Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
Alternative A, the Proposed Action, features
The new HMAP was copied to the project folder as Appendix XII.
Both were posted as Word documents.
Comments will be accepted through September 3 according to the news release.
RELATED: Scoping Begins for Callaghan HMAP.
The incident concluded on August 2 with 1,676 horses captured, 1,664 shipped, two released and seven dead according to figures in the sidebar.
There were three unaccounted-for animals.
1,676 – 1,664 – 2 – 7 = 3
The capture total does not include a mule caught on July 21.
The capture and removal goals were 1,675 each.
The daily reports indicate eight deaths, revised downward from nine, for a death rate of 0.5%.
The average daily take was 88.2.
Foals represented 21.2% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 45.6% were male and 54.4% were female.
There were no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.
The operation liberated 20,088 AUMs per year.
RELATED: Adobe Town Roundup Pending.
Assuming that foals are produced by a simple random process centered at 50% males / 50% females, a herd of 150 adults should contain between 37.75% and 62.25% females according to this relationship, where n = 150 and p-bar = .5.
Converting to integers, the number of female adults should range between 57 and 93.
Given that twins are very rare for horses, a herd of 150 adults should not be able to produce 100 foals unless something has occurred that invalidates the assumption of 50% males and 50% females.
Your host sent an email to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company this morning seeking the current size of the herd and the number of adult males and females.
At the 2025 Chincoteague pony swim with Peter Finocchio.
There was no news release but the gather page says Final report July 30.
There were no unaccounted-for animals.
The capture and removal goals were 1,100 and 1,000, respectively.
The death rate was 0.6%.
The average daily take was 21.1.
Foals represented 8% of the animals captured.
Of the adults, 53.5% were male and 46.5% were female.
The name of the contractor was not given.
The disposition of 100 jennies treated with PZP is unknown.
The incident supported three tenets of rangeland management.
Data from Superior Productions, a division of Superior Livestock Auction:
2023
2024
2025
Observations
Hypothesis
The incident started on July 15. Results through July 31:
The figures above are based on the daily reports. Â The sidebar at the gather page says 1,677 horses captured, including a mule, and 1,510 shipped.
The capture goal has been reached.
The sidebar indicates that two stallions were released but this is not documented in the daily reports.
A foal died of capture shock and a stallion was euthanized on Day 16.
A foal was dispatched on Day 17.
The death rate is 0.5%.
The capture total includes 601 stallions, 720 mares and 354 foals, not counting the mule.
The sidebar says 603/719/355.
Youngsters represented 21.1% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 45.5% were male and 54.5% were female.
The location of the trap site is not known.
The name of the contractor was not given.
There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:
The map shows the Rock Springs HMAs before the RMP amendments, which were halted by an appeals court ruling on July 15. Click to enlarge.
RELATED: Adobe Town Roundup, Day 15.
How could a herd of 150 adults, on the Virginia side of the island, produce 100 foals?
Fifty stallions covering 100 mares with a 100% success rate?
Twenty-five stallions covering 125 mares with an 80% success rate?
Have the saltwater cowboys been skewing the sex ratio in favor of females?
All six of this year’s buy backs are fillies according to the auction results.
Ka-ching, ka-ching.
Foals are hard to find on the Maryland side because the mares have been ruined by PZP.
RELATED: Chincoteague Buy Backs Net $355,500.
Bids ranged from $31,500 to $100,000 according to the auction results.
A story by WBOC News says the total for all foals exceeded $1 million.
The six buy backs are the only foals, out of 100, allowed to return to the Virginia side of Assateague Island, along with the adults.
The Chincoteague ponies make their return swim today, minus all but six of the foals.
If you were to visit the island this weekend, you’d think the advocates were poisoning the mares with PZP.
But that would not be the case.
Western Horse Watchers Association 