Claire Rogerson

Petra: What can visitors expect?

Sharon: Well from the area, many activities can be undertaken on motorbikes, pushbikes, mountain bikes, and horses; plus, there’s good fishing and snow sports. From the hotel you can expect excellent meals, clean comfortable accommodation, friendly staff and an old-world atmosphere.

Petra: Buckley’s Crossing Hotel is an important meeting destination for families and friends that are living in different States, can you share examples of those special reunions?

Sharon: There are long time families in the area, and they do have reunions where they get together at the hotel. Many local weddings are hosted in the town with visitors coming from afar. There are also many different events held in the area from horse sales, to international push bikes races, and charity motorbike rides, plus the Dalgety Show.

Petra: What role does the local community play in the hotel and who are your customers?

Sharon: Local community is big here, with agricultural meetings, etc. The locals come in and discuss issues raging from weather and stock prices, to the status on a current emergencies like bushfire. We host many local birthday parties, school formals, and Christmas parties. Our local customers are shearers, farmers, landowners and many that have moved here for winter sport.

Visit: https://buckleyscrossinghotel.com.au/ Images: ©Petra Jungmanova and ©Buckley’s Crossing Hotel

DAY 8

You may remember the Brumby yarn from the Autumn issue. I have a love affair with these beautiful creatures and believe their story deserves to be explored and celebrated. So, I ventured into my beloved Snowy Mountains in NSW and, in the best way to meet someone, found Claire Rogerson in the local pub! Claire is from Snowy Brumby Horsemanship and created a Brumby haven on her property perched near the glorious Snowy River, where many lucky rescued Brumbies now find a refuge - a safe place where to trust humans while on their way to finding their forever homes. Whatever it takes, Claire and her team are helping to preserve these living Australian icons and train the Brumbies in a gentle, loving way. Anyone can book a visit to witness this magic! This Yarn tells Claire’s story and gives an insight into the Brumbies from a different point of view – ‘horsemanship’..

Petra: Where are you located, and have you lived always in the Snowy Mountains?

Claire: We're located on the Snowy River in New South Wales, in a little place called the Beloka. We are about 15km downstream of Jindabyne, where they dam the Snowy and we're about 106k or so upstream from a little town called Dalgety. I bought this land around about 25 years ago and paid literally next to nothing for it.

Long story short, I was doing what you might call ‘boot camp adventure-based therapy’ work with youth at risk in Sydney for six years, not paid correctly. Then, when I had an incident at work, my employer tried to put it onto me when it wasn’t my fault! Fortunately for me, I was walking down to Central Railway Station in tears about what had happened, when I met a great lady who asked how I was. She turned out to be the Head of the Services Union. I didn't even know I was in a union, and after she heard my story, for the next five months fought my case. The compensation I was awarded was exactly the price of the property. A real estate agent in Jindabyne rang the owner and said: ‘You're going to take this amount for that land, and I'm not going to sell it anymore unless you take it!’ Then, he contacted me and said: ‘It's sold to you.’ I just went: ‘Oh my God, as I didn't even know what I had bought.’ This land is pretty special and there have been a fair few people come and help and live here for periods of time to build what we've got today, but the Brumbies started arriving 12 years ago with ‘Sunny’.

Petra: The Brumbies have really touched both of us - I was in tears when I first met them close-up with you.

Claire: To me they are like ‘surreal’ and honestly, I have moments of tears with them nearly every day. People ask me why I and others do so much for them, but that’s hard to explain. However, it seems to become clear to people when they are moved by their experiences – it’s like the Brumbies touch their hearts. I know in a way dogs and animals can do it. There's a difference with these guys though as they have no reason to do it - they're wild animals. I feel like it’s partly because the Brumbies are so pure. I appreciate you sharing your experience because I can’t fully explain it, and sometimes I think I'm going nuts. So, it's always nice to know others feel the same way.

Truly, Brumbies are very special and need help, including with people. They need to be able to trust people to have a life ahead, and to do that requires training - which is now my purpose in life. Training in my opinion: in the way Brumbies learn; preferably in their environment; and certainly not using traditional horse-training methods. I can give several examples of how the latter usually doesn’t work! While I may come across as a little intense or too interested to some people / groups, there are many who hate (and I mean hate) the Brumbies with a vengeance and sadly, mostly from a distance. All I say to them is come and spend an hour with me around yard and I am confident you’ll be moved, at least to the point where your hate will disappear, or at least mellow. So far, and sadly, I haven’t had any of the haters come, and I don't understand why. Also, it would be nice to have visits from at least some of the politicians and bureaucrats before they decide the latest in the list of management plans for the Brumbies.

