Near the Salt River. H/T Robin Bender Knight.
Freeze Marked Hats!
To raise funds, Mustangs Mend of Redmond, OR, a 501c3 nonprofit that teaches participants to gentle wild mustangs and rehabilitate those that have been neglected and abused, has partnered with KR Northwest to make caps with wild horse freeze marks.
Price $30 each, includes shipping. Mustangs Mend receives $10 from each purchase.
To order call 503-708-3849. Credit cards accepted. Use code Mustangs Mend. For more information, send email to krnorthwest@gmail.com.
Video by Mustang Girls.
Little Bookcliffs Horses Adopted
All of the 27 former wild horses, removed from the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range last month, were adopted yesterday according to a story posted yesterday by KJCT8, the ABC affiliate in Grand Junction, CO. It was not a cash-and-carry event, which bypasses customary rules for wild horse ownership.
The WHR contains just 36,000 acres and is one of only three areas in the western U.S. managed ‘principally but not exclusively’ for wild horses. The AML is barely large enough for genetic viability of the herd. Would be nice if the so-called advocates pushed for more territory, at least 150,000 acres, instead of helping the BLM set the traps.
Congress intended that all lands where wild horses and burros were found, when the WHB Act became law, be managed principally but not exclusively for those animals (in keeping with the concept of multiple use).
Today, 40% of that land, perhaps a bit more, is no longer managed for wild horses and burros, and livestock vastly outnumber them on western rangelands, marking a return to the ‘fast disappearing’ days of the Act.
RELATED: Little Bookcliffs Adoption This Weekend.
Alto Horses Settling In
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.
Public-Lands Ranching: How Bad Is It?
At the Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting last month, one of the speakers provided these statistics for livestock grazing in 2017:
- 17,886 permits
- 12.3 million AUMs active
- 8.8 million AUMs billed
- 3.5 million AUMs non-use
- 2 million AUMs suspended
As noted in this post, there were approximately 82,000 wild horses and burros on western rangelands earlier this year, compared to 1.5 million cow/calf pairs or cow/calf equivalents (e.g., if they were all sheep there would be 7.5 million of them because one cow/calf pair = one horse = five sheep).
Wild horses and burros accounted for 1 million AUMs compared to 8.8 million AUMs for livestock. Are the livestock confined to HMAs and HAs? No. Do wild horses and burros stay inside the HMAs and HAs? No. But they all graze on western rangelands.
If livestock AUMs were sold out, there would be over 2 million cow/calf pairs on western rangelands (12.3 million divided by 6).
How much worse could it get?
The BLM and USFS, along with the public-lands ranchers, want WHB populations reduced to AML, which is 27,000. They are pursuing that goal aggressively, with over 10,000 WHB removed from western rangelands this year. If they hit both targets, WHB would account for 0.3 million AUMs annually (27,000 times 12), while livestock consume 12.3 million AUMs.
Two million cow/calf pairs (four million head), privately owned, on public lands, compared to 27,000 horses and burros.
If they had their way, there’d be few if any horses and burros on public lands, taking the scheme to the limit. Keep in mind the ranchers pay $1.41 to graze a cow/calf pair for one month. You couldn’t feed a parakeet for that!
Make Western Rangelands Great Again
The greatest threat to wild horses and burros is public-lands ranching, which has the appearance of rugged individualism but is actually a form of government dependency.
Which political party wants more and more people dependent on an all-powerful centralized government?
Which party believes in contraception, sterilization and euthanasia?
Which party hates private property, free markets and self-reliance?
If the mainstream media want a story on collusion, let them investigate the ties between the BLM, USFS and ranching industry. Classic ‘swamp.’
Liberalism, which is devoid of truth and The One Who Is Truth, can never be an answer to our problems.
It’s time to do something for our horses not to our horses.
Vote.
Little Bookcliffs Adoption This Weekend
Twenty seven horses captured last month will be offered for adoption tomorrow in Fruita, CO, according to a report posted this evening by Western Slope Now.
