Utilizing horses to combat wildfires? UPDATE

by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 13, 2025

How can the risk of devastating western wildfires be reduced in the future?

Could part of the solution be horses—wild horses?

There is so much blame to go around for the horrific fires raging in Los Angeles. From feckless governmental “leadership” at several levels, to an empty reservoir and fire department budget cuts, they all add up to lack of planning for the inevitable. Another case in point: diverting snow melt from the Sacramento River tributaries into the sea to help the delta smelt (fish), rather than making sure reservoirs are full.

The result is loss of lives, houses disintegrating to rubble and Armageddon for horses and other animals in what some have labeled the country’s biggest natural disaster.

There is concern about how the fires will affect plans for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The authoritative “Inside the Games” newsletter noted that the fires are, “raising alarm bells” for the Olympic committee, with several venues “under threat.”

On Thursday, the newsletter noted, “With fatality figures that alarm even the most skeptical, the land reduced to ash, and reconstruction costs estimated at an unfathomable $135 billion, the city’s ability to host the world’s largest sporting event is now subjected to thorough investigation.”

The current situation means that “the challenges of ensuring the Games’ safety are becoming increasingly apparent.”

Years of permitting delays on such forest management issues as thinning out brush and tree density, with controlled burns designed to stop the rapid spread of fire and toxic smoke, have been hampered by lawsuits from “climate activists.”

After the current blazes subside, it’s past time to do something that can decrease future devastation. A key step would be removing the brush and undergrowth that have acted as tinder. And that’s where the horses come in.

William Simpson of the Wild Horse Fire Brigade says he knows just how it should be done,

The former logger and rancher manages a wild horse herd on the border of California and Oregon, so every day, he sees the capability of these animals to clean up rough terrain where cattle and sheep don’t graze anymore, and herds of deer and elk have diminished.

William Simpson of the Wild Horse Fire Brigade with part of the wild horse herd that lives on the California Oregon border. (Photo courtesy Michelle Gough)

Mustangs have no problem navigating the undulating ground and consuming underbrush that acts as kindling for wildfires, when a spark hits and Santa Ana winds blow. He points out that unlike domestic horses, the mustangs are able to consume weeds and brush with no ill effects. Simpson characterizes them as gardeners, because seeds in manure are viable, which works for starting fresh growth instead of leaving ground barren. On the other hand, seeds are destroyed in the complex digestive systems of ruminant animals, such as cattle, he pointed out. And he contends wild horses do not share domestic horses’ fear of fire.

“We’re trying to get the LA fire department, the Malibu fire department, the Malibu homeowners association and the Palisades homeowners association to call me up and say, `You come down here and tell us how to do this’ and I would do it,” said Simpson.

“I do everything I do for free. The bottom line is, we want to provide guidance to communities, legislators, to people who want to reduce toxic smoke and wildfires and stop these fires.”

All the approximately 39,000 horses remaining in the wild and the 70,000 or so living in cramped Bureau of Land Management holding facilities could be used in the project, he contended. Rewilding will “put them where they really belong and where they reduce fires,” Simpson maintained. He estimates each wild horse will eat 30 pounds of grass a day, or 5.5 tons a year on a mere 7 percent of land available for grazing.

Simpson said there is no conflict of interest on the land involved “no lithium mining, no cattle” but noted, “it (the dried vegetation) burns like crazy.” His own home was saved from destruction by fire in 2018 due to a fire break created by grazing wild horses.

“My goal, with our all-volunteer nonprofit, is to provide proper evolutionary-level genetic conservation of these relatively few remaining wild horses, which hold the last bastion of superior equine genetic vigor,” he said.

“If I put out one horse on every 300 acres for fuel reduction, I could re-wild every horse in America in a safe area where nobody is going to mess with them. I only need 3 million acres. Everybody wins. The horses get to be wild and free, they’re not stepping on anybody’s toes.”

You can learn more by watching a video about using horses for fire prevention  from AM Best, the world’s oldest credit agency, specializing in the insurance industry. To see the video, click on this link

Numerous organizations are accepting donations connected with helping fire victims. Pets affected by the fire are being helped by the Pasadena Humane Organization 

It is working to log every report of animals left behind and dispatching search and rescue teams as quickly as possible in areas that are safe to enter. They are prioritizing reports of animals seen alive in the area and in urgent need of medical attention, as well as cases in which owners have informed them they were forced to leave their pets behind. Fleet of Angels is geared to helping horses who are victims of disasters. The Equestrian Aid Foundation is also pitching in. This is a link to a private rescue seeking funds. Check to see whether your favorite charity also has a role in helping fire victims.