Petra: I think it's got something to do with your address! Unless you’re in a multiple drive vehicle, the driveway can be intimidating, like disappearing into the bush and never re-emerging again.

Claire: Yes, it is. However, when the sun comes in and the birds sing, every morning I wake up and I'm so grateful to be on this world in this place, and to be given this role for which I'm forever humbled and grateful. I feel like I'm not worthy of it, but I try my hardest. So, Yes!

Petra: It’s beautiful, and it seems it's always the gorgeous people who are just so, so humble and that's beautiful.

Claire: I'm not making that up. I feel that I’m neither qualified, nor experienced enough, and I don't know enough. However, all I want is for the Brumbies to get the formal recognition and support they deserve and if I’ve helped in some way then I am happy – it’s all about the Brumbies.

Petra: I think you really have magic with Brumbies and if you didn't have the skills with people, they wouldn't be part of your Brumby journey. So, to me they go together, as they have already!

Claire: Thank you because the people side is the one with which I feel like I struggle the most. It's good to have people come, and I'm very fortunate now we opened our doors a year ago seeking general volunteers, just anyone, and we’ve had a great response. Two, Belinda and Sarah, were the only two who had the right long-term intentions and now they've been permanent volunteers (once a week) with me for nearly a year. The rest of the crew consists of my family (my Godson, and my son being the backbone of what I do), and then there's a whole bunch of supporters like: John who does our salaries; our mentor, Banksie; Pat who came down from Lithgow and brought this great Brumby for us to work with him; Pat a farrier and trainer; and now, young Sarah who has joined us from Tumut. While I really want every person to have a positive experience from Snowy Brumby Horsemanship, while I can facilitate that to a certain extent, I've got to let everyone have their journey. So far, the ones who are here are definitely involved and we're making a difference with our Brumbies as a team. I'm just the person who has the property and coordinates a few things

Petra: How would you describe what you do?

Claire: Oh, I would describe it like us being the guardians of the Brumbies that have come straight from the National Park and our role is to transition them in the most positive way we can so that when they reach their forever owners, they can live out their lives there in bliss and happiness and without stress and major veterinary problems. When they transition, they always go in pairs, and we check the property and work with the people who are going to have them. We make sure the new owners understand their minds and fears, and how they live in a fenced environment. So, it's different to training a domestic horse where most people are just training it to be ridden and they've already been bred to live in captivity. Whereas we’re re-training a wild horse to be happy in domestic living, as well as having a real purpose in a new role. So, most of our Brumbies are trained right the way through to riding.

The reason why we train them to riding, and we're probably the only ‘rehomer’ that does, is because we know that they really enjoy this activity and thrive on it.

Petra: When did you have your first Brumby encounter and what is the story behind getting your first Brumby?

Claire: I was not a horse person, and I never grew up with horses. There was a period when I had to move away from here with my son, Charlie who was only three, and his father who was doing mining at Gulgong, a town in the Central West of NSW. I was lonely and bored and used to take Charlie to the local pool to teach him how to swim - something to keep me busy. To do this, I used to walk into town and on the way, past the prettiest little pony you could imagine, whom I found out later was a Palomino (not a Brumby) called ‘Ziggy’. On the way back just before we left town, we gave her carrots. Then one day, a picture of Ziggy came up on the notice board at the little IGA supermarket that said: ‘Wanted home for pony’. I rang the number to say: “Hey, I go past every day, and so can I please see if I can help you get her a home, and we pat her?” The lady replied: “Well, no one can get near that horse.” I replied: “Oh no, she comes to the fence with us every day.” Then she said: “Sure and would you like to come into the property and play with her and see what you can do?” That’s where my first encounter with a horse began! I called my mum and said: “Mum, I'm going to be friends with this little horse so now I’ve got a job here!” She replied: “You know nothing about horses. What are you doing? You’re not going to own it?” I said: “No, no, no, not own it!” Then I met Ziggy and another horse called ‘Rally’ and we would play, and Ziggy would be a good little lawn mower. So, then I said to the lady: “Maybe I could take her back to the Snowies and she could be my lawnmower!” The lady said: “You get her on the float and she's yours.”

