TWIN PEAKS RELEASE - BITTERSWEET MOMENTS IN A BROKEN PROGRAM

Dedicated to all those left behind...

   A BLM trailer fulfilling its best mission:  returning wild horses to the wild.  

PLEASE NOTE:   All images by Elyse Gardner unless otherwise stated.  For consent to reproduce or use any images herein, please email Elysesings@comcast.net.  In all cases always, please give credit to the photographer.  Thank you.  

               On April 6, 2011, I was back in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area to film a homecoming, always a welcome sight.  BLM's Litchfield Corrals were following through on the release and repatriation of 10 wild horses, 11 mules, and 1 burro, leaving behind all their 1,568 displaced horse family and friends and 159 displaced burros in holding pens who are fast being scattered throughout the country looking for a new raison d'etre.  Clearly, we are not the only species with midlife crises.
               Come along on this small but nice UNroundup.

                        I wanted to cover the release of the mules and burro as well as the stallions and was disappointed that the releases were not staggered.  Four trucks headed out, and observers had to choose which animals we wanted to see released.  I selected the four stallions, and among the few people present, no one covered the mules and burro.  I had seen and filmed virtually all the mules and burros coming in (rounded up) at the Buffalo Meadows trap site where these were being returned and would have greatly appreciated documenting their release, as well, but I could not do both them and the stallions.  The humble mules and burro, however, are not forgotten.
                        The Litchfield Corrals had other work to do for the animals living in its pens, and they needed to return for the afternoon and could not spare the personnel to stagger the release.  
                        I was happy to see these few wild burros on the way to release the stallions, as you saw in the video above. 

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

 ©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

 ©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

Heading deeper into Red Silver and Mace's home range

  

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

                           Red Silver and Mace are wasting no time separating themselves from the trailer. 

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

Ever cautious, Mace and Red Silver turn to keep an eye on Doug, who was enjoying his job today4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

            Nova (in the lead) and Jackson coming home.  

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner

Nova and Jackson stepping out, putting space between themselves and the trailer.  

In case anyone asks you the horse-trivia question, "Does a horse always have a foot on the

 ground in a trot, you now know the anwer.  

           Correction; only eight of the ten wild horses had been removed.  The remaining two joined the ranks within the last seven months during which time all these equines have lived in pens at the Litchfield Corrals in Litchfield, California.  In fact, the latter two have never seen or heard a helicopter; they are infants, foals born within the last six weeks.

           Deniz Bolbol, Suzanne Roy and her daughter, and a couple I'd met during the roundups came to witness this very important time for these 10 fortunate horses who were collecting their grand prizes today.

           These wild horses were the winners and runners-up of the Wild Horse Northern California "Hottest Studs" contest and the "Wild Girl Knockouts"competition.  And the girls were really something since they aced the competition even though two were heavily pregnant when they entered the competition, and the other two were also discovered to be pregnant but not disqualified for it.  

            Trouncing all his competition, the burro had won The Most Likely to Succeed with Mares award and Father of the Mules trophy; hence his selection to be returned.  Jeff Fontana, the Eagle Lake PR person, also said the burro seemed unadoptable because of an attitude problem, but I think had he not sired so many mules, he would have remained at Litchfield with all the other less horse-oriented burros.  I do appreciate that BLM people would even say they'd consider releasing an animal because they didn't think it would adapt to humans; I only hope it is true.  

          (EDUCATIONAL NOTE:  Mules are the offspring of a male burro and a female horse.  It is the rare wild burro who successfully sires numerous mules.  (A hinny is the offspring of a female burro and a stallion.)  

           Wild Horses Are Not Saddle Horses in Waiting

            On the serious side, according to the BLM these fortunate horses all display the conformation considered desirable as "saddle horses" as well as the traits characteristic of the Twin Peaks area.  

            In my allusions to beauty competitions, etc., I'm playing with irony and sarcasm because I find the facts of life so unfortunate for those horses and animals who don't measure up to the ruling humans' subjective standards.  Wild horses are wild horses and deserve their freedom just as they are.   As Barbara Clarke so aptly states, they are not saddle horses in waiting.  

