The Advocates Sound Like a Broken Record

The article about the Black Mountain WHT included a section about Return to Normal (Before WHB Act), a signatory to the “Path Forward,” and the sanctuaries it operates.

In the space of a few paragraphs, fertility control is mentioned five times.

RTF ringleader Neda DeMayo said the horses live as they’re designed to live—except for one minor detail.

She’s been pummeling the mares with a “non-hormonal, reversible birth control vaccine,” referred to on these pages as an ovary-killing pesticide, since 1999.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Chincoteague Herd Loses Stallion and Mare

The stallion died of natural causes. He was not one of the top producers in 2025.

The mare slipped on ice and broke her neck.

The report by WBOC News did not indicate if any foals had been born in 2026.

Known for its abnormal sex ratio and unprecedented birth rate, the saltwater cowboys have engineered the herd for maximum revenue at the annual pony swim and auction.

RELATED: Chincoteague Mare Found Dead.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Moonfire Monday

He’s not supposed to be there.

He made the population larger, the opposite of what the advocates are trying to achieve with their mass sterilization program.

How much longer before they put his mom on GonaCon?

Hitting the population target and proving their pesticide prowess is job #1 at the Salt River.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Forest Service Abandoning Black Mountain WHT?

The herd is so small that it’s in danger of becoming extinct according to an article by the New Times of San Luis Obispo.

A retired ranger from the Los Padres National Forest, home of the WHT, said she’s recommending and hoping that the Forest Service lets it die out.

Western Horse Watchers was unable to find a map of the territory but believes it’s located at the northern end of the Santa Lucia Ranger District based on remarks about a radar dome on page 45 (55 in the pdf) of the land management plan for the forest.

The WHT is not subject to permitted grazing.

The Forest Service does not post AOIs for neighboring allotments so it’s not possible to determine if the target stocking rate (20 horses on 13,3215 public acres) is reasonable.

Objective LG 3 in the management plan says the WHT remains suitable and sustainable over the long term but that was from 2005.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

For Our Wild Horse Valentines

Today we recognize the role of women in the race to eliminate America’s wild horses.

They use your donations to buy pesticides so they can drive the numbers down in favor of livestock.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Wild Horse and Burro Adoptions and Sales Jumped in FY25

Despite cancellation of the AIP, 8,080 animals were placed into private care last year, up 20% from FY24, according to a BLM blog post.

The report did not indicate how many animals were removed from public lands during the same period and if the off-range inventory was rising or falling.

RELATED: Court Halts AIP.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

What Loss of Viability Looks Like

Pay no attention to the advocates and their sob stories about loss of freedom.

They, and their mass sterilization programs, are a far greater threat to wild horses than the legacy contractors and their low-flying helicopters.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Foal-Free Friday, Valentine’s Eve Edition

What advocate isn’t striving to become a certified applicator of restricted-use pesticides?

You could have ordered the latest edition of the National Pesticide Applicator Certification Manual and given it to her on the big day.

Instead, you decided to watch the big game and now it’s too late.

The advocacy groups need more dupes to advance their anti-horse agenda.

PREVIOUS: Foal-Free Friday, S-Word Edition.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Allotment Status in Carlsbad Field Office

The allotment information report at RAS yielded 275 allotments covering 1,964,564 public acres.

The system put 24% of the allotments in the Improve category along with 40% of the public acres.

Nearly 39% of the allotments and 54% of the public acres were in the Maintain category.

Approximately 36% of the active AUMs fell into Improve, with 58% in Maintain.

Results have been summarized in this table:

Category	Allotments	Public Acres	Active AUMs	AUMs / 1000 Ac	Equiv Horses	Horses / 1000 Ac
Custodial	103	128,587	24,360	189.4	2,030	15.8
Improve	66	778,386	135,887	174.6	11,324	14.5
Maintain	106	1,057,591	222,252	210.1	18,521	17.5
Tot / Avg	275	1,964,564	382,499	194.7	31,875	16.2

The field office supports livestock equivalent to 31,875 wild horses.

The results suggest that forage production and carrying capacity are greatest where standards for rangeland health have been achieved.

The original dataset and pivot tables can be found in this spreadsheet.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Wild Horses and Burros Threaten Red Rock Sunflower?

The story takes place in the Calico Basin of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, west of Las Vegas.

Climate change, groundwater pumping and heavy visitor traffic aggravate the situation according to the news release.

A petition calls for protection of the flower as a threatened or endangered species.

The Red Rock HMA borders the project area, which includes deeded acreage, on the west side.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Horse Wrangler Needed at Hines Off-Range Corrals

The temporary position pays $26.85 to $31.32 per hour according to the announcement.

The facility has a capacity of 775 wild horses.

Applications will be accepted through February 18.

You need not be certified in the application of restricted-use pesticides.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Forest Service Moving Double Devil Horses to Tennessee?

The scope of work includes transportation of 36 adults, 36 youngsters and 11 burros to a horse and cattle farm in Pikeville between February 15 and February 21.

The solicitation does not give a reason for the move.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Forest Service Lifts Salt River Closure Order

The termination order went into effect on January 28.

The notice was posted by AZDA not USFS.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Volunteers Needed for WHBAB

The BLM and Forest Service seek nominations for six positions on the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, three currently vacant and three to become vacant in September, according to today’s news release.

The agencies will host a webinar on March 11 to explain the process.

Board members serve three-year terms and meet one to four times per year.

The last meeting was in January 2025.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Mustang Monday

Horses have the day off. At or near the Lake Pleasant HMA with Get Out And Go.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Cutting the Public Out of Public Lands?

Federal land management agencies are supposed to serve the people and protect the environment according to an article in today’s edition of This Is Reno.

But the Trump administration has gutted them and directed them to only work on projects that help oil and gas companies, ranchers and mining companies.

Which has the greatest impact on wild horses and burros?

Drilling and mining affect anywhere from a few acres to a few thousand acres while public lands ranching devours entire HMAs and beyond.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Foal-Free Friday, S-Word Edition

The advocates won’t say it.

The bureaucrats tiptoe around it.

The politicians throw money at it.

What are they trying to accomplish?

The BLM page concerning range and herd health, which applies to the wild horse and burro program not the grazing program, says PZP is only effective for approximately one year, unless four or more shots are given over time.

What do you suppose they mean by that?

PREVIOUS: Foal-Free Friday, Wicked Women of the West Edition.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

2026 Grazing Fee Announced

The new fee, effective March 1, is $1.69 per AUM, up from $1.35 in 2025.

The BLM news release said changes to the fee cannot exceed 25% of the previous year’s price, which is the case this year.

For comparison, the price of alfalfa-grass hay this week was $27 per bale, 20 bales minimum, putting the cost of feed at $135 per AUM (five bales per horse per month).

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Abundant Forage in Carlsbad Field Office

An environmental assessment for grazing permit renewals says in section 1.1 that the field office authorizes 380,544 active AUMs on 1,947,890 federal acres, equivalent to 16.3 wild horses per thousand federal acres.

Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.

The EA did not indicate how many of the acres were in the Improve category.

Comments on the project will be accepted through February 14.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

WARNING: Don’t Provoke an Alkali Hot Springs Roundup!

If the BLM hears too many complaints about the situation they may order a nuisance roundup.

The 80-acre parcel serving as a laydown yard for Project Greenlink is surrounded by public lands identified for cattle, not wild horses and burros.

A solution might be for the contractor to build a sturdier fence while letting the water run onto public lands as it does now so the animals can continue to drink.

Any talk about new trenches or pipes or tanks on public lands would likely trigger a NEPA review and months or years of delay before anything happens in the field.