Most horse people know that but for tourists visiting the Currituck wild horses, it can be a bit unnerving.  Refer to this report, posted today by The Charlotte Observer.

Another press release appeared last week, provided by American Equine Awareness, touting the benefits of the contraption, which can deliver contraceptives to free-roaming horses without human involvement, except to restock the bait and pesticides.

Whose side are they on?

These animals are being forced off their home range because most of their food has been sold to public-lands ranchers, not because they’re overpopulated.

Those who want herd sizes reduced, by roundups, fertility control or any other method, are allies of the ranchers.  Don’t give them a penny!

RELATED: Who Invented the Wild Horse Darting Machine?

He’s facing a fine of $5,000 and/or six months in prison, according to a story posted today by WMDT News of Salisbury, MD.

RELATED: Man Rides Assateague Pony.

The Rule of 5 says the HMA should be able to support 5 × 115 = 575 wild horses, not 115, with 460 horses denied a spot on their home range according to the Rule of 4.  Let’s see how those estimates compare to figures determined the hard way.

The management plan allows 115 horses in an area covering 235,005 acres.

The stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.5 wild horses per thousand acres and the forage requirement is 115 × 12 = 1,380 AUMs per year.  Recall from the post in April that fractional stocking rates may indicate large amounts of forage diverted to livestock.

The HMA intersects five grazing allotments per Section 3.2.1 of the draft environmental assessment for management actions on the HMA.  All of the land is subject to permitted grazing.  A map in Appendix D shows the arrangement.

Allotment data can be found in Table 3a of the EA.  Although cattle and sheep are permitted, the livestock calculations pertain to cow/calf pairs only, as their resource requirements are said to be equivalent to those of wild horses.

The total estimated forage available to livestock inside the HMA is the sum of the forage amounts contributed by each allotment.  For example, 78% of the HMA lies within the Thousand Peaks allotment, which is 183,304 acres (.78 × 235,005).  The forage contributed by that allotment would be 6,785 AUMs per year (183,304 ÷ 332,022 × 12,289), assuming the resource is evenly distributed across the parcel.

The sum of these forage contributions is 9,805 AUMs per year.  The number of cow/calf pairs that each contribution can support is equal to the forage amount divided by the grazing season.  The Thousand Peaks ranchers would have to place 969 cow/calf pairs inside the HMA to graze off 6,785 AUMs in seven months.

The total estimated number of cow/calf pairs inside the HMA is 1,470, with a weighted average grazing season of 6.7 months (9,805 ÷ 1,470).

The estimated stocking rate allowed by plan is therefore 6.3 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres (1,470 ÷ 235,005 × 1,000).  The stocking rates on individual allotments range from 5.3 to 12.6 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.

These management indicators are compared in the following charts.

The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 817 horses (9,805 ÷ 12), for a new AML of 932 (115 + 817).  Both figures are larger than those estimated above by the Rule of 4 and Rule of 5.

The current population is thought to be around 550 wild horses, almost five times higher than AML but well within the capacity of the land to support them (550 < 932).

Roundups are symptoms, not causes.  The Confusion wild horses will be forced off their home range not because there are too many of them but because the management plan gives priority to privately owned livestock, contrary to the original statute.

Management actions, such as roundups and fertility control, won’t occur until the EA is finalized, a Finding of No Significant Impact is issued and a Decision Record is signed.

RELATED: Comments Invited on Confusion Wild Horse Gather EA.

He was eventually located and charged by park rangers, according to a report posted this morning by the Maryland Coast Dispatch of Berlin, MD.  The incident occurred on the Maryland side of the island.

Visitors are expected to maintain a 40 foot minimum distance from the animals.

Refer to this story in the Sacramento Bee.  Includes video.  Probably on the Maryland side of the island.

RELATED: Story of the Assateague Ponies, Keeping a Safe Distance.

The Decision Record, dated June 9, says this about public notification:

The EA was posted to BLM’s ePlanning website and a notice of availability of the EA was mailed to 70 interested individuals, groups, and agencies on April 17, 2020, for a 30-day public comment period.  In addition, a notice was posted in the Malheur Enterprise and Argus Observer newspapers.