            Waxing philosophical for just a moment (go with me, please):  Do animals and things exist solely for man's use?  Solely?  Let's look at a couple of major belief systems with which this writer is familiar:  Under the Judeo/Christian ethic, man is appointed the guardian, the steward of life on earth, not their tyrant, and not their devourer though he behaves like it.  The new and old testament describe that as an act of the Creator's power and manifestation of His infinite love, all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him, and that He made man the steward over all, much like BLM and the public lands.  We are all just doing a bang-up job, aren't we. 

             But I digress:  Before the fall there was no eating of flesh, no killing, no using of other living things in the destructive manner prevalent today.  Animals had been created and had a purpose that had nothing to do with consumption.  And the animals all were herbivore (plant eating, not flesh eating), and it was only under those peaceable, mutually beneficent conditions that God looked at all He had made (not "some," or "most") and declared with obvious satisfaction that it was "very good." (Genesis 1:29-31).  God even made an explicit covenant with all creatures as well as with man that He would not destroy the earth with a flood again (Genesis 9:12, 9:15).  Also, the commandment for the sabbath rest was clearly stated by God to extend to the animals as well as for man (Exodus 20:9, 23:12); and the land was to be allowed to rest every seventh year, as well (Leviticus 25:5),  in a mutually respectful, harmonious co-existence.  (Wonder how the land can rest from fracking...)

             In the Native American traditions, the spirits of animals are honored,  and they are treated with reverence and respect when they are killed or otherwise used in service of man.  The same can be stated for the East Indian traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism, the point being that ideally, most world spiritualities acknowledge other creatures' legitimate right to live, to be, apart from their usefulness to man.  

            Among all ideals and philosophies there will always be the issue of the hard-hearted who may even ascribe to a compassion-based faith but whose hearts are not so, and they fall into that 80 percent Dr. Temple Grandin talks about who slip into ugly practices when handling animals if they aren't knowingly being supervised, evaluated, or recorded.  

           So I am glad for those released, but on behalf of the horses and burros, I find the criteria for determining who is worthy of release back to their homes grievous even though I understand it and must confess I am guilty of those same subjective standards myself at times.  I am human, and I have to keep a close eye on not letting that get out of control...

            THAT BEING SAID, I am not opposed to all adoptions.  I live in the real world and realize some wild horses will need homes.  I own a three-year old filly whom I adopted at age two, and she is gentled to halter and will be engaged as a riding partner, and I will be honored every time I have the privilege of being carried by her.  But I do believe the older wild ones should be allowed to remain wild and free, and will continue to talk more about the details of appropriate wild horse management in the true spirit of the 1971 Act.  Actually, that's about all I talk about  on this blog in various ways, isn't it.

            AS A FINAL NOTE ON THIS SUBJECT, I do understand and agree that returning these well-proportioned, well-tempered horses to live free and bear young will produce a more desirable wild horse who will more easily find a good home in the future. I nevertheless need to acknowledge the subjective perspective from which we humans tend to impose our ways on the rest of creation without necessarily considering the other creatures themselves, without considering the bigger picture and their right to be here, or remembering that we don't own it all and can in fact do tremendous harm.             

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol 

           "Mares and foals together are never released back," we were told by a contractor during the Twin Peaks roundup, when several observers strongly urged that Atticus (who was released with the only other stallions released early in the roundup) be reunited with his mare and foal who all ceaselessly called to one another (see my video, "Twin Peaks, CA, roundup: Separating Stallions from Families."  

            Doug told me when these mares first came in they were recognized as outstanding and slotted for eventual release notwithstanding that they were all with foal.  His eyes lit up as he talked about these girls.  He wants these beautiful horses out there to keep the herd strong and healthy.  He told me, "There will always be wild horses in these mountains."  I told him the horses and I were counting on him.  

            Their foals are very fortunate, because barring mishap or predation — which is admittedly a real threat from mountain lions — they will get to grow up true wild mustangs and gain the herd knowledge and independent, self-sufficient, thinking brain that makes mustangs such amazing animals.  It can be a very hard life, but it is the life these exceptional animals were designed to live.  

             American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign's  Deniz  and Suzanne covered the mares'/foals' release and have made their film and photos available.  For their account of this day, you can click on this link just above.

  ©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol   

Bayberry and Buttercup bringing their foals home. 

