Victorian Brumby Association in Glenlogie | Non-profit organisation

Victorian Brumby Association

Locality: Glenlogie

Phone: +61 408 201 107

Address: Brumby Junction Sanctuary 3469 Glenlogie, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.victorianbrumbyassociation.org

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25.01.2022 ***ANNOUNCING THE VBA JUNIOR COMMITTEE*** We're very excited to announce that we are forming a VBA Junior Committee! The Junior Committee will be giving a voice to all of the Brumby crazy and Brumby supporting kids and teens and supporting the VBA in all activities. Thankyou to Emily Grant, Elizabeth Grant, Madison Anne, Josh O’Brien and Matilda De Haan for helping us start up the VBA Junior Committee, if you are a Brumby loving teen who wants to help support the Brumbies the...n contact the VBA to become a VBA Junior Committee Volunteer. TO KICK THINGS OFF..... How would you like to name one of our two Bogong foals who have just been weaned? Well now you have the chance, we are running a colouring competition and the two lucky winners will have the chance to name our Bogong Filly and Bogong Colt. To enter: print off the attached colouring sheet, colour in your dream Brumby and send it to [email protected] or post it to 1861 Raglan Elmhurst road Glenlogie (entry is free). Have fun! From Bridie. the Junior Committee and the Brumbies! The photo shows the filly on the left - she is black and the colt on the right, with the star, being a dork!

25.01.2022 Please read our post dated today regarding this video

24.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 4 * sorry for the long post - have I mentioned that we just LOVE training Brumbies?! Some of the thrills that happened for our Participants on Day 4 was to start seeing our Brumbies feel really comfortable around us! The day started with VBA Mirri being so comfortable with her person Abby that she allowed her to approach for a pat whilst she laid down! Keeping in mind that this filly was completely wild and untouched only three days ago, this was ...Continue reading

22.01.2022 THE NEXT STEP On the weekend, we were delighted to drop off two Brumbies to Trainer Briar Morris of Brizzies Brumbies & Performance Horses . VBA Kimani has been in her forever home for a few years and VBA Bella has come to us from her own home to be rehomed. Both girls are ready for some saddle training Kimani has not been ridden yet and Bella has been ridden, but not for some time. Arriving at Briars lovely property, it was such a thrill to see so many familiar faces! B...riar is currently saddle training VBA Strawberry for his human Simone. Briar has also been doing our Australian Brumby Challenge with VBA Precious and we were thrilled to properly meet Precious new family Mikayla, Jodie and Dave! VBA Red is in training with Briar for his person Joanne, through our Choose Your Own Trainer Program. In addition to that, Briar also has VBA Esther, who she competed in the 2016 ABC with and VBA Levi who she undertook the 2018 ABC with! VBA Diamantina is with Briar for rehoming currently also. The thing that really struck me as I walked around Briars property is how very peaceful it felt the horses were calm and happy, well fed, well loved and well trained. I honestly can’t say enough and highly recommend that you check Briar out if you are in the Geelong region! We will be running clinics for Young people at our Brumby Sanctuary with Briar also this year and are looking forwards to those starting in March! We will bring you updates on Kimani and Bella as they continue in their training, but in the meantime, thankyou to Briar and her supportive and wonderful family for helping these Brumbies to take their next step forwards! See more

21.01.2022 THE BRUMBIES OF BARMAH NEED YOUR HELP! Under Parks Victorias final and approved Plan of Management for the Barmah National Park, 100 Brumbies will be removed from Barmah this year, starting as soon as March this year! Like most of you, we are horrified and have been working to keep the Brumbies wild in Barmah for many years. We will keep fighting for Brumbies to stay wild in Barmah, but what about those that Parks Vic are removing this year? We initially avoided putting in a...n Expression of Interest in them in the hope that they wouldn’t be removed, but the brutal fact is that they will. There are EOIs in for a total of 10 Brumbies from non local groups or individuals. That leaves 90 Brumbies. Parks Vic have stated in their plan that they will not trap further Brumbies after those that have spots for rehoming are trapped. They will instead, start shooting Brumbies in the National Park. The Barmah Brumby Preservation Group has come up with a property that abuts the National Park and have put a proposal to Parks Vic to take those 90 Brumbies. They too, will continue fighting to keep wild Brumbies in Barmah right where they belong. For now though, they have, like us, been forced to face the reality that without somewhere to go, MANY Brumbies will be slaughtered in their home. This isn’t a draft plan, it isn’t up for community consultation, this is done. Fact. 100 Brumbies coming out of Barmah THIS YEAR! Through their hard work and passion, the team at BBPG have developed a realistic plan to care for the 90 Brumbies, right next to the Park, in their homeland. BUT. They require help! They don’t need $300 000, they don’t need $200 000, they are looking for is $90 000 to develop the infrastructure and fencing to keep these special Brumbies safe forever. In the past couple of years, we have been blown away by the generosity of the wider community as donations have come in for court cases to help Brumbies, to groups to take Brumbies and we KNOW that this is possible! Please give to this really important fund this is a real, practical, workable plan that will directly save the lives of 90 Brumbies. We are NOT the experts here. We have been advocating for the Barmah Brumbies since 2008, but local group, the Barmah Brumby Preservation Group is leading the charge here. Please, visit their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/640063936071221 , their website, their Gofundme campaign https://www.gofundme.com/f/barmah-brumby-preservation-group and do whatever you can educate yourself, donate and share!! The Barmah Brumbies are loved and supported by many people and groups. We have seen the incredible effort that HOOFS2010 have put in to save orphaned foals, the feeding efforts by Barmah Brumby Hay Angels and the Barmah Brumby Preservation Group in addition to the many meetings, letters written and support shown by other groups and the wider public. Lets all work together to support this terrific project! See more