Well, the day that I was going to leave town, the last job I did was to borrow a float. I remember driving in, and I know the sun must have been shining on Ziggy, because about three or four guys came out of nowhere and literally manhandled her into the float, picking her up and putting her in. I brought her down here and she got lonely. She wanted a friend. She would just take off and at one stage she was at a neighbor's standing on their veranda. So, I thought I'll get her a friend and by that stage, I'd met some riding people in the little town of Dalgety, some really good horse people - like they know horses. These guys are generation horseman and they said get a little pony friend. So, we tried that, but she didn't like the little pony called ‘Rocky’ that we got for her and that's when I went on Gumtree, and I saw this man standing on this horse’s back and I thought: ‘well that looks like a quite horse’. I messaged the guy that I really liked that picture, and he replied that the horse is a Brumby. I didn’t know what a Brumby was, except that we have signs that say ‘Brumby’s’ you know what!

So, I went back to my riding friends and told them that I’d seen this this horse that’s a Brumby and they said: “Don't waste your money with it,” adding: “You'll never get your money back when you go to sell it.” In my head, I was thinking: ‘well, why would you sell it if you like it?’ However, that's what people do. They use horses for a period of time and then sell them and sell them again. I contacted the guy and said that I had to sell this little pony called ‘Rocky’, and he said that actually they we were after a little pony and asked if I’d like to swap? So that's what we did and so began my first connection with Brumbies when I drove over to Tumut, another Snowy town, to collect him. It was in the afternoon sun as I drove in and there was a whole load of different horses at this place. However, there was one horse standing with the sun behind it, glowing like the sun. When I looked at it, I hoped that it’s a Brumby. Then when I met with the owner, I found out that this was the horse, a Brumby - named ‘Sunny’.

I’ve had two magical moments with Brumbies: one with Sunny; the other with Sammy – but more of that later - when as soon as I was in their presence it was like I was seeing heaven. I can't explain it. I just was connected. Back to the exchange for Sunny - I got my little pony out and Sunny’s owner had three little girls with him who immediately fell in love with Rocky when they saw him, and so I knew I'd brought him to a good home, so I was happy. Then it was my turn with Sunny, and I said: “Look, I don't know much about horses.” He replied amongst other things that Sunny’s super quiet, but the last thing he said was: “Don't worry, she will teach you and you will teach her.” This stayed in my head, because I brought Sunny back, and of course I didn't know what I was doing!

However, I remember thinking: ‘It's Ok Claire, you don't need to know because this horse will teach me what I need to know’ and that’s also probably why I began the Snowy Brumby Horsemanship, because these Brumbies teach you! They tell you. In a way it's like a language - once you know it / them, you understand it / them! They'll tell you everything you need to know and that is Sunny. Now she’s getting quite a well-known reputation in the Brumby movement because she really is an incredible soul who genuinely has changed people, like she changed me. Now, if there's any day that I don't have confidence in what I'm doing, she will walk up to remind me I'm OK. She gives me the confidence.

Well, when I got her back, I began to realize the total distaste that exists for Brumbies in the horse world. It’s like they're just the mongrel group of the horse world - they're not good breeding; they're not this; they're not that! So, they’re not really respected. This is a question come show time that although changing now, to begin with they weren't even given any class or anything. That’s when I realized that really wasn't the world I wanted to be in anyway. So, I began to find out more about public interest in them in the local National Park and went to my first meeting 10 years ago for the first ‘Wild Horse World National Plan’. It was then that I began to understand the history of the Brumby and its background to this area as the Snowy Brumby and why they are so important.

Petra: How did your interest in horsemanship develop owning Brumbies?