  ©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol  

  ©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol   

 Dazzles (in front) and her friend Splashes race toward Buttercup, the buttermilk, and her bay friend Bayberry, who with their foals were far ahead by the time these two very pregnant beauties were released from the trailer, and these girls took off at a gallop to catch up.

  ©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol 

Buttercup and baby

                     As I stated in my comments in Phoenix at the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting, I believe the Twin Peaks roundup plan was a travesty and reveals, at the least, BLM's and Secretary Salazar's great fundamental ignorance concerning the wild horses; and at worst, the chilling disregard toward wild horses and burros which I have often found in BLM personnel in authority who could and should know better but just don't bother to do the right thing with these animals.   

                      SPECIFICALLY:   The reason the Twin Peaks catch/treat/release plan was a travesty and was not designed with the welfare of the horses in mind: 

 WHY TWIN PEAKS WAS A TRAVESTY

                     In the plan, every single family band would have been literally destroyed,  unnecessarily, and that is no exaggeration.

                 BLM estimated 2,300 horses on the range.  They had planned to capture, via helicopter chase, all 2,300 horses.  As soon as the bands are captured, the animals are separated according to gender. They are held in the pens in same-sex groups.  This is because when mares are present, stallions will fight; when mares are not present, stallions generally get along with only occasional irritations.  So to avoid fights between stallions, they must be either separated in this manner, or be penned with ONLY their family group.

                  (In a BLM holding pen — or anywhere — a stallion with his family band will be the most content, and the mares and foals will be the most quiet and secure.  This family may include young stallions, male offspring not yet pushed out of the group.)   

                   BLM would then hand-pick 448 to return to the range.  All mares to be released would be treated with the infertility drug PZP; then release the stallions into their home ranges (hopefully) and separately release mares into their home ranges.  

                   What is wrong with this picture?   

                   So in a CATCH/TREAT/RELEASE roundup where horses will be returned to the range after mares are PZP treated, the way to do that with minimal feasible management practices, i.e., minimally disrupting the horses, is to keep the horses in their own family groups, each group in its own pen.  And after the mares in the band are PZP treated, the band should be released as a unit, together, having been kept together throughout the trap, and release, with only a minor separation while the mares are going through the chute.

                  Twin Peaks was a Catch/Treat/Release travesty because it follows the invasive national policy of immediately separating all the bands by gender.  The mares are PZP treated.  The stallions are released in large groups on their respective home ranges (hopefully).  Then hours, and even days later, the PZP-treated mares are released in a group. 

                 This practice destroys the family, everything in his life the stallion has scraped and scrapped for.  Adding insult to injury, the stallions now must often fight again in order to rebuild their heretofore stable families.  

                 Those that try to say this helps avoid inbreeding (stallions with daughters) do not know wild horses.  Inbreeding is seldom a problem among wild horses.    

                 This destructive practice is current BLM national policy.  They know better; they could do better, but they don't.  So what else shall I call it besides "chilling disregard"?   

                   Additionally, they are tampering with the sex ratios and returning 60% studs, 40% mares, a practice with no studies of long-term effects upon the horses.  

                  Many believe these to be NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) violations.  This roundup and case is currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco.  We will see if the Judges agree. 

                  National policy trumps local authority unless the BLM people on the ground in each HMA make a stand and say,  No; we want to act responsibly.  We want to actually manage with minimal feasible disruption.  We will respect the family bands.  

                    CALLING  BOB ABBEY: 

                    Director Abbey now has a clearly defined opportunity to demonstrate a true willingness to respect the horses and the law by making this transition to preserve the family bands into new national policy.  This change would be in the true spirit of "minimal feasible management on the range" and begin to thaw the chilling disregard currently practiced.

BLM KNOWS HOW TO DO IT RIGHT

                      In the Pryor Mountain roundup of Cloud's famous herd in 2009, under major public scrutiny, movie and media cameras, BLM and the Cattoors demonstrated very well that they know how to conduct a catch/treat/release roundup and maintain the family band structure throughout the entirety of roundup, i.e., during the helicopter drive, in the holding pens, processing through the chute, and through the ultimate release family by family. 

                That same thing should have been planned for Twin Peaks, and unless that approach is made in every catch/treat/release roundup, the BLM is derelict in its mandate to manage wild horses and burros with minimal feasible interference, prioritizing their welfare in the wild as self-sustaining herds that are an integral part of the public lands.  

