Category: Range

On the range

A Simple Experiment in Diversionary Watering

Trailcam hasn’t picked up any Virginia Range mustangs last few weeks, so I put out two stock tanks and filled them with water on 08/10/18.  They found them that evening!

The idea is to keep the horses up in the hills and away from populated areas.

Bait traps use the same concept.  Put out some food and water but enclose the area with a pipe panel fence and attach the gate to a trip wire.  See the video at this post.

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Best Way to See the Pryor Mountains Horses

A detailed article posted recently in Just Horse Crazy provides some background on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range, along with recommendations for viewing the horses.  It’s pretty much everything you need to know.  The drive into the mountains should not be attempted without a 4WD vehicle.

The PMWHR is one of just three areas in the western U.S. devoted primarily to wild horses.  It may become the subject of a gather in early September, although the BLM has not formally announced it.

RELATED: Pryor Mountain Horses.

BLM Starts Emergency Gather at Spruce-Pequop

Bait traps will be used to remove approximately 300 wild horses from the Spruce-Pequop HMA, according to a news release issued yesterday.  The stated reason for the roundup is inadequate water and forage relative to the number of horses in the area.

Livestock are present on the HMA but were not mentioned in the announcement.

Gather operations will not be open to public inspection.

The HMA is on the south side of I-80 in eastern Nevada, about 40 miles south of the town of Wells.  It covers 240,744 acres and has an AML of 82, for an aimed-at population density of 0.34 horses per thousand acres.

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Captured animals will be taken to the Indian Lakes Off-Range Corral in Fallon, NV, where they will be checked by a veterinarian and prepared for adoption.

The announcement did not indicate if the horses would be available for sale (under the the new cash-and-carry rules).  Adoption is better for the horses.  You provide a foster home for a year.  You do the heavy lifting to prove your worthiness.  Then you get title.

Gather stats and daily reports can be found at this page.

Case Against Man Who Rescued Foal Dismissed

A man from Placitas, NM, charged with unlawfully impounding a stray animal, appeared in court yesterday but the case was dropped.  The New Mexico Livestock Board could not prove that the foal was a stray or was found on public land.  See the story posted 08/22/18 by KRQE News in Albuquerque, NM.

The defendant operates the non-profit Placitas Animal Rescue and cares for cats, dogs and horses.

Sounds like the wild horses near Placitas are managed at the state level, like the Virginia Range mustangs near Reno, NV.

RELATED: Wild Horse Shares Road with Cyclist in Placitas, NM.

Red Desert Gather Ends Early

A BLM news release issued today indicates the Red Desert gather ended sooner than planned because the off-range corrals housing the animals had reached maximum capacity.  Of the 1442 horses removed from the range, 25 were returned and 10 died.

The announcement said horses were moving outside of HMAs, causing impacts in places not identified for their management.  Details were not provided.

A wild horse was euthanized on August 8 for a pre-existing condition and again on August 9 but the conditions were not explained.

A foal died in a temporary corral on August 12, cause of death undetermined.

Two horses were put down on August 13 for pre-existing conditions that were explained.

Captured animals will be available for adoption or purchase through the Wild Horse and Burro Program.  Animals not adopted or purchased will be placed in off-range pastures.

Gather stats and daily reports can be found on this page.

RELATED: Red Desert Gather Announced.

Virility and Potency in Action

Check out the photos of a cremello stallion defending his band in this article by the Daily Mail, dated 08/22/18.  The incident occurred in the western desert of Utah.

The photographer associated the stallion’s behavior with preparations for a roundup.

“Usually he keeps them farther away from the others but because water supplies have been drained in some locations as they get ready to do a round-up it meant they were all coming together in the same area.”

The location of the event was not provided in the story, but under what scenario would someone tamper with water sources for the horses?

A helicopter roundup?  Probably not.  So where are they bait-trapping in western Utah?

How about Cedar Mountain, near the Nevada border?

Wild Horses on the Edge (of the Hills)

Virginia Range mustangs at Hidden Valley Regional Park, east of Reno, NV.  The fence was probably installed by volunteers, to keep the horses away from populated areas and hazards related thereto.

Unfortunately, it may impair their ability to find water so the other part of the equation is to provide water where you want them to roam, a concept known as ‘diversionary watering.’  Keeping them wild and up in the hills is a good thing.

H/T Dr. Jennifer Jewell, PhD.

Story of the Nokota Horses

An approximate timeline of the wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and how they came to the Kuntz ranch.

1876

Sitting Bull and his followers defeat George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  Victory was short-lived, as the federal government sent thousands of additional soldiers to the area.

1877

Sitting Bull and some of his followers flee (on horseback) to Canada under pressure of the federal troops.  They find it difficult to find enough food to feed their people.

1881

Sitting Bull and his men, driven by hunger and desperation, return to the U.S. and surrender at Fort Buford (North Dakota).  They are disarmed and demobilized.

1882 – 1884

Horses confiscated from Sitting Bull are sold to the public, changing hands several times, until a group of 250 was purchased by the Marquis de Mores and moved to Medora, ND, a town he established.

Early 1900s

Horses from the Medora area escaped or were turned loose by their owners (who couldn’t afford to keep them or no longer needed them due to the advent of machinery).  Some migrated to an area known as the Little Missouri Badlands.

Mid 1900s

Wild horses were considered pests by local ranchers, because they competed with their livestock for food and water.  Many were rounded up and sold for slaughter or shot on the spot, with the cooperation of state and federal agencies.

1947

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is established by President Truman, taking in and protecting some of the Badlands, along with the Medora horses living there.

Early 1970s

After returning from the Vietnam War, Leo Kuntz discovers the horses in TRNP and starts spending time there to settle his mind.

1980s

NPS decides to replace the native horses of TRNP with those of other breeds, believing that animals descended from other bloodlines would sell better at future herd-management auctions.  The horses are rounded up and offered for sale.  Leo, seeing an end to the Medora line, buys some of the horses to preserve them.  He moves them to his ranch near Linton, ND, where they are bred to maintain and improve their Spanish characteristics.  He calls them ‘Nokotas.’

1990s

The Nokota herd grows in size, at one time reaching 600 head.  Leo and brother Frank dedicate all of their resources to caring for the horses.  They were named state horse of North Dakota in 1993.

1999

The non-profit Nokota Horse Conservancy is created.

2000

The remaining Nokota horses are removed from TRNP.  Those observed today are only an exhibit, no longer related to the original Medora horses.

2018

Leo Kuntz dies, leaving the Nokota herd to family, friends and supporters.  Refer to the Nokota Horse Preservation Ranch web site and FB page for more info.

See also the documentary at this post and the videos at this page.