Imagine completing 198 laps in a 200-lap race and running out of gas.

This news release about the Wild Horse Fire Brigade, written by its creator and leading proponent, plays the course well but chokes on the back nine in the final round.

Roundups and stockpiling of captured animals are costly, as the author notes, and they represent irresponsible use of the taxpayer’s money and the public lands.

The 768,000 AUMs per year needed to support the 64,000 animals in off-range holding are readily available in their lawful homes, at a loss of $1 million per year in grazing fees but with savings of $70 million per year in holding costs.

Who wouldn’t jump on that?  The bureaucrats, ranchers and their political allies.

These figures were not mentioned in the announcement.

Fertility control and on-range management are euphemisms for chemical sterilization of mares with vaccines that cause illness instead of preventing it.  Spot on.

Wild horses and burros were to be protected from capture, branding, harassment and death, and their land was to be managed principally for them, yet we see everything that was prohibited in the 1971 Act.  Correct, the Act no longer affords the protections sought by Velma!

In case you haven’t been keeping score, we’re ahead 3-2 in the top of the eighth.

Keeping wild horses in areas where they are in conflict with commercial interests guarantees they will remain targets of those interests, resulting in the highly flawed and costly management concepts previously cited.

Oh crap, bases loaded.

Is there a solution to the problem?

Yes, the Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan, also known as the Wild Horse Fire Brigade.

Move the horses to remote wilderness areas not particularly suited for livestock grazing, or anything else.

Using just 20 million acres of these vast water and forage-rich areas, up to 100,000 wild horses could be relocated as family bands, at the rate of one horse per 200 acres (five horses per thousand acres), ending the conflicts with commercial interests.

Dang, the other team just drove in two runs.

Where would the family bands come from?  Not from the off-range corrals and long-term pastures.

Why resolve the conflicts by getting rid of the horses?  That’s what the advocates do.

The same result could be achieved by confining the ranchers to their base properties in a year-round off season, while expecting them to pay the going rate to feed their animals.

This would be in line with the original statute.

Game saved with one out remaining.

RELATED: ‘Wild Horse Fire Brigade’ Means Victory for Permittees.

Contrary to the Division G summary issued by the Senate, the organization’s president claims in today’s news release that the higher level of funding marks a new direction for wild horse and burro management.

Like most advocacy groups, Return to Freedom is known for its unwavering support of safe, proven and reversible fertility control—which doesn’t exist—as an alternative to capture and removal.

Resource allocations and management priorities are never questioned.

RELATED: BLM Shuns Montana Solution?

Like the House news release, the December 20 announcement by the Senate appropriations committee included links to the full bill, division summaries and explanatory statements.

However, the Division G summary puts a different spin on the authorization for the wild horse and burro program.

“The wild horse and burro program is provided $148 million to accelerate removals from degraded and drought-plagued areas, to house horses off-range, and to jumpstart a fertility control program to reduce the future horse population.”

The emphasis is on removals, off-range holding and on-range management (as the advocates like to describe it).

Research was not mentioned.

The new roundup schedule does not reflect these priorities.

Not yet, anyway.

RELATED: Committee Releases Overview of FY 2023 Omnibus.

The Division G summary for the 2023 spending bill says it provides $148 million for the Wild Horse and Burro Program, including $11 million for research on reversible immunocontraceptive fertility control.

Not long ago, the advocates secured $11 million for use of their favorite pesticide in PZP Amendments.

What changed?

The truth is coming out.

For years the advocates have been lying about the safety of the Montana Solution.

The vaccine causes illness instead of preventing it.

Mares whose ovaries have been destroyed are referred to as self-boosting, not sterile.

If PZP is banished, they have no reason to exist.  They are one-trick ponies.

It’s time to move on and tackle the real problem: Resource management in areas set aside for wild horses and burros.

RELATED: Committee Releases Overview of FY 2023 Omnibus.

The Park Service is working on a new livestock management plan that will protect native species and the natural prairie ecosystem at the expense of nonnative horses and cattle, according to a story posted this evening by The Bismarck Tribune.

Not mentioned in the report:

• Horses appear in the North American fossil record, cattle do not
• The horses at TRNP were put there by the Park Service
• The original herd, thought to be descended from Sitting Bull’s horses, is gone
• If you want to learn about the original horses, visit the Nokota Horse Conservancy

An advocate interviewed for the story said all the horses can’t stay but maybe the Park Service can keep some of them.

