Wild Horse Roundup

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By Sarah Gravlee

Story Published: Sep 4, 2009 at 4:40 PM MST

Story Updated: Sep 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM MST

NEAR LOVELL - Wild horses have fascinated Americans for centuries.
"They obviously originated with the Spanish," said Don Glenn the Wild Horse and Burro Program Chief for the Bureau of Land Management. "Indians acquired them very early on."

There are now 179 herds of wild horses in the U.S. but right now the nation's attention is focused on the herd centered in the Pryor Mountains.

"It has a lot of followers and is a very popular herd," said Mary Apple an information officer with the BLM. Partially because that herd has genetic ties to the horses brought to this nation from conquistadors.

There are currently about 190 horses in the Pryor Mountains' Wild Horse Range, far more than biologists say the 38,000-acre range can sustain.

"Most of the range is desert," Glann said. "Let's say we didn't remove any. There's a potential if we get a big winter storm a lot of them could die."

In order to preserve the herd, officials are rounding up all the horses in the area. Then they'll thin the population. The horses ran about seven miles Friday, but the pace was slow to help them deal with the heat.

Even people like Elyse Gardner who oppose the roundup of wild horses said the event was carried out with the horses' health in mind.
"If you're going to do a roundup, these people did it really well," Gardner said.

Once the horses were rounded up, they were brought to the corrals where a hair sample was taken for DNA testing and many of the mares were given a fertility prevention treatment.

"The idea there is to reduce the rate of increase, " Glenn said. "The population will increase by 17% a year."

But contraceptives aren't enough, officials also selected 70 horses that will be removed from the herd and put up for public adoption on September 26th, National Wild Horse Adoption Day.

The auction will be held at Britton Springs near the Big Horn Canyon Recreation Area. To find out more about the auction you can call 406-896-5222 or click here.

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Anonymous said on Monday, Sep 7 at 9:03 PM

Because believe it or not before there were city's animals once roamed there and that included wolves.

Anonymous said on Monday, Sep 7 at 9:02 PM

To those of you that think caring for a horse is that easy maybe you should step out of the city come adopt a mustang and make a judgment call. I am a owner of 3 horses and it is expensive but I do what is necessary because I love them. If you love them so much adopt one and give them a loving home, just like you do the wolves. When you see the attacks they have on animals and leave them alive you will see why we are not to fond of them but if you like them so much relocate them to the city.

Anonymous said on Monday, Sep 7 at 8:55 PM

To Angela, If you think that ranchers are rich you are sadly mistaken. It costs more to keep them healthy and make sure that they have enough food that what they earn. Learn your facts before you start making accusations.

Julie Anderson Perron said on Sunday, Sep 6 at 9:33 PM

Very one-sided reporting. Shame on you.

Horse Lover87 said on Sunday, Sep 6 at 2:09 PM

Sure, sell them to people where they are either abused or stuck rotting behind a fence(or both), being put down for founder or colic...thats really protecting these beautiful horses!

Laura said on Sunday, Sep 6 at 12:22 PM

TO SARAH GRAVLEE: Your problem is that you are NOT AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST!! I've been deeply involved in this issue. We have gotten more rain in the past 2 years than imaginable! There is no point in saying another stupid word to you, not another!

Todd said on Saturday, Sep 5 at 10:14 AM

Hey BLM! Don't be so sneaky. Let the senate vote on HR 1018, the restoration of the American mustang protection act. The house voted for it. Let the democratic process finish before you weasel around it.

Angela said on Saturday, Sep 5 at 10:11 AM

Susan is right! And these horses do NOT need lush pastures that we commonly think of. They need an arid terrain to roam. If they were having such a hard time with nutrition then why are they reproducing at such high rates. The two go hand in hand. What this is really about is cattle and grazing rights for private ranchers to use public lands to make a profit. If they left the wild horses alone the west could make more money and more jobs with tourism than making a few ranchers more rich.

Ralph Etchison said on Saturday, Sep 5 at 9:00 AM

Horses take care of themselves just like any other big game animal. I think that we need to take a look at how much money the BLM is spending on something that is not cost effective. There are a lot of people out there due to the economy that could be rounded up and given that money. This is just like the government to take away from the taxpayers...way to go...follow the money!

Anonymous said on Friday, Sep 4 at 11:44 PM

The TRUTH??? Perhaps like how the ACA is lobbying like crazy in DC for their land leases, which they use for collateral for loans!!! Or perhaps you mean the uranium deposits desired? I'm about as far East as anyone and I know too much, it makes me gag. First the American Indians, the buffalo, the wolves, now the Mustangs! Way to go two leggeds! You can't even imagine what the Europeans think of the US!!!

Andy Fish said on Friday, Sep 4 at 10:04 PM

Well, let's see, Susan... Why don't you get your "back east" tush out here and learn something of what you are talking about. Maybe you can have one to. Hush until you have an inkling of the truth! Then maybe you'll understand the lack of adoptors.

Susan NY said on Friday, Sep 4 at 8:07 PM

The BLM is a rogue bureaucracy with a history of roundups for private financial gain. The choice isn't between horses starving in the winter, and rounding them up to euthanize, slaughter or corral at taxpayers expense (where are the adopters in this economy?) The real question is, why is the BLM paying a Federally indicted horse slaughter thief $7,000 a day to pull hte people's horses from our land? The BLM has yet to produce peer-reviewable horse population data. Follow the money!

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