12 Days

That is what it took to remove nearly all wild horses from the HMAs of Stewart Creek and Green Mountain, and on the last day of BLM operations a small family band filled with legends and legacies - along with several other amazing and unmatched wild horses - were taken from the edge of Arapaho Creek.

726 wild horses driven into traps set in Green Mountain HMA

287 wild horses driven into traps set in Stewart Creek HMA

21 wild horses driven into a trap set in Arapaho Creek HA

1,034 wild horses removed from their wild native lands.

Here are a few of the things I feel cannot be ignored...

Some of them are maybe trivial in the moment but may matter in the long run.

Some are more serious with trending behavior from BLM that really should be challenged by lawyers... since I am not a lawyer or independently wealthy this blog will have to do for now.

Information has been.... sketchy and challenging to find or keep track of through the process, with Public Relations staff either not acknowledging emails or responding with blanket answers that were empty of useful information.

Sadly, I am not the only one with this experience, both during the roundup activity as well as over the last several months, it seems current staff feel their job is not about actual helpfulness to the public.

This removal fell under the federal FY2027, that schedule has in the past been typically released sometime in September, this year it was not published until the last few days of the month, and it was a very sketchy thing with less than half the normal information provided - as of today it still is odd and lacking in comparison to previous FY schedules.

BLM also no longer publishes press releases providing information for upcoming roundups, if you are very lucky you might catch a social media post about it in your FB news feed, but mostly we are reduced to stalking the BLM Wyoming - Gathers & Removals page... not a page I really care to spend my time looking at, but this is how they currently choose to 'announce' to the public a roundup has been scheduled.

The information on this page was changed repeatedly in the first few days after initial publishing, with the number of horses going up and down, and PR staff unwilling to give any clear answers.

Finally, as the FY2027 schedule was filled in with more information and the 'Gather' page information stopped being edited, it seemed that information was dependable.

Only a partial removal would be done at this time, with 1,035 removed horses from Green Mountain and Stewart Creek HMAs, and other 'remote off-HMA areas' as the BLM and contractor goal, to start on about October 15th and to continue until the number of horses taken was met.

I was never given any real explanation as to why there was only a partial removal to be completed this year, or when they planned on returning to complete the removal in the other HMAs and non-HMA area of Arapaho Creek.

Observation - public observation of roundup operations has become challenging... at least in Wyoming.

It was stated there would be limited observation, with no more than 10-15 people allowed to attend at a time, you were required to send in an email requesting to be on the list, and you would be contacted each day to verify if you would be attending.

I have attended enough round-ups that I did not think too much about it, but others felt this to be intimidating, which made me step back and consider it.... planning for attending a roundup is already daunting, it requires scheduling time off work, paying for hotels in advance, arranging for someone to house-sit if you have animals at home, and then hoping you did not do all that only to have your planned days canceled for weather or other reasons, or that you don't have to cancel last minute.

Why make it feel as if you may not be allowed to attend because of limitations to allowed observers? The reality is there is rarely more than a few individuals that attend past the initial first week of operations, it is unnecessary to make people feel as if they may not be allowed to go more than one or two days, or at all.

And then there is the actual observation of operations.... many that went to this roundup had the experience of being so far away it was difficult to see the horses clearly, or even to see the trap at all.

That has been an increasing frustration over the last several years at most roundups across various HMAs in Wyoming.

The entire point of standing as an observer is to witness the condition of the horses as they are brought in, to observe how they are being brought in by the helicopter, how they are handled if a wrangler rides out them to bring them in, and how they are handled in the traps, before being loaded into trailers.

And finally - observation at temp holding corrals... in the past we have been able to walk around the holding corrals at the end of the day, BLM staff with us to answer questions, while we also documented the horses now captured.

More recently the habit has become to rush the public around the corrals with few (if any) questions allowed by the public... and with this roundup all observation of temporary holding was stopped due to the ranchers 'cattle operations' requiring that no public be allowed on their private land.

There are options here.... stop putting temporary holding on private lands!!

Especially on a ranch owned by someone with interest in removing wild horses from their cattle crazing allotment. It just is a bad look on BLM and the rancher.

I understand and appreciate that these operations are very long and grueling days for BLM staff and contractors, their day begins before ours and continues after we leave to go back to our hotel room, I am sure at the end of the day the last thing any of them want is to deal with a public that is often dead set against the removal.

However, this is part of their job, to deal with the public, both the friendly and the unfriendly public....

As a member of the public we have the responsibility of observing operations, of recognizing when something is done correctly, and speaking up when something needs to be corrected, and this is an opportunity for BLM to be open and transparent to the public, instead their behavior suggests they have much to hide.

Death....

17 wild horses lost their lives in these 12 days.

