Story by KTNV News in Las Vegas. Video.
RELATED: Removal of Mount Charleston Wild Horses Imminent?
UPDATE: A report by KTNV says they’re headed to Utah.
Category: Range
On the range
Sand Wash Basin Roundup in Progress, No Announcement
The incident started on July 7 with nine horses captured, none shipped, none released and no deaths.
It was not billed as an emergency and there was no news release.
The method of capture is bait.
The capture goal is 60. The removal goal was not given.
Operations are not open to public observation.
Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals in Cañon City.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.
Three Rivers Roundup, Day 28
The incident started on June 9. Results through July 6:
- Scope: Alamo, Big Sandy, Havasu HMAs
- Target: Burros
- AML: 160 + 139 + 166 = 465
- Pre-gather population: Not given, 2,644 according to 2025 population dataset
- Type: Planned
- Method: Bait
- Goals: Capture 1,100, remove 1,000
- Captured: 643, up from 444 on Day 18
- Shipped: 547, up from 337 on Day 18
- Released: None
- Deaths: 2, up from 1 on Day 18
- Average daily take: 23.0
- Unaccounted-for animals: 94
- Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
- Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
Results for Days 20 to 28 were posted today.
An abandoned foal was euthanized on Day 25, lifting the death rate to 0.3%.
The capture total includes 311 jacks, 279 jennies and 53 foals.
Youngsters represented 8.2% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 52.7% were male and 47.3% were female.
The location of the trap site is not known.
The name of the contractor was not provided.
Eighteen jennies were treated with PZP on Day 19, bringing the total to 78.
The July 1 schedule indicates the pesticide of choice was GonaCon Equine.
The Complex is subject to permitted grazing. Resources liberated to date:
- Forage – 3,858 AUMs per year
- Water – 3,215 gallons per day
RELATED: Three Rivers Roundup, Day 18.
Mount Vernon Base Property Available for $17.45 Million
Sproul Ranch covers 15,911 deeded acres in eastern Oregon, with grazing preference on five Forest Service allotments, for a total of 68,284 acres.
The allotments offer 3,058 AUMs per year on 52,373 acres according to the agent’s brochure, equivalent to 255 wild horses.
The stocking rate would be 4.9 wild horses per thousand acres.
The ranch meets the basic requirements for a wild horse refuge.
The brochure includes a map of each allotment, all within the Malheur National Forest.
Wild horses can be placed on public lands not identified for their use by acquiring base properties tied to one or more grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.
RELATED: Key Indicators for New Wild Horse Preserves.
Mustang Monday
Axtell Public Tour Set for July 7
The event runs from 9 AM to noon according to the BLM news release.
The privately owned facility gained media attention earlier this year when burros taken in the Canyonlands roundup died while in custody.
The facilities report indicates that 921 burros and 1,119 horses were present as of June 22.
If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of Independence
The allotment is on the east side of Independence Mountain in northern Colorado.
The Allotment Master Report puts it in the Custodial category, condition unknown.
The permittee receives 809 active AUMs on 2,610 public acres. equivalent to 67 wild horses, or 25.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (25,500 animals on 25.6 million acres).
The advocates, allies of the bureaucrats and ranchers, bolster the narrative with their darting programs.
The allotment is too small to be an HMA but if it was, the AML would be 3 and 64 wild horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.
BLM allotments in the state support livestock equivalent to 49,546 wild horses on 7,448,367 public acres, or 6.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Wild horses can be placed on public lands not identified for their use by acquiring base properties associated with grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.
RELATED: The Allotments Tell the Story: They’re Lying, All of Them.
Foal-Free Friday, Lowering the Bar Edition
The advocates are trying to sell mass sterilization as a humane alternative to motorized removal.
On the Virginia Range, they’re using PZP to shrink the herd by 80% because 10% of their land has been identified for development.
The stated reason is habitat loss but the real reason is to bring the herd in line with the carrying capacity narrative on public lands: No more than one or two wild horses per thousand acres.
Instead of acting as guardians of wild horses, the advocates have thrown in with their enemies.
The inevitable result is extermination.
Should Hearings on Motorized Removal Include the Reasons for Motorized Removal?
Apparently not.
A keyword search of a BLM blog post about the May 6 hearing yielded these results:
- Allotment – No occurrences
- Permit – 0
- Grazing – 0
- Livestock – 0
- Forage – 0
- AUM – 0
- RMP – 0
Some individuals argued for greater use of fertility control, which the agency recognizes as an important management tool for slowing population growth but not for reducing wild horse and burro overpopulation.
