On the Yakama Indian Reservation with Rick Rinehold.

Finally got a new controller for the UV sterilizer, warranty claim took three months to process.  Old one had been in service for about a year and a half.

A few weeks later a leak appeared on one of the tank tees.  Turned out to be a crack in a threaded connection, probably caused by the pipe plug.  The fitting is threaded on the inside (female) and outside (male).

Replaced with a ball valve.  The system supplies water to the Virginia Range mustangs.

The naturally occurring water sources in the Muddy Creek and Sinbad HMAs are in hazardous locations and not accessible to wild horses and burros, according to a rebuttal posted yesterday by Citizens Against Equine Slaughter.

The organization insists that water must be provided until monsoon season.

RELATED: BLM Removes Unauthorized Water Troughs in Utah.

May and June are the best months to find them up here.  Elevation 6,200 feet.

Looks like they’ve arrived on the Virginia Range.

Who dunnit?

RELATED: Handiwork of the PZP Zealots?

One of the most-viewed herds in the western U.S., the name of their HMA means “place of salt,” according to an article posted today by the Standard-Examiner of Ogden, UT.

The term is pronounced “Onakee.”

A report posted today by The Hill says that 220 positions are shifting from Washington, DC to the new headquarters in Grand Junction, CO, with additional jobs moving to offices in other states, leaving just 61 employees in the Washington office.

Unfortunately, only 68 employees have agreed to move, leaving many unfilled positions in the new locations, including several top posts.

The agency hopes to complete the move to Colorado in July, according to the story.

RELATED: Why All the Backlash Regarding BLM’s Headquarters Move?

Trailcam photos from the Virginia Range.

RELATED: Their Goal is Sterilization.

The agency said today that the tanks were drawing wild horses and burros away from better forage in the Muddy Creek and Sinbad HMAs and habituating them to unnatural water sources.

An aerial survey on May 30 confirmed that natural water sources were available and that the public should not be concerned just because a pond near a road dries up.

Interested persons should always reach out to a nearby BLM office before taking any actions to support the health of wild horse and burros, according to the news release.

How many examples can you find in this story about the Fish Springs wild horses, who inhabit an area east of Gardnerville, NV?

• Flying an airplane or drone too closely
• Buzzing them in a paraglider
• Stalking them with clipboards and darting rifles

Nope, that last one doesn’t count.  Firing contraceptive darts into their hindquarters, with all the attendant risks, is much less invasive than low-flying aircraft.

RELATED: EPA Ordered to Reconsider PZP Registration.

Virginia Range mustangs spar briefly then go their merry way.

At Theodore Roosevelt National Park with Stacey & Siy’s Travels.

Nope, his job is to be wild and free on his home range.  This may be hard to understand, but for that to happen he first has to be conceived and born on the range.

Refer to this story by The Outer Banks Voice.  They’re not predators but desensitizing them to humans is not a good idea.  What happens if they approach you?

RELATED: Keeping a Safe Distance.

The dished out area in the center of the foot suggests that most of the weight is carried by the hoof wall, not the sole.  With roughly 60% of the weight carried by the front legs, that means about 300 pounds per hoof for an average horse.

Wild horse tech: Estimate the contact pressure in pounds per square inch.

RELATED: What Is the Mustang Roll?

Is that a mare in the distance?

BLM announced today the beginning of a 30-day comment period on an environmental assessment for wild horse and burro management in the Nevada WHR.

The WHR, one of four areas in the western U.S. (out of 177) managed primarily for wild horses, covers 1.3 million acres and has an AML of 500, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 0.4 wild horses per thousand acres.  Normally a rate that low could be sign of trouble—if it was an HMA—but livestock grazing is not allowed on the WHR.

Amendments to the land use plan restricted wild horse management to approximately 484,000 acres in the northern part of the WHR.

Actions to control herd size could also include sex ratio skewing, contraception and sterilization.  Options are discussed in Section 2.0.

Substantive comments can be submitted at this page.

The last roundup occurred in August 2018, with a 3.9% death rate.

Today the agency cited recent efforts to combat wild horse overpopulation, including the adoption incentive program, fertility control research and report to Congress.

The news release said that an estimated 95,000 wild horses and burros inhabit lands that can only support 27,000.

Why can’t the land support more than 27,000?  Refer to the following image but don’t say anything, because nobody’s allowed to talk about it.

RELATED: Hypothesis Revisited.