17 wild horses were surviving and even thriving in the wild places, they were run across rough terrain under the pressure of beating helicopter blades, into a trap and hauled to corrals where humans waived flags and such at them, and then their lives were ended.

And the reasons were over-whelmingly claimed to be for blindness and limb deformity....

October 16th: a yearling pinto stallion w/ limb deformity

October 17th: a pinto filly w/ limb deformity and a 4yr old stallion with club foot

October 19th: an 8yr old grey stallion w/ deformity, a 2yr old cremello mare blind, a cremello filly blind, and a cremello colt blind

October 23rd: a 3yr old pinto mare w/ limb deformity, a 20yr old black stallion blind, a 25yr old black stallion blind, and a 9yr old sorrel stallion w/ limb deformity

October 25th: a 2yr old bay filly w/ a pre-existing broken leg

October 27th: a 3yr old grey mare had a seizure, a 10yr old bay mare blind, a 16yr old pinto stallion blind, an 8yr old sorrel stallion blind, and a 13yr old grey stallion w/ a spinal deformity

I will go to my death-bed arguing against those killed for some deformity, if these horses were able to live in the wild, if they were otherwise healthy and able to run the miles across wild terrain and into a trap, they should not be killed.

Maybe it does affect their adoptability... the person who wants a working horse or a show horse is not going to want those horses, but there are other options, and death should not be it.

Blindness... my anger here is pretty hot, it started with the three cremello mustangs killed for being blind, as it turns out cremello horses that had been documented by others to be living incredibly wonderful lives in the wild, and as the videos show most certainly not limited by blindness.

Following the death of those three mustangs BLM then went on to kill another 5 wild horses for blindness - seriously?!?

We are expected to believe that there is an oddly high number of wild horses running around this terrain blind... able to not just survive but to thrive in the wild, but under the hands of BLM they are now all dead.

And these decisions were not made by a veterinarian... there was no vet on site during the removal, the vet was only on call which is not the same as being on site, with a BLM statement itself defending the decision because BLM staff and contractors are experienced with horses.

Again, there are options, because if we for one tiny second assume these horses were in truth blind, there are other options, death did not have to be the only answer!

I did not attend BLM observation for this removal... it was incredibly difficult for me not to be there, I have been to many observations over the last 13yrs and it was very weird to not go, a lot of guilt weighed on me for it, the reasons of why are something I am not ready to share yet.... but they were real and unavoidable.

In the end, not attending the BLM observation allowed me a freedom to do other things - I did nothing illegal or even immoral - I stayed out of the way of operations and most of the time was miles away from any given days removal actions, stumbling on the location of temporary holding as we drove by on our way home one evening.

Instead, I studied maps of where traps were set to figure out which horses from which areas BLM was removing (something that was not shared with the non-attending public), when I was able to travel I documented where cows continued to be out past their permit date, and where sheep were herded down roads to graze on pastures already depleted by months of cattle grazing.

All of these things are necessary.... observation is one of the most horrid but necessary things an advocate can do and I am so deeply thankful to each advocate that showed up and stood as a witness for the horses, documenting what is happening on the range is also necessary, to know and understand what is occurring and to be able to combat the false narrative from the opposition.

On the last day of operations the trap was set in Arapaho Creek.... as soon as Carol Walker told me where they were I knew that one of the families I have known for several generations was targeted.

A wild horse family of legends and legacies.

This family many of you knew and will remember them as being the family of the stunning grey stallion I call Poseidon.

Poseidon who was the son of Zeus who was the son of Lady Gaia.

Niya and Aella are the daughters of Grey Thief and Chosovi.

Their foals stunningly beautiful legacies of those great mustangs of the desert.

It was inevitable I suppose... I had documented for over a year ranchers in that area riding their horses towards and around this family, only turning and changing direction when they realized I had stopped to watch them.

As the roundup moved around Green Mountain with plans to have a trap on the western end of that HMA, I observed cattle still wandering in the pasture this family had called home their entire lives, as did their parents before them, I felt this small wee icky thing that it was on purpose, the cows had been left on purpose and these horses were targeted.

And they were.... they took Niya, the older brother that had joined them after Poseidon was gone, and every single foal.

But they did not get Aella.... named after a whirlwind, so incredibly wild and shy and curious and just as stunning as her mother.

I don't know the how or why.... I only know that she remains in this place that is her ancestral home.

Alone.... her entire family band taken by BLM.

And she is shockingly calm and collected, calmly grazing until she saw me, and then quietly walking over and stood while we conversed of my regret that I could not undo what was done, and advice of where she may find other horses for company.

As our visit ended she walked away, looking back at me one more time before setting off with a purposeful stride.

I will always regret not opening gates, cattle be damned, and giving that family band one last chance to escape and always be free.

I am incredibly thankful that one of the legends of the desert still lives wild in this, her native homeland.