Kentucky is renowned for many things, including its beautiful Bluegrass, breathtaking Thoroughbred farms and for being the birthplace of bourbon.
In addition to its signature equine industry, Kentucky leads the nation in coal production, with 60 percent coming from underground mines and the remainder from surface mines. Both coal and horses are intricately woven in to the fabric of Kentucky, uniting generations of people from all walks of life.
Recently the coal and equine worlds have collided. Lori Redmon, President and CEO of the Kentucky Humane Society (KHS), gives some background on the issue. Lori has been involved with horses for over 10 years, and as an avid equine lover, she was hoping to give back to the equestrian community as a complement to her position at KHS, which dealt with solely dogs and cats. She got her chance in 2012 when she heard of a situation in Knott County, KY of horses in need of help.
A group of 11 free-roaming horses were collected in Knott County in Eastern Kentucky and were being held as strays by authorities. At the time, the "stray hold” period for equines in Kentucky was 90 days—which is an extremely long time and very costly for most cash-strapped rescue or animal control organizations.
Lori learned that these horses were picked up by authorities because they posed a risk to public safety—they had been in the roadway and had become a threat to motorists. Lori became very interested in helping horses such as these, that were loose and in potential danger. She was missing the hands-on part of horses and was hoping to foster a few of the 11 that had been seized.
She realized at this time that there was no formal, statewide network of equine rescue or adoption agencies to assist animal control or other county authorities, and many times these entities were not trained in how to care for the horses, nor did they usually have the resources with which to care for them.
The Horses of the Mine Lands
About this time, Lori began to hear more and more rumblings about the free roaming horses in both Breathitt and Knott Counties. She heard from multiple people that there were "hundreds” or "thousands up there.” Becoming increasingly concerned about the horses’ welfare and intrigued about the true number of free-roaming horses, she arranged to go to Eastern Kentucky and see for herself what was really going on.
What she found was staggering. Hundreds of horses had been turned out on to land owned or leased by coal companies that was in various stages of being reclaimed. "Mine reclamation” is the process of restoring former coal mines back to a natural or economically viable state. It is required by law and reduces the environmental effects of mining.
These horses are not wild; they were originally owned by someone and have been turned out on the land to survive on their own. Many are approachable and some are caught periodically to be ridden by their owners. Others have been completely abandoned by their owners. New generations of horses are being born on these lands and have never been handled by humans.
When Lori made her way to these lands in March of 2014, she and some volunteers covered a five-county area, with the majority of the volunteers focused in both Knott and Breathitt Counties, where she had heard the stray horses posed a significant problem. The group counted 438 horses roaming the reclaimed mine lands—and those were only the ones that were easily visible. The vast majority of the mares appeared to be pregnant or have foals by their side. When she returned in June her assumption of mares being in foal was validated with an increased number of foals. In fact, one of the largest herds observed consisted of 120 horses and roughly 30 foals.
Most of these loose horses were on the reclaimed land foraging for food, but when the grass becomes scarce the horses travel down the mountain into residential areas to look for food or to lick the salt from the roads in the winter. This quite obviously poses a serious threat to motorists as well as to the horses themselves. Additionally, the horses have reportedly been chewing the siding of homes, licking salt off cars, destroying landscaping and causing traffic accidents as they wander free.
Upon seeing just how large the issue was, Lori went into problem-solving mode and felt very strongly that it was time for Kentucky Humane Society to become involved.
Where Did the Coal Mine Horses Come From?
For the past 20 years or so, local citizens, many of them miners, would release their horses out onto the land that was being reclaimed by the coal mining companies. In the beginning, the horses didn’t pose a safety issue to people in the town or on the roadways. There was enough pastureland to sustain the number of horses, and many horses were collected during winter months and fed supplemental hay at home. There was a "gentleman’s agreement” (an unofficial understanding based upon trust) that only mares and geldings were turned out on the lands to prevent unwanted breeding of mares.
The horses could then be caught and brought back to homes and farms when the owners wanted to ride them.
