06/08/2026
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This post will probably upset some people, but I think it needs to be said.
If we genuinely care about the future of Australiaβs brumbies, then we also need to be willing to look at ourselves. One of the biggest problems I see within the advocacy movement isnβt just government policy or public opinion. Itβs the way we treat each other.
For years I have watched advocates, trainers, sanctuary owners, volunteers and rehomers turn on one another over the smallest disagreements. Instead of working together, people are criticised, abused and ostracised over wording, opinions or minor differences in perspective. We have become so busy fighting amongst ourselves that we are losing sight of the very animals we all claim to be protecting.
Last night I decided to conduct a simple experiment.
A respected brumby advocate gave a speech where she referred to brumbies as an introduced species. That was enough to start a hate campaign against her. So I commented and simply said, βThey are an introduced species.β
Nothing more.
I didnβt say they should be culled. I didnβt say they donβt deserve protection. I didnβt say they have no cultural significance. I simply stated a historical and scientific fact.
Brumbies are an introduced species.
That isnβt an opinion. It isnβt anti-brumby. It isnβt political. It is simply the accepted historical and ecological classification of horses in Australia. They were brought here by people. That is literally what an introduced species means.
The irony is that many of the same people who rejected that wording also argue that brumbies came here with European settlement, helped build Australia, served alongside our soldiers and were later released into the bush. Those stories are part of our history and they also describe exactly how an introduced species comes to exist.
What happened next was disappointing, but not surprising.
Instead of anyone explaining how my statement was factually incorrect, the conversation immediately became personal. I was called an animal abuser. I was accused of wanting every brumby shot. People claimed I knew nothing about horses or brumbies. Racist comments were made. Complete strangers invented opinions that I have never held, all because I used scientifically accurate terminology.
Not one of those responses changed the fact that brumbies are an introduced species.
This is the problem.
Some people have become so emotionally attached to a particular narrative that any factual statement they donβt like is treated as an attack. We are reaching a point where simply acknowledging accepted science is enough to be labelled the enemy.
That should concern every single person who genuinely wants a future for these horses.
Real advocacy is built on credibility. If we expect governments, scientists and the wider public to listen to us, then we cannot dismiss established facts because they are uncomfortable. Acknowledging that brumbies are an introduced species does not mean supporting aerial culling. Acknowledging that they have environmental impacts does not mean they deserve cruelty or extermination.
Both things can be true at the same time.
Brumbies are beautiful animals with cultural significance. They deserve humane treatment. They deserve opportunities for rehoming wherever possible. They also exist within ecosystems they did not naturally evolve in. None of those statements cancel each other out.
What concerns me even more is how quickly some advocates turn on the very people who are actually trying to help.
My friend Kiralee Jones is one of those people. She has dedicated countless hours, resources and money to giving brumbies a future. Yet much of the criticism directed at her is because she is training these horses and finding them homes, instead of keeping them indefinitely while people hope they can one day be released back into the wild.
That idea might sound nice, but it ignores reality.
Every brumby costs money to purchase, feed, handle, train and care for. Every extra horse requires fencing, infrastructure, veterinary care and countless hours of work. Adoption fees are not about getting rich. They are what make it possible to rescue the next horse. Without some financial return, the work simply isnβt sustainable.
History has also shown us that court challenges have not always resulted in long-term protection for these horses. While people argue online about what should happen, the horses still need somewhere to go today.
What frustrates me most is that the people throwing stones are rarely the ones carrying the financial burden. Itβs easy to criticise a trainer from behind a keyboard. Itβs much harder to open your own wallet, take on another horse and commit months or years of your life to giving it a future.
Iβve also watched another worrying trend emerge. Some people have become so emotionally invested in an idealised version of the brumby that practical horse welfare is being overshadowed. There is outrage over horses being separated, stallions being gelded or brumbies being adopted into individual homes.
But wild brumbies are incredibly adaptable animals. Family groups naturally change. Young horses leave. Stallions lose mares to other stallions. Mobs split and reform. That is normal horse behaviour. We need to be careful not to project human emotions onto situations where the horseβs welfare should remain the priority.
Imagine what we could achieve if all of that energy was directed towards helping horses instead of tearing down the people trying to save them.
Every volunteer who walks away is one less person helping brumbies. Every trainer bullied into silence is one less experienced home available for these horses. Every sanctuary pushed to breaking point is one less safe place for a brumby to go.
Who benefits from that?
Certainly not the horses.
Healthy debate is important. People will always have different opinions about management, conservation and policy. That is normal. But there is a huge difference between debating ideas and attacking people. If someone cannot even state an accepted scientific fact without becoming the target of abuse, then we have stopped advocating for horses and started policing ideology.
The future of the brumby movement will not be decided by who shouts the loudest or who is the most offended.
It will be decided by the people quietly doing the work. The people catching, training, rehabilitating, fundraising, educating and giving these horses a future.
Those are the people we should be standing beside.
Written by: Vanessa Thurner | Coolabah Equine
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