Video featuring wild horses by Elementary Explorers.  Good ol’ family fun.

The Youtube description says they are traveling homeschoolers on a mission to see all fifty states.  Can’t wait till they get to Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming!

Didn’t see any Virginia Range mustangs yesterday while working on the watering station so this will have to do.  H/T Dr. Jennifer Jewel.

Stock tanks were empty when checked on 11/16/18.  A mustang probably bumped the handle on the yard hydrant, snapping it shut.  Trailcam photos suggest it happened between 11/02/18 and 11/04/18.  No human interference was observed.  A small wood block was placed under the handle to keep it open.  Tanks were bleached and refilled.

Virginia Range mustangs enjoy some down time (literally) at the watering station.

Wild horse advocates want motorists to slow down on HWY 48 in Alto, NM.  Refer to this report by KRQE posted yesterday.  Includes video.

RELATED: Alto Horses Settling In.

Helicopters will be used to remove 980 ‘excess’ wild horses from the Silver King HMA, beginning 11/26/18, according to a BLM news release issued today.  The roundup will be open to public observation.

Captured animals will be taken to the Indian Lakes off-range corrals in Fallon, NV, where they will be checked by a veterinarian and prepared for adoption.  Given that the system has been flooded with 12,000 wild horses and burros removed from western rangelands in 2018, most will end up in segregated long-term holding.  No family, no foals, no legacy.

The HMA covers 575,460 acres and has an AML of 128, for an aimed-at population density of 0.22 horses per thousand acres, almost nothing.  The post-gather population will be 244 horses, according to the announcement.  The HMA is in eastern Nevada.

The stated reason for the roundup is overpopulation.  The real reason may forage losses.

This map, which appears at the BLM page for livestock grazing in Nevada, indicates the HMA is subject to several grazing allotments.

Three hundred wild horses were pushed off the Eagle HMA, immediately east of Silver King, in September.  Perhaps this roundup will finish the job and clear the way for more livestock in 2019?

Anything for the public-lands ranchers.™

UPDATE: Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.

Helicopters were grounded on 11/08/18, with 932 wild horses shipped from the Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT.  Refer to this USFS news release.  Gather stats were not provided:

• Number of horses removed from the range
• Number of horses returned to the range
• Number of horses injured or killed in the traps
• Number of horses euthanized and reasons therefor
• Number of livestock harmed by the operation

Approximately 250 horses will be offered for adoption this weekend, according to a story posted yesterday by the Herald and News of Klamath Falls, OR.  They have probably been hand-picked for the event.

An advocacy group argued that the adoption should be cancelled due to an outbreak of pigeon fever that could spread to domestic horses.

Another 650 horses were taken to the BLM Litchfield Corrals where they will be placed into an adoption program that has been flooded by roughly 12,000 horses and burros already gathered from western rangelands in 2018.

A roundup of similar size is planned for 2019.

RELATED: CBS Covers Roundup at Devil’s Garden WHT.

This map, sourced from the WHB maps page, shows Herd Areas and Herd Management Areas in southeast Oregon.  The HMAs, which are managed for wild horse and burros, have blue borders.  The HAs, which may or may not contain HMAs, have red borders.

Jackies Butte HA includes Jackies Butte HMA plus some additional land to the north that is not managed for WHB.  The Warm Springs HA has the same boundaries as the HMA.  The Diamond Craters HA has no land managed for WHB, although horses and burros were found there when the WHB Act became law (that’s the definition of a HA).

Herd Areas are not managed for horses and burros because they don’t have adequate resources, according to the BLM.  Go to 08:30 in this video.

This map, sourced from Data Basin, shows grazing allotments in the same area.  HMAs from the map above have been added in red.  Allotments are shaded green.

Most of the land in this part of the state is subject to BLM grazing permits.  Same for the HMAs.  Some HMA boundaries coincide with allotment boundaries.  Which came first?

Note that lands outside the HMAs also fall within permitted grazing allotments—lands that can’t support horses and burros.  But they can support cattle and sheep?

Would the situation be any different in Nevada?  Utah?  Wyoming?

If the Wild Horse and Burro Program is not run by ranching interests for the benefit of ranching interests, what would be done differently it was?

RELATED: Population Densities on Western Rangelands.

On the Salt River.  H/T Mark Formo.

Ten wild stallions will be removed from the Fish Springs area next week, according to a report posted today by The Record-Courier of Gardnerville, NV.  Written complaints to the BLM have described their behavior as ‘aggressive.’   Damage to private property and a concern for personal safety were also cited in the complaints.

“A formal request for their removal was submitted by the Pine Nuts Wild Horse Advocates group.”

Bait traps will be used to capture the ‘excess’ stallions.

In September the BLM demanded that the Fish Springs herd be reduced from 78 horses to 58 by 2020.  Could it be that the PN ‘advocates’ see this as opportunity to partially achieve that goal?  Will they help the BLM set the traps?