20.01.2022 THANK HEAVENS FOR THE CFA! We are sitting here at our Brumby Junction Sanctuary this afternoon, thanking heavens for the CFA! When the Emergency App on your phone tells you that there is a bushfire on your doorstep, it doesn’t matter if it says that it is small! We looked out at the 85 Brumbies (including our own permanent residents) here at Brumby Junction all peacefully grazing in their paddocks, completely oblivious to the fire only a few Kilometres away. The Emergency app tells us that the fire is safe, but it will be an unsettled evening here. We, like every other Aussie though, can rest a little easier because of the women and men from the CFA. We truly are a lucky country and we are thankful! Photos show the view out our door at the moment.

20.01.2022 World Kindness Day calls for a session with the 'therapist'; VBA True Colours, 2yo filly rescued about four weeks ago from Bago State Forest. We would love to see photos of your 'therapy sessions'!

20.01.2022 Please see post dated today regarding this mares injury

18.01.2022 This years Brumby Festival is being held online! There are 2 weeks left to enter, we have some fun classes and wonderful raffle prizes. Head over to the Brumby Festival Facebook page for more information or email [email protected] for entry forms and raffle tickets.

16.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC!! We are SO excited that we are now able to bring you a Brumby Gentling Clinic! We have been unable to even plan for one until now, due to the COVID-19 restrictions currently in place in Victoria. With restrictions now lightening, we can plan ahead for a limited clinic for participants from Regional Victoria only. We will try to plan another once (hopefully!) restrictions lighten even further, but at this stage, we have to work within the limits that we... currently have. Brumby Gentling Clinics are SUCH great fun we love running them and we know how much participants enjoy them too! This is your opportunity to learn all about Brumby Psychology how and why they think the way that they do and why that makes them the PERFECT domestic horse and best friend! You will get to choose your very own Brumby from a group of youngsters aged between 6 and 12 months and then we will coach you through the incredible stages of reading your Brumby what they need from you, how to connect with them and make first contact, halter and lead them. We will head out for walks around the farm, tackling all sorts of fun obstacles (yes, Brumbies LOVE obstacles!) and even more importantly, we will talk you through the next steps what to do when you get your baby home! You will be connected with a private facebook group of other people who have done the same program and get the opportunity to be both welcomed and to share information and stories. What else? Well, of course, you get the satisfaction of knowing that in addition to learning new skills and making a new best friend, you are saving a life! When your Brumby heads home with you, it opens up another space at our sanctuary for us to take in more wild ones! The situation in Victoria and New South Wales is dire for our wild Brumbies and we are needed more than ever to take in wild ones who without us, would be sent for slaughter. Flyer is pinned into the Events on this page and also in Photos. Please get in touch with any questions at all! Photos with huge thankyou to the people who have previously taken the plunge and done one of our Gentling Clinics!

