Mounted search and rescue

[EquineArts@aol.com]

I have enjoyed the dialog on NAIS for several reasons, mostly because it appears that others, besides myself, find it totally unnecessary to microchip our horses to know where we/they are. It has been helpfull to keep this issue in my awareness.

If I need to know where I am a GPS will tell me and should I need to find a lost or stolen horse, I would prefer to use conventional means, as well as a wonderful on line resource called NETPOSSE  (www.netposse.com).  If you have not been to this site, please do go there and support that effort. It is fabulous and very effective. it is a non-profit organization and I would rather send my $5.00 there than donate it to the government for a microchip.

There is a health consideration with microchipping:  unless the location of the microchip is accurately documented and avoided, injections for medical purposes into the  mirochip area can cause ugly complications: so reports a freinds whose horse reacted with huge swellings at the injection site in routine care, until a previous owner informed her that the horse had been microchipped.

Considering that he govt is already tracking our whereabouts by car, we might consider the implications of volunteering to help them track us on horseback by microchipping our horses. Domestic horses and domestic cats are able to go feral and survive in the wild if necessary and as horses have survived for millenia without microchips and I do not believe that microchipping will help the survival of the species -- or mine.

I share the opinion that NAIS is an unnecessary expenditure of public funds and continue to welcome ongoing, respectful and informed dialog on this and other issues affecting horsemanship and MSAR.

Respectfully,

Alicia Nation
Santa Fe, NM

Start the Day with Love;
Spend the Day with Love;
Fill the Day with Love;
End the Day with Love;
This is the way to God.
--- Sai Baba

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