Claire: So that answer is easy it’s the other Brumby, Sammy. After Sunny lived with me for about a year or so I started riding. However, the saddle that I got with Sunny kept slipping and I didn't know how to correct it. I thought maybe it was because it was so heavy, I couldn’t pick it up. So, I saw another ad. on Gumtree a year later for a saddle after I had started doing some riding and training Ziggy a little bit with Pony Club. I went up to see it as the ad. said suitable for a Brumby and I went: ‘terrific!’ This was the next sort of ‘lightning bolt’ experience when I met the young lady and her mum at their property. I walked up and when she showed me the saddle, and as I didn't know much about saddles, I said: “That looks Ok.” Then the mum said: “So do you want to buy the Brumby with it?” I didn't even know there was a Brumby for sale, and they said: “Yes, it's just in the round yard.” I looked up and saw a Brumby that was a totally different colour to Sunny. So, I thought: ‘Wow, that's interesting’ and walked over putting my eyes through the round yard to see this Brumby that to me was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Then I tried to be ‘horsey’ and said to them: “Yes, tell me a bit about her - what does she do; have you trained her?” They replied that she was used as a riding pony for kids, and they’d had her broken professionally. So, then I asked: “What's wrong with her, why don't you want her?” I’d wondered why you’d want to give away such a beautiful animal. The mother said: “Oh, she's not the right discipline for what my daughter wants. She wants to go into camp drafting and this horse isn’t right for it – she wanted a stock horse.” They said that she wanted a stock horse, and I didn't question that. I just thought: ‘Oh, well, that must be true as Brumbies aren't good for much’! So, I asked the young girl if she would like to ride her for me? When she declined, that should have given me a ‘heads up’, but I just said: “Ah, I'll jump on because I want to put the saddle on her.” So, I saddled up and hopped on and as soon as I was next to Sammy, I could just feel her, and I felt such a huge connection I didn't even need to ride her. I just knew that I wanted to give her a home.

Long story short, while she got into the float to this day we don't know how she did because it's the last time she did without panicking. Then we drove her home. I opened the float and I in my mind thought she's going to hop out; meet Sunny; be the best of friends; and everything will be sweet. However, she got out; reared up; took off; and I thought: ‘What have I done?’ She's gone and there was no connection – nothing. I drove around but I didn't see her again that night.

The next day, I managed to get a glimpse of her, but she was in the background. Sammy probably is the most damaged, frightened and misunderstood Brumby I think I’ve ever met. We went through a period of about three years where from not wanting to be next to a person, finally we gained her trust. While I could catch and saddle her, I couldn't ride her and so I had people come and ride her, but she knocked every one of them out! She bucked them straight off doing a ‘Superman move’ that flew them head-first into the ground! Now, I had this Brumby that was way out of my league and way out of control. So, my last resort was a very good horse lady for whom I had a lot of respect. However, she said: “You can't sell her, you have to ‘abattoir’ her as she's going to kill someone.” You have to end a life! I was in tears because I was thinking: ‘This isn't fair; this can't be; how does this happen to an animal!’

Then at the same time, I was given this ‘round yard’ as a gift from Charlie's dad because he saw me struggling to even contain her. So, I started feeding them in the round yard and Sammy kept choosing to stay after the food had gone. So, as I was having my own personal struggles with life and things, I’d go down there and meet up with her every afternoon. I'd have a glass of wine and the radio going and just sit down and make myself watch the sunset, taking five minutes out of being a mum and the craziness of the house by spending five minutes with her. Every time I went there it made me feel good and she felt connected and so we began our journey back from the edge of the cliff. The words of that fellow rang in my ears: ‘let her teach you.’ She taught me: the Brumby language; how to read what she was thinking; when I did something wrong, she would turn her bum to kick me; how to understand her better; to know how to manage her; and then how to do join up! When we rejoined together, she transformed me into a brumby trainer.

Yes, and then I realized she needed people exposure therapy as she would freak out when someone came near her, if I wasn’t there. So, I began to ask people to come and meet her so we could help her get over fear of people and that was the beginning of our tours - how ‘People Exposure Therapy for Brumbies’ started - where we use people to help Brumbies overcome their fear. Now Sammy has learned to forgive everything that was done to her by humans. However, she doesn't forget, and she reminds me of that. Occasionally, I take it for granted but she taught me forgiveness as well, and so if she can do it, I can too. Yes, she's very special!

Petra: Can I ask you to add to this? When we met you were talking specifically about what her journey was; how she was broken-in; and then broken. As I feel most people don't know, or appreciate what the journey of a Brumby is like, can you share more of her story –particularly to show what it looks like when it goes wrong?

Claire: Yes, the practice of what they call ‘breaking-in’ a horse goes back a long way. Essentially, it was to break the spirit of the horse so that then it must be domesticated to work with you. Now, when I talk about ‘breaking-in’, it's more like ‘breaking-from’ - from being an untrained horse to a trained one. What is happening in the not just in Brumby world, but also in a lot of the horse world, is forcing the animal to do something. It will do it, but it will retain an element inside that chooses still to be a bit rebellious, I suppose. It’s like a forced thing. However, if the animal chooses, and wants to do that thing, it will be faithful and perform that role, far better than we could ever train it to perform. So with Sammy, it’s likely she was forced to be ridden and forced to be broken.

