeing young foals. In a couple years they have a real problem, to many horses and not enough money to properly feed them. I see it on the news every year, just makes me shake my head. Unfortunately the horse will pay the ultimate price in the end, Crazy just plain Crazy. My wife showed me a news article involving Dual Pepper, here is a top ranking cutting horse that was retired and sold to a lady for studd what a life wonder around the pasture all day and breed mares! What he got was sold to a narcissistic psychotic lady who had starved him almost to death and did starve several others to death. She bought to many horses and couldn’t properly feed them, she had won the lottery and thought she wanted to get into the horse industry.
Sorry so long winded and getting way off topic, but unfortunately you can’t trust liberal media or unrealistic environmentalist to be truthful and understand what they are talking about it is not in there nature.
Be good humans and have a great day!!
LikeLike