           How Roundups Are Done Maintaining the Family Band

— and how Twin Peaks could have been done area by area.

         Below are photos I took during the catch/treat/release Pryor Mountain roundup in September 2009.  This was a "model" roundup for BLM, yet even it was called off before they finished/met their goal because of lame horses (10.8 miles down a rocky mountain) and horses "tying up" (rhabdomyolysis), which can be fatal,  and colicking.  

              But other than the heat and distance, BLM did some really excellent things here.   The horses were kept in their family bands, each band in its own spacious pen.  Plenty of good food and water, and kept horses in captivity for a maximum of only a week.  

             The blue dots you see on some rumps indicate that horse is to be released.  For Twin Peaks and other, larger HMAs, the blue (colored) dot is easily discernable by the pilot so he/she will not drive those horses in again. 

 ©2009 Elyse Gardner

 The stunning Bolder's family while in captivity, Cloud's smokey palomino son (far right). 

©2009 Elyse Gardner

 Bolder's exhausted daughter, Jewel, resting in the safety of her band.  She ran at least 10.8 miles (as the crow flies) in 96-plus-degree weather.   The horses are wary but calm and quiet.  

©2009 Elyse Gardner 

 Alerting to our presence, her mother and father protectively encircled Jewel.  

©2009 Elyse Gardner

The following day, Jewel is feeling better. Bolder is on far right.

©2009 Elyse Gardner

Diamond's band, with Cloud's lovely then-18-year-old mother, Phoenix

©2009 Elyse Gardner

 The charismatic Cloud.  What a fateful day Phoenix foaled and emerged with this son right in front of Ginger's camera.  I do indeed believe in Divine appointments.  

©2009 Elyse Gardner

 Cloud with his family in the Britton Springs temporary holding pens. The pens weren't as large as they look here from the distortion, but there were a good size

                It's a long time coming, and if this change in policy to uphold the family band doesn't come from the top, then the people on the ground — wild horse and burro specialists, wranglers, facility managers, good field office managers who listen to their people -- who care for and claim to care about these animals can and should insist on it.  It is doable.  Now.  

                      Freedom, family (includes friends),  food, and reproduction are the most important things to these animals.  So as much as we are able, we should center their care around respecting those needs.  

                      Today was a beautiful picture of wild horses set free, and I wanted to just have a nice blog post, but in just eight weeks the summer roundups will start, and by year's end we will lose 5,000 more wild horses and burros, and they will lose everything, their jobs, their homes, their families, and we will lose them.  If you find this blog (or any article or blog) informative, please use it to reach others.  Feel free to send the link to your Congressional representatives, to your family and friends.  The siege on wild horses is about to continue.

©4/6/11 erg/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol    

Nope, they're really not following us.  We're home, Splash.  

©4/6/11 Elyse Gardner/courtesy of Deniz Bolbol   

Dazzles keeping track of the people

BRIEF UPDATE ON DREAMCATCHERS WILD HORSE & BURRO SANCTUARY 

AND MY CALICO GIRLS

             While in the Twin Peaks hma, I also visited my Calico girls at DreamCatchers, and they are mischievous and doing very well despite a particularly freezing, snowy winter.  They continue to be the "Devil Girls," affectionately so named by Barbara Clarke because they — particularly Gypsy and Gemini -- get into things, opening gates and releasing other horses(!), creating extra work at the sanctuary, but their ingenuity is not lost on Barbara, who has an appreciation of the nature of each one in her care and takes it all in stride.     

©4/6/11 ElyseGardner

L-R: Viper (gelding who looks after the girls and has attached himself to them); 

Dahlia (her face is under Viper), LadyBug (the sorrel; you can just catch her lovely red back and flaxen golden-red mane), Gemini and Gypsy (the "devil girls"), River.

BELOW:  MEET DREAMCATCHERS' LATEST...