When the recession came in 2008, more and more horses were being turned out onto the mining lands (for reference, mine sites can up as large as 20,000 to 40,000 acres of land) increasing grazing stress onto the limited grass lands. Additionally, fewer horses were being gathered at the end of summer to go back to their homes. People began to travel from farther away to dump horses on the mine’s land. Some left stallions that bred the mares, leading to unplanned and unwanted foals that were feral because of their lack of human contact. The population of these free-roaming horses began to outgrow the ability of the habitat to sustain them.
Some of the horses on the land are now becoming emaciated as feed sources dwindle; they have health and medical issues that are going untreated because of the lack of veterinary and farrier care. As many of the offspring of the domesticated horses are now feral, it makes care or rehabilitation increasingly difficult.
Taking Action for Abandoned Horses
The Kentucky Humane Society's mission is to "advocate the humane treatment of animals through leadership and proactive solutions to overpopulation.” The organization tries very hard to address the issues before they become a crisis.
Lori recognized that while there were organizations in place within the state to care for breed-specific horses in crises (mainly Thoroughbreds and Saddlebreds), there were very few entities to help the unregistered, companion or unwanted horse and they were stretched beyond their capacity for care.
In the Fall of 2014, the Kentucky Humane Society incorporated helping horses into its mission in addition to dogs and cats. They launched an official equine program in February of 2015 and they’ve been off and running ever since.
With so many facets to equine welfare and rescue, it was important for KHS to narrow it's focus on their core mission: to reduce overpopulation. The issue of the free roaming horses in Eastern Kentucky was a perfect fit.
While horses turned out on coal lands is not specific to solely Kentucky, it is fairly regional, including Appalachian West Virginia, Tennessee and a bit of Southern Ohio.
The first huge success for the KHS equine team came in the reduction of time required to hold stray equines before they can be sold or adopted. This time frame was reduced from 90 days to 15, a huge accomplishment for both KHS and for the horses. This new law went into effect on June 24, and KHS took a leadership role in getting this legislation passed.
The KHS goal for this project is to gradually reduce the number of free roaming horses through gelding initiatives and the placement of unwanted horses into rescues for ultimate adoption. The reduction of the stray hold period will help in the short term as it will allow KHS and other rescue agencies, when asked for assistance, to help horses in immediate danger to themselves or others.
Helping Horse Owners, Helping Horses
Lori and the team at KHS have completed countless hours of research to find out how to better help the horses in Eastern Kentucky. It’s a complex situation and the majority of the local horse owners don’t want the horses completely removed. In an effort to respect the wishes of local residents, KHS plans to work with horse owners who can identify which horses are owned and which are truly abandoned and in need of help.
KHS is working in partnership with the Kentucky Equine Humane Center and the ASPCA to provide free "gelding and wellness clinics” where owners can bring intact males to be castrated; they also offer other services such as deworming, vaccinating, teeth floating, hoof care and the registering of a Coggins test and health certificate. All of these are offered to local residents at no cost.
The first gelding clinic was held on May 9th in Floyd County, KY and was a resounding success. KHS and their partner agencies, along with a dedicated group of volunteers, gelded 27 horses in one day. Two more clinics are scheduled in Eastern Kentucky for September 12th and October 10th. The location is yet to be determined.
Update 2017
For more than 30 years, horses have been roaming the hills and mountains of eastern Kentucky. And it’s not just a few, either.“Over the past three years, I, with the help of friends, local horse owners, coal companies and state conservation officers, have actually documented and taken photos of 556 free-roaming horses,” said Debby Spencer, a tourism activist who has worked on projects from one end of Kentucky to the other. “Most are in herds of five to 12 with a few larger herds scattered around.”Spencer is quick to admit that several herds have probably been missed because of the area’s remoteness.
“One can reasonably estimate that there may be an additional 200 or so we have yet to identify,” she said. Anyone seeing a herd might initially think these horses are wild, but some of the horses will meander up if you step out of your vehicle.The number of horses could actually top 1,000, according to some reports. While Spencer said the herds are on the rise, she noted that a solid gelding plan is in place to reduce the number of stallions roaming free.
“This will help to slow the population growth and enable east Kentucky to maintain a manageable herd size,” she said.So how did this come to be? “It’s a unique phenomenon,” Spencer said about the horses. “Flat land has always been hard to find. For as long as people can remember, coal has been the major industry in east Kentucky.”With the advent of strip mining and mountaintop removal as a result of modern machinery and technology, coal companies were regulated to strict reclamation practices.