16.01.2022 WELCOME! We would like to extend a huge welcome to our beautiful newest arrivals, VBA Maali (Black swan) and VBA Yindi (Sun) and their baby foals! Caught whilst heavily pregnant from the Bago State Forest in New South Wales, Maali foaled before she was able to come down to us, so she and Yindi were held over at our request until their babies were old enough to travel. Big, big thanks go to Stephen from Lightning Horse Transport. Stephen has a great, safe, very cushy truck f...or wild/ unhandled horses. He is also a great horse handler and understands wild ones. Its been a tough year for us as we are unable to do our own transport, but the silver lining is finding Stephen we can’t recommend him highly enough! Maali and Yindi and their babies overnighted in the yards last night and are heading out today to settle in with one of our larger paddock mobs, where they will have lots of grass, free space and a mob to support then as they raise their babies. See more

16.01.2022 GRATEFUL AND SAD . And STILL ANGRY. BUT MOSTLY GRATEFUL. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster here at Brumby Junction sanctuary over the past few days. On Friday afternoon, with very little notice, 14 Brumbies arrived with us from Kosciuszko. Watching them unload was heartbreaking, seeing the distress and the injuries was even more so. We ARE grateful though. This morning, now that they are settled in, started on antibiotics and we know the vet can x ray two of them tomorrow...Continue reading

16.01.2022 So proud to share this show put on by our great friend and friend of our Aussie Brumbies, Kelly Wilson in New Zealand. Kelly chose to pay tribute to the many Brumbies lost in our bushfire season last summer through this show. Thankyou Kelly and much love to you - they are never far from our thoughts either. Kelly Wilson

16.01.2022 WHY HERDS NEED STALLIONS WOW! Just like their still wild cousins, our recently caught Brumby mares are starting to foal. When our mares arrive with us, our priority is to get the out of yards within a day or so out to the paddocks, where we have small resident groups of Brumbies and they can live in a herd, which is the only way they know how. Keeping them comfortable and stress free gives them the very best chance of raising happy healthy foals. A key part of our ‘wild m...Continue reading

14.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 1 Last week we held one of our Brumby Gentling Clinics here at Brumby Junction. This particular clinic was targeting a group of Brumby youngsters we have here who are aged between 2 and 5 years old, so we ran for 6 days and it was just so incredible! We were delighted to welcome back three fabulous women who had previously undertaken a Gentling Clinic with us, between 3 months and two years ago it is so fun when we get these ‘repeat offenders’ as ...we get to catch up with people who have become friends through our Brumbies! Some of our Clinic Attendees had chosen their Brumby prior to coming and others waited to see which they would feel that special connection with that meant that we all spent some time observing the Brumbies interacting with each other and bringing them in from a smaller holding paddock. We love sharing the background and history of each Brumby as well as of the Brumbies from their region and Australia it is such an important story and needs telling! By the start of the clinic, we had Lisa training VBA Cooma a 3yo strawberry roan filly from Kosciuszko, Brooke training VBA Jarrah - a three year old bay gelding from Kosi, Lisa K training VBA Leela - a 4 year old mare from Bogong High Plains, Kimmy training VBA Misty a 4 year old black sabino mare from Bogong and Diane training VBA Jimmy a 2 year old gelding from Kosi. Our Clinics are all about Relationship building and just like a good relationship, start with learning to read each other and make some connection. We don’t force any of this, we find each Brumby feels more comfortable being approached in the way that they do and they tell us that quickly when we are open and listening. It was so heartwarming to see these relationships building and the Brumbies starting to feel safe with their people! These photos are all from Day 1 we will bring more from the rest of the clinic in the coming days! See more

14.01.2022 VBA MIRRI BOGONG FILLY UPDATE We wanted to thank everyone who contributed towards Mirris vet costs and give you all an update. We took her into the @Ballarat Equine Vet to see the specialist there and we thought leave her there for surgery. The good news is that for now, the surgery hasn’t happened. Part of that is due to a virus that young Mirri has picked up most likely due to the stress that her forced confinement to deal with the leg injury has given her. She has ...a snotty nose, which rules her out as a surgical candidate. As a precaution, both her lungs were ultrasounded to ensure that there wasn’t anything suspicious going on and a nasal swab was taken, which we will head results from mid next week. The specialist also clipped her leg for another ultrasound this fillies haircut is going from bad to worse!! The news on the Ultrasound front was an improvement. Linked with her blood test results, an infection was able to be ruled out. That means that she does have Osteomyelitis, which is an inflammation of the bone and serious stuff, but it ISN’T linked to an infection, which would be really, really nasty stuff! Basically, it appears that rather than a puncture injury to her leg there, she has had a blow a kick or perhaps she has whacked it on a fence etc. The bone has sustained some damage, which is significantly worse than a bruise the damage has actually eaten away at the bone itself. The good news was that since her last ultrasound on the 13th of November, there looked to be brighter margins, indicating healing. Our specialist has sent Mirri home for two weeks to get over her virus prior to reassessing her back at the clinic. The hope is that the bone will be undertaking some visible healing by that point, which may mean that the surgery is not necessary. So. For now, we wait! The Gofundme fundraiser that we started has raised almost $1500 as of this morning, which really helps us hugely. Her current vet bill is sitting at almost $2300 and we are hoping that if surgery isn’t required, we will be able to keep it under $3000. That is a huge amount of money, but we know that this filly deserves every chance we can give her! Thankyou all for all of your support for Mirri. Photos show Mirri heading off to the vet and some of her terrible haircut after her ultrasounds at the vet! It will grow out! :) See more

