Not So Free To Roam
This week the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will step outside of its regular protocol for wild horse management. Rather than the usual four horses, the BLM will allow one group in Blaine County to adopt nineteen mares separated from their families, foals and land in a roundup in late July. Once part of the free-roaming Challis Herd, these mares are some of those considered unadoptable because they are older than the age of 5 and were marked for “long term holding.”
The Challis herd was featured in Sun Valley Magazine in 2007, with photos by Hailey photographer Elissa Kline and text by Bonnie Garman of Ketchum and Clayton. Kline’s photographs were also part of a larger exhibition, Herd But Not Seen, that she’s exhibited in museums. Kline has also held public lectures with Deanne Stillman, the author of Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West.
At the recent roundup in Challis, Kline took photos and video from a nearby hillside.
“I’d read about and seen footage of roundups, but nothing prepared me for what I saw that day,” she said. “I tried very hard not to have an opinion, to let my photos speak for themselves and tell the story.”
Following the roundup, Kline became an even more vocal advocate for those horses. She facilitated the recent rule-bending, and has become the unofficial liaison between the BLM and the community of wild horse-lovers, a somewhat surprising and respectful alliance.
“I thought it was a special thing that they would devote time to identify a location, and work with the Wood River community,” said Tom Dyer, the BLM’s state director in Idaho. “I’m hoping it will set the stage for any other potential adoption programs. [The horses] are a living piece of the West,” he said. It’s commendable, he added, that these advocates have put in the time and labor to find these a horses a home.
According to the BLM’s animal Management assessment, 185-253 head is the number to aim for on 126,000 acres in Challis. The total number of horses removed in the gather was 366, with 155 re-released back on range. There were 11 fatalities.
“There is a certain amount of mortality in the roundup,” Dyer said. “It’s traumatic.”
When Kline visited the BLM corrals just days after the roundup, the horses were separated by age and gender.
“These are social animals used to being in tight knit family bands, and round-ups like these destroy the herd dynamics,” she said. “I counted seventeen pairs of mares and foals that I knew in the wild. Their souls have been crushed. It’s wrong, and you have to speak out.”
Kline has a cohort in the project. At a talk in September at The Community Library in Ketchum, horse trainer and the founder of Silent Voices Rescue, Doro Lohmann, was moved by one photo in particular, and offered her help. The image shows a mare and stallion noses together but separated by metal fence.
“They looked like they are crying.” Lohmann said.
This past year, Lohmann, through her nonprofit, helped rescue starving horses, advocate for mistreated ones and save twenty-five mares that were to be sent to slaughter from Salmon, Idaho.
“We can go out and bitch about it, or we can create a format that will work for the horses, and include the BLM,” she said.
The BLM remains committed to the idea of roundups as a way of controlling population growth.
“They’ve been a successful way to keep the numbers to the right level,” Dyer said. “We’ve had adoptions of 300,000 horses since 1971 when the program began. We do have horses in long-term holding, but every year we try to come up with new solutions. The desire is to maintain a balance without a serious impact to the range and the animals themselves without gathering. That’s one of our goals for the future.”
Kline is focused on the future as well.
“By the end of the week, nineteen mares will hopefully be in the Wood River Valley,” she said. “We can be a shining example that stepped in to help these horses. Hopefully, other communities will follow our lead.”
A benefit at the Gilman Contemporary in Ketchum will be held 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 to raise money for the horses’ care. There will be cocktails and hors d’oeuvres served. Tickets are $10 with a raffle entry for a framed photograph by Kline.
Donations may also be made to: “Silent Voices Equine Rescue” in the care of Jodi Herlich, P.O. Box 2411 Ketchum, Idaho 83340.
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Reader Comments:
WHOA!
Bravo to the loving stewards and wild horse lovers
in the Wood River Valley!
They need to castrate all colts , and slow down their production they double every 4 years in size --we tax payers are paying 36 million a year to keep mustangs ...there are generations of wild horses many times the wildness cannot be tamed out of them as seen in the wild horses challenges . I have owned horses over 35 years and have rescued,tamed wild horses that idiots let multiply unchecked ..it is time to step it up castrate all the crap stallions in the USA including the mustangs ...we should because of the neglect and abuse happening in RECORD numbers...make it mandatory to castrate all males wheter it be dogs -cats-horses--if you prove your horse in the ring and have a quality stallion with no obvious defect--by all means advertise show your horses quality..and hold to a code of ethics to only breed to a QUALITY mare otherwise buy or adopt a horse taht is here...because of all the idiots that own stallions that are poor quality and creating more animals that live 30+years we need to have rules...we as horse owners need to hold to responsibility to what we create if we cannot afford to feed and care for what we create STOP BREEDING simple logic for Americans ...wake up --donate some time to a rescue and see the suffering all stallion owners should have to see what is really happening out there many rescues are at capacity --100,000 horses are still being slaughtered yearlin in MEX and CAN as long as horse owners are not being held accountable it will happen...if you cannot afford a horse give it to someone that can , and get a bicycle horses are living breathing animals do not let them suffer anymore stop the breeding of poor quality --noone is saying stop breeding just make sure you know what the hell you are doing if you are ...Mary
i read some of the comments and what is happening ,suffering and mortality --back in the 1970s they should have instigated castration,so there would not be 60,000 horses hello the west was won a long time ago .WE have plenty of people that raise mustangs that strive for quality .We need to look at the real pichture many of these horses do not live long maybe 15 years in the wild the weak ,die period,worm infestation or injuries ...but they have no natural predators anymore .so they