Progress in wild horse management is never determined from the horses’ viewpoint, only the special interests who benefit therefrom.
To understand the column about Colorado’s HMAs published today by The Colorado Sun, key terms should be explained. Meanings can be validated not by what the writer says but by what his organization does.
Herd Management Areas – A continually shrinking subset of the original Herd Areas, managed primarily for livestock with few exceptions, two cited in the article.
Herd Areas – The lawful homes of wild horses and burros, identified in 1971 when the WHB Act was signed into law.
Sustain Wild Horses – Control the pests.
Fertility Control Darting – Beating wild horse populations down with ovary-killing pesticides, usually Zonastat-H or GonaCon Equine, so livestock can access most of their food and water.
Appropriate Management Level – The number of horses allowed by plan, not the number of horses the land can support, usually small relative to the available resources.
Carrying Capacity – The number of wild horses the land can support if it was managed principally for them, referred to on these pages as the True AML.
Healthy Horses on Healthy Rangelands – Appropriate management levels achieved, ranchers enjoying more of what their allotments have to offer.
Partner Organizations – Groups that claim to be voices for the horses while aiding and abetting their removal, referred to on these pages as charlatans.
The author noted that the Sand Wash roundup was called off because of winterkill.
He stated that livestock grazing in Sand Wash Basin and Piceance East Douglas accounts for 14% and 20% of forage use, respectively, while your host has determined that livestock in Sand Wash Basin receive 3.9 times more forage than the horses and those in Piceance East Douglas receive 2.4 times more forage than the horses.
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Western Horse Watchers Association 