There’s more than one viewpoint on a controversial clinic

by Nancy Jaffer | Jan 14, 2024

A U.S. Equestrian Federation clinic for 11 up-and-coming young riders set off a storm of heated comment on social media Saturday, after some who viewed the session criticized comments by clinician Katie Monahan Prudent, while others supported her approach.

A member of the gold medal 1986 World Championships show jumping team, the always-outspoken Prudent was an equitation champion as a junior and won many hunter and jumper championships over the decades. She last competed internationally in 2015.

USEF issued a statement on Sunday saying, “We are aware of concerns regarding the recent clinic and are conducting a review of the matter.”

The federation added, “The safety and well-being of both horse and rider are of the utmost priority to U.S. Equestrian. Effective communication between trainer, horse and athlete is critical to safety and success in equestrian sport. At times, direct words are needed to get this across when coaching; however, under no circumstances does U.S. Equestrian condone training techniques that do not put horse and rider well-being first.”

Katie Monahan Prudent competing on V in 2013. (Photo © 2013 by Nancy Jaffer)

The video of the segment with the controversial remarks was not available on the USEF network in the wake of the furor. The listing bore the message: “The recording unfortunately is not working. We will fix the problem shortly.” An edited version appeared subsequently.

There were those on social media objecting to the way the 69-year-old Prudent addressed some of the students, who were between the ages of 16 and 21, calling it “bullying.” Others were incensed when she mentioned flipping a horse over backwards, suggesting one rider should “crash him into a fence rather than letting him turn” and saying that horses “need a good licking sometimes.”  Prudent also criticized “animal rights activists who know nothing about training horses.”

She was critical of the fact that riders didn’t even know how to safely shorten their stirrups when mounted, and suggested to U.S. Show Jumping Developing Chef D’Equipe Anne Kursinski that doing it properly should be the subject of another lesson.

“As a group, you guys lack discipline,” Prudent informed the riders. She told them, “either you don’t listen or you’re just birdbrained.”

The clinic took place in Wellington, Florida, while the USEF’s annual meeting was being held in Kentucky, ironically with an emphasis on “social license to operate” for the sport, so it has public acceptance.

Kaylee Monserrate, who called Prudent’s coaching “incredible for me,” said “her fast corrections for any mistakes I made kept me safe during the 1.45m schooling we were typically doing.”

She did, however, suggest some of Prudent’s comments, “could have been done so a little more tactfully, such as insinuating flipping a horse, etc., which is not okay.”

Kaylee noted, “The most learning here needs to be the industry as a whole, including the trainers in it. How students in a horsemanship clinic such as this one have never saddled a horse or properly changed their stirrup length is incredible and mind-blowing.”

She suggested many of Prudent’s remarks “came from what seems as an area of frustration,” and contended the industry itself is broken.

U.S. eventing world championships individual silver medalist Dorothy Trapp Crowell reacted this way, “I understand I am old school, but I actually agree with everything she’s saying. God forbid any of my lessons or clinics from the past were put out on Facebook now. Pull up your big girl britches and do what she says. She is actually trying to keep these kids safe by giving them the tools they need to ride safely. Which in the end keeps the horses safe.”

Hope Glynn, whose daughter, Avery, was in the clinic, called it “great,” citing the instruction of not only Katie, but also Anne Kursinski and Beezie Madden.

“Katie set a tough gymnastics and if you answered the test, she praised you and if you didn’t, she taught you what to do…I am far more offended by trainers who say, `Yes, good job’ to everything. I encourage you to watch the whole clinic, the positives, the negatives, and spend your time learning instead of attacking someone online.”

Dutch Olympic show jumping individual silver medalist Albert Voorn, on the other hand, was outraged, stating it was unbelievable “that the USA equestrian federation allows this on their showgrounds. The world is totally lost.” (It isn’t U.S. Equestrian’s showgrounds, actually, but licensed shows are held there.)

Eventer Halley Anne commented, “What I learned from this is that if someone tells me to flip my horse over, I will leave the lesson. Hyperbole or not. If that’s the best way an instructor can think of to explain what they want me to do, then that is not the lesson for me or my horse. That being said, I liked her tough teaching style.”

