The Adobe Town herd Management Area (HMA) is part of the area in Wyoming the public knows as “Rock Springs.” Rock Springs consists of Great Divide Basin, Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek, White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in southwestern Wyoming. In 2021, BLM captured a total of 4,161 (1603 stallions, 1700 mares and 858 foals) wild horses from the area, the largest single roundup in U.S, history.
In 2023, BLM finalized plans to remove all of the wild horses from Great Divide Basin, Salt Wells Creek. Part of Adobe Town would also be “zeroed out” and the Appropriate Management Level (AML) was lowered to 259–536 from 610-800. These plans were based on a Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment after a settlement agreement with a livestock grazing association. In a nutshell, the RMP amendment took the combine acreage of 3,436,096 acres and reduced it to 1,361,557 acres.
Many of you are asking us a lot of questions and we will simplify the timeline as we know it: Litigation filed against the 2023 RMP Amendment lost in the lower court. It was taken to the Tenth Circuit. On the day the roundup commenced, the Tenth Circuit ruled and remanded the case back to the lower court, reversing the lower courts ruling. In plain English: the higher court said the lower court made an error in legal analysis and must review the case again.
Because a gather plan is a “full force and effect” decision, that means while the case is being heard, the BLM can still act on the 2023 decision to zero out the areas and remove the Adobe Town HMA to the lower number determined in 2023. That is what they are doing.
BLM has stated the only thing that can stop a gather plan would be a direct order enjoining them from the court. In other words, BLM says a judge must literally say, “stop the roundup.”
This remains a dynamic situation. There could be additional action from the courts and we will update you.
WHE has an observer on the ground at Adobe Town and we will update as news arrives.
BLM plans to remove 1,675 wild horses from the Adobe Town HMA. Appropriate Management Level (AML) in the Adobe Town HMA was lowered in the RMP Amendment to 259–536 from the 2021 numbers of 610-800. The lower number that reflects the “zeroed out” portion of Adobe Town remains the active goal.
RESPONSE: Many of you are commenting or emailing us angry. There are claims that we told you the roundup was cancelled after the Tenth Circuit ruling. WHE NEVER made any statement that would lead you to believe that. WHE never even implied such a thing. It is unfortunate that we have to even write this.
Of all the “chatter” online, Wyoming Public Radio had a shorter story yesterday that summed things up well on the Tenth Circuit ruling. You can click here to read or listen.
For those of you still emailing us about this ruling we did another piece HERE that breaks it down to help you navigate the soundbites on social media.
Cumulative totals as of 7/22/25 (a.m.) Week 1 totals.
Removed: 642* (216 Stallions, 277 Mares, and 148 Foals) *one mule gathered on July 21
Shipped: 413 (74 Stallions, 222 Mares, and 117 Foals)
Deaths: 4: A 4-year-old brown mare was found deceased on trailer upon arrival at temporary holding (BLM reported a necropsy performed and was inconclusive). 10+ year old bay stallion BLM said was missing an eye with infection. 18-year-old sorrel mare suffered a broken neck while being transported in a trailer. A bay foal died in the trap due to capture myopathy (capture stress).
Updates continue for week two HERE
Newest daily report will appear at the top of the page. Scroll down for earlier reports. This page will update frequently as images are processed and loaded.
“It was hard to watch these babies try to stand in the trailer. A lot of people forget that every single thing (a panel, the smells, a trailer) is all new to a wild being. Everything creates a stress.”
072125
118 (33 Stallions, 53 Mares, and 31 Foals, 1 mule) were captured on a cloudy and cool day.
This is the 5th day at this trap. That means that horses have been running, hiding, moving, in this area for nearly a week without peace. Simple daily routines like going to water have been disturbed for an overly long and unusual time increasing risks of injury, illness, dehydration related issues like colic and capture stresses.
In fact, a foal died of capture stress today. 18-year-old sorrel mare suffered a broken neck while being transported in a trailer.
B:M says they are going to continue to squeeze this same trap yet another day.
072025
115 (37 Stallions, 48 Mares, and 30 Foals) captured. A 4-year old mare died during transport from trap to temporary holding,
Above: A peek at the Rock Springs holding facility.
071925
118 (37 Stallions, 54 Mares, and 27 Foals) captured on the third day at this location. There was a bit of rain overnight and temperatures did not rise out of the 80s.
74 (74 Stallions, 0 Mares, and 0 Foals) were shipped from temporary corral to holding. About 239 wild horses spent the night in temporary corrals.
071825
106 (44 Stallions, 40 Mares, and 22 Foals) were captured and 96 (0 Stallions, 58 Mares, and 38 Foals) were shipped to the Rock Springs facility (report from facility will be added as images are transferred from team members).
This means that 197 wild horses will overnight at the temporary corrals. Many people do not know that overcrowding of temporary corrals is one of the top five most frequent Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) violations noted by our team.
Our observer alerted BLM onsite that a horse was down in the first trailer loaded of the day. They radioed down to trap and the horse was assisted to standing before trailering to the temporary corrals.
We are editing additional material and will load as soon as time allows.
071725
114 (41 Stallions, 50 Mares, and 23 Foals) captured.
We were told the BLM CAWP team would be onsite.
We are looking into yet another anomaly in how this operation is being conducted and will report back soon. This page will update frequently.
071625
33 wild horses were captured (16 stallions, 11 mares, 6 foals) were captured. A stallion was euthanized BLM said because he was missing an eye and it was infected.
It appears that the large groups of horses BLM said were in these areas have moved. There is a lot of time between drives and relatively low daily capture totals seem to have been unexpected by BLM onsite.
Trap will move again tomorrow. A WHE observer remains onsite.
Many people forget that Wyoming is a place for oil and gas. In fact, the Rock Springs Checkerboard, the area of this controversy, is the site for a new CO2 pipeline. You can see an article from the public comment period for the pipeline HERE.
071525
On the first day of operations 38 Wild Horses (8 Stallions, 21 Mares, and 9 Foals) were captured. The day began with a long drive to the meeting location and another out to the range. The helicopter took to the air around 7:15. The last group was captured after 2 p.m.
Barbed wire at a gate wild horses were driven through to move them from one grazing allotment to another were trap was located was not flagged. Luckily, there were no collisions as we have seen in the past.
You can see a tarp being used to move horses through trap towards the trailer. A technique unique to this contractor.
When our observer reported in, she noted watching this family graze peacefully before the helicopter descended.
Temporary holding corrals
WHE will continue to report from onsite and offsite while this roundup continues.
As we process photo and video, this page will update frequently.
Our legal team is working on an update that will cover several cases as we fight to protect our wild ones and their habitat from ongoing injustices.
All of our work is only possible with your support.
Your support keeps our teams in the field, our investigations running and our litigation alive. Together, we will take a strong stand to defend our precious wild ones.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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