Yesterday we discovered a quick way to estimate the number of wild horses an HMA can support. Another simple relationship that falls out of the post about forage supply and demand is for horses displaced by privately owned livestock.
Here’s how they fit together:
New AML = Old AML + Horses Denied = 5 × Old AML
Solve for Horses Denied:
Horses Denied = 4 × Old AML
A simple estimate of the number of horses displaced by other mandated uses of public lands is to multiply the current AML by four.
This corresponds to the four missing horses in the original post!
Returning to the Jackson Mountains example, the number of horses denied a place on their home range should be about 4 × 217 = 868.
This compares favorably to 846, the number of horses denied, computed the hard way.
RELATED: How to Compute Horses Denied.
Western Horse Watchers Association 