13.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC SPACES! *** UPDATE: we are still looking for wonderful homes through this Brumby Gentling Clinic, for VBA Jericho, VBA Jiminy, VBA Fletcher and VBA Rupert - please get in touch if you are interested in helping them along their journey from Wild to Wonderful!!***** We still have several spaces available for our upcoming Brumby Gentling Clinic here at Brumby Junction sanctuary. The only way that we can keep doing what we do, is by continuing to rehome Br...umbies to fabulous homes. If you are looking for a Brumby and that ultimate connection, then this Brumby Gentling Clinic is for you! We have been asked so many times to run one of our Gentling Clinics with older Brumbies here is your chance to take on a slightly older Brumby than we generally have in these clinics and learn from our experienced trainers, how to train them yourself from scratch! We have attached photos and information about the Brumbies who are looking for homes through this clinic couldn’t you see yourself taking one home? These youngsters have had all their vet work, have been well socialised in standard paddocks and are used to all the goings on of a busy farm. All they need is YOU! Please get in touch with any questions. See more

13.01.2022 Please folks, we really need your help! Please donate if you can and SHARE this!! EDIT: 28/11/20: We are delighted to revise our fund raising total WAY down to $3000 after a terrific Specialist vet visit yesterday! Thankyou to everyone who has supported Mirris journey so far!

12.01.2022 PLEASE HELP OUR BRUMBIES BY DONATING TO OUR HAY FUNDRAISER! https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-keep-our-brumbies-belies

12.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 3 Day 3, like every other day, was repetitive and predictable. Why? Because that’s what good trainers are! Our Brumbies and trainers are continuing to build their beautiful relationships and the trainers are working hard to be predictable and reliable. Just looking through these photos and the expressions on the faces of our trainers and their Brumbies bring us so much joy you can see the love! We did also continue to learn new things, with halter...s on most and several of our Brumbies now heading out for walks with their person. These first walks for some were simply to step outside their yards, be calm and have some lucerne and then return. Others went down the laneway to our enclosed obstacle course paddock, where the Brumbies got to play on some of our simpler obstacles - something that Brumbies are by nature, fabulous at! The walks are aimed at being relaxed and comforting, which gives the Brumbies the chance to learn without even realising that they are learning, because they are having fun! We ‘seed’ the trails we are walking on with little piles of lucerne, which gives the Brumbies a chance to stop and eat calmly if they are unsure, then continue again. Our attitude to training is that once our Brumbies THINK that they are doing really well at this domestic horse gig, then they will continue to be great at it and today really proved that. See more

10.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 2 Although a couple of trainers achieved first touch on the first day, day 2 was the day that everyone started being able to reliably approach and touch their Brumbies. Touch is such an important part of every relationship and we try hard to ensure that we don’t get ‘outcome oriented’ trying to get halters on while Brumbies are still not ready etc. It really is a gift that these Brumbies allow us into their space so soon and we need to keep buildi...ng their curiosity and confidence, rather than asking for ‘more, more, more’! With that in mind, each Brumby was progressing at its own pace, as was each trainer. Brooke, Kimmy and Lisa, who had attended a Gentling Clinic previously were blown away by the differences between the Brumbies they were training in this clinic and the Brumbies they trained last time, further reinforcing that each one, just like us, is an individual! The photos say it all really! See more