While I'm not saying this happened to her, I've seen lots of signs of it as a possibility. For example, you see it when horses are put in a crush – like a metal box, giving them no ability for flight. It's like in a rodeo where you see people hop on the back of a horse to get a saddle on in that way, or to sit on it. The other thing that happens is to make the horse stop doing the wrong thing by doing things like twisting their ears with your hand to cause pain and the pain is meant to make them stop doing that thing, like rejecting the rider. Another thing that is forced upon a horse is tying them up so they cannot get away from the person. When we work with Brumbies, our training method is: everything is by choice, and flight is never taken away. So the Brumby can always move - it can move away from anything we've asked it to do. We do this because through this process, we're building up a connection or a relationship with the Brumby, not forcing it to be domesticated.

For Sammy to survive, she needed to go back through this process of choosing / wanting to be with me and have me as her rider as well. So far, she has chosen to keep me on her back for years now without throwing me off because it's a choice, because if she wanted to get rid of me or any rider she would. I don’t care how good of a rider you are or what saddle you’ve got she could get you off. Also, put her in the mountains, and you're off! When she wants, she's just about impossible and good riders will tell you that she has this ability. However, she chooses to keep me safe on her back and in the last couple of years, she's choosing to keep people I put on her back safe - from little children, all the way through to adults - now even in the bush! Some of our trainers also are riding Sammy in the bush, and if we went back to her beginning that was just about impossible.

Not long ago, the people who sold me Sammy contacted me wanting to buy her back, saying I could name my price. I said to them: “I’m so glad you've seen her progression and I'm really glad you've seen, and are happy with where she's gone - but you can't sell your soulmate!” Then I said: “Look, I can train Brumbies for you, but I can't sell her for any amount of money!” I’m serious, people could offer me $1m., 2m., 10m., and I'm serious. If some stranger came and said: “I'll pay 10 million for that horse.” It'd be a no, absolutely no, not even a hint, a fact that maybe my son might jump up and down about, but for me it would be like hocking your family, you can't and she's my family. Yes, she is -her and Sunny. Yes, it's hard to explain to people; I mean, everyone has their pet dog they love, but our connection, the three of us, goes beyond just that. It is what it’s taught me in the in the end.

Since Sunny there have been many Brumbies who have come here for training and each one of them has taught us something special. Even one we have now who is even harder in his way than Sammy in that he's been very, very badly treated and we still are on the brink. We're still connecting with him, he’s changing, but not quite yet, and I just go: ‘they come to you for a reason and it's Ok to say you don't know what you're doing! If you just look, they will show you; the way will come forward.’ As usual, it does. I haven't met a Brumby yet that behaviorally, we would have to put down. I know of instances where people have raised a Brumby from a foal and it's now out of control, and it's biting, and it's attacking people. There are some random ones that I know for some reason would be just about impossible to train. However, I'm not saying to give up on those either, because you learn so much through the process and possibly, what we call ‘a change’ will occur even where we don't even know it. We can be working with a Brumby - working and working and working, and we feel like we're going to give up and as we don’t seem to be getting anywhere when suddenly, it's like the sun rising after weeks of rain. It's like suddenly you’ve just about got used to that rain and living in it, then the sun rises and you go: ‘hang on a minute, there's a change.’ That's what I've learned, probably most with Sammy and also others, is to have faith in the change.

Yes, and when it comes, it just blows your away. Now, in one of our new ones, Buddy - our little one, the changes started happening on the weekend. We had had all these training clinics and that change didn’t happen, but you don't have to be at the centre of that change, if you know what I mean? However, I had been working with Buddy for eight months and I thought she would never trust humans, and then on the weekend she gave a touch twice, so you knew that the change is happening. I was in tears. I was emotional because it was like: ‘Yes, Yes!’ However, it’s not ‘Yes’ about us as trainers, it’s ‘Yes’ now that horse will have a life - a future that's going to be good for it.

Petra: This is exactly why I wanted to do a story on what you do. I believe that unless people know your story from your perspective, and understand that big love and patience, and so much faith, they're not going to find compassion just with information that’s out there! It's absolutely priceless what you are sharing. It's just a heartfelt story, nothing glamorous; just a real story about something that’s not instant and it's just wonderful.

