Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

For folks who are in the area (Four Corners?) and willing/able to adopt a mustang from the Carson National Forest, the following information might be helpful. This was sent to me by our Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area manager, Bob Ball, based at the Dolores Public Lands Office.

Carson National Forest 

 208 Cruz Alta Road, Taos, NM 87571 

575-758-6200  

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     CONTACT:  Kathy DeLucas, (575) 758-6303 

Wild horses available for adoption 

 Taos, N.M., April 23, 2009—For people who want  to own a living piece of the wild west, 

the Jicarilla Ranger District has 40 wild mustangs available for adoption.  Horses can be seen at the 

Browning Ranch at 333 Browning Parkway in Farmington on Friday, May 1 from 12:00 to 5:00 pm.  

An adoption day will be held on Saturday, May 2 from 10:00 am to 4 pm.  Horses are also available 

for viewing by appointment.  There are three package deals that include a mare and foal, with a fourth 

mare expecting to foal any day. 

 A 2004 environmental assessment determined that the wild horse territory could support only 

between 50 to 105 horses depending on environmental conditions. The current population estimate is 

428 horses.  

For the first time in Forest Service history, Forest Service wild horse experts, in collaboration 

with the U.S. Animal Humane Association have used a birth control injection on four of the captured 

mares and released them back into the wild, in an effort to control the herd.  

The Carson National Forest adopted out all 32 horses in the first gathering last fall.  Mt. 

Taylor Mustangs is the gathering contractor and is using a low-stress baiting method.   

The horses have been “gentled” with well-known horse whisperers so that the animals have no bad 

encounters with human beings. Bob Browning, a well-known Farmington-based horse trainer, has been 

volunteering his time to work with the horses and get them used to people.  

Horses are available for adoption on a first-come, first-served basis. Qualified individuals can 

select a horse and complete an adoption application. The Forest Service will review the adoption 

materials with potential adopters and verify adopters meet requirements, including facilities needed to 

care for a horse. Upon application approval, adopters will be able to take their horse home. The adoption 

fee for each wild horse is $125.  

In order to adopt a horse, prospective owners must be at least 18 years of age. Parents or 

guardians may adopt a wild horse and allow younger family members to care for the animal. Potential 

adopters must have no prior conviction for inhumane treatment of animals or violations of the Wild 

Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, demonstrate that there are facilities for adequate food and 

water; provide proof that humane care does exist for the number of horses requested; and indicate that 

the property is in the United States.  

To see pictures of the horses and for more information on adoption requirements and adoption 

applications please check the Carson National Forest Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/carson or call the 

Jicarilla Ranger District office on US 64 in Bloomfield at 505-632-2956 extension 207 or email 

Anthony Madrid at amadrid@fs.fed.us.    

USFS

Some articles about the situation in Nebraska:

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=114503&provider=top&catid=188

http://starherald.com/articles/2009/04/26/news/3-strikes_mustang_ranch/doc49f3d412de4f2605069493.txt

http://www.habitatforhorses.org/

Click that link and scroll down to the links under “What’s New” and “Latest News” to read about horses at the Nebraska ranch that need donations of money and/or hay. Details are listed at the end of the press release. It is important to NOT send anything directly to the ranch. Go through Front Range Equine Rescue as detailed in the press release.

Also follow this link – http://www.alliancetimes.com/breaking%20news.htm – to a short brief in the local newspaper.

Continuing with the “if you can help” theme, visit this blog – http://horsebackwriter.wordpress.com/ – for information about some burros that need homes. Fresh Start Horse Rescue is a small farm here in Southwest Colorado, but the folks who run it have huge hearts.

Little Book Cliffs wild horse advocate Billie Hutchings is doing her part to keep mustangs in the public eye. Her blog – http://wildhorsefever.spaces.live.com/ – follows her adventures with the LBC wild horses near Grand Junction, Colo., and she has been one of my inspirations for creating this blog. 

Billie directed me recently to an article about wild horses on http://www.coloradomagazineonline.com/. There are many photos by Colorado photographer Carol Walker (http://www.livingimagescjw.com/), but Billie also was interviewed and has a picture of their adorable Appaloosa foal Traveler in the article.

Also, Billie has created a Blurb book about the Little Book Cliffs wild horses! This link – http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/412405/449fb7ad2d7bf07640384cb6eff6d7b5 – will take you to information about Little Book Cliffs Mustangs. You may purchse the book, and you can also click on the cover photo for a preview. The book provides a great look at the horses and their environment. Billie and other folks with Friends of the Mustangs keep track of the horses there and even assist the BLM with gathers. When you see the kind of geography their horses inhabit, you’ll be amazed at where they live and how the advocates manage to find them!

While I’m mentioning updates, be sure to visit Matt Dillon’s updated blog: http://pryorwild.wordpress.com/. Matt was my other huge inspiration. In his most recent post – which has been a long time coming! – Matt reveals that a new Web site for the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center, which is in Lovell, Wyo., is very soon to be unveiled. I think I’m not alone in saying I can’t wait to see more news about the Pryor Mountain mustangs!

http://madeleinepickens.com/testimony/

The above is a link to the text of Madeleine Pickens’ testimony about HR 1018 before the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and the Committee on Natural Resources.

Here’s the link again to the proposed ROAM Act: http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=504&Itemid=1

And here’s a link (thanks, Tom!) to a short article about why the BLM has declined Pickens’ offer to take the horses currently in holding: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=13718&eID=109029

According to the Nevada BLM director, there are still options for Pickens.

Potentially some fantastic news! After I received an email yesterday (Feb. 18) from artist Karen Keene Day, I became aware of legislation introduced last week by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) and Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Chairman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ). You might remember these men from the letter they authored last year after the BLM announced it had to start killing wild horses in holding facilities because it had neither the capacity nor the funding to care for them. (Follow this link to read that letter: http://wildhorsepreservation.com/pdf/EuthanasiaBLM_letter.pdf .)

The legislation, called – appropriately – ROAM, the Restore Our American Mustangs Act, “would amend the landmark 1971 (Wild Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro) Act to implement changes suggested by GAO (Government Accountability Office).” Among other things, it would “prohibit the killing of healthy wild horses and burros.” Rock on!

The GAO report came out last fall. The first link below is to a BLM Web page summarizing the GAO’s findings. The second link is to the GAO report.

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2008/november/NR_10_11_2008.html

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0977.pdf

Now, ROAM was just introduced last Thursday, Feb. 12. But as I find out more, I will post it here. (I am cautiously STOKED!!!) Follow the below link to the press release from the Committee on Natural Resources. When I followed the link in Karen’s email to resourcescommittee.house.gov, this story was front and center on the home page.

http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=504&Itemid=27

Humane Society Web site:

http://www.humanesociety.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/wild_horse_and_burro_act_introduced_021209.html

Our Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area BLM manager sent a link to this article last week, but I have to say I was originally put off by the unfortunate (in my opinion) tagline: “The crowded West has little room for wild horses.” As opposed to what, cattle and oil wells and McMansions, I thought?! But I picked up a February issue at the newsstand (which I do every month; I ought to just plunk down my money for a subscription) and read the article … and was pleasantly surprised. After I read the article, I understood the tagline; it refers to what the horses are competing against – and it’s not just cattle and oil barons but attitudes, too.

Here’s the link to the online article: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/02/wild-horses/fuller-text/1

I encourage everyone to read it – online, or pick up your own copy. I’d be interested to know what others think of the article. Even as close to the issue as I am, it seemed pretty balanced, but I do admit my obvious bias!