Got to spend a month beside 'Europe's last wild horse herd' this year; in the 60's & 70's when the locals in the west Balkans gave up four leggers for combustion engines, they shoo'ed em off into the highlands. Left to fend for themselves, the initial stock of forty or so farm animals had a tough time of it - cold, snow, wolves were stil…
Got to spend a month beside 'Europe's last wild horse herd' this year; in the 60's & 70's when the locals in the west Balkans gave up four leggers for combustion engines, they shoo'ed em off into the highlands. Left to fend for themselves, the initial stock of forty or so farm animals had a tough time of it - cold, snow, wolves were still 'a thing' back then.
But they struggled on - and gradually 'climate change' happened there like everywhere else. Little snow anymore, wolves disappeared, the herd grew and prospered on the grass plain abandoned by the dairy farmers after the 1992-96 war.
Now they've divided up into small groupings - 20 here, 60 there, I watched them stream into the main watering hole at dawn, group by group, a mind blowing vista of horses of every color, size and age, galloping the last couple of klics, in pure pleasure of being alive... and free. Lost count at 700 or so - too hard to keep track of so many moving bodies.
From foal to old age, every one of em eats nothing but grass. Thought I'd see what would happen if I laid out some barley - which my old crew would fight off all comers to get at - and what happened amazed me. They came up to it, sniffed it, kicked the canister around a bit...
and then walked away. Never seen seed grains since birth, never ate em, never needed them.
Them critters were fat, healthy, and full of life. Like I suppose some of our breed used to be!
Got to spend a month beside 'Europe's last wild horse herd' this year; in the 60's & 70's when the locals in the west Balkans gave up four leggers for combustion engines, they shoo'ed em off into the highlands. Left to fend for themselves, the initial stock of forty or so farm animals had a tough time of it - cold, snow, wolves were still 'a thing' back then.
But they struggled on - and gradually 'climate change' happened there like everywhere else. Little snow anymore, wolves disappeared, the herd grew and prospered on the grass plain abandoned by the dairy farmers after the 1992-96 war.
Now they've divided up into small groupings - 20 here, 60 there, I watched them stream into the main watering hole at dawn, group by group, a mind blowing vista of horses of every color, size and age, galloping the last couple of klics, in pure pleasure of being alive... and free. Lost count at 700 or so - too hard to keep track of so many moving bodies.
From foal to old age, every one of em eats nothing but grass. Thought I'd see what would happen if I laid out some barley - which my old crew would fight off all comers to get at - and what happened amazed me. They came up to it, sniffed it, kicked the canister around a bit...
and then walked away. Never seen seed grains since birth, never ate em, never needed them.
Them critters were fat, healthy, and full of life. Like I suppose some of our breed used to be!