Piceance-East Douglas HMA
On Day 22, BLM began the West Douglas portion of the Piceance-East/West Douglas operation. This part is a “zero out” of the Herd Area.
The roundup was announced by BLM this way :“The Bureau of Land Management announced tentative plans to conduct a helicopter-assisted gather of approximately 1,025 excess wild horses within and adjacent to the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area and the West Douglas Herd Area beginning around Aug. 1, 2026.”
Permanent removal targets: 1011 horses, 911 from East Douglas and 100 from West Douglas.
BLM captured 808 wild horses from Piceance-East Douglas. BLM ended that portion early and we do not know if they will try to extend the operation beyond August 31 in order to return to Piceance.
BLM captured 808 wild horses from Piceance-East Douglas. You can see the Piceance-East Douglas HMA operation HERE along with the preface for these roundups where oil and gas dominate the landscape and cattle graze in between.
BLM says there are 100 wild horses in West Douglas.
BLM appears to be lumping these together in their totals. We will keep a distinct count as BLM begins to “zero out” the 123,000 acre West Douglas HA.
Official cumulative numbers:
Captured:
West Douglas: 54 wild horses (29 stallions, 19 mares, and 5 foals).
BLM moving back to Piceance-East Douglas.
Total from both Piceance-East Douglas and West Douglas: 894 wild horses (355 stallions, 368 mares, and 171 foals)
Shipped: 792 (307 stallions, 327 mares, 158 foals)
Deaths: 9, gray mare suffered catastrophic injury during shipping. We do not know if that was from trap to holding. Or from holding to facility. 2 “bay stallions” with no other identifying information where BLM says something (unidentified) was reason to put them down because whatever it was would not improve (we do not know if it was asserted blindness, broken bone, club foot, etc.). Another death with zero information about why it was put down except it was a bay stud. BLM asserted, “Yearling cremello colt humanely euthanized due to pre-existing condition – eye abnormality/blindness.” BLM said mare had a pre-existing fractured shoulder and put her down.
West Douglas: Foal was found dead at temporary holding. BLM put down a bay stallion saying he had an old neck injury that “would not improve.” Mare died of heart failure.
Please be aware, BLM weakened the standards in their CAWP program on June 29th, right before helicopter roundup season began.
A veterinarian is no longer required to be onsite.
Day 10, 08-31-26: Our observer was ready to go. BLM simply denied access today. Monday is supposed to be observation. Mare died of heart failure. 11 (4 stallions, 4 mares, 3 foals) captured.
Capture portion has ended.
Day 9, 08-30-26: 21 (7 stallions, 9 mares, 5 foals) captured. BLM said mare had a pre-existing fractured shoulder and put her down. No public observers allowed.
Day 8, 08-29-26: 3 (1 stallion, 2 mares, 0 foals) captured. No public observers allowed.
Day 7, Day 6, 08-28-26: No capture day.
Day 5, 08-27-26: 15 wild horses (9 stallions, 4 mares, and 2 foals) captured. No public observers allowed
Day 4, 08-26-26
From 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. only 2, a stallion and a mare, were captured.
Day 3, 08-25-26:
A harrowing moment when a stallion was chased up a rock faced cliffside as he fled.
Only 7 wild horses (2 stallions, 4 mares, and 1 foal) were captured today as BLM continues the zero out of West Douglas.
During a zero out every horse is captured. Zero out operations see a lot of relentless solo pursuits and ropings of adults. They can get rough as BLM pulls the last wild horses off the range.
Day 2: 08-24-26:
From Scott Wilson referencing an event that happened before any runs came in:
People that claim separating families has no impact simply no nothing about wild horses.
16 wild horses (9 stallions, 6 mares, and 1 foal) were captured.
NOTE: Out of 6 mares only 1 foal was captured.
“Adult bay stallion humanely euthanized due to pre-existing condition – acquired physical defect; neck injury that did not heal properly, unable to maintain or improve.”
Day 1, 08-23-26: 11 wild horses (6 stallions, 3 mares, and 2 foals) were captured with no public observation allowed. Of note: Another foal was found dead in temporary holding.
We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team running 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. Sincere Gratitude.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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