White Mountain Wild Horse Roundup – Precursor to Zeroing the Herd Out

By Carol Walker

The White Mountain Roundup concluded on August 19, 2024. The BLM did the minimum in complying with NEPA, reusing the Environmental Assessment that was used for the roundup in 2022, using an outdated population count that was done in November 2022 before the horrific, killing winter of 2022-2023 when so many horses died. All the horses that came out of the winter were very thin in May, mares aborted their foals, and the foaling rate was not the 20% the BLM projected in 2023 or even 2024. I don’t think it is a coincidence that in the past, the Rock Springs Grazing Association had paid for every population count in the Checkerboard herds and had had an Association member in the plane, and now when I asked why the BLM did not do a new count before the roundup they pleaded lack of money and when I asked if they were going to do a count after the roundup to make sure they had not taken the herd below the low AML of 205 the Wild Horse Lead told me maybe in a year. The Rock Springs Grazing Association has a vested interest in not getting an accurate count since they want as many wild horses removed from the Herd Management Area as possible. Of course they don’t want a count afterward that might force the BLM to release some horses.

The first day of the roundup we had a very good view of the horses coming into the trap. They started in the furthest point south in Wild Horse Canyon in the Checkerboard area of the Herd Management Area. The Checkerboard is an area 20 miles wide with an alternating pattern of private and public lands that was set up in the 1870s to provide funds for the railroad construction. Rock Springs Grazing Association members own most of the private land and have grazing leases on most of the public land in the 4 Herd Management Areas in the Checkerboard. Last year the BLM revised its Resource Management Plan for the herds in the Checkerboard, zeroing out Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek and half of Adobe Town – and RSGA agreed to continue to allow wild horses in the Checkerboard parts of White Mountain. Well, when I went to the Oral Argument for our case to stop the zeroing out of those herds, RSGA’s attorney Constance Brooks said that in May 2023 RSGA revoked consent to have wild horses in White Mountain and the BLM would be revising the Resource Management Plan in January 2025 to reflect that – i.e. turn the Herd Management Area into a Herd Area managed for zero wild horses. So that is why I am calling this a Pre-Zero Out Roundup.

There were no injuries the first day, but a mare who had been seen with an injury to her knee the day before was brought in and put in the “euthanasia pen.” We were able to see the other horses that had been brought in at Temporary Holding today.

The helicopter brought in virtually every horse and wild horse family in this area, and when they went to the second trapsite on Blue Rim the next day, they took most of the rest. We were initially put on a hill quite far from the trap but the helicopter pilot did not like where we were so we were moved to an area with an excellent, unparalleled view of the trap – right next to BLM employees from the State Office on a field trip. I have not had a view like this in 15 years. This is how it should always be. The horses were sweaty, many had been run for a long time. There was a teeny tiny foal who got separated from its mother but a wrangler got close and let the foal snuggle up to him while he led him to a separate pen where he would not get trampled by other horses.

We were allowed to visit the horses in the Temporary Holding Facility that was on public land in the northern part of the HMA after waiting 4 hours. The foals had all “mothered up” found their mothers after being trailered separately for safety. I was told by the Wild Horse Lead that a buckskin stallion had started rearing up as though testing the panels in Temporary Holding for height. Then, he leaped out of the pen, snorted at BLM staff and contractors, and took off.

Day 3 we were moved to another trap just a couple of miles from Temporary Holding in the northern part of the Herd Management Area. Its like 2 separate herds who almost never mix – the southern herd gets the most human viewers, includes the tourist “Loop Tour” area and the horses are mostly used to people. The colors are predominantly bay and sorrel. The northern herd has pintos, roans, roan pintos, buckskins, palominos, appaloosas – a veritable palette of colors. Both parts of the herd have the rare curly horses that only exits in one other herd in WY and a handful in NV. There were families that escaped, and two palomino stallions who refused to go along with pressure from the helicopter.

Our view of the trap was non-existent, we were able to see the horses running into the lead up to the trap only. The trap was a mile away. The last three days were at this bad observation site. We had one colorful family run around behind us. We had a foal get separated from his family who were moving fast, and the helicopter turned the family to catch up to the foal. There were families that escaped, and two palomino stallions who refused to go along with pressure from the helicopter.