Claire: It is and there is a meaning for the whole Brumby world and Brumby debate; there's a lot going on, and when people are involved, egos get involved! Then, what we do sometimes can be misunderstood. We're not there to show it’s the only way, if someone's doing something in a positive way for the Brumbies, what we're trying to explain is that sometimes we think we’re doing something which is good for that horse, and yet it's so cruel. So, we're just wanting to open that up, and of course nobody ‘knows’; we're all on the journey of learning and discovering, particularly if we can share the knowledge. Sharing is what I’m about, as I was given the gift of Sammy and Sunny and I want to share that with people who also are working with Brumbies. Because with that gift of understanding them, if we get 10 people doing it, then that's how many Brumbies they can help. However, if we get hundreds of people working with that gift, just think of the number of Brumbies we can help. That's why I’m training people. It's like teaching - you can teach a classroom. However, if you want to teach a community, you’ve got to train and you have to share that gift with all the people to help and build that gift. Yes, that's what it's all about.

Petra: But it's such a new thing, isn't it? The Brumbies haven't been studied; the information about them hasn't really been shared as factual.

Claire: Even on the weekend, I had a person who has a veterinary background come and first off, she stumped me because she said: “A Brumby is just a domestic horse like any other horse.” I understood from where she was coming: “Yes, of course, and a cow is a cow. I get ya.” By the end of the weekend, she began to understand that when wild, the Brumby became more than just the domestic horse, it became a wild horse and, then I said very cheekily to her: ‘It's quite probably a bit like me. I'm a little bit wild, so if you took me to the centre of Sydney, I'm looking a bit feral right now, and probably I would be right out of place.” I'm a human being like they are, but I live a very different life and I would feel threatened in that domestic city setting. I know I couldn't cope. Well, that's not me. So, I suppose I'm trying to explain that you don't have to. Yes, she was strongly from a veterinary point of view - looking more at the blood and the bones than the actual mind. Horsemanship is about training the mind of the horse and a Brumby’s mind is very different to the mind to a domestic horse and so for the training to work, we must develop that training for the Brumby in a very different way.

Petra: So, what makes them unique? What is the current situation with rehoming Brumbies and them being in such a demand?

Claire: So, ‘Brumby’ is the Australian name for a wild horse. When I talk Brumby, probably I have in my head, the Snowy Brumby because that's the area in which we work. However, what makes the Snowy Brumby unique is when they're born into the wild, they're born into an environment with very little pressure from men, and they don't see people. They’re up there in in the mountains where it's ‘Heaven on Earth.’ If you can imagine, it’s rolling hills and valleys that go on for miles and miles with crystal clear creeks; and at night, moonlight and stars like you wouldn’t believe. That's their life. That’s the norm for these horses. There's not a street light, or car light, or town noise. In fact, a plane probably is the only thing they ever heard. Now they were born into that generation upon generation. So, what that meant was their mob, or their family unit was and is ‘gold’ to them and the senses to keep them alive, which are, their sight, hearing, touch, and their connection to each other is like super concentrated. For the alternative, you have a horse that's born into a paddock usually only with its mum; it doesn't run as a group; and usually has one other horse in that paddock. It doesn't move much because it's contained; it gets fed by a human; it has human connection; and it sees cars and people.

When you talk about the difference of uniqueness, you have to imagine the generations of ‘wild’ under which a Brumby has developed compared with the domestication of the common horse. So, the problem is of course, the mountains or the Snowy Mountains. Humans and population have forced those Brumbies into isolated pockets through fencing and then ski resorts and all these other pressures going into their areas. This is then pushing them up into high alpine areas in the snow and it’s not their preference to live up there above the tree line. They want to come back down into the valleys, but they can't. Or they try to and then they concentrate in places like Long Plain, Kiandra. Now through Snowy 2 those areas are getting more and more trucks, people movement and machinery. So now there is friction between people and their wants from the land or their interest in the land and these Brumbies. Also, many years ago, it was the people from the city who would come to the Snowy Mountains who then created it into a National Park. They did so in good faith as it's a beautiful area. They wanted to keep up its restoration, but they just put a big line around the park. Part of that line was farming country and horse country where these Brumbies lived. So now, so some of these Brumbies are in the designated areas. They don't know the difference between standing on land that’s National Park and standing on land that’s Crown land! They don’t understand that where they are living is alpine or contains endangered things - they're just living. Then when it became a National Park, a hatred began between the locals who have a connection to these lands and were forced out by the environmentalists and the ‘city’ people.