The Fish Springs horses reside in the Pine Nut Mountains Herd Area, south of the Pine Nut Mountains HMA.

See also this news release issued today by the BLM.

RELATED: BLM Dictates Terms of Surrender to Fish Springs Advocates.

Sessions is out.  Who’s next?  See the report posted yesterday by The Hill.

One million AUMs consumed by horses and burros on western rangelands in a year, compared to nine million AUMs for cattle and sheep.  Eighty thousand horses and burros, millions of cattle and sheep.

But the helicopters never chase any livestock, only the horses and burros.  Who will clean up this mess?  Classic ‘swamp.’

RELATED: Population Densities on Western Rangelands.

That’s what ranchers in northern Colorado said about wild horses in 1904.  Although the story is much the same across western rangelands today, the horses have survived and some have become rock stars.  One such example is the Sand Wash Basin.  Refer to this story posted 11/06/18 by the Craig Press for a perspective of this herd.

Refer to this post which appeared this evening in Carol Walker’s Wild Hoofbeats blog.

“…the BLM has withdrawn completely…”

RELATED: Sterilization Delay in the News.

UPDATE: See this report by Oregon Live, dated 11/07/18.

Fifty wild burros will be the subject of an emergency gather this week north of Lake Havasu City, AZ, due to safety concerns along Highway 95.  Refer to this story, posted this morning by Havasu News.

The burros may be associated with the Havasu HMA, which surrounds the city, or Black Mountain HMA, the southern tip of which appears at the top of the map (blue borders).

The report did not indicate how the roundup would be conducted and if it would be open to public observation.  Captured animals will be taken to a BLM facility in Florence, AZ where they will be prepared for adoption.

A formal announcement from the BLM had not been released at the time of writing.

Near the Salt River.  H/T Robin Bender Knight.

They’re getting re-acquainted with their old digs after being returned to the range on 10/27/18.  But volunteers are concerned about their safety near Highway 48 and have asked the New Mexico Department of Transportation to install warning signs to remind motorists of their presence.  Refer to this story, posted 11/02/18 by Ruidoso News.

RELATED: Alto Horses Free Again.

A necropsy was performed before the horses were buried, according to a brief report posted today by the White Mountain Independent of Show Low, AZ.  The $2,500 reward offered by the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office is still available.  Officials are unable to comment on the investigation at this time.

RELATED: No Comment by Forest Service on Heber Wild Horse Shooting.

A horse on Chintogeaue Island, VA has died of a fungal infection, despite an attempt to save her via surgery.  Refer to this story, which appeared today in The Virginian-Pilot.

The affliction usually produces lesions on the lower limbs.  Horses can become infected through a wound if they stand in water containing the pathogen.

At least seven ponies on the island have contracted the illness and seem to be recovering from the surgery, but it’s a slow process according to the volunteers who care for them.

The roundup is complete, according to news reports, but the page with gather stats and daily reports says this:

Ninety three horses were gathered from the WHR, with forty returned and no deaths.

Body condition scores ranged from three to five, not exactly what you’d expect in an area that was overpopulated.  The problem was not lack of food.  Could it be that the forage loss was more than the public-lands ranchers were willing to tolerate?

RELATED: Helicopter Ops Ended at Little Bookcliffs WHR.

The helicopter roundup at Warm Springs HMA ended on 10/23/18 but the BLM has not formally announced it.  Refer to the gather stats and daily reports for this blurb:

There’s your news release.  Are they ashamed of the things they’re doing to the horses, for the ranchers?  Why are they trying to hide the truth?

Here are the results: 846 animals gathered (including 41 burros and 2 mules), one horse returned to the range (by accident), 32 deaths (3.8%).  The stated goal, when the gather was announced, was 652 animals.

News reports, such as this one posted yesterday by the rancher-friendly Capital Press, ignore the fatalities and inhumane treatment by the BLM and its contractor(s).

The pre-gather population was estimated to exceed 800 animals.  The stud that escaped must be very lonely.   The story by CP said only twenty to thirty remained.  The next step, of course, is to cut the ovaries out of 100 mares and return them to the HMA along with 100 intact mares and some stallions, under the guise of ‘research.’

On 10/03/18, a two month old filly died from a head injury after being captured and a three month old filly died of ‘gather myopathy’ after she was moved to a holding pen.

On 10/04/18 a three year old mare died of a broken neck after running into a panel while being sorted.

On 10/05/18 eleven horses were ‘humanely euthanized’ for various deformities.

On 10/15/18 a six month old filly died of ‘gather myopathy’ after she was moved to a holding pen.

On 10/16/18 a yearling captured the previous day died at the holding corrals due to pneumonia.

On 10/19/18 a yearling died after capture, also due to pneumonia.

Other deaths were the result of ‘humane euthanization.’  The reports did not indicate if it was carried out by lethal injection or multiple rounds to the abdomen.

Survivors will be available for adoption in January 2019.

RELATED: BLM Hauls Water to Warm Springs Horses?