Wild Horse Education

North Complex 2026 (Flanigan, Dogskins, Granite)

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Wild horse with likely rope scar, Dogskins. Over the years we have documented the appearance of these wounds and scars on wld horses in this area as apparently trying to rope a wild horse that has been acclimated to campgrounds is “recreation.” These are not domestics.

NOTE: We had several server-side issues and an action item was linked to a mailer. Instead of adding a distinct link, there was glitch and it sent you to this page repeating a different link. HERE is the ACTION item: https://wildhorseeducation.org/action-alert-fy-2027-wild-horse-and-burro-population-growth-suppression-guardrails/

The BLM Carson District began the roundup of the North Complex.

The North Complex North Complex in Washoe County, Nevada, covers a combined 27,671 Herd Management Area (HMA) acres, while the broader footprint of the approved roundup plan spans approximately 314,145 acres.

The total allowed management level (AML) for the North Complex is established at 101–157 wild horses, which is distributed across the three individual HMAs.

The Flanigan HMA holds the largest target allocation with an AML of 80–124 horses. The smaller and more rugged Granite Peak HMA is managed for a target population of 11–18 horses, while the Dogskin Mountains HMA has the lowest population ceiling with a target AML of just 10–15 horses.

BLM estimates the population as 424 wild horses in and outside the HMAs. BLM is targeting 320 for capture.

There is a critical lack of transparency concerning the North Complex roundup, as the agency has failed to release a verified pre-roundup census or commit to a comprehensive post-roundup count to ensure that no HMA goes below low AML (the legally authorized low limit).

The southern section of the complex was impacted by the summer fires north of Reno.

There is intense recreation in the the southern part of the complex that has increased without many restrictions changing the landscape drastically over the last decade.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Carson City District encompasses approximately 8.9 million acres of land across western Nevada and eastern California, within which it directly manages about 4.8 million acres of public land. Spanning 11 counties, the district is divided into two distinct administrative units: the Sierra Front Field Office and the Stillwater Field Office.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Carson City District administers its wild horse and burro populations across nine distinct Herd Management Areas (HMAs) that collectively encompass approximately 860,000 designated HMA acres (with temporary federal management boundaries extending across more than 1.8 million acres during regional animal gather operations).
This district also overlaps the Virginia Range state managed horses.
An additional year-long impound notice for this BLM district (and a questionable sale of wild horses and Virginia Range horses) raises additional serious concerns.
Note: Wild Horse Education. Montgomery Creek Preserve and Rewilding America Now are taking action addressing the lack of transparency and the district wide impound notice to ensure wild horses are protected from the slaughter pipeline or landing in other “bad places.” We will update you on this action going forward. 

Official cumulative numbers:

Captured (official BLM count): 323 Wild Horses (100 Stallions, 145 Mares, and 78 Foals)

Only 87 of the total number captured are from the south, near where the fire was outside Dogskins and Granite. The rest of the horses were captured just a few miles from Twin Peaks outside the Fort Sage area (presumably being called “off Flanigan” for the purpose of removal.

Shipped: 322 Wild Horses (99 Stallions, 145 Mares, and 78 Foals)   In the past BLM bypassed temporary holding and used the nearby Palomino Valley Center holding facility that lies “down the road.” This time BLM has set temporary sorting corrals on the private property of a permittee and is shipping horses to Litchfield in California.

Deaths: 1 (BLM lists death as: 11 y/o, gray, stud, euthanized, broken left hind leg, at holding likely fighting in corral) We know these wild horses are loved by the community of advocates that live in the area. This stud could have been captured day 1 or 2 as BLM did not ship any to Litchfield until yesterday. We were not allowed into the temporary corrals and do not know which grey stud this was.)

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.