08.01.2022 Come for a virtual tour of our Brumby Sanctuary!

08.01.2022 THE VETS AND THE XRAYS. Today was the big day for two of our new arrivals. Young VBA Cinnamon has a terrible knee and VBA Tiana has the leg injury that she got unloading from the truck on Friday. We started with Cinnamon, who is just a super sweet filly! She had been sore on her knee after jumping off the ramp on the truck, but had improved, although the knee is on a terrible angle. Xrays showed that Cinnamon has what the Vet calls ‘Angular Limb Disease’. This may have occu...rred after a slight deviation in her knee at birth got worse as her long bones in her leg grew unevenly or it may have been caused by an injury whilst she was very young. The vets recommended that whilst Cinnamon will never be suitable to be a riding horse, she is quite sound in the paddock for now. Due to the angle of her knee, we expect that she will get some arthritis as she ages, but we hope that her sensible Brumby nature means that she will take it easy on that knee! Tiana has been a huge concern from the start and the Vets agreed with us that her situation is very touch and go. There is a lot of swelling on her stifle area which made xrays unclear, but it appears that she has a deep puncture wound, which has entered her joint. The joint is oozing serum and she is currently showing no signs of infection. Thankfully, the antibiotics she has been on since her arrival seem to be working. Should an infection get into the joint, the only thing that could save her is a Ten Thousand Dollar surgery! For now, the course of treatment recommended by the Vet is antibiotics and Prayer! We will keep the antibiotics up to Tiana and would appreciate any positive thoughts, prayers or good energy anyone can send her way! Tomorrow, Tiana starts learning to be a domestic horse she needs to be trained and ready for further Vet consults and treatment! Things will be very touch and go for a few weeks for Tiana. We owe a HUGE thankyou to Bridie for being so very capable and managing the entire Vet visit without other assistance!! We don't have very many photos though, as even Bridie couldn't manage that as well as being chief assistant! See more

07.01.2022 Well, it poured rain ALL DAY today, but we had work to do and our fabulous committee here to do it! Today, we brought in our big paddocks of wild ones to change them around a bit before this years foals arrive. We don't breed any Brumbies here of course, but we have 3 mares from Bogong and 6 from Kosi who are all looking very pregnant! The video shows Zorro and Thoras mob coming in - after we convinced them that we had no hay!! HUGE thanks to Bridie, Hannah and Jules - it is so amazing having such an incredible team!!

07.01.2022 HELPING WILLOW We were recently asked to help a Brumby mare who had come from the APY lands in (the top left corner of) SA a couple of years ago. Although she had been living with domestic horses since her arrival in Victoria as a pregnant freshly caught 4yo, this 6-7 year old mare was quite wild and in need of some TLC. Willow arrived with us just before Christmas and looking at the photos, you can imagine that our first thoughts were that this beautiful Perlino Brumby was g...oing to need to get used to some sun protection! If you are not familiar with Willows colour, Perlino is a dilute version of Bay. Bay horses having no dilute gene, Buckskins being Bays with one and Perlinos being bays with two diluting genes. This works in the same way with Chestnuts, Palominos and Cremellos. The important thing from our perspective, is that Willow has pink skin and green eyes. Wearing a face mask really has to become part of her every day routine. Willow also had a very bad split on the inside of one of her hind feet, which went all the way up to the coronet band and required quick attention. This week, Willow was ready for a meet and greet with our wonderful Trimmer Fiona. We hadn’t planned to do anything with her feet as she isn’t ready for a proper trim yet, but Fiona was quite concerned about the heel of her damaged hoof, so after meeting Fiona, Colleen introduced Willow to the race and the concept of having her right back leg handled from the left side (the hoof injury was on the inside of her hoof, meaning access was fiddly). Being in the race always includes lovely lucerne hay, which Willow was quite happy to eat whilst her hoof was attended to. After only a few minutes, Fiona was able to use a hacksaw to remove the horn of heel that had split away. The base of the split part has impacted into her heel, so we hope that with the pressure removed, it will start to drop down and can also be removed. Brumbies are incredibly stoic Willow would have been in significant pain from this injury, yet she has not limped at all since her arrival with us! Willow is also wearing her sun mask quite well now and is happy to have it put on and removed. She still requires some more handling, gentling and educating, but she is progressing well! Willow isn’t looking for a home, but another example of groups and individuals working together to help Brumbies and we are delighted to be able to help! See more

07.01.2022 Entries are now open to all Brumbies for this incredible award. It doesn't matter whether your Brumby is a trail horse, a show horse, a beloved pet or companion, this is your chance to tell their story! Please follow the link in the post to enter the Aroha Te Whare Memorial Brumby Of the Year Award.

