By Protect The Harvest
Twelve selected fillies were offered for sale at the 2017 Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity. These fillies are invited back to the 2018 Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity to compete in their own division for a $25,000 purse. The 12 fillies offered in this special event were selected from the Three Fingers, South Steens and Beatys Butte herds. By the time of the sale, all of the fillies were spayed, vaccinated and handled for 30 days.
Wild Spayed Filly Futurity Goal:
The goal of the Wild Spayed Filly Futurity is to showcase the significance and abilities of these resilient, tough and beautiful horses. It will also demonstrate their trainability and hopefully encourage more people to consider a horse from our American rangelands. A second and very important goal of the program is to help find economical, safe solutions in controlling the numbers of horses on American rangelands, which will allow people to appreciate them in a healthy, balanced environment in the wild.
Benefits of Spaying Wild Fillies:
Protect The Harvest has been a steady advocate for the multiple use of Federal Lands. The extreme overpopulation of the wild horses nationally has decimated wildlife, rangelands and water sources. Over a 20-year period, there have been many attempts to control herd populations by using the birth control drug, PZP. Unfortunately, this method has been proven ineffective, costly, and unsafe when administered.
Even with application of the birth control drug, mares continue to cycle. They are bred monthly by multiple stallions and never settle. Herds have to be gathered and captured annually to administer the drugs, proving to be very costly and ineffective.
The spaying procedure costs less than one dose of PZP and is only performed once in a mare’s lifetime. After the spay procedure, mares can be returned to the wild. Once spayed, a mare can safely roam the landscape, possessing all her mare behaviors, as if she was in foal.
If you’d like to find more information on this event or the trainers and fillies involved, please visit our webpage. You can also visit our Facebook page or the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity Facebook page. The Wild Spayed Filly Futurity takes place on Friday, September 14, 2018 during the 2018 Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity (September 10-16, 2018).
