G’day mates, and welcome to this edition of Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants! Today we’ll make our way to the New England Brumby Sanctuary in the town of Armidale in the state of New South Wales, Australia to speak with members of Save the Brumbies, an animal welfare charity dedicated to protecting and ensuring a bright future for Australia’s wild horses or Brumbies.

Brumbies are widely known in Australia as the free ranging characters in the poems of the Australian bush poet, Banjo Paterson. They descend from horses brought from England to Australia beginning in 1788 and are thought to be named after English soldier James Brumby who came to Australia in the 1790’s. When he was transferred to the island of Tasmania, he is said to have left horses behind in New South Wales, where they eventually became wild.

Another theory is that the word “brumby” originates from the Australian Aboriginal word “baroomby,” meaning “wild.” Today Brumbies are greatest in number in the Northern Territory, Queensland and northern Western Australia. Save the Brumbies’ mission is “to see humane, controlled management [of Brumbies] and the abolition of shooting of wild horses in national parks and public lands Australia wide.”

Jan Carter is the founder and president of Save the Brumbies. She is a former aerobics instructor and a retired professional musician. She has recorded an album entitled “Run with the Wind,” which was done as a tribute to the Brumbies and has also written a children’s book about horses called “The Sunflower Pony.”

In October 2000 there was an aerial slaughter of wild Brumbies in a local national park here, Guy Fawkes River National Park. And news got out to the public and local horsemen and it was pretty bad. And until that stage I don’t think Australians or the wider world had understood what is actually going on behind the scenes here. And so I’m a very passionate horse lover and I thought it was pretty awful. I was very upset and so were thousands of other Australians.

So I actually took matters into my own hands at the time, and I started the animal welfare charity “Save the Brumbies.” And our main focus in the beginning was to lobby government and to try to instigate changes and have more sustainable and more humane and better plans and management.

And from there we evolved into passively trapping the horses in Guy Fawkes (Park), bringing them out, as we’re doing now and we have managed to stop aerial shooting in our state of New South Wales here. We’ve now re-homed well over 200 horses in caring homes and that’s what we do here at the New England Brumby Sanctuary.

What are some of the notable characteristics of Brumbies?

They’re tough, they’re hard, (they symbolize) survival of the fittest. And (they are) very intelligent. Since I've come to work with them and to have horses that come in, have a fear for people, to a couple of days later, coming up to you, and then, ultimately bond with you, and put you as their leader, it's an amazing feeling. It's sort of gratifying. Highly sensitive ones that are timid and scared and basically petrified of you, when you eventually turn them around they become (like) kid’s ponies. They trust you that much that then they will allow anybody to do anything. It's an amazing feeling.

They (have) got to survive out in the bush. So all of their instincts, sight, hearing, smell, it’s all basically amplified. These horses will tell you if there’s a different vehicle coming down the road before I even hear it. They can smell; the first thing they’ll do is size you up by smell. They can smell out in the bush if you got a fire coming. Yes, they’ve got to survive on smell. So everything is just a lot stronger; they’re much more sensitive than domestics (horses).

We also asked Lisa Burgess, a Save the Brumbies volunteer, to describe how new horses come to the Sanctuary and get acclimated to their new surroundings.

Generally, I've got to go out, when we get the phone call, that they’re ready for pick up at the parks. I’ve got to go out and assess them and make sure that there are no injuries on them, and they’re fit for travel and there's not too many to go on the one load. Then they arrive here; I put them in their yards. So, they’re here, they settle down for a couple of days, and get used to me.

I feed them up if need be. (I) just wander around them, get them used to me. Then I’ll do any treatments if necessary before I let them out. I like to let them out between three to seven days depending on how they've settled. If they’re starting to come up to me to get their feed, well then, I can safely put them out in the paddocks, which are the smaller holding paddocks here.

When Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants returns we’ll learn more about the pure, natural qualities of Australia’s wild horses, or Brumbies. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

I’ve just turned, oh my goodness, 70. And I think I’m known around here as “the ancient one.” I don’t know that wisdom comes with that, but I do keep fit. For many years I was an aerobics instructor, so I’ve always been actively very fit. It’s just quite simple for me, it’s a good philosophy. I just don’t like eating dead flesh; I prefer a herbivore diet. I do think it’s a healthier way of living, my body tells me that.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants on Supreme Master Television as we return to the New England Brumby Sanctuary to chat with Jan Carter and Lisa Burgess of Save the Brumbies, an animal welfare group that operates two horse sanctuaries to protect Australia’s wild horses or Brumbies and also facilitates adoption of these splendid beings through their “Adopt-A-Brumby” program.

In the wild, Brumbies live in family groups called “mobs” which can be as large as 40 to 70 horses. However a mob is generally much smaller and consists of a lead male or stallion, a lead female or mare and five to 15 mares and their babies or foals. Mobs are hierarchical in nature with each horse having their own place within the group. Young males, called colts, form their own mobs.

The male is usually at the top? Or the ladies?

No. The ladies! Everybody thinks the stallion's the boss. The stallion's not the boss. A stallion's down the bottom of the order, unless he's a dominant stallion. You've got in a mob situation, you’ve got your lead mare, you've got your second in command, then your third, then your fourth, and fifth, depending on how many there are in the situation. And then you got the stallion at the bottom.

With a bachelor group of colts as well, you’ll get that same order of things. You got the leader, and you got the second, third, and fourth. It works; it's just a natural thing. The stallion is basically there to protect. If any danger’s out there, he'll protect them, and he'll be chasing them away, or defending them.

Mares give birth to their foals generally in the springtime. Brumbies are a wide range of colors including bay or a reddish-brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. They are generally 13 to 15 hands high or 130 to 150 centimeters tall.

Can you tell us about these horses, just behind you?

The two we’re looking at here at the moment, probably came in about eight weeks ago. They've been gelded (neutered). Actually they came in just before Christmas. One, the bay, is a four-year-old gelding now and came in as a colt. He came in as a bachelor colt on his own. He's sort of a bit older and this little boy, little chestnut one's a little yearling. He came in with the mob of youngsters over there, the mare and a little stallion.

Dad's over there; he's only going to grow a maximum 13 hands (130 centimeters high). They've settled now, ready to be re-homed; (for) somebody (to) have a look at them and fall in love. Actually, Dirado, he's more than likely been placed. Someone's coming up this afternoon to have a look at him.

Are they a very affectionate species?

Yes, when they bond with you. They’re highly intelligent. And my own Brumby, Adam, he’s Save the Brumbies’ mascot, a very, very sharp horse.

Brumbies have excellent memories and Ms. Burgess has witnessed this trait in these wild horses first-hand.

I went and saw a horse, I’d only handled him once. When he first came in, (I) hadn’t seen him in three years, he knew me straight away. I just did the first handling and it was just straight away, basically he remembered.

Why is it so important for you to be a part of this? To do what you do, working with these Brumbies and saving them, and giving them homes.

Well, for me, I’m a horse lover. I think, for us it’s all voluntary, and it is, for both Lisa and myself, it’s, I think a lot of the time, passion. I think my best memory is feeding an orphaned foal late at night, seeing the moon and the stars; they are beautiful moments. And I think to see a horse come from the wild, know that we have rescued the horse from a bullet and from an untimely and cruel death. And to see that horse rehabilitated, homed with a caring family and to have emails and photographs sent back. People are so proud of them. I think that’s its reward.

We’re doing it basically out of love. (Out of love, well it is ...) For me, they deserve every chance they can get. They’re a good animal; they certainly deserve our respect.

We thank Jan Carter and Lisa Burgess for sharing their love and passion for the wild horses of Australia with us and for opening our eyes to these wonderful beings. May God continue to bless them in their work. Please join us again tomorrow on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants for part two of our program on Save the Brumbies.

For more details on Save The Brumbies, please visit Jan Carter’s “Run with the Wind” CD is available at the same website

Friendly viewers, thank you for your company today on our show. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May the love of Heaven always shine upon us all.