06.01.2022 Huge day at Brumby Junction today as our wonderful Veterinarian, Dr Jim visited. In total, we got eight stallions and colts gelded and microchipped and another 6 mares and fillies microchipped. Our 'big boys' VBA Sparky, VBA Spirit and VBA Tango were aged at 7, 5 and 6 respectively. VBA Sparkys big knee was assessed as an old and now arthritic injury, so it looks permanent sadly. VBA Tiana, our filly who punctured her stifle joint unloading from the unsafe truck NPWS se...nt her to us in, was also assessed. Her joint looks remarkably good, although her joint capsule is clearly enlarged. Tiana has now gone out to the paddock for a year of rest with the rest of the mares before a final assessment. Baby VBA Chilli chose today to come in to be gelded VERY lame. He was assessed as having a hoof abscess and had a poultice on his foot as WELL as being gelded! VBA Waru, although only a yearling has been a real wild child since his arrival with us. He is incredibly reactive and flighty and not very good at keeping himself safe when panicked. After significant doses of sedative, Dr Jim and our team decided that our wouldn't be safe to either continue with him in such a reactive state OR to give him further sedation. It was a pretty unusual situation and one we have never before been in. Waru has been put in with the super chilled VBA Chilli to try to help him settle more. The next few days are important for our new geldings - keeping them moving is the key to helping them maintain minimal swelling and heal quickly. Tonight though, we are all resting up!! Huge thankyou to Hannah as always and Dr Jim too! See more

06.01.2022 CHOOSE YOUR OWN TRAINER PROGRAM COMMENCES! We were so excited to send home the first three Brumbies into our Choose Your Own Trainer Program today! We developed this program to make it a little easier for Trainers to step up and train Brumbies giving Approved Trainers and their clients access to completely untrained Brumbies who have had all of their vet work and gelding completed already. This helps us to find homes with families who have close associations with their own ...trainer or who would like to be involved with the training of their Brumby. Today, VBA Flame, VBA Cocoa and VBA Dynamite headed off to Approved Trainer Jennifer Renouf at Southern Brumbies in Geelong. Owners Sharon and Jorja were super excited to start this journey with their Brumbies and Jen! You can read more about the Choose Your Own Trainer Program on our website: www.victorianbrumbyassociation.org , click on the ‘Rehoming Brumbies’ tab and then ‘General Information’ to read all about it and see some of the Brumbies we have available through this program! See more

05.01.2022 VBA FUNDRAISING CALENDAR Each year since 2008, our VBA Brumby Calendar has been our biggest fundraiser of the year. We hadn’t planned to do one for next year, 2021, as there are several very beautiful Calendars which have already been put out, but you guys keep asking, so we have listened! We are doing a limited run of VBA Brumby Fundraising Calendars for 2021! As usual, our Calendar featured Brumbies in the wild as well as Brumbies being the amazing and very loved domestic h...orses that they are. Every penny that you spend on these beautiful Calendars goes back to help care for the Brumbies that we have here at our Brumby Junction Sanctuary. We are only ordering enough Calendars to fulfill paid for orders, so this is your chance! The Calendars will feature on our website only until 5pm, Monday the 16th of October if you want to have our beautiful Brumbies on your wall for a whole year as well as showing your support, please head over and order! Calendars will be sent at the end of the first week of December. You can order here: https://victorianbrumbyassociation.org/shop See more

05.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 3 Day 3 was a LOT of fun! We started with a demonstration, where Colleen worked with VBA True Colours, a Bago mare who was only caught a few weeks ago. True arrived with us with an injury and her human interaction began with four days of antibiotics and bandaging her leg, which will be ongoing for many weeks. Colleen is working a develop Trues confidence in being approached and in building the size of her ‘try’, something we are also working on wi...th our Young Brumbies in the Clinic. Our Trainers continued with their repetitions and the Youngsters really started putting things together on this day! Some of the younger Brumbies have been very hesitant to put their heads up and to look at their trainer, but that’s OK, we have given them the time that they need and seeing them start to trust is fabulous! All our Brumbies started wearing halters today. We also introduced the concept of leading again, by breaking it down into incremental steps. We don’t start this learning using the halters, they are just there for the Brumbies to get used to them. We start our leading training with our neck ropes, which we just find much easier for our Brumbies to get used to at the beginning. Our focus in these early days with our untrained Brumbies is to develop confident learners - we can't train for every circumstance, but we can develop confident learners with good relationships with their trainers - that will keep them both safe in the future! We ended the day starting to work on ‘nose control’ based on the fact that brains follow noses!! VBA Jarli even went out for a small green pick with her trainer Brooke. True with two training sessions outside her own yard was Jarlis ‘support crew’ for this first venture. Continuing on our theme of relationship building, we always start by using support horses the benefits of an emotionally stable support horse for our Youngsters are massive! See more