An area is said to be overpopulated when the herd exceeds the low end of AML but is far from the carrying capacity of the land.
RELATED: Motorized Removal Hearing Set for May 6.
Kiger/Riddle Dropped from Latest Schedule
Muddy Creek and Piute Mountain have been added to emergency/nuisance section of the July 1 update but Kiger and Riddle Mountain have been removed from 4Q25.
Montgomery Pass Foal Found Dead Near Mono Lake
Investigators determined that it died from a gunshot wound.
A $7,000 reward has been offered according to a BLM news release.
The nonprofit pledging $5,000 routinely shoots mares with pesticide-laced darts.
Another Muddy Creek Emergency Roundup?
The incident will begin on July 10 according to the news release.
The capture and removal goals are 150 each.
The current population is thought to exceed 400.
Horses will be pushed into the trap by a helicopter.
Operations will be open to public observation.
Captured animals will be taken to the Axtell off-range corrals.
There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.
A link to the gather page was not given.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.
The announcement did not indicate if the grazing season would be curtailed and if any AUMs would be moved from active to suspended as a result of the drought.
RELATED: Muddy Creek Emergency Roundup Complete.
Mustang Monday
On the Virginia Range with Art.
Three Rivers Roundup, Day 18
The incident started on June 9. Results through June 26:
- Scope: Alamo, Big Sandy, Havasu HMAs
- Target: Burros
- AML: 160 + 139 + 166 = 465
- Pre-gather population: Not given, 2,644 according to 2025 population dataset
- Type: Planned
- Method: Bait
- Goals: Capture 1,100, remove 1,000
- Captured: 444
- Shipped: 337
- Released: None
- Deaths: 1
- Average daily take: 24.7
- Unaccounted-for animals: 106
- Snippet from statute: It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death
- Snippet from manual: To protect wild horses and burros from unauthorized capture, branding, harassment or death
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
The Day 14 results have not been corrected but are probably 18/21/4, not 10/8/2 as shown at the gather page.
The death rate is 0.2%.
The capture total includes 241 jacks, 178 jennies and 25 foals.
Youngsters represented 5.6% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 57.5% were male and 42.5% were female.
The location of the trap site is not known.
The name of the contractor was not provided.
Sixty jennies have been treated with PZP although the June 3 schedule indicates the pesticide of choice was GonaCon Equine.
Given that no animals have been released, they will likely receive a second dose.
RELATED: More Three Rivers Confusion.
Colorado Grazing Project Reveals Abundant Forage
Little Snake Land & Livestock Company was selected in 2018 for an outcome-based demonstration project.
The operator information report at RAS associated the ranch with two authorizations, 0500302 and 0504960.
The allotment information report tied the authorizations to four allotments, all in the Little Snake Field Office:
- 0500302 – HORSE DRAW
- 0504960 – RICEGRASS, PISKWIK, SEVEN MILE
The news release said the project involved an authorization with three allotments, so it’s probably 0504960.
Horse Draw is northeast of the Sand Wash Basin HMA and other three are east of Horse Draw.
The allotment master report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.
The allotments support livestock equivalent to 177 wild horses on 16,984 public acres, or 10.4 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (25,500 animals on 25.6 million acres).
Muddy Creek Emergency Roundup Complete
A BLM public affairs specialist told Western Horse Watchers yesterday that the contractor captured 40 horses on June 26.
As of today, no reports have been posted to the Utah gather page.
RELATED: Muddy Creek Emergency Roundup Announced.
Removal of Mount Charleston Wild Horses Imminent?
Black Rock Desert Closing for Burning Man
The order affects public lands northeast of Gerlach, NV from July 24 to October 5.
A map was included with the news release.
Black Rock City runs from August 24 to September 1 this year.
More Three Rivers Confusion
Results for Days 9 to 15 were not posted until yesterday.
Results for Days 4, 5 and 8 were edited.
The report for Day 14 says 43 animals captured, but the breakdown says 10 jacks, 8 jennies and 2 foals.
The gather page says 350 animals captured but the daily reports yield 327.
The discrepancy is probably in the Day 14 results.
Only adults have been shipped.
The designated pesticide is GonaCon Equine according to the June 3 schedule but the contractor treated 20 jennies with PZP on Day 13 and 20 more on Day 15.
No animals have been released, suggesting that booster doses are pending.
A burro was dispatched on Day 14 for a pre-existing condition but no details were given.
The location of the trap site was not disclosed.
Three HMAs are affected.
RELATED: Three Rivers Confusion.
Mustang Monday
On the Virginia Range, where wild horses are fast disappearing from the American scene, with Jeff Martinez.
