As we reflect on observing our first western range wild horse gather (Deb has been involved with small, intimate, one-on-one immobilization gathers in Theodore Roosevelt National Park) we are filled with many conflicting emotions.  We both look at wild horses and our hearts swell as we applaud their freedom and all they represent, we profusely thank them when we leave them, and weep at times when we witness profound moments of tenderness or moments of ferocious confrontations.  We both understand that if we truly want to help wild horses, we tuck those emotions away, because emotions may cloud our judgement and blind us to solutions. We are in search of solutions and a greater understanding of what is involved in managing our wild horses. 

We do not support helicopter gathers/roundups and want to see wild horses stay wild, but also recognize that our wild horses are surrounded by layers and layers of very complex and emotionally charged issues. Our delicate wild lands are managed to multiple stakeholders and we can truthfully say that neither of us fully understands the complexity of it.  We do acknowledge that until ALL stakeholders will agree on a management plan going forward our wild horses and burros will continue to be faced with loss of freedom by the use of a helicopter.

Thankfully, there has been improvement in wild horse gathers/roundups brought about by advocacy groups who monitor wild horse gathers.  Over the years, safety standards for the wild horses have been improved at the gather site and also at temporary holding. We thank the advocacy groups for their ongoing mission and we thank the Wild Horse and Burro program staff for hearing those suggestions and implementing change.

All of the above said, we are providing our observations, as unbiased as possible, so you, the reader, have the opportunity to form your own opinion and with any luck come up with a potential solution. We both take pride in being truthful, but we will be honest, it is hard not to express our own personal feelings, but for the greater good we are going to provide the facts as we witnessed and experienced them on Day 1, Day 3, and a portion of Day 5.

THE HUMAN PLAYERS

On site were the following:

• The civilian contractor and their staff who are responsible for determining placement of on range gather/round up sites and temporary holding sites to reduce the likelihood of injury and stress to the animals, and to minimize potential damage to the natural resources of the area. They are responsible for all on range set up, tear down, and relocation, temporary holding set up, feeding and watering at temporary holding, transportation to temporary holding, transportation to off range holding,  provide domestic horses and riders as needed, along with the helicopter pilot. They also provide water to keep the dust down in the trap area and temporary holding as needed for safety and health of the horses.

• State Certified Veterinarian responsible for monitoring horse’s health at the trap site and off range temporary holding,  which includes recovery heart rates and respiration and other critical health incidents that may arise.

• Chad and Tammy, Wild Horse and Burro Specialists in Utah, at the gather site, responsible for assisting in determining body scores and sex and other miscellaneous duties regarding the wild horse gather and working with the civilian contractor.

• Gus Warr, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, Utah Team Lead. Responsible for all communications with the civilian contractor, assuring the safety of public observers, and safety and condition of horses on the range.

• Lisa Reid, Wild Horse and Burro Program Public Affairs, Utah, responsible for safety of the public at the observation area and go to for any questions by the public.

• BLM Rangers (two to three) responsible for monitoring any public traffic into the gather/round up area so they did not interfere with gather/round up operations.

• Public viewers who ranged from TIP trainers and their family and friends, local observers, other public observers, and an advocacy group—the American Wild Horse Campaign.

LOCATION/TOPOGRAPHY/VEGETATION OF SULPHUR SPRINGS HMA

To provide scope, the Sulphur Spring wild horses are located in south western Utah and roam on a total of 265,711 acres—230,157 acres of BLM land and 35,554 acres of federal, state, and privately owned lands.  It is a high desert climate with an annual rainfall of less than 12 inches and limited water sources; last recorded rainfall for this area was May of 2020. The elevation ranges from 6,000 feet on the valley floors to 9,790 feet on Mountain Home and Indian Peak mountain ranges. The horses share the Herd Management Area (HMA) with elk, deer, pronghorn, and the northern section domestic sheep part of the year.

The Sulphur Springs HMA supports multiple vegetation types including Aspen, Mountain Fir, Spruce-Fir, Mountain Shrub, Pinyon-Juniper (PJ), sagebrush, grasslands, and salt desert shrub. The PJ woodland type dominates the HMA and is very dense with minimal understory forage. Open areas outside the PJ canopy are dominated by big sagebrush with Indian ricegrass, wheatgrass, bluegrass, and squirreltail grass as the primary forage species.