    Enjoy this nice (long) post.  I  have some telling news upcoming next.   Don't you thing it is time to get into longterm holding?  That it is time to find out what is happening to our wild horses beyond everyone's view?  More later. As always, I remain,

For the wild horses, captive and free, and their humble burro friends,

For all who were, and those yet to be,

Elyse Gardner

STOP-THE-ROUNDUPS PRESS CONFERENCE IN PHOENIX; SAVE OUR WILD BURROS AND HORSES DEMONSTRATIONS AT NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD MEETING OF OUR WILD HORSES

UPDATE:   

Response to BLM's PROPOSED STRATEGY DUE

            PLEASE BE SURE TO GET YOUR RESPONSE IN TO BLM'S "PROPOSED STRATEGY" document today, March 30, 2011.  Look over their strategy.  If you are tired of reading, I think you will find this Press Conference, including the question-and-answer section, an excellent source of information and inspiration.  Also informative and inspiring are the public comments voiced at the Advisory Board meeting.  More excellent sources of feedback to BLM:

            Two more places to help you bring your thoughts into focus/into words:

            The Cloud Foundation recommendations are on their website; just click on the link here to view those.  

            There is a click-and-send strategy feedback letter on Wildhorsepreservation.org's website.  I recommend you copy-and-paste that letter into the body of a personal email, edit it to personalize it with some of your own words and perhaps emphasize the issue(s) that are most meaningful to you or to those whose opinions you most trust and respect.    

WILD HORSE & BURRO ADVISORY BOARD MEETING and 

ADVOCATE PRESS CONFERENCE in PHOENIX, AZ

          With numerous supporters of our American wild horses, I traveled to Phoenix to attend the first 2011 meeting of the national Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, as well as the press conference we held to Stop the Roundups.
           WE LISTENED TO FIVE passionate, knowledgeable speakers with histories of standing up for the horses.  You may view Madeleine Pickens, R.T. Fitch, and Simone Netherlands, the first three on R.T. Fitch's blog since I need not duplicate what is already available;  

           Here are the last two clips for you from the press conference officiated by Ginger Kathrens, Emmy winning filmmaker of the Nature series on Cloud, the inimitable wild Palomino stallion of the Rockies. Following these last two statements came the Question-and-Answer segment, all of which is posted below.
           And now Laura Leigh's statement:

              The individual statements were closed out by Michael Blake's statement at the March 10, 2011, Stop-the-Roundups press conference.

I will be adding more as I go along...wanted to get these up for you now.
                                 —oOo—
         Here now is the complete Questions-and-Answers time, broken into four sections (1A, 1B, 2, and 3) since 10 minutes is the maximum video time Youtube allows at present.
         Here is part 1A, Questions and Answers, where Laura Leigh and Ginger Kathrens answer a fundamental question:  What do we think has to happen to protect the wild horses and burros in perpetuity (i.e., as an ongoing presence in our land)?


               3-10-11 Qs & As Part 1B, as Ginger Kathrens answers a question regarding the numbers of cows and sheep as compared to the numbers of wild horses and burros on the HMAs — the wild horses' and burros' Herd Management Areas designated for them:


and moving right along, here is Qs and As, Part 2, where Laura Leigh discusses some heavily competing interests and what many believe to be the real issue behind the push to remove wild horses and burros from our public lands:

    And here is Part 3, Qs & As, Madeleine Pickens discussing her plans for Mustang Monument, the sanctuary she is endeavoring to create in a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Bureau of Land Management:

  Public Comments
          Here are some of the public comments.  I will continue to get these out to you as soon as I can.  BLM will also be re-broadcasting the whole Advisory Board meeting, but they haven't gotten that up yet.  When it is available, I will be happy to post the link here.
           UPDATE:  On BLM's Youtube channel they've kindly posted their livefeed transmission from the Board meeting, including public comments.  Just click on the link above.
          We were not permitted to use tripods up here where people were speaking due to safety precautions established by the fire department for ready access, so once again, things are not as smooth as I would prefer.  However, I decided we'd all rather make do and see faces of the speakers than have a nice steady image of the speakers' backs.
          Here is my statement to the Advisory Board during the Public Comments portion.  Four minutes flies by.

           And before you watch Ginger's statement below, I just have to say what a privilege it is to know and work among these stellar people, and to call them and to be called friends.  This was a well attended Board meeting with advocates coming from all over the country.  I met people with whom I've been communicating for a long time on Facebook and through my blog, email, networking...  and renewed acquaintance with Advisory Board members, some of whom are making an effort for the horses.   There are new members, and we need to see what recommendations they will make.
          And it was good to see people from BLM, as well.  We must continue to emphasize and choose relationship.  We come down on different sides of the issues often, but we have to keep working at this.  We are making history, people, make no mistake.  Keep showing up for the horses and burros...
          Here is Ginger Kathrens:

          Here is Craig Downer's statement.   I was truly moved by his "reading with expression," as he put it, of some of his comments which he had already submitted to the Board.