You have to give them credit: They think alike.

“If we get rid of them, they can stay.”

RELATED: Advocates Criticize Treatment of Horses at TRNP.

The National Data Viewer suggests it was.

Unfortunately, allotment #06799 can’t be found in RAS.

The records probably haven’t been discarded, pending the arrival of that glorious day when the WHB Act has been completely nullified.

They could spend more time on the range pummeling the mares with their favorite pesticide and less time devising ways to separate you from your money.

Their mission is to help the bureaucrats enforce management plans that assign most of the resources to privately owned livestock in areas set aside for wild horses.

If you think they’re doing a good job and deserve a share of your estate, refer to this month’s episode of “Wild Horse Tales,” starting on page 13 in the December edition of Horse Tales.

Donations from ranchers and ranching sympathizers always accepted.

RELATED: The Trials and Tribulations of the Advocates

Can you identify them?  They appeared at a December 9 fundraiser themed “Stay Wild Denver” with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and his sodomite partner Marlon Reis.

As for wild horses, they prefer removal by pesticide to removal by helicopter.

Let the ranchers have most of the resources.

Refer to this story in Colorado Politics for the answers.

That’s probably not a surprise to many in the wild horse world but a statement last week on socialist media, reported yesterday by The News & Observer of Raliegh, NC, might raise a few eyebrows:

“This time of year, the herd spends 89% of the day, or 16-plus hours, fattening up for winter.”

If 89% of the day corresponds to 16 hours, then a day spans just 18 hours, not 24.

Maybe it’s a typo—or an undocumented effect of global warming.

The story also indicated that the horses poop 1.5% of the time, with travel and rest occupying 10.5% and 12.5% of their day, respectively.

Western Horse Watchers thought they spent 98% of their time hiding from the advocates, who have been targeting the mares with their favorite pesticide.

RELATED: Praising the Currituck Advocates.

You want to help wild horses but don’t know who to support.

Western Horse Watchers doesn’t either.

Most of the 501(c)(3) nonprofits are fraudulent.

They tell you they’re saving wild horses while they’re actually getting rid of them, with benefits accruing to the public-lands ranchers.

If they talk about cruel and costly roundups, humane management and cherished wild horses, your donation may be used to dart the mares with PZP, a restricted-use pesticide and sterilant marketed as a safe, proven and reversible vaccine.

File under: Charlatans.

A story dated December 2 by the Western Livestock Journal said the Public Lands Council and U.S. Forest Service have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperative monitoring of grazing allotments on National Forest System lands.

The MOU will allow sharing of information about rangeland health between permittees and the Forest Service and will strengthen the partnership between them, according to the report.

A similar agreement with the Bureau of Land Management is expected by the end of the year.

An article dated December 9 by Wyoming Livestock Roundup indicates that range monitoring carried out by permittees will be accepted by the Forest Service as a legitimate source of data and the agency will treat that information as its own!

The writers did not indicate if the ranchers’ reports would be subject to audits or other administrative controls.

The Public Lands Council and its parent organization, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, have been pushing for changes to standards for rangeland health, temporary non-use and flexibility with on and off dates, according to WYLR.

The groups submitted an appropriations request of $153.1 million for the wild horse and burro program [in FY 2023?], which was about $20 million higher [than FY 2022?].

Like other government dependents, they want the federal government to confiscate more and more money from American wage earners and spend it on programs that benefit them.

This process, known as “redistribution of wealth,” is a hallmark of liberalism, socialism and communism.

The beacon illuminates once a year, on December 7, in honor of those who died in the surprise attack.

Defined by their unwavering support of the Montana Solution and management plans that assign most of the forage to public-lands ranchers, they are to be opposed at every opportunity.

This chart shows you what they’re trying to protect.

The cart also explains why you see capture, branding, harassment and death of wild horses, all prohibited in the original statute.

“You have to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses.”

This chart shows you what Congress intended.

There was only one requirement for lands to be managed in this manner: Horses were found there when the legislation was signed into law.

If you’re thinking about a year-end donation to a group that talks about cruel and costly roundups, humane management, keep them wild and free, or protect our cherished horses, think again.

RELATED: The Carrying Capacity Puzzle.

