Their descendants roamed an area known today as Theodore Roosevelt National Park, until the NPS rounded them up and sold them off, with some ending up at the Kuntz ranch.  They are the Nokotas.

“Fun fact, depending on what historians you talk to, some believe Comanche was actually the only true survivor of the tragic Little Bighorn battle.”

Refer to this article about a war horse named Comanche that appeared on 10/04/18 in Cowgirl Magazine.  He died in 1890, receiving full military honors.

RELATED: Nokota Horses to Be Dispersed.

On Steens Mountain Wilderness (includes South Steens HMA).  H/T RV Travels.

A judge has ruled that the New Mexico Livestock Board has no jurisdiction over the wild horses in Lincoln County and can no longer gather and sell them.  The horses live in an area north of Ruidoso, NM.  Refer to the story that appeared yesterday Ruidoso News.

The case was brought by the Wild Horse Observers Association, an ‘advocacy’ group that favors fertility control over roundups.

Both stock tanks are now on float control.  The underground water supply line and yard hydrant have been installed.  Short video posted to WHW YouTube channel.

The idea is to keep the horses up in the hills and away from populated areas, a practice known as ‘diversionary watering.’

The gather is complete according to a report posted yesterday by The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, CO, although the BLM has not issued a news release confirming that.

“The agency undertook the operation because of concerns about heavy grazing pressure by the horses, a problem exacerbated by drought.”

The wild horse population at the beginning of the roundup was 190, barely large enough to maintain genetic viability of the herd.

RELATED: Stupid Horses Won’t Take the Bait at Little Bookcliffs.

Family band came in for a drink on 10/19/18, shortly after the stock tanks had been dumped, bleached and refilled.  Great to see the youngster!

Temperatures at night are reaching the low 30s / high 20s for a few hours, which is not a big problem, but the system will have to be shut off and drained in a few more weeks.

Wild horses in eastern Utah, somewhere between the towns of Ouray and Bonanza, possibly on BIA land (go to page 3 in this map).  There are no HMAs in that part of the state, only the Bonanza HA (red border), which is no longer managed for WHB due to ‘inadequate food and water.’  Yet there they are!

If you want to deceive the public about wild horse overpopulation, count horses like these, outside of HMAs, and compare the result to the allowable number of horses inside HMAs.

H/T Susan Allison.

The Navajo County Sheriff’s department has offered a $2500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible.  See the report posted yesterday by AZFamily, the CBS affiliate in Phoenix.  Includes video.

RELATED: Horses Shot at Heber WHT.

Refer to this report, posted tonight by Las Vegas Now.  BLM said the horses were in such poor condition that life-ending actions were justified.  A photo was provided to support their position.

This is not a problem of humane methods of euthanasia.  Rescues take in horses like that all the time.  It’s a problem of enmity toward wild horses.  Eight of them were executed summarily by the agency entrusted with their care.

The report says all documents related to the case have been formally requested, which probably means FOIA.

RELATED: Spruce-Pequop Gather: Absence of the Story is the Story.

Trailcam photo of some Virginia Range mustangs at the stock tanks.  Check out the stud on the left with the bi-colored mane and tail.  You guys are awesome!

Still no coverage of the wild horse massacre by national news outlets.  The original story can now be seen in this FB video.

Questions that have not been answered:

• Are guns a common tool for euthanizing animals on BLM lands?
• Is shooting wild horses in the abdomen a standard practice for the BLM?
• Is that what they do to horses that are blind or have other physical defects?
• Were the shots fired from the ground or from the air?
• What were the body condition scores of the horses that were killed?
• Why were the eight deaths omitted from the gather reports?
• Who was present when the incident occurred?
• Who pulled the trigger(s)?
• Has an investigation started?

The original report by Las Vegas Now can be found here.  GET.  THE.  WORD.  OUT.

RELATED: Massacre at Spruce-Pequop HMA Getting Some Media Attention.

Free-roaming horses on White Mountain HMA, in southwestern Wyoming, with Pilot Butte in the background.  Classic western image at 1:22.  H/T Voyageurs 64 Sylfred.

RELATED: Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Tour.

Refer to this post dated 10/09/18 at The Daily Pitchfork for livestock grazing on lands managed by the BLM.  Grazing receipts from 2002 to 2018 were used to estimate the number of livestock on western rangelands vis-à-vis wild horses and burros.

The report did not indicate how many livestock were on lands set aside for WHB so comparisons of cattle and sheep to horses and burros may not be valid because they don’t have the same land-basis.

If all of the animals were found inside the 27 million acres managed for WHB, then yes, you could say that cattle and sheep vastly outnumber horses and burros.

Refer to this story by KUSI in San Diego, CA, posted yesterday.  BLM has admitted responsibility but who did the deed?

The gather was justified by lack of water at Boone Springs.  Madeleine Pickens, wild horse advocate and owner of the land, offered to provide water but the BLM refused.

RELATED: Intrigue at Spruce-Pequop HMA.

UPDATE: Added video by KUSI News.

Two wild stallions were found dead on 10/13/18.  Refer to this video from KPNX-TV in Phoenix, AZ (has mandatory ad).  Also this story from KPNX and this FB post.  There are no suspects at this time and a motive is not known.

The Heber WHT lies within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, about 80 miles northeast of Phoenix, AZ.  It appears on the USFS map of WHTs but is not linked on the page.

On the Virginia Range.  H/T Lauri Duke.

A helicopter is now pushing horses into the traps at Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range near Grand Junction, CO.  Refer to this report in Western Slope Now, posted today.

Don’t worry though, they’re being treated humanely, like the horses at Spruce-Pequop.

On the other end of the line are hundreds of adopters who have been around horses their whole lives, eager to suffocate them with blankets, shove big pain bits into their mouths and pound nails into their feet.

As for the nutjobs at Friends of the Mustangs, don’t give them a penny.  They have failed these horses miserably.

RELATED: BLM to Use Helicopter to Finish Little Bookcliffs Roundup.

The following map shows the approximate location of the Mustang Monument Resort and Sanctuary vis-à-vis the Spruce-Pequop HMA.  The red dot shows the approximate location of Boone Springs, where the wild horse shooting took place.

White patches correspond to privately owned land, while tan represents lands managed by the BLM.  Most of the sanctuary lies within the 600,000 acre Spruce Allotment in Elko County, NV.

As of today, the story has not been picked up by any of the national news outlets.

RELATED: Spruce-Pequop Gather Started with Wild Horse Massacre?

Virginia Range mustangs congregate at the stock tanks as clouds drift past the moon.

A report posted this evening in Las Vegas Now says that eight wild horses were shot by the BLM near Boone Springs in late August, at the beginning of the Spruce-Pequop gather.  The deaths do not appear in the gather reports.  Photographs of the dead horses do not provide a rationale for euthanasia.  Emaciation is not evident.

Businesswoman Madeleine Pickens owns over 20,000 acres in the area, with nearly 600,000 acres of public grazing allotments attached.  Those lands were obtained for the Mustang Monument wild horse sanctuary.  Pickens offered to take 30,000 wild horses out of government pens and put them back on the range.

“But Elko County is cattle country so Pickens has faced opposition at every step.”

The allotments cover much of the Spruce-Pequop HMA, and parts of the Goshute and Antelope Valley HMAs, which were also gathered this year.

Pickens believes the BLM wants to take her land and repurpose it for cattle grazing.

UPDATE: Added video.