Meanwhile, back on the range, livestock graze peacefully on land that belongs to the horses.
RELATED: Little Bookcliffs Gather Over?
Federal Judge Says No to BLM Sterilization Experiments
The project is now on hold according to a report published this evening by Oregon Live.
USFS Still Silent on Heber Wild Horse Shooting
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.
BLM Ovary Cutters Sharpening Their Knives?
Sterilization of Warm Springs mares could begin as early as 11/05/18, according to a report published today by The Argus Observer of Ontario, OR. Requests to stop the ‘research’ are being reviewed by the Interior Board of Land Appeals. If a stay is not granted, the Mengeles at Hines will have a green light to carry out their work.
RELATED: Consortium Files Lawsuit to Stop BLM Spay Research.
They’re All Starving
Anti-horse propaganda by Golden Productions, posted 10/31/18.
The footage may be dated. There is no Smith Creek HMA in Nevada (there is a Smith Creek HA but it has no AML). Horses don’t run on allotments, cattle do.
According to the interviewees, the horses are overpopulated, have no natural predators and are not important (refer to the wild horse narrative).
“We don’t have the resources to keep these animals healthy.”
BLM said earlier this year that 82,000 wild horses and burros were present on western rangelands. They graze 24/7, consuming roughly one million AUMs per year (82,000 times 12).
At the WHB Advisory Board meeting last month, one of the presenters indicated that 8.8 million AUMs were consumed by livestock in 2017. They graze six months per year or less, which means there were at least 1.5 million cow/calf pairs on the range (8.8 million divided by 6).
Three million head, privately owned, compared to 82,000 wild horses and burros.
Chincoteague Wild Pony Dies of ‘Swamp Cancer’
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.
And Now for Something Completely Different
Hot-crazy matrix. Originally appeared on James Yeager’s Tactical Response channel until the do-gooders at Youtube/Google shut it down.
Little Bookcliffs Gather Over?
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?
Warm Springs Gather Complete
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.
Thankful
On this day we count our blessings….which might include too much food and football!
On the Hills with the Mustangs
Wild horses of the Virginia Range, south of Virginia City. H/T Base Camp Chris.
Manufacturer to Pay $2.4 Million for Contaminated Feed
Western Milling of Goshen, CA has settled a lawsuit related to the deaths of 21 horses and injury of 28 others at Black Fence Farms of Clovis, CA in 2015. The contaminant was an antibiotic that kills parasites and promotes weight gain in cattle and poultry but is toxic to horses.
Refer to this story in The Fresno Bee dated 10/29/18. The company was also fined $726,000 by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Banker Horses Cross Border, Lose Freedom
Six wild horses that tried repeatedly to cross the North Carolina state line into Virginia have been apprehended and placed at a rescue, according to a story that appeared yesterday in The News & Observer of Raleigh, NC.
They had been returned to their home territory six or seven times, but were determined to reach Virginia. Officials were concerned they would end up in populated areas, so after being declared a nuisance by the Department of the Interior (hard to believe, I know), they were rounded up.
Poor things, they only wanted a better life in Virginia Beach. With a little training, they could have done work that other horses wouldn’t do. What a bunch of equinophobes!
Wyoming Advocacy Group Receives $5000, Aids Ranchers
Friends of a Legacy, a group that works with the BLM to manage the wild horses of McCullough Peaks HMA in northern Wyoming, has received a $5000 grant from ASPCA to support a fertility control program started in 2004, according to a story posted today in the Cody Enterprise.
“The program has lowered birth rates in the herd management area and the reduced population has benefitted habitat for the wild horses, wildlife and domestic cattle that share the public land.”
The AML for the area is 140 animals, which has nothing to do with the carrying capacity of the land. Rather, it represents an acceptable forage loss. By keeping the wild horse population in check, more food is available for livestock.
Welcome to the new reality of western rangelands. Areas set aside in 1971 for horses and burros are now managed primarily for cattle and sheep.
Anything for the public-lands ranchers.