              And I will soon have more comments from people at the Advisory Board Meeting.  There are several more really terrific comments I am eager to post for you.  This is not nearly complete without them.
              I am heading this weekend (March 26-27, 2011) for Los Angeles to see the new Humanion Films release, Saving America's Horses - A Nation Betrayed.  Katia Louise, filmmaker, came out to the Calico roundup in January 2010, interviewed Craig Downer, interviewed me.  She covers all horses' struggle and service in many venues, that is, wild horses as well as the terrible slaughter nightmare. 
             This film, like James Kleinert's Disappointment Valley, is an important revealing work.   Included in the film is some of my wild horse roundup footage as well as that of Laura Leigh's, as well as her own and others.  This should be an important work.  I will tell you what I think in my next blog.  In he meantime...
              Here now is Deniz Bolbol's strong, clear comment.

      And here is Carla Bowers' well articulated statement.  Carla was a vital member of the team who traveled to D.C. in early February.  Thank you, Carla.   


            Western Watersheds, thank you.  For a little perspective, let's take a look at a short video clip recently released by Western Watersheds.  This is footage of a cattle grazing allotment on our public lands.  This is not a wild horse Herd Management Area; this is all "livestock" grazing.   No horses to blame this devastation on...

Indian Lakes Holding Facility: One Year Later

  A REMINDER OF WHAT'S HAPPENING BEHIND BROKEN ARROW'S CLOSED DOORS

©1/26/10 Elyse Gardner

 A GRIM DEMONSTRATION OF THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN A ROUNDUP

Has anyone seen any statistics on the foaling rate and spontaneous abortions now taking place in the Antelope complex mares?   Do the Indian Lakes Updates reflect these figures?  Is any facility reporting these things?   Below is a screenshot of the last Indian Lakes update.  

Nothing said about the spontaneous abortions resulting from the grueling roundups.  

        ANSWER:   No.  No.  And no.  Because once again, we're not there to see it, so it's not being reported.  Let's make believe it's not happening, shall we?
         However, three live births and approximately 20 miscarriages have occurred in the Antelope mares now housed at PVC (Palomino Valley Center), according to Manager John Neill.  He confirmed this in conversation with Deniz Bolbol of Return to Freedom.
         (Explanation: "Spontaneous abortion" = miscarriage.  The involuntary, spontaneous loss of a baby forming in the womb.)
         IT IS HIGH TIME FOR ALL BLM facilities to be posting updates on the horses they have.  Our wild horses have disappeared into a black void, the opening to which is fiercely defended by BLM.
         When I asked for this, Dean Bolstad, Deputy Division Chief of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, admitted that the GAO (Government Accountability Office) told BLM in its recent report that they need to be more transparent, and BLM is now working on the prototype for all of its holding facilities to be keeping updates like the one kept at Broken Arrow.  This is long overdue.   Hopefully they will be retroactive to at least include these Antelope horses.
         My thank you to BLM and Broken Arrow for maintaining this log.  — though it is hard to praise an organization for just doing the job it is supposed to do.   What say you begin including the spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and live births, please?  
         BROKEN ARROW and PALOMINO VALLEY CENTERS:  Why don't you be the first ones to actually include the newborn foals in your records?  BLM policy at present is they are not even counted or acknowledged until they are tagged/branded, usually four to six months old by then.  It is unacceptable to be so casual about these new lives.  My mare foaled before I picked her up; BLM did not note the date. 
         Now let's take a look at a portion of my blog post from January 26, 2010:

         The death toll of the wild horses at Fallon continues to rise.  No one is including the dead foals in the official counts.  But the roundups stress these horses terribly. 

         One thing we have heard almost nothing about:  15 to 20 mares at Fallon have miscarried/spontaneously aborted.  We saw this mare standing and laying down, standing up, then down, and staying down.

  ©1/26/10 Elyse Gardner                 

                                     Ever seen a horse in pain?  You have now.  