Jeremy Steinberg, former. U.S youth. dressage coach, observed, “If it is in fact the case that `under no circumstances, does US Equestrian condone training techniques that do not put horse and rider well being first,’  you would clearly see that both horse and rider, on many occasions, were being over-faced, horses being incorrectly punished for lack of education as well as riders. If it was in fact the case that those horse and rider combinations were not up for the task, it should’ve been US Equestrian or Katie’s responsibility to then educate as opposed to berate and rough up.”

And here’s one more viewpoint, from Susan Bright: “When I was in college,” I was in a clinic with a top clinician/judge from Virginia Beach. I was winning equitation classes and felt like I knew quite a bit. During the mounted discussion, he threw his clipboard at me and said, `Riding isn’t about looking pretty, it’s about being a thinking rider.’

“He took off my stirrups and had me ride cross-country jumps until I fell off. (Then) said to get out of the way of the other riders. That lesson blazed a mark in my mind. But it made me a better thinking rider.”

A look back from my archives: An introduction to Mark Phillips

by Nancy Jaffer | Feb 19, 2023

Over the eons that I’ve written about the horse industry, showing, eventing, racing and other equestrian sports, I’ve accumulated stacks of programs, orders of go, course diagrams, photos, magazine articles and newspaper clippings. Lots and lots. Boxes and boxes of them.

Some (not even all!) are jammed into a storage locker, where I’ve started to go through the imposing piles of paper. This journey down memory lane begins with the 1970s and runs on through Olympics, world championships, World Cup finals and other competitions from around the globe. I’ve rediscovered pieces about people and horses, some well-remembered but long gone now, and a sort of historical perspective on what’s happening today.

As I culled the archives, I found so many interesting old stories that I decided some should be shared with my readers now and then, before the paper they’re on crumbles into dust. A few of these articles may be familiar; others could offer a new viewpoint.

I’m starting with a 1985 piece on eventer Mark Phillips, written when the Olympic gold medalist who won Badminton and Burghley came to the U.S. Equestrian Team headquarters in Gladstone, N.J.,to give a clinic for American eventers. It may seem a bit quaint, but remember this was a different era and quite a big deal at the time because of his connection with Britain’s royal family.

Here’s the original of the 1985 story that introduced Mark Phillips to many of my readers.

In 2023, we all know Mark as the former chef d’equipe for the U.S. eventing team, and a sought-after course designer (he put together the cross-country route for the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games and many other tests here and in Europe). His daughter, Zara (Tindall), who was only four when this story was written, went on to become European Eventing Champion and subsequently World Champion, earning an Olympic team silver medal to boot.

Mark Phillips consults with U.S. team member Boyd Martin in 2017. (Photo © 2017 by Nancy Jaffer)

But  38 years ago, that was yet to come and the general public knew Mark Phillips best as the man who married Great Britain’s Princess Anne. Below is the story in readable form (don’t try to make out the words in the clipping above–you’ll strain your eyes.) The article was written primarily for a non-horse-oriented audience:  Here it is–

June 16, 1985: Yank Equestrians jump at chance for some royal lessons

The world at large knows Capt. Mark Phillips as the good-looking fellow who married Great Britain’s Princess Anne.

In the international equestrian community, however, Phillips is fa­mous for his competitive stature. His dossier includes four wins at the world’s most prestigious Three-Day Event and membership on the British teams that won gold medals in the Three-Day Event at the Munich Olym­pics and the World Championships.

He also has a reputation for good sportsmanship, and it is the desire to share his approach to riding with others that has brought him to New Jersey for a few days.

Phillips is giving a helping hand to up-and-coming American eventers at the U.S. Equestrian Team (USET) Training Center in Gladstone.

There are those who might consider that aiding the opposition. Even Phillips cheerily refers to the American three-day riders as “sort of traditional enemies” of the British in the sport.

“America has always been the team to beat as far as we’re concerned,” he notes.

But Phillips is quick to add, “If you can’t help somebody in sport, well … ,” and the unspoken words are a dismissal of those too mean-spirited to share their knowledge.

Three-Day Eventing is enormously popular in Britain, where the combina­tion of dressage, riding over obstacles cross-country and jumping fences in· a stadium setting can draw 100,000 spectators.

Ironically, though the U.S. has won the eventing team gold medals in the last two Olympics, the sport has a much lower profile here.