05.01.2022 WE NEED HELP! The Victorian Brumby Association has been running for 14 years we have rescued many Brumbies in that time and done a great deal of other work that comes with rescue. We need help though! If you are interested in helping us to continue our mission to save as many Brumbies as we can/ educate the public about the risks that they face in the wild and lobby government for a better deal for our Aussie Brumbies, please get in touch! Your help could come in so many fo...rms and you may be able to help either on site at our sanctuary or remotely from your home. The Brumbies need us more than ever and they need you too. We have our first Volunteer day of 2021 coming up on Saturday the 20th of February we would love to see you there, where we can work together and you can meet all of our wonderful Brumbies! Please remember that we need to work within the current COVID guidelines, so you must let us know if you plan to attend. Bring your own mask and we will have sanitising stations around the property. Bring your own lunch and we can have a picnic in one of our ‘maternity paddocks’ and watch the Brumbies at peace! See more

05.01.2022 VBA Jackaroo and his mob jus couldn't resist coming over to check us out while we were walking a fenceline today. Jackaroo is a permanent resident here who was caught as a 16 plus year old stallion from Bago State Forest three years ago. Jack is caretaking a mob of youngsters, aged between Two and Six, who were caught from Bogong High Plains, Kosciuszko National Park and Bago State Forest. These guys are right at the top of our 'to do list' and will be coming in for training and to start looking for their forever homes in the coming months.

04.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 5 Day 5 is really where we put together all the concepts that we have exposed our young Brumbies to over the course of the past few days. We talk a lot about them being exposed to concepts, rather than training them as we fully acknowledge that 5 days isn’t long enough to cement skills. Good horse training is boring and happens over weeks, months and years, not days! Part of the way that we support our Trainers going forwards is through a private ...Facebook group which we have set up for people who have done our Brumby Gentling Clinic. It’s a great supporting group and owners can not only share photos, but they can ask for advice both from us and from others who have done this program. Trailer loading. It is a big thing! We have spent our week practising breaking down big skills into achievable components. We did more of the same on day 5! We have already practised walking over timber bridges to simulate the sound and feeling of loading ramps on horse floats. We did more bridges today, as well as starting to lead our young Brumbies between obstacles that were close together and into and out of smaller gateways and yards. We mixed this training up with lots of green picks, a lovely wander around the lake and a very relaxed morning continuing to build our trust relationships. We finished our day with a supported load onto our new Brumby owners floats and sent our Brumbies home! It felt really quiet here after we farewelled Emma and Pepper, Pablo and Maddison, Jarli and Brooke and Amy and Dora! Young Mirri will stay with us for a couple of weeks until her transport home to Abby has been arranged. A huge thankyou to Hannah and Bridie for all the love, expertise and enthusiasm that you shared with our Brumby Trainers. . And to Brooke, Amy, Emma, Maddison and Abby thankyou so much for taking that big leap of faith and opening your homes and hearts to our Brumbies by doing this clinic! Your commitment allowed us to save more Brumbies as we knew that they had great homes to go to! See more

04.01.2022 ....'.WEANER TYPE THINGS' - NPWS SIMPLY DOESN'T CARE. So this morning at 10am, a message was left on our phone by the staffer from NPWS who is responsible for dealing with ‘disposing’ of Brumbies. We called back twice no reply. We called that staffers boss twice no reply. Just now, at 1.40, our call was returned. This is the staggering part! The staffer from NPWS advised us that they had 15 ‘horses’ and would like to deliver them to our property tomorrow afternoon. We in...formed her that we don’t take in ‘horses’ only Brumbies and would need more information. This was the reply: There are 4 stallions, 5 mares and 6 weaner type things. That is a word for word quote! THIS is what we are dealing with!! ‘Weaner type THINGS’?! We asked if they had, as they promised two weeks ago, contacted RSPCA to check on our concerns regarding transporting the Brumbies in a truck with what we believe is a non legal surface. Flooring for horses is required by law to the non slip. The truck that is being used has a steel floor with Rio mesh welded on. Designed for cattle/ sheep etc, who have CLOVEN HOOVES! The NPWS staffer advised that they hadn’t as yet done that and the time frame was now too short to get an answer from a ‘very busy’ RSPCA. THIS is why we struggle! NPWS lies to our face (‘we haven’t had any Brumbies through which fit your very narrow requirements’), they lie to others (the same lie). We provided proof that they were lying and STILL, they have stuck to the lies! Now, when we asked them to check something regarding the welfare of the Brumbies and to ensure that the LAW is not being breached, they haven’t done that. Lets be honest, they don’t intend to. Guess who is responsible for those Brumbies once they set foot on the truck? Not NPWS! We are! Our request is a sensible and reasonable one. We don’t accept that as ‘no one else has had any problems’, the slipper metal floor is OK. We want to know that it is acceptable to the RSPCA. We have talked until we are blue in the face with this particular staffer and her boss. We have asked for honest and open communication. We asked to be advised when the traps were open again and they envisaged starting trapping they didn’t tell that they had recommenced. We asked them to check on welfare, they haven’t. We have outed them about this, provided proof etc and nothing at all has changed! So we wait - and we HOPE that NPWS will do as they have said they will....... Photo shows our empty yards - ready and waiting for the last two months, even though Brumbies have gone to the knackery! See more

