We begin with a note about the roundup schedule in general: The schedule is going to change. Moriah is already set to begin a week early.

We expect the Callaghan Complex (NV) roundup to end more than a month ahead of schedule. Saylor Creek (ID) ended in one day. The successful Preliminary Injunction for Carter, Buckhorn and Coppersmith will see these herds pulled off the roundup schedule.

This can push the Utah and Colorado operations to start earlier and new herds could be added to the schedule.

We will keep you updated.

Cumulative Totals (as of 7/15):

Captured: 1302 Wild Horses (539 Stallions, 528 Mares, and 235 Foals)

We had to push to get BLM to update capture totals. It is unclear of they updated any number except the capture totals. It is very disheartening that BLM is simply not transparent and makes gaining the simplest of information difficult fueling distrust.

Shipped: 1221 Wild Horses (497 Stallions, 503 Mares, and 221 Foals).  Wild horses will be shipped to two different facilities: 700 will go to Palomino Valley Center and 1300 to Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes RD.) in Fallon. The Fallon facility is off-limits to public view.

Deaths: 6, Day 1, during active trapping: A sorrel filly foal was reported to have been kicked by another horse at temporary holding and broke a leg. (This death is from July 10. Any deaths that occurred on July 11th will be reported the next day.) Day 2, during shipping and holding: 3 y/o, Bay, Mare – Acute/Sudden, broken neck , 3 m/o, Sorrel, filly – Acute/Sudden, indicators consistent with colic. Day 7: BLM reported they euthanized: “10 y/o, Bay Mare, Chronic/Pre-existing, missing and eye, 3 y/o , Bay Mare, Chronic/Pre-existing, missing an eye.” Day 8: “3 m/o, Bay Mare, Chronic/Pre-existing, respiratory infection” for some reason BLM did not want to type the word “foal” and just called her a “mare.”  ( We will be filing formal requests for information on deaths from this operation from trap and into facilities. BLM is not updating official counts in the standard timeframe and we will continue to monitor).

Due to the volume of documentation resulting from the high number of daily capture totals we have deviated from our normal landing page format and have provided updates in “smaller chunks.”

The first days you can see HERE. Documentation from days 4-6 HERE. Day 7 you can find HERE.

For those of you that do not want to watch the longer videos, this is the day condensed below.

On day 8, 62 (23 Stallions, 27 Mares, and 12 Foals) wild horses were caught at this trap in South Shoshone during a chaotic day. 

BLM said a “3 month old foal had a chronic respiratory illness” and was put down. A reminder: not only are we dealing with capture stress that can cause death immediately (or weeks later) we are dealing with horses: nasal obligate breathers. Not only does this mean any mucus accumulation from dust impacts the ability to breathe, it means that kind of stress creates a susceptibility to respiratory infections. We often see deaths in the days following capture in extreme heat or cold from respiratory illnesses.

One bay foal was run nearly the entire day. You can see in the videos and track the foal.

This first video sets up the scene so you can get an idea of “who” is being run toward the trap. This includes young foals and one very young. We are also seeing a few mares that are still pregnant. During July and February roundups (when “foaling season” is usually underway) that BLM does not keep any statistics on mares that abort foals in facilities. BLM tends not to keep any statistic they “do not like.”

Above: Something happens near the trap that we cannot see. Wild horses flee back out of the wings. (We are too far away and cannot see trap. We cannot tell you if any actually go in.) There are two choppers moving multiple bands. The pursuit is chaotic. You can track some of the foals as the group shatters back into smaller bands. In the wings, there is another attempt to flee.

Above: These videos might seem “long.” Please remember we have edited a lot out for time. We are editing “long” so you have more of a sense of the time all of this takes and the distance, the back-and-forth distance, little legs are running. At timecode 0:45 a wild horse breaks through the jute and a few seconds later a foal heads up the hill. The rest try to turn and run out. This sets up a really long attempt to push them in by the helicopter. Watching the footage, we think we see a stallion and his mare and foal nearest to the trap. If it is who we think it is, he is dominant on the range. Not only do the horses behind him not want to go into the trap, they do not want to get close to the mare/foal of the dominant stallion. BLM does not capture by band. They group numerous bands together and try to run them all in together. These groups often contain rival stallions. During foaling (and foal heat) season, this creates more tension BLM does not account for. Please keep in mind how long these little legs run.

Above: What the push into trap looked like.

At the temporary holding corrals BLM would not let observers stand where they had the day before limiting their ability to see the foal pen and the mares faces. It would really help BLM if they were more transparent. At not time can we see captives clearly… not at trap, temporary corrals or in the facility the horses captured this day are being sent to.

It is uncertain if Magic was captured today. We saw him go in and out of the wings a few times. But distance to trap and the limited visibility at holding make it hard to tell. We are still reviewing video.

Wild horses captured today will be sent to the off-limits to the public facility in Fallon NV. No observation day has been (set like the ones we see in other states). There are captives that went into this facility last year — that may or may not still be there — that have never been seen again. NV has more wild horses than all other states combined and they do not get the same type of treatment or transparency provided elsewhere.

We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team ready to run the roundup schedule.

Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support.