The Appropriate Management Level (AML)  are the number of wild horses the Herd Management Area (HMA) can support year round.  The AML for the Sulphur Springs HMA was established in 1987, thirty three years ago, in accordance with the Pinyon Management Framework Plan (1983) and the Warm Springs Management Plan (1987). The AML has not been updated since 1987.  The 1987 AML determined 165-250 wild horses could be sustained on the HMA.  The current estimated population is approximately 1,193 horses.

The last gather/round up on this HMA was in the fall of 2017.  These horses are well known for their Spanish heritage, display colorful, primitive markings, and are highly sought after.

This is to be a sixteen day gather/round up which started on Saturday, August 15th. The goal is to gather 600 horses.  100 will be released back—50 stallions (chosen for their Spanish traits) and 50 mares (given contraceptive). 

These are our observations from Day 1, Day 3, and part of Day 5.

The Good

1. The Pilot:  

• Brought horses in as bands/family units if possible.

• Was attentive to the stress level of horses and would maintain distance to allow horses to come in at a trot or canter.

• Would not bring in horses he felt were not physically capable of making the trip to the trap.

• Set the helicopter on the ground to remove the pressure on a foal.

• Kept two foals from going into the trap with a larger group to avoid injury in the trap.

• Day 5 — Pilot asked the Wild Horse BLM staff to relocate the public viewing area because it was interfering with his ability to safely and quietly bring horses into the trap.

2. Gus Warr, BLM Wild Horse and Burro State Lead, was:

• Accommodating to the public answered any of our questions.

• Was on the range observing pilot and horses.

3. Lisa Reid, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Public Affairs, was:

• Accommodating to the public by ensuring our safety, provided COVID guidelines, and choose observation spots that would not interfere with gather operations,

• Would eagerly answer any of our questions,

• Would quickly seek out answers she did not know by using two-way radio communications with appropriate staff,

• Would communicate public concerns regarding temperature or potential injury to horses to the appropriate personnel at the gather site, and 

• Assisted in monitoring the location of foals that were separated from their natal band and did not go into the trap, by communicating location to the pilot and other staff.

  
  

4. Public Observation Day 1:

• We were in an excellent spot to view the horses coming off the range.

5. Temporary Holding:

• We were allowed to see where the horses were being housed at Temporary Holding.

• Horses were surprisingly quiet in their pens. The pens are surrounded with a fabric to assist in keeping stimulation at a minimum for their safety.  (NOTE: Horses are penned according to sex and age: stallions, dry mares, wet mares and their foals, and age.)

6. Acceptable Body Scores

• Day 1 — Body Scores ranged from 4 to 5

  (NOTE: The BLM uses the Henneke method of body scoring from Texas A&M University 4= Moderately Thin 5=Moderate)

• Day 3 — A majority of the body scores were 3's and a few scored 4's

  (NOTE: The BLM uses the Henneke method of body scoring from Texas A&M University.   3=Thin 4=Moderately Thin)

The Bad:

1. HEAT

• At the public viewing site the temperature ranged from 60 at start (shortly after sunrise) to 99 at finish. The gather/trap site would register a cooler temperature.
  (NOTE: Cut off is suggested at 95, with constant monitoring at the trap site by the vet for recovery rates.  Absolute cut off is 105.) (NOTE: Horses are not allowed to be gathered from March 1 – June 30th to observe foaling season, unless it is deemed horses are in emergency situations due to range health, lack of water, or health of horses.)

2. Public Observation Day 1:

• Could not see the actual pens at the gather site, due to tree cover.

3. Public Observation Day 3 and Day 5:

• Could not see the gather site or wing fences, with poor viewing overall.

4. Pilot:

• Brought larger group in at beginning of first day.

• Applies significant pressure at the end of the wing fence at the gather site to push them into the trap. 

5. Temporary Holding

• Unable to view full body of horses, could only see legs and ears. 

6. LowER Body Scores

• Day 3—Five mares scored 2's 

The Ugly:

1. Roping A Foal

• We witnessed a foal being roped by two cowboys which was traumatic due to the sudden and forceful impact to the foal as it was thrown to the ground. The foal was stunned but jumped up and went between the two cow ponies to the gather area.

  (NOTE: When a foal gets separated from the band the pilot will bring them back to the gather area and then radio for riders to bring them the rest of the way which often results in roping, but may also result in the foal mothering with the rider’s horses into the trap without actually roping them.)

  (NOTE II: Deb observed, through binoculars, a foal being roped by one cowboy with no forceful response to the foal.)