With most of the advocacy groups wedded to the Montana Solution, and eager to support the ranching agenda, there aren’t many opportunitues for charitable contributions to help wild horses.

Refer to this list for organizations to avoid.

The segment in the Saving America’s Horses trailer about surgical sterilization includes a remark about wild horses living out their lives as dead-end populations, destined for extinction.

Which of the following advocates warned that the herds will die off and the horses will be gone if there’s no reproduction?

a. Suzanne Roy

b. Neda Demayo

c. Simone Netherlands

d. Ginger Kathrens

e. Joanna Grossman

All are adherents of chemical sterilization via the Montana Solution, the centerpiece of HR 9154.

RELATED: New Documentary Looks at Horse Slaughter?

The CBS reporter in this film from Day 4 of the Twin Peaks Roundup asks the BLM spokesman at 2:38 if his agency manages the herd to keep the herd and he says that’s exactly right.  The goal is healthy herds on healthy public lands, which means most of the resources consumed by privately owned livestock, as specified in the land-use plans.

Western Horse Watchers knows what you’re thinking: Do the bureaucrats sound like the advocates or do the advocates sound like the bureaucrats?

You decide.

“If we get rid of them they can stay.”

“We’re protecting them from removal by getting rid of them with PZP.”

“If we don’t get rid of them the BLM will.”

RELATED: CBS Mornings Looks at Twin Peaks Roundup.

The November edition of Horse Tales has been published, including a column about the Montana Solution by the real estate agent and PZP darter in the Minden/Gardnerville area.

The listings are on the back page.

The front page has three photos of the Pine Nut horses.

The first thing you notice is not the backdrop, which is magnificent, but the absence of youngsters.  This is the handiwork of the advocates.

The theme of the article, starting on page four, is “If we get rid of them, the BLM won’t have to.”

The ad at the bottom of page nine shows how you can support their mission, which is to ensure the public-lands ranchers can access most of the forage in an area set aside for wild horses, as specified by the bureaucrats in the land-use plans.

“The birth control vaccine,” which is is actually a restricted-use pesticide, “is not available to the general public.”

“Every darter must be certified by the Science and Conservation Center,” the Billings School of PZP Darting.

“There will always be opposition to any program, so it is essential you understand the vaccine, how it is created, the costs and protocol.”  Yeah, some of us want the horses to succeed, not the ranchers.

“It is important you understand it well enough to be able to explain it to concerned people who believe we should leave nature alone,” which means you also need training in lying to the public, which the advocates will provide.

The remainder of the article considers the almost insurmountable difficulties facing the advocates in on-range management of wild horses: Stalking them in rough terrain, identifying the right mares and obtaining good shot placement.  Any errors and (OMG) they might get pregnant.

Imagine hiking a quarter mile up a hill and aiming your trusted darting rifle, when an off-road vehicle or motorcycle zooms by, scaring the band off at a full gallop!

“But the public lands must be shared with everyone, and everyone has a right to be there,” including privately owned livestock, which she consistently fails to mention.

RELATED: How Many Wild Horses Can the Pine Nut HA Support?

As noted previously, the BLM sells about 12 million AUMs per year to the public-lands ranchers on 155 million acres, which includes most of the land identified for wild horses.

That works out to 77.4 AUMs per year per thousand acres, enough to support 6.5 wild horses per thousand acres.

The BLM insists that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The current population is about three wild horses per thousand acres.

Why are the advocates so eager to get rid of wild horses when the land can support many more than the BLM admits?

“Are you questioning our authority?”

Yes we are.

“Never mind, we know what’s best for the horses.”

No, you know what’s best for the public-lands ranchers.

RELATED: Their Words Never Match Their Deeds.

An advocate with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses told a reporter for Cowboy State Daily in a story posted today that wild horses “shouldn’t be considered scourges or something to get rid of.”

What is her group doing on the Virginia Range?  Getting rid of wild horses.

These people are so full of crap!

Every now and then they have a few harsh words for the public-lands ranchers, but no offense is taken.

It’s part of the charade that keeps the donations rolling in while maintaining the status quo—areas set aside for wild horses are managed primarily, if not principally, for privately owned cattle and sheep.

RELATED: Criticize Livestock, Dart Horses.

Another example of a positive correlation.

RELATED: What Is a Positive Correlation?