In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, more and more acres of grassy flatlands and rolling hills became available for uses such as residential and commercial projects, golf courses, industry and even airports. The residual impact was that the newfound flatlands were ideal for pasture that could be used by local residents who had limited access to graze their horses and cattle. “In many cases the coal companies and private landowners have not minded,” Spencer said. “Their livestock would be put out to pasture in the spring and took them up in the fall.” In the beginning, it was an unspoken rule that no stallions would be permitted to roam free. But that seemed to change several years later with a decline in the coal industry and closure of slaughterhouses. That led to an increase in stallions allowed to roam free.
Spencer said 11 counties are impacted by the roaming horses: Breathitt, Knott, Perry, Magoffin, Martin, Floyd, Pike, Leslie, Harlan, Clay and Letcher. These free-roaming horses have become a small part of the mountain landscape, and in doing so have created conflicts. Spencer said horses like salt and one of the places they can fill that need is when road crews salt roads during the winter. “They come down to the road to lick the salt,” she said, “and this can be hazardous to the horse and driver. Anyone who leaves their car too long may find the paint licked off, or the bumpers and tires with bites out of them. They’ll also use a side mirror for a scratching post.” Fred James, who served as director of tourism in Prestonsburg for 25 years, said: “There is all kinds of food (grasses) and water ponds, and what you see are healthy horses. The downside is who is ultimately responsible.”
James said some people take old horses up in the mountains and release them. “When the owners can no longer care for them or the horse is no longer useful, that’s when they are turned out,” he said. “These horses are domesticated when they’re released, but those horses that are born in their herds are wild.” Left unchecked, the roaming horses could mushroom into a difficult problem to correct. That’s why Spencer and her group are working to re-establish a balance to it all. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in partnership with the Kentucky Humane Society and other rescue groups, have sponsored wellness and gelding clinics in the region to help decrease the population of stallions.
Even though the horses have no owners, Spencer said many of them, in fact, have been owned by someone. But she said some have been permanently put out to pasture. “People here can easily identify their own horses and that of their neighbors even though they (may) not be microchipped, branded, nor wearing any type of halter or identifying apparatus,” she said. “You can’t just drive up and pick up a horse. That would be horse stealing, which is a federal offense.”
A major step in the right direction was taken last year when the region selected the SouthFork area of Breathitt County for the new Appalachian Horse Center. It is anticipated that with this facility and infrastructure will come economics development by way of tourism. While some might perceive the free-roaming horses to be a negative, there is now an aggressive effort being made to convert these coal-impacted counties in eastern Kentucky into a tourist destination. It is the belief that visitors will come to see these horses much like they have done in viewing the herds of elk that were reintroduced to the region in the late 1990s.
Realizing there is no need to reinvent the wheel, the Appalachian Horse Center plans on pulling in what other states have done in dealing with their free-roaming horses. South Dakota, Colorado, North Carolina, Wyoming and New Mexico have all created another reason to visit their states. Kentucky already flies under the Horse Capital of the World banner, with the bluegrass region being the focal point. But now eastern Kentucky has stepped it up a notch, offering something for visitors to see that they can see nowhere else in the state.
“People can have a hands-on experience with our horses here,” said Ginny Grulke, volunteer executive director for the Appalachian Horse Center. “At the thoroughbred farms you can only look at them. We’ll offer instruction on haltering, leading and grooming.” Grulke said her organization has implemented a capital campaign with an initial goal of $250,000. Its long-range plan includes a large indoor riding arena that will be open to the public. At the forefront of the project is the well-being of the horses, she said. “For sure we’ve got lots of them and many are very friendly and people around here like to go up (in the mountains) and feed them even though they don’t own them,” she said.
In the classic 1961 movie “Misfits” starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, the storyline was based on wild horses roaming the Nevada desert. Those horses considered too small for real work were considered misfits and were shot and sold for dog food. This is exactly what the Appalachian Horse Center is trying to prevent.
There’s no excuse. So get up, get out and get going.
– Gary West’s column runs monthly in the Daily News. He can be reached by emailing west1488@twc.com.