03.01.2022 WORLD KINDNESS DAY Today is World Kindness day! The past few days, we have been targeted by trolls on Facebook ad have been feeling so frustrated at the impact that their behaviour has on the Brumby cause as a whole, separating people. But TODAY, is World Kindness Day a day where we have been reflecting on the kindness and support that we have been surrounded by through our Brumby journey. There are many stories that we could tell you this is the one that we chose. In 201...Continue reading

02.01.2022 BRUMBY GENTLING CLINIC DAY 2 Today, our Trainers continued to work on many of the same things. We feel that good horse training is all about breaking down skills, doing many repetitions and offering the horse the chance to build trust with you. We also worked to build Trainers understanding of how Brumbies learn, how they think and how amazing the seemingly small thigs we do really are! One of the exercises we use to show this is asking our Trainers to put a halter on each ...other - this really helps to show what an intimate act it is to have both arms around another beings head, which contains so much of their sight, hearing and scent. Being 'haltered' by someone you have just met is certainly an uncomfortable feeling at best! Armed with this new appreciation for such a basic act, we continued to build those relationships... We always try to remain focused on the relationship, not the ‘goals’, but first touches happened for every young Brumby today, which is just the most thrilling thing! You will notice from the photos that each Brumby was approached in a different way. There is a good reason for this! One of the really important things that we are working on building is two way communication the horse that feels that their trainer will listen to them is a safe horse. They don’t need to do extreme behaviours like bucking etc because they are allowed to share their comfort zones etc with their trainer. We had our wonderful Hannah helping today. Hannah did a demonstration with VBA Stockman. Stockman was chosen and trained by Natasha in a Gentling Clinic last year and has been turned out with no further training for ten months. Stockman was so beautifully trained and supported by Natasha that not only has he retained all that he learnt in that 5 days, but he has continued to improve and learn. He was a great example of how important the relationship is! By the night of Day 2, it is easy to worry ourselves with the thought that the Clinic is almost half over, but the relationships that are starting to form between Brumbies and Trainers really start coming together, making so many other lessons easy! See more

02.01.2022 A Brumby is a Brumby, but they are ALL different!! Beautiful older stallion VBA Spirit is VERY afraid. When we have Brumbies like Spirit arrive with us, our first priority is making sure that they don't hurt themselves. Our yards are great as they are 6' tall, they are portable, so when a terrified Brumby crashes into them (which like it or not, DOES sometimes happen!), they will give a little, which makes serious injury less likely. We also have put down a super, non... slip surface to help prevent falls. Next, we need to keep ourselves safe! Generally, the last place a Brumby wants to be is on top of a person, but when they are REALLY frightened, they lose the ability to keep either themselves or us safe. We work quietly around them, always leaving them an exit route and we try to stay out of the middle of the yard as this can trigger them to charge around the edges in panic. Then, they really need to learn to breathe and realise that they ARE going to survive! We start training when they are ready. Spirit, being so very frightened, needed some settling time, but he also needed our help to realise he was safe here. On Saturday, after about ten days of Spirit watching as we went about our days here, Hannah starting spending some quiet time in his yard with him. By Sunday, he was eating from her hand! The first video was taken mid last week when Spirit had already settled a great deal. The second on Sunday. Sometimes, it is really hard to look at a terrified Brumby and feel like we are doing the right thing, but we live for these breakthroughs - these steps forward, when our wild ones start to realise we can be friends. We had no say over Spirits removal from the wild, but we CAN ensure he has a safe and happy future. The future that is right for him, whether that be here in our big paddocks or off in a home, trail riding etc. Spirit will let us know...... and we will listen to him. We have had some people ask about food rewards. Yes, we generally use them, but we don't always. We have a stallion who arrived with Spirit who is VERY stoic and quite defensive of his space/ yard. We will post more about him and how we are training him soon! See more

02.01.2022 Here are beautiful permanent residents Zorro (black with blaze) and Thora leading our newest arrivals, 4 of our pregnant Kosi mares, out to their big paddock so they can settle in before foaling. We just love seeing them happily out in the paddocks!!