Petra: Just to jump-in, those locals would be the farmers - right?

Claire: So, the ‘high-country’ people are the people who like the old timers could have been on the land down to say near Tumut. However, they used to go up to the high country and run the cattle and sheep in Summer, and then come back down to the low country for the wintertime. So there have been generations of this happening. So suddenly, now the major friction is the Brumby. It has become like the symbol of the environmentalists’ hatred and symbol used to represent the high-country people. So now the hatred for them has grown past what is just horse management - it's become like a ‘war.’ It's a war between (some of) the people and the Brumby and then it's also a war of politics, and the politicians right now are giving permission for the Brumbies, especially in the areas of Kiandra, Long Plane and Peppercorn, to be annihilated.

They weren't just trapping a few, they want to take every single one of them out. Right now they have a window of opportunity to do it and they haven't rested. Hundreds are coming out per week. The majority of them. I'm guessing between 60 to 80%, have gone to an abattoir as there are less than 20 official rehomers is in Australia who take Brumbies and they're all getting filled up. So there was no other option. When they get caught and trapped they go straight down to the yards at Blowering and they have less than 48 hours to get rehomed or they are taken to the abattoir. So, you're talking about a mass genocide of the Brumby populations in that area and there seems to be no management to it - like they could allow one stallion to stay out with some mares to keep the genetics of each mob going. It is just whoever was in that trap.

That said and I get why the environmentalists are feeling they need to do it more, but what's happening is every single Brumby when I think of into the horrific conditions they're going through, I think of Sammy and Sunny. Sometimes it seems that it would have been better for them just to be shot out there under the stars and then they wouldn't even know. Instead, we are putting them into a month of absolute terror and pain before death in the abattoirs, or we're forcing them into prison camps, with horse traders selling them into like a lifetime of imprisonment, or just being kept in conditions which are just horrific for them.

Claire: They didn't used to be. If you go back 12 years ago when I got Sunny, remember all the Brumbies were meant to be like mongrels and you'll never get your money back! As something is being reduced to nothing, suddenly that nothing becomes worth something! Back then when I got Sunny, there would have been no question or there would be hundreds of Brumbies in the park and ‘there always will be blah, blah.’ Now as the Snowy Brumby is becoming like a little bit of a collector's item as they have a bit of a reputation and of course, they're about to be wiped out! So why not grab the last one or two of them to have in your little collection of horses in your paddock to rave about. Also, I think over time, it began to be realized how incredible they are as a general riding horse and a bush horse riding, and now people also have started to show them and put them in equestrian events. Maybe also people are beginning to realize that actually there’s something about them that's quite special in a horse.

So people are getting some value but I mean, I was talking to Banksie who's brought this horse down to us and he said five or six years ago, he would go pick up seven Brumbies from somewhere just near Blowering and they were given to him! Now these Brumbies are getting trucked as far as Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. By the way, sending a horse that far costs a lot of money. Why are they getting trucked that far? Well, for example up in Queensland, they're getting sold straight from that truck for up to $2,000 each without handling or training. So, if you're talking about 10 Brumbies going to Queensland at $2000 each, you have $20 grand in that truck.

However now there’s another reason dog meat, which is what Brumbies have become as meat prices are going through the roof. As the manufacturers need to fill those dog food cans and biscuits, a heavy Brumby is reaching $600 to $700 direct from the abattoir. 10 Brumbies is six grand and they're only having to go into Victoria! However, I understand now that some the New South Wales abattoirs are refusing to take horses because they're after ‘weighted’ horses. When a horse is most ‘weighted’ is when a mare’s in foal. So, they're ‘abattoiring’ horses that only have a month left to foal and that's pretty horrific. So that's the sickening part. Our obsession with having our pet dog is resulting in a massive trade in horse slaughter and they're filling it up now not just with Snowy Brumbies. The is word that people are mustering large numbers of Desert Brumbies up in the Northern Territory; putting them on a cattle truck; and sending them down to Victoria. Just for slaughter and some have foals at foot who are dying on the way or just get shot in the truck and chucked out.

Yes, human beings really are why these Brumbies are treated so shamelessly inhumanely, cruelly, and atrociously. Their loyalty to our Diggers in World Wars seems long forgotten!