Synchronized Eating

Sadie, Scooter and Trapper enjoying some alfalfa on 05/26/18.

Yeah, the corral needs to be cleaned, their feet need to be trimmed, and they’ve put on a few pounds.

If you find yourself spending a lot of time on the exercise bike, maybe get some land, adopt some horses, and take up the ranching lifestyle.  Your biggest problems will be keeping weight on and getting enough sleep.

Your horses are not in stalls, right?

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Gotta Love It

Wreck is on westbound I-80 near Fairfield, CA, but traffic is backed up for miles in the opposite direction.  Three or four lanes across.  Bad day for horse watching in Nevada, at least if you live in the Bay Area.

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Don’t worry though, all that wasted fuel means extra $$$ for state and federal coffers.

Burros Found Dead Near Beatty, NV

Thirteen wild burros were executed near Beatty, NV, according to a report in the Pahrump Valley Times dated 05/16/18.  The animals were probably associated with the Bullfrog HMA, which has a target population of 91 (upper value of AML) and covers 157,180 acres.

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See also this report dated 05/14/18 from the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas.  Includes video.

Anyone with information about the event can call the BLM at 1-800-521-6501.  To date, no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: Where to find burros in Nevada.

UPDATE: The following video was posted by the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas on 05/14/18.

USFS Ends Cold Creek Gather

Refer to this press release from the Forest Service.  More information can be found at this page.

Results of gather:

  • 148 horses removed  (72 studs, 67 mares, 9 foals)
  • 19 horses euthanized (12.8% death rate)

The remaining population was estimated to be around 140 horses.  The affected area consists of the Spring Mountain WHT (102,221 acres) and Wheeler Pass HMA (275,575 acres).  The AML is 66, for a target stocking rate of 0.2 horses per thousand acres.  The actual stocking rate, based on animals remaining, is 0.4 horses per thousand acres.

The action was prompted by drought conditions in the southwestern U.S.

UPDATE: One of the euthanized horses was not emaciated, not injured in the gather, but was blind.  Almost certainly he had one or more seeing-eye buddies on the range and would have been fine if allowed to stay there.  If nobody wants to adopt blind horses, returning them to the range would be more humane than putting them down?

FYI – NRA

The NRA, not known for its unwavering support of the Second Amendment, is a member of the steering committee of the National Wild Horse and Burro Rangeland Management Coalition.

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The aim of the NWHBRMC is to articulate the wild horse narrative.  They are not friends of the horses.  Their fingerprints are on the recent BLM Report to Congress (by way of the National Wild Horse and Burro Summit).

So now you have another reason to avoid the NRA.  They’re not on the side of freedom, ruggedness and self-reliance, but are aligned with weakness, vulnerability and dependence on government.

UPDATE: See this piece in The Washington Times about the incoming president of the NRA and this post in the Captain’s Journal about said incoming president.  H/T Western Rifle Shooters Association.

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Yakama Horses

1. Watch the following video about the Yakama Indians and their horses.

2. Go to Chillypepper.org and observe the endless string of rescued foals coming from Washington state.

3. Download the 05/09/18 episode of Mustang Matters and listen to the remarks from 14:50 to 23:10.

Are you connecting the dots?  They’re sending pregnant mares to slaughter.

In trucks marked ‘666?’

Disgusted?  Want it to stop?  Call a press conference and tell the truth.

Darkness hates the light.

Some of the horses may be traceable to the Horse Heaven Hills.