This page will update frequently as images and video are transferred and information comes in from the field. Most recent updates will appear at the top, scroll for earlier reports. 
Day 6: 10-22-26
48 (16 Stallions, 23 Mares, 9 Foals) were captured on the last day.
This is the trap just a few miles from the border of Twin Peaks, not an HMA that is part of the North Complex.
We are continuing to edit.
Wild horses were first transported to the temporary corrals where we were told the brand inspector created paperwork to them ship them back West and into California to Litchfield (see map in preface section in that sentence needs more clarity).
After operations ended for the day our team member headed to Litchfield to check on captives.
We are reviewing her footage and will continue our updates.
Day 5: 10-21-26
132 (40 Stallions, 60 Mares, 32 Foals) were captured at the trap just south of Twin Peaks in the “off-HMA” zone between Flanigan and Twin Peaks. This area was not impacted by fires.
When BLM writes “BCS 3 – 5” on their website it means a body score. 5 is actually perfect. over 5 begins the classifications of overweight. There were a couple of older horses near a “3” and the majority were a 5 or 6. (see video from previous day of the horses free prior to capture).  Just because BLm includes a lower number, that does not mean many horses were the lower score.

We expect operations to end tomorrow.

No observation at the temporary corrals was permitted on any day during this operation. The corrals are on the private proprty of the ranches by Winnemucca Ranch road.

Day 4: 10-20-26

These are wild horses in the area. They are in good body condition going into winter.
Trap has moved far to the north. This are was NOT impacted by the fires.
The majority of the wild horses targeted in this operation appear to be outside the area impacted.
This trap is only 14 miles from the last trap at the Twin Peaks roundup in 2024. The trap in not inside an HMA in the north complex. These are “off HMA” horses (it is unclear how BLM is determining off Twin Peaks vs off Flanigan.
56 (19 Stallions, 23 Mares, 14 Foals) were captured. We were the only observer onsite.
Observation to meaningful assess operations was essentially nonexitstent except to view to portion of the run from over 1.5 miles away.
No observation of holding is permitted.
Day 3: 10-19-26
We have extensive video and are editing.
This page will update frequently.

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20 (5 Stallions, 10 Mares, 5 Foals) wild horses were captured. Two of the foals were very young.

Video below is long. This band is part of a larger group that was also run yesterday. This band splits apart more than once as evasive moves are made to protect the foals and is caught in “bits and pieces.” This is a long run edited for time to show the numerous breaks, evades and captures…. all with a very new foal.

This run had another small baby. A mare goes down in the wings. A rope. Pull. She gets up and makes it into trap. We edit the video to show emphasis that these horses have been in this area, moving, for two days and this run was long to get to trap.

The day ended with a haunting escape.

We are editing video and will upload as soon as possible.

No viewing of temporary was permitted.

Capture operations move north tomorrow.

One horse died. An 11-year old grey stud BLM said had a broken leg in holding.

Day 2: 10-18-26
The crowd present yesterday was not onsite today.
The horses did not seem to like the trap and hesitate. There is a large gulley and they may know it is there and know the danger. During at the end of the day there was fighting in the trailer and they had to offload a stud. He ended up making a break for it.
35 (11 Stallions, 13 Mares, 11 Foals) wild horses were captured in 3 total runs.
There are 4 videos. The final run is broken into 2.
Runs were long. Each one lasted around 30 minutes or longer.
BLM is continuing to deny any observation at the temporary corrals before sorting and shipping to Litchfield.

Day 1: 10-17-26

The proximately of the southern part of this complex and the ease of travel saw an unusually large number of people at trap. Representatives from multiple groups that support roundups were present along with a representative from Senator Rosen’s office (who did not openly identify herself as such).

Dirt bike and side-by-side traffic was an all day occurrence. Camp grounds within the “gather zone” remained occupied. However, the public interested in horses was highly managed and locals were not even permitted to travel shorter routes home after the operation.

There were only two runs the entire day.

Run 1 below:

If you know the bands in the area you can see that you may be able to (almost) recognize the horses captured but you are too far away to be certain..

Run 1, in trap below:

There was a very large social crowd. We dropped sound back as far as we could. We literally dropped it down over 90%. The chatter was loud.

Run 2 it was even harder to ID individual horses as atmospheric conditions and distance blurred features even more.

BLM would not allow any visit to temporary holding so we could try to identify captives. It seemed they were going to move trap and simply did not want to accommodate a trip to holding corrals. 

The horses will be shipped over state lines into California to Litchfield beginning tomorrow morning. 

We will update as we know more. 

Our team is working hard. 

We will update you as time allows.

We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team running in the field covering the roundup schedule.

 

 

Categories: Wild Horse Education