That doesn’t make it any less of a passionate pastime for its practitioners, however. Their ranks include the 15 riders who came from all over the East and Midwest over the weekend to work with Phillips. He volunteered for the duty and did not charge the team for his presence, considering it “an honor” to be at the elegant Gladstone facility.

“So much history in equestrian sports and success has come out of this place,” he explained.

Phillips even admitted to a bit of I nervousness before arriving.

“Americans are more technical than we are,” he observed. “We tend to ride more by the seat of our pants.”

The riders got along well with the informal Phillips, partying with him at a local restaurant one night and eagerly seeking his opinion on their horsemanship.

“I work on my own at home, so this is particularly valuable to me,” said 23-year-old Nick Marnye of Kentucky after finishing a schooling session with his palomino quarter horse, Good as Gold.

Phillips liked Marnye’s mount, and that was a boost to the young rider.

“It certainly gives you a little more confidence,” said Marnye, adding he appreciated Phillips’ attitude.

“I know he’s here to help me, not destroy me,” added Marnye, who had some previous instruction that rendered the opposite effect.

Indeed, Phillips in action is the essence of encouragement. Attired in boots, breeches, an argyle sweater and flat wool cap, Phillips instinctively goes through the proper movements-holding imaginary reins, straightening the shoulders as he instructs from the ground.

“Thank you very much indeed. Excellent,” he says with enthusiasm time after time, as riders successfully use suggested techniques and obtain the desired response from their animals.

Phillips believes in pushing the positive.

“If you take the top 10 riders in the world, what’s the difference on the day (of competition)?” he asked.

“Confidence. If confidence is high, you go and do it. If you say, ‘I’m no bloody good,’ you give up.”

Though he is 36, giving up is something Phillips himself has yet to seriously consider. His sport is a dangerous one. A tiring 1,100-pound horse who takes a misstep at an immovable cross-country jump can mean bone-crushing disaster for a rider.

But the father of two is looking ahead to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and hoping to be a part of the scene there.

“I’ve had two or three really bad years, when horses I thought would come through, haven’t,” said Phillips.

“But I won the Novice Championship last year with Distinctive and I’ve got two or three others I’m very excited about.

If these prospects don’t pan out, he conceded, “That might be the time to call it a day and spend time teaching.”

As Phillips has acknowledged in the past, “There’s no fame shorter than sporting fame” and he accepts the fact that the moment will come when the trophies will go home with his students, rather than himself.

He teaches all over the world, doing instructional clinics in Australia and New Zealand regularly, and ranging as far afield as Japan. He hopes to do more such work in America after breaking the ice this time.

And it’s possible there may be more opportunities like the commentating stint he handled for Australian television at the Olympics.

“I had never done it before and I was a real novice,” he admitted. “But people wrote and said they enjoyed it. That gave me a bit of a buzz. Maybe all the effort was worthwhile.”

Eventing sponsorship in Great Britain is quite the thing, and Phillips is backed by Land Rover. The firm is committed through 1988 to his “Range Rover” team, which includes a contingent of young riders he is bringing along.

Like all top competitors, Phillips often yearns for someone to give him a few pointers, just as he helps others.

Though he has had some dressage coaching, there is little time for him to get assistance. During his stay here, he worked on jumping techniques with retired USET Show Jumping Coach Bertlan de Nemethy of Far Hills.

At home, Princess Anne occasionally lends a hand, if asked. A top eventer herself, she rode on the 1976 British Olympic team, while Phillips was the reserve member there.

Since the birth of the Phillips’ children, Peter, 7, and Zara, 4, Princess Anne has been concentrating primarily on events for novice horses.

But the mutual eventing aid comes only “as and when required,” Phillips said, noting, “It’s like a husband and wife can’t teach each other to drive. There’s nothing worse than help from a husband or wife when you don’t want it.”

Phillips added he and Princess Anne “interchange a bit” and occasionally swap horses. “Sometimes the feminine touch works better with a horse, and sometimes the male strength is better. Different horses react differently,” he commented.

Phillips doesn’t feel that being married to Princess Anne has affected his position in eventing.

“Sport doesn’t do anybody any favors. It’s no respecter of rank or anything else,” said Phillips. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a poor boy or a rich boy once you get in the arena.”

Besides, he noted, before he was married he had won Badminton, the biggest annual event on the Three-Day calendar, several times and ridden in the Olympics.

“Within the sport, I was already a name,” he pointed out. “Once you’ve got to the top, you’re always a name.”