July 09, 2010

The Story of America's Wild Horses

For anyone who loves horses, you've got to tune in to hear Susan's guest Karen Sussman. Karen has devoted her life to saving America's wild horses and burros and is the only woman in the world that tends to four wild herds. We'll hear about the lives of wild horses and how they are different and similar to the domesticated horses we know and love.

Episode Segments:

Wild About Pets: The ISPMB Karen tells Susan about the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, and its founder Velma Johnston. She also talks about how the ISPMB honors the culture of the Lakota, and outlines the differences between wild and domesticated horses. Photo courtesy if ISPBM
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Wild About Pets: Understanding Wild Horses Karen discusses the social makeup of horses, and how it can be easily disrupted. She then talks about how the Bureau of Land Management is rounding up these wild horses, and what happens to them if they are not adoptable. Photo courtesy if ISPBM
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Wild About Pets: Helping the Wild Horse Karen talks about the unique bond between horse and human, and what everyone should know about wild horses. Karen also tells you what you can do if you’d like to help the wild horses of America and the ISPBM. Photo courtesy if ISPBM
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Links to Related Websites:

Look While You Listen! Click here to view the photos Susan and her guest are discussing.

Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Karen Sussman Karen Sussman is president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, the oldest wild horse and burro organization in the United States. She follows in the footsteps of her predecessors, Helen Reilly and Wild Horse Annie (Velma Johnston). Ms. Sussman has devoted her life to saving America’s wild horses and burros. Currently, she is developing the first wild horse conservation program in the United States creating a model management program for entire wild herds. The herds must qualify as threatened or endangered. The conservation program is home to four herds of wild horses two of which exist nowhere else in the U.S. except at the Conservation Center. The herds are monitored daily. Ms. Sussman has received bipartisan support for her efforts, both in Congress and the Department of the Interior. She has served on the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board in 1990-92. Ms. Sussman has received numerous awards for her work with wild horses and burros. In 1996 she and her Black Mountain Eco-team received the Health of the Land Award from the Secretary of the Interior for their five-year commitment diffusing an extremely volatile situation after 50 wild burros were shot to death in Kingman. Called in initially by the governor of New Mexico, Ms. Sussman worked for ten years with the White Sands Missile Range helping to prevent the slaughter of wild horses on White Sands. She organized two national conferences and created two national alliances pertaining to the Del Rio Investigation and the Burns Amendment. She signed the first MOU with the BLM in 1989 to do Volunteer Compliance on adopted wild horses in the U.S. Ms. Sussman worked actively within the prison wild horse training programs and assisted the BLM in coordinating a consistent training program for wild horses within the different prisons. She created the first rescue program in the U.S. where no BLM adopted horse or burro was ever sold to slaughter within the entire state of Arizona during the five years of the rescue’s operation. In 2006, she was inducted into the Mustang Hall of Fame at the Wild Horse and Burro Expo in Nevada. In 2007, she organized the largest rescue of wild horses since the closing of the slaughter plants in the U.S. Over 225 wild horses were adopted and 100 remain at the Conservation Center awaiting placement in Wisconsin. Ms. Sussman has appeared on many TV programs and has been quoted in many national and international press articles. She is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where she received her diploma in Nursing in 1967 and currently works four days a month at the Indian Health Service Emergency Room in Eagle Butte, SD. She also was an accredited pre-collegiate piano instructor in classical music for 12 years before moving to SD. She served on the Board of the League of Women Voters and is an original member of the National Museum of Women’s History in Washington, D.C. ISPMB Website

A video about wild mustangs and "Wild Horse Annie", founding president of the International Society for The Protection of Mustangs and Burros.