               Follow-up has revealed that she had spontaneously aborted in the morning and was now, at 2:30 pm, passing the afterbirth.  I pressed manager John Neill, asking how much attention she would receive, if any, and he committed to looking after her.  My followup today indicated that John and facility owner Troy Adams got her into the chute and "cleaned her out," and he said she is "fine" today.   I wonder what she would say.  But I am relieved she is alive.  

              If we had not been out there to see this with our own eyes and ask the questions, I believe this [issue of miscarriages] never would have been brought out.  I am more convinced than ever that It is vitally important to have an actual, personal, human presence continually showing up at all the holding facilities and the roundups, cameras in hand.  It is my absolute privilege to be there on behalf of the horses and to share this information with you.  (End of 2010 excerpt)     
         FAST FORWARD TO 2011:    

         Well, it is no longer my privilege to be there since BLM has allowed no one in since June 2010.  We're not there to see it, so it's not being reported.  It's called being in denial: "Let's make believe it's not happening."

         Click on this link to view the updates for Indian Lakes/Broken Arrow (two names for the same place).  Bear in mind that we have to take BLM's word for what's happening there since they are closed to the public.  Some have tried to adopt horses we know are still in the facility, and BLM sometimes has trouble finding them.  Will they let us in to help look?  Not on your life.   

         Are they manufacturing uranium there?  What is so top secret that we can't get in to see our wild horses?

          I realize it sounds like I have trust issues.  I do, indeed.  

          When:

           1)  I have caught an agency of my precious, beautiful America doing its best to make wrong look right, as in helicopters pushing and skiing on top of running, terrified wild animals;

           2) to make neglect, potentially criminal neglect, look like acceptable practices (I've worked on a great, modern ranch run by a compassionate country woman who actually cares about the cows, the sheep, the horses, and knows how to do it right, so don't tell me the lack of oversight that lets foals starve and get bitten up, the lack of pain medication when needed, and leaving contagious animals in the general population while there are empty sickpens is good animal husbandry);                

           3) In my presence sought to marginalize the wild horses' real pain and suffering as in:
               a)  "a little stiffness";
               b)   their white-eyed fear and escape attempts as "a little nervous";
               c)  or ongoing contagious deadly pneumonia as "low level respiratory infection"or "minimal levels of upper respiratory disease" suddenly resulting in eight animals in one week reported dead from pneumonia (January 29 - Feb.4 Indian Lakes Updates).  Finally they are talking about "active" respiratory infection.  

           4) Don't tell me it's okay to process horses in and on equipment designed for cows, who are much shorter and do not rear up and break their necks.  There is simply no excuse for this.  Wild horses are regularly reported as crashing into crossbars, breaking their necks and dying.  If they don't die, what of the injuries suffered?  They can't speak; how many sustain ongoing painful injuries from these needlessly low bars created for cattle?  

             To those who've seen this video before: Please forgive the repetition; I have shown this clip before, but until the issue is addressed, I will bring it back. This equipment has to be changed.  

Bob Abbey said BLM is expediting reforms. Start with refitting these crossbars at a height suitable for a rearing wild horse at every BLM facility and requiring that every contractor's equipment meets the same criteria.   Put video cameras on pens and helicopters;  

         BLM: Open the doors of Indian Lakes to the public once again.  
         Require hourly monitoring/oversight at holding facilities so animals don't suffer needlessly.  
          There is another issue on my mind for the horses today:  They have no shelter.  Young horses, and foals, are dying in large numbers when you look at the Indian Lakes updates.
          We've had some very harsh winter weather across the west.  These animals, stressed from recent roundups, now stand in primarily flat feedlots, flat pens, with no shelter whatsover.  Horses make good use of even one tree in the wild.  A lone bachelor stallion was documented standing in the shade of a lone pole in the summer!  Indian Lakes has a couple of pens that have hills.  All the rest of the pens are flat. The pens in Litchfield, California, and Palomino Valley Center in Sparks/Reno, Nevada, are flat. Most BLM holding facilities are flat.  None has any shelter.
         The important thing to understand is when the horses' undercoats get soaked, and the winds rip through, they freeze.  Their amazing ability to thrive in below-freezing temperatures is compromised.   They can and do get very sick.  It is no mystery that so many horses, especially the young and old horses, are succumbing during these winter months.  It's simply about giving them an opportunity to stay reasonably dry — to not get soaked.

           National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 10 and 11.  I would love to meet you there!  Please plan to come if you can.

