Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
A news release posted on Friday said that volunteers are needed for a one-year pilot project, beginning now, at adoption events and off-range corrals.
Responsibilities include public outreach, event promotion, transportation of animals and post-adoption compliance checks.
Young adults are encouraged to apply, regardless of experience.
The wild horse and burro outplacement program helps the public-lands ranchers enjoy more of what their allotments have to offer.
On the right is the M11 / W12 boot from the previous post. On the left is a M12 / W13 boot, just received. The length is the same but it’s still a bit narrower. The sidewall is thinner, not great for cold climates.
The top edge of the M11 / W12 boot cut into my right shin, chafing the skin away, even with a tall sock. Had to fold the rim down to get it to heal.
These boots were a favorite but there are probably better options on the market.
They found some snow-covered grass on College Parkway, according to a story posted yesterday by Carson Now. Includes photos.
A commenter said it was “Part of the heritage and charm of living in Northern Nevada.”
Couldn’t agree more.
Sometimes the horses can be found by taking Goni Road north, into the hills.
They also graze in and around Centennial Park, east of the airport.
BLM announced on Thursday the opening of a 30-day comment period on a preliminary Environmental Assessment for gathering and removing excess horses on the Reveille HMA in central Nevada.
The HMA covers 105,494 acres and has an AML of 138, for an aimed-at population density of 1.3 wild horses per thousand acres. The target density across all HMAs is one animal per thousand acres.
The Reveille HA, marked red in the map above, contains the HMA. Horses were found there in 1971 but the land is no longer managed for them.
The HA and HMA lie within the 650,520 acre Reveille Allotment. See Map 2 in the EA.
One permittee, who grazes the entire allotment, receives 25,730 AUMs per year from the BLM, per Section 3.2.4 in the EA.
The HMA intersects roughly 16% of the allotment (105,494 ÷ 650,520), suggesting that an additional 4,173 AUMs per year are available in that area, but have been assigned to livestock, with a twelve month grazing season. See Table 1 in Appendix F of the EA.
The management plan allocates 1,656 AUMs per year to horses in the HMA, according to Section 1.5 (138 × 12).
The livestock AUMs convert to 348 cow/calf pairs, with a population density of 3.3 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.
These figures are presented in the following charts.
Appendix F states that 2,210 AUMs were allocated to livestock in the HMA, about half of the amount estimated above.
The BLM has limited flexibility in managing wild horses in the HMA, due to a court order that requires roundups whenever the herd size exceeds AML. Refer to Section 1.3 of the EA and Section 1.4 in the Supplemental Information Report. The case was brought by the PLR mentioned above.
Comments on the gather plan can be submitted at this page.
You don’t have a horse problem on western rangelands, you have a ranching problem.
Field work is complete, according to a report posted yesterday by the Maryland Coast Dispatch, with findings expected later this month.
Last month, a member of the WHBAB pointed to the herd, on the Maryland side of the island, as the gold standard for wild horse management, even though its size declined from 78 in November 2018 to 75 in November 2019 and its sex ratio is far from normal.
The BLM announced today the opening of a 15-day comment period on the preliminary Environmental Assessment for testing of a single-dose vaccine that will cause long-term infertility in wild mares, to help the agency achieve and maintain a thriving ecological balance [on public lands].
The news release did not indicate what’s on the other side of the scales but more than likely it’s privately owned cattle and sheep.
What they’re really looking for, according to page 5 in Section 1.2, is lifetime infertility, code words for sterilization.
Section 4.4.1 says that the WHB Act of 1971 provides for contraception and sterilization of wild horses. It does not. The terms are not in the statute.
The reference should be the WHB Act of 1971, as amended [by ranching interests], which no longer affords the protections sought by Velma.
The proposal adds more weight to the argument that the agency entrusted with the care of these animals actually views them as pests—something to be eradicated.
You decide.
A 45-day comment period began yesterday, according to a report by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, to help county commissioners make a decision regarding a proposed wild horse adoption facility near Burns.
Personnel from Equine Elite, the company pitching the project, didn’t like the answer given by residents, so they asked the county to change the rules, silencing those voices.
An interesting and valuable follow-up to the story would be to find out what’s driving it.
Why was ‘No’ an unacceptable answer? Who benefits as more and more wild horses come off the range?
RELATED: What’s Up with the Laramie County Planning Commission?
The folks at Dictionary.com announced this week that the word of the year for 2019 is ‘existential,’ as in existential threat—something that puts the nation at great risk, such as, you know, wild horses and burros.
Actually, the subject was not included in the list of examples, but climate change, gun violence and the Trump administration were, suggesting that the site is run not by wild horse enthusiasts, but by left-wing ideologues. Butt sex, baby murder and open borders didn’t make the cut.
Oh wait…the runner-up word was ‘nonbinary.’ That removes all doubt.
Fifty wild horses are allowed by law to inhabit the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southern Missouri, so every year, some of them are gathered and offered for adoption.
“Shawnee, Wild and Tame” chronicles the first year of a filly born in January, 2018.
Although the foal is the central character, the author thought the book would be a good way to tell the story of all the wild horses living near the Current and Jacks Fork rivers, according to a report posted today by The Salem News of Salem, MO.
More suggestions for the new year.
Here’s your chance to become an ambassador for the Banker Horses. You must be at least 18 years old and able to walk the beach for a four hour shift, once a week.
Openings exist at Shackleford Banks and Rachel Carson Reserve.
Refer to this story by WTVD News of Raleigh-Durham, NC for more information.
UPDATE: See also this news release from NPS. Includes link to online application.
On Onaqui Mountain HMA (pre-gather) with Karen King.
Consent of the governed, it’s so medieval.
You don’t build an 80-acre facility with a capacity of 5,000 animals on the chance that the BLM might want to use it in their wild horse outplacement program.
There must be a Memorandum of Understanding, at minimum, between the BLM and Equine Elite, the LLC that would build it.
Earlier this year, BLM requested bids for long-term care of wild horses and burros in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas (panhandle only), Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Contracts would be awarded for 200 to 5,000 animals, with four-year and nine-year renewal options.
The company pitching the project was established on 03-08-19, according to this profile, four days after the solicitation went public.
That the BLM is awarding contracts to private parties for large-scale corrals, or at least signaling its intent to do so, may mean that a wink and a nod have come out of Washington and that funding of the ruinous Path Forward is imminent.
If the proles won’t go along with the glorious plan, silence them or sweep them aside.
Better yet, make an example out of them.
Property owners within three miles of a proposed wild horse adoption center did not approve the project, but Laramie County Commissioners have a solution: Change the radius to one mile, cutting those stakeholders out of the process!
Refer to this story, posted today by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Construction of the facility, a possible stepping stone to mass removals of wild horses and burros from public lands, per the disastrous Path Forward, must be blocked.
Western Horse Watchers Association 