However, the project was not announced on the BLM news site, unlike this recent EA for management actions on the Confusion HMA.

Looks like Western Horse Watchers isn’t in the club.

The Barren Valley Complex represents three HMAs in southeast Oregon, according to the final EA, which are managed together because wild horses routinely move between them: Coyote Lake-Alvord-Tule Springs, Sheepshead-Heath Creek and Sand Springs.

On Coyote Lake, 390 wild horses are allowed by plan, with a forage demand of 4,680 AUMs per year.  Privately owned livestock receive an estimated 13,421 AUMs per year.

The management plan for Sheepshead allows 302 wild horses, with a forage allocation of 3,624 AUMs per year.  Livestock receive an estimated 7,276 AUMs per year.

At Sand Springs, the 200 wild horses allowed by plan require 2,400 AUMs per year, while livestock receive an estimated 6,314 AUMs per year.

The wild horse population in June 2019 was thought to be 1,590 adults and 325 foals.

The forage diverted to livestock could support an additional 2,250 horses across the three HMAs.  The combined AML could increase from 892 to 3,142.  The problem is public-lands ranching, not overpopulation.

Although the project is complete, gather dates have not been announced.

Then again, maybe they have.

Fifty five wild horses removed from the Warm Springs HMA in October 2018, but slated to be returned, won’t be released, according to a Decision Record dated 12-10-19.

Eleven older horses were returned on 10-30-19.

The roundup yielded 845 horses, 2 mules and 41 burros.  Some of the mares were to become test subjects for spay research at the off-range corrals in Hines, OR.

The decision was not announced at the BLM news site.

RELATED: Warm Springs Horses Get Short End of Stick.

A story posted this morning by The News & Observer of Raleigh, NC said that mass testing has begun, with the goal of identifying the lineage of every horse on the island.

How are they obtaining genetic material from free-roaming horses?  Darts.

The results will be used to manage breeding, according to the report.

With this much human involvement, are the horses really wild?

Don’t forget the fertility control program.

The scoping period for management actions on the Kiger and Riddle Mountain HMAs began on January 28 and ended on February 29.  The project was not announced on the BLM news site.

The scoping letter gave recipients an opportunity to provide input on a new population management plan for the HMAs.

The next step in the process is to draft an environmental assessment for the plan.

On the Stinkingwater and South Steens HMAs with Mustang Meg.  (WHW does not agree with the remarks at the end of the video about contraceptives.)

Bait trapping ended June 2, with 138 wild burros captured and removed, according to the gather page.  No deaths were reported.

The animals were taken to the off-range corrals in Florence, AZ.

RELATED: Havasu Roundup Pending.

Daily reports have not been posted to the gather page and the cumulative totals are zero.

The incident was set to begin on or about June 15.

RELATED: Jackson Mountains Emergency Roundup Starts Next Week.

Yesterday the BLM announced the opening of a 30-day public comment period on a draft environmental assessment for management actions on the Confusion HMA in western Utah.  The EA looks at the consequences of a proposed action along with those of one or more alternatives.

The HMA covers 235,005 acres in Juab and Millard counties, according to the EA, but the HMA page linked above says 293,665 acres.  The area computed from the data in Table 3a of the EA is 270,574 acres.  (WHW has asked the BLM which figure is correct.)

The maximum number of horses allowed by plan is 115, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 0.5 wild horses per thousand acres, based on the area in the EA.  Recall the observation from April that stocking rates below one may indicate large amounts of forage diverted to privately owned livestock.

The management plan allocates an estimated 10,259 AUMs per year to livestock inside the HMA (88%), according to data in Table 3a, and 1,380 AUMs per year to wild horses (12%).  The AUM distribution will change if the acreage numbers change.

Comments can be submitted online at the project documents page or by US Mail.

WNCT News of Greenville, NC reported today that the Park Service has posted three lesson plans involving wild horses to its Cape Lookout web site.  The curriculum, for teachers and homeschool parents, provides environmental education focused on the ponies of Shackleford Banks.