  (NOTE III: Foals are transported separately to temporary holding and placed in the pen with wet mares.  The foal from Day 1 was reunited with his dam.) 

2. Obstacles on the range

• An abandoned, dilapidated barbwire fence caused a problem on Day 3.  Horses needed to find open spots to cross the fence, but were observed by the public to have been caught up in the wire.  After review of the video they were not. There was a second incident, we did not witness, where they were caught in the wire.  Fortunately, there were no injuries from the second incident.

  (NOTE: After the two incidents, the contractor agreed to pink flag the fence on Day 5 so the horses could see the fence.  The gather site on Day 5 was located near a boundary fence between Utah and Nevada.)

3. Death 

• A foal was euthanized on Day 3 due to a severe injury to the shoulder, this is classified as Acute because the injury happened due to the gather/round up. 

• On Day 5 a stallion was euthanized for a club foot, this is classified as Chronic because the horse presented off the range with the deformity. (NOTE:  We do not know the extent of the deformity. Prior experience suggests a horse can lead a fufilled life with minimal management.)

4. Loss of Freedom

• No matter how humanely the horses are gathered, they still lose their freedom.  

GATHER STATISTICS

(Obtained directly from the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Website)

Day 1, August 15th, 2020

Summary: 78 horses were gathered today.  Body scores of 4's and 5's. There were 11 members of the public observing the gather.

Animals gathered: 78 (45 stallions, 22 mares, 11 foals)

Animals shipped: 0

Total Deaths Today:  0

Acute: 0

Chronic/Pre-existing: 0

Day 3,  August 17, 2020

Summary: 82 horses were gathered today.  A majority of the body scores were 3's.  Five mares scored 2's and a few scored 4's. One foal was humanely euthanized due to a dislocated front right shoulder with torn muscles/ligaments. There were 5 members of the public observing the gather.

Animals gathered: 82 (21 stallions, 44 mares, 17 foals)

Animals shipped: 49 (Axtel Off-Range Contract Facility)

Total Deaths Today:  1

Acute: 1

Chronic/Pre-existing: 0

Day 5, August 19, 2020

Summary: 23 horses were gathered today.  A majority of the body scores were 3's or 4's.  One stud was humanely euthanized due to an old injury resulting in a club-foot. There were 9 members of the public observing the gather.

Animals gathered: 23 (16 stallions, 6 mares, 1 foals)

Animals shipped: 44 (Axtel Off-Range Contract Facility)

Total Deaths Today:  1

Acute: 0

Chronic/Pre-existing: 1

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS AND TIDBITS:

Rangeland health and water sources varied drastically from the east side of Mountain Home Mountain on Day 1 and 3, to the west side of the mountain on Day 5.  

East side had variable forage on the valley floor along with a large water tank that is fed from a spring on Mountain Home Mountain that wildlife water from.  We witnessed a pronghorn going to water.

West side of Mountain Home Mountain, on the valley floor close to the Nevada/Utah border fence, the forage source was completely depleted.  We observed three horses coming in with a potential body score of 3.

TIDBIT, WE DID NOT OBSERVE:

The west side of Mountain Home Mountain has limited water sources and we were told Cobb Spring had become a trickle.  The pilot indicated approximately 100 horses were gathered around Cobb Spring with body scores of 1’s and 2’s and he was concerned they would not make it to the trap site.

CONCLUSION

We hope you obtained an insight into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly involving the use of a helicopter at a BLM wild horse gather/roundup.  Please keep in mind that although the “Wild Horse and Burro Gathers: Comprehensive Animal Welfare Policy” is a national policy, each gather/round up may or may not be like the one we witnessed. The multitude of variables: civilian contractor staff, local BLM Wild Horse and Burro staff, the horses themselves, the topography, and the weather will affect each gather/round up  in a different way. 

We wholeheartedly welcome and encourage constructive, well thought out and researched solutions for our wild horses.  We discourage placing blame—blame is not a solution.  We are all fighting for the same thing, all of us, let’s do this together for the very thing we all love so much, our wild horses! 

In addition, we know you are asking yourself what you can do to help.  Stay tuned.  We will be providing ways you can help from the sidelines, and for those curious about how to adopt we will talk about that in more depth in another post.

Thank you all for taking the time to read about the three gather/round up days we attended, thank you for sharing their story, and thank you for being a part of the solution!

-Jamie & Deb