Waiting a mile from Temporary Holding for our opportunity to see the horses there, I was startled to see what I first assumed was a palomino mare and foal moving in front of our vehicles. As I got out and got my camera, we saw that these were two young colts, a yearling or two year old, and a colt foal. They had clearly gotten separated from their family in the roundup, and were staying together for company. Families are destroyed in this devastating roundup.

On Day 4, the first group had two tiny probably week old foals in the group. One of the foals kept getting left further and further behind, we were all rooting for him to catch up, but finally a wrangler on foot came out as well as a wrangler on horseback and they very slowly encouraged him to finally move into the trap.

In the hardest fought battle of this roundup so far, two families of 20 horses got driven to where we could see them. A tiny buckskin foal fell back and was out of sight of his family. But he kept moving in their direction. The whole group kept turning away from the trap and kept getting driven back over and over again. They were getting more and more tired. The pilot pushed the group toward the foal and he jumped back in behind. It took about 30 excruciating minutes before they were finally pushed into the trap.

I have to say that the pilot and he contractors did a good job preserving the safety of the horses as they captured them. I am not at all saying that I agree what was done. First of all, there should not be helicopter roundups in July or August because it is still foaling season. I saw at least 7 foals that were a week old. They should never be run for miles chased by a helicopter. There were no injuries or deaths caused by the roundup, however there were 11 deaths. These were wild horses put down for pre-existing conditions. One mare I know of was spotted with a knee injury the day before the roundup and she is the only one that I have a photo of. It is up to the BLM Wild Horse Lead to determine which horses to euthanize. He consults with a vet on at least some of these. However there are no photos and I did not see these horse before they were put down. A club foot in my opinion should not be a death sentence but it is a condition in the BLM guidelines that can merit it. You can see a description of all the horses put down here: https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/gathers-and-removals/wyoming-high-desert-do-rock

On Day 5 the roundup continued with 50 more horses to go including the very last families from the southern part of the range. There was no Temporary Holding Tour because they were shipping the capture horses right away to the corrals at Rock Springs. When I arrived there, it was a horrifying site. Almost every single wild horse in the White Mountain Herd were there. There were stallions calling out for mares, mares calling out for foals, and as the feed truck brought hay, the horses running away from the truck. In the mare/foal pen there were foals lying flat on their sides, exhausted. All those beautiful wild horses, now in pens, facing an uncertain fate, having lost their freedom and their families forever. The range looks better than I have seen it in years. There is no range degradation harming the land due to the horses. The horses are not harming the sage grouse and their habitat. People come from all over to do tours of the wild horses on the Wild Horse Loop. They will be disappointed. They are gone. For what? It is so RSGA can have their way, and eradicate wild horses from the Checkerboard so their cattle and sheep can get every last blade of grass, undisturbed by the presence of wild horses? I went back early the next morning to the corrals, and the cries of the horses continued. It was so hard to see them there.

I contacted the corrals to talk to the staff member in charge of adoptions. He said they would let the horses settle down for about 2 weeks, and then begin processing them. This includes putting each one in the chutes to get a neckband and freeze brand, take blood for a Coggins test, and vaccinations. The stallions will be gelded later, and their recovery time is at least two weeks after being gelded if it goes well. He expected all the processing to be done by mid-Septemeber or later. I asked if there would be any in person adoptions and he said yes, and in the Online Corral as well. The mares would be offered first, then the stallions later. I asked if any would be shipped out somewhere else right away and he said maybe later. I will be letting people as soon as I hear of any scheduled adoptions.

What can be done? White Mountain is not yet slated to be zeroed out, but this roundup came very close. The two herds Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek and half of Adobe Town are however, and since we lost our lawsuit to prevent this, those herds could be put on the roundup schedule at any time after October 1. But we have appealed and the case is going to the 10th Circuit Court. You can help by spreading the word, talking to your Senators and Representatives, and by donating to the Legal Fund at American Wild Horse Conservation: https://americanwildhorse.org/donate