ON Wednesday, May 5 Mansfield local Clara McCormack rode Rocky the brumby to the steps of Parliament House calling for a moratorium on culling brumbies in Victoria.

Leading a rally of several hundred from Treasury Gardens, the group presented the leader of the Liberal Party Michael O'Brien, with a petition of 177,000 signatures calling on the government for the slaughter of wild horses to stop.

Labor Minister for the Environment Lily D'Ambrosio was invited to receive the petition, as the cull falls under her jurisdiction, however, she failed to attend the rally, with the Liberal leader Michael O'Brien assuring the rally that he would pass the petition on to Ms D'Ambrosio.

As yet, organisers of the demonstration have not received a response to the petition.

"We're just asking the government to refrain from shooting any brumbies, until we've had a good sit down talk with them about managing the problem," said mountain cattleman Charlie Lovick.

"There are plenty of other options that we have put on the table to control numbers, but they seem intent on culling our heritage horses without giving us the opportunity to prove our worth and manage the brumbies as we know how."

Taking Rocky the brumby to Melbourne was a case in point, for rally organisers.

Caught in Omeo a couple of years ago, Charlie Lovick has re–trained the wild horse, and though Rocky had never been to the city before – nor twelve year old Clara on horseback for that matter – this glorious little brumby acquitted himself so beautifully that everybody fell in love with him.

"It just demonstrated how well brumbies respond to being caught and broken in, and ultimately become these great horses that kids can manage and ride," Mr Lovick said.

"We only had Rocky at the rally – only one on horseback – as it was all about the brumby, and we wanted him to be centre stage."

On the steps of Parliament, Mr Lovick spoke passionately about the cause along with numerous other speakers, with Liberal member for Northern Victoria, Wendy Lovell, and state member for Eildon, Cindy McLeish, throwing their support behind the rally.

The rally in early May was just part of a more extensive campaign that not only includes petitions and demonstration, but also physical actions with solutions, with the ultimate goal to force parliament to take notice and address community concern.

On Friday, May 21 a group of around 60 gathered at the Merrijig Motor Inn, in support of protecting the iconic alpine brumbies.

Rocky was in attendance again.

On the third weekend of June, a more clandestine operation has been scheduled in to stop the shooting of brumbies.

Barmah is on the Victorian border, east of Echuca, on the edge of the Murray Valley National Park.

The Barmah Brumby Preservation Group have been particularly proactive in fundraising, both on a national and international scale, to create a sanctuary for the Barmah brumbies effectively removing them from the national park.

However, having come to loggerheads with the Labor Government, Parks Victoria and the Yorta Yorta Corporation, the group have had to make a stand.

According to the group, they have been told by Parks Victoria that they would rather shoot the Barmah brumbies than trap and re–home them to the sanctuary.

In response, the group along with Charlie Lovick and the horse men and women of the High Country, intend to muster the horses themselves and take them to safety, running the mob into the sanctuary.

"The government seem to be trying their hardest to eliminate all possibility that the people like ourselves – who know the horses, can catch the horses and can re–train the horses – have anything to do with managing the problem," said Mr Lovick.

"The only expertise the government seems to have in handling brumbies is to shoot them."

Charlie Lovick also wants legislators to address the bigger issue of leaving brumby carcasses in Alpine regions, exacerbating a wild dog problem that is already out of control.

"It seems counter–productive when talking about eradicating introduced species, to provide a readily available food source to these predators, effectively extending their breeding season and allowing subordinate bitches to raise litters," Mr Lovick said.

"There are so many concerns with the current policy.

"And it has inspired a real cross section of the community to support the cause.

"There is no financial benefit, no ulterior motivation.

"We just are happy to go into the High Country, and bring the horses in.

"Some will be re–trained and others to go into allocated sanctuaries, but all done humanely without injury to the animals.

"And we'll keep the billy boiling until the government allows this to happen.

"We won't stand for the continued shooting of brumbies."