Category: Ranch

Around the ranch

Court Sides with BLM in Winnemucca Appeal

The Ninth Circuit ruled today that the agency can continue to use the privately owned corrals, despite claims of pollution and inhumane conditions by Friends of Animals, according to a report by Courthouse News Service.

The November Facilities Report showed 3,210 wild horses at the ORC with a capacity of 4,000.

The BLM spends an estimated $6 million per year to care for those animals while it collects around $52,000 per year from public-lands ranchers grazing in their stead.

Nobody in the private sector would do that.

RELATED: FOA Returns to Court to Appeal Winnemucca Decision.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Pulling Wild Horses from Hutchinson Correctional Facility?

The inmate training program will close at the end of February according to a report by KAKE News.

A representative of the Kansas Department of Corrections said the program had been defunded.

Western Horse Watchers was unable to find a statement from the BLM at its news site.

The November Facility Report put the Hutchinson population at 306 wild horses and 16 wild burros.

The move follows the closure of the inmate training program at Cañon City.

RELATED: Was Cañon City Closure Political?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Nevada Vanadium Selling Fish Creek Ranch

The original plan was to lease water rights from the ranch to serve mining operations to the south.

But a year and a half before the Final EIS was released, the company bought the ranch, including water rights.  Refer to section 4.7 in this report on mineral resources.

Now, the company has listed the property for sale, minus 650 gpm of water and 100 acres for a man camp.

Gone is the grazing preference on the Fish Springs Ranch Allotment.

That asset was retained by or transferred to Bench Creek Ranch in Fallon.

The allotment offers 4,815 active AUMs on 289,292 public acres, equivalent to 1.4 wild horses per thousand public acres.

The allotment master report puts it in the Improve category with most of the AUMs in the suspended column.

RELATED: Water for Vanadium Mine to Be Supplied by Fish Creek Ranch.

UPDATE: The listing on Redfin shows a price increase last October.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

FOA Returns to Court to Appeal Winnemucca Decision

Despite testimony from veterinarians who said the facility is inhumane, a three-judge panel is likely to uphold a 2024 decision approving construction of the off-range corrals, according to a report by Courthouse News.

Plaintiffs were unable to demonstrate that the occurrence of sickness, injury or death was higher in Winnemucca than other such facilities.

An attorney for the government argued that plaintiffs’ claims pertained to stresses caused by the method of capture but the decision to build and operate the corrals did not depend on how the horses would get there.

RELATED: Court Rejects FOA’s Complaint Regarding Winnemucca Corrals.

BLM Pulling Wild Horses and Burros from Cañon City Prison

The off-range corrals will close at the end of November according to a report by The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

The decision was financially driven.

Animals currently at the facility will be transferred to corrals in Wyoming and Utah.

UPDATE: The CDOC news release says that approximately 100 horses taken from Colorado HMAs will be placed into private care within the state.

Meeker Mustang Makeover Adds Second Day

The event, organized by ranchers for the benefit of ranchers, helps the BLM take more wild horses off the range.

Deirdre Macnab still drives the bus.

You’re not supposed to know that she owns a $10 million base property and runs livestock on over 125,000 public acres.

New this year is an Adult In-Hand Division and a Mustang Only Horse Show, scheduled for August 22 according to a report by the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

New Wild Horse and Burro Corrals in Montana?

The facility would be built with government-furnished materials on private land in Hamilton according to the Section B of the CX.

The BLM will pay for services such as maintaining, feeding, sorting, marketing, training and trimming of hooves.  Veterinary care would be provided as needed.

The capacity is 110.

There are no other documents in the project folder and there were no opportunities for public comment.  A news release was not provided.

The address of the ranch was not given but appears to be 736 Alvista Loop.

The aerial image shows a horse setup with a barn, arena, corrals and pastures.

Google Maps labels it “Hamilton Training Center/Mustang Matt Facility.”

New Adoption Center in Montana 03-27-25

BLM to Renew Agreement with Wyoming Honor Farm

The final planning documents have been copied to the project folder.

The Decision Record authorizes the solicitation of a five-year contract to pay for space, feeding, training and care for up to 200 wild horses and burros at the Wyoming Honor Farm in Riverton.

Most of the training is accomplished by inmates, which helps them transition back into society according to the news release.

RELATED: Wyoming Honor Farm EA Out for Review.

Frank Kuntz Preparing to Pass the Nokota Torch?

He’d like to reunite them with native peoples according to this report by KX News and until that happens, his daughter will continue the mission.

Thought to be descendants of Sitting Bull’s ponies, they represent the original wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The horses you see today, the subject of much clamor, were put there by the Park Service as an exhibit.

RELATED: Frank Kuntz Running Out of Time to Care for Nokota Horses.