Here at McDowell's Herbal we are excited to share some images of the Brumbies that have been chosen for the McDowells Australian Brumby Challenge.
The Brumbies for the McDowells Australian Brumby Challenge were caught at different locations at different times. Almost all of the mares were all in foal at capture and so have been given time to foal down in peace at our sanctuary prior to being prepared for the Challenge. The Brumbies that are taking part in the ridden component of the Australian Brumby Challenge were all born in the wild in either the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales or the Alpine National Park in Victoria.
The Yearlings were all conceived in the wild and born at the Brumby Junction sanctuary and raised in balanced family mobs in huge paddocks. The Brumbies in both the Kosciuszko and the Alpine National Parks are being managed by the relevant government and parks authorities as part of an ongoing Park management program.
The capture process used to capture the Brumbies is referred to as ‘Passive trapping’. This is where the rangers who capture the Brumbies set up portable yards, much like a roundyard. The trap yards are left open for the Brumbies to get used to them and then the rangers begin baiting them with mineral licks, salt and occasionally also molasses and lucerne. Once the Brumbies are comfortably going in and out of the yards, an automatic trigger is set up that closes the gate once the family mobs are in. This generally results in all or most of a family group being caught together. The benefits of this are huge and they keep them in their family groups throughout their settling in process at the sanctuary.
After their capture, the Brumbies are trucked out of the National Park to a nearby holding property, from which they are picked up. They are lucky enough to be able to take all the Bogong (Alpine National Park, Vic) Brumbies, but in the case of the Kosciuszko National Park, so many are caught that this would be impossible. They do however, whenever possible, take whole family or bachelor groups, rather than ‘cherry picking’ for assorted individuals or a certain colour or type.