         If you cannot come to Arizona's meeting, your comments are still vitally important.  You can send your comments through BLM's link for comments for the Arizona Advisory Board Meeting right here.
©1/26/10 Elyse Gardner                        "Where are we?"

Horses arriving at the Indian Lakes holding facility in Fallon, Nevada

          ALSO IMPORTANT:  The Bureau of Land Management has posted a new "strategy document."  Please click on this link above to view BLM's new strategy entitled, "Proposed Strategy." Your comments are wanted.  Please send your comments to wildhorse@blm.gov, and include "Comments on the Strategy" in your email's subject line.  You might want to look at the "strategy" document first and send your comments to both the Advisory Board (link above) and to this "wildhorse@blm.gov.
          PLEASE TAKE ACTION, even if it's only one sentence.  Your voice really does count. In the last D.C. trip, Congress told our advocates to get people to write   Pick a horse out of a photograph you've seen, and imagine giving that horse your voice.  Do it.
          The primary point right now is the roundups need to STOP.   The numbers of horses are low.  The cost is great in every way imaginable, i.e., to the horses, to the taxpayer, to the government.
          Some other major points:  The horses and burros will benefit even if you just choose one; just let our government hear from you at this critical juncture.
           -  OVERPOPULATION MYTH:  There is no overpopulation of wild horses and burros on the range.  Compare 25,000 − 30,000 wild horses and burros to over 4 million cattle on the same ranges; 34 million deer and 100,000 elk in the U.S.  Some think there are no more than 20,000 horses left.
           -   REPATRIATION:   Return wild horses and burros to their ranges; remove cows and sheep from wild horse herd areas:  Compare 160,000 acres grazing land for cows and sheep, 26.6 million acres remain for wild horses, down from 51 million acres in 1971;
           -   RESPECT BAND STRUCTURE:  Keep family bands together when/if horses are rounded up.  Stop destroying the fabric of wild horse society;
           -   STOP SEX SKEWING OF ON-THE-RANGE HERDS:  BLM rounds up whole herds, destroys family groups as they separate out all mares from all stallions; PZP treats mares (contraceptive drug), releases a group of stallions, and hours or days later releases handpicked PZP-treated mares in a ration of 60 percent stallions/40 percent mares.
              The horses find each other and new battles ensue as stallions seek to rebuild their families.  Between destroying band structure and the sex skewing of the herd, the wild horse society is being tampered with on every level.  A genuine, unbiased study is needed comparing herd dynamics of manipulated herds with untouched herds.
                Karen Sussman, of ISPMB (International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros)  has been overseeing bands untouched by roundups and can be a rich source of information to the BLM.  In the meantime, BLM destroys in one afternoon what these stallions have lived and fought for their whole lives.
           -   TRANSPARENCY: Reinstate public access to Indian Lakes Holding facility, and allow public access to every facility housing America's wild horses and/or burros, including longterm holding pastures.
           -   HSUS is trying to have African lions declared an endangered species since there are between 23,000 to 40,000 remaining, with 2/3rds being neither protected nor viable.  Well, most of our wild horse herds are down below genetically healthy numbers now, but BLM wants to keep removing more.
          These are just a few important points.
          Thanks for your patience during the long delay in getting a new posting up, but the Celebration of Freedom post is being viewed by many and introducing new people to the life of wild horses while I have been preparing for Arizona and supporting the advocates' D.C. trip to inform the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee of the real goings on, demonstrating why defunding the roundups, the needless, abusive, wildly expensive roundups is the responsible thing to do.
         The other links on the front of this blog will keep you well informed if and when this blog is quiet.  Thank you!  United we stand,

for the wild horses and burros, captive and free,
for those who were, and those yet to be,
Elyse Gardner
Another reminder:
Look at these beautiful Calico stallions below in this photo taken at the very beginning of the Calico roundup.  They are bewildered and unhappy, but thin and starving they most definitely are not. 

©2010 Elyse Gardner

Only a very tiny percentage of our nation's wild horses are ever"starving" or thirsty.  Emergency roundups are extremely rare.  That is truly a myth generated by those who want the range and her resources for other uses like cattle and sheep grazing, mineral rights, mining interests.  Wild horses belong on the range, needing less than 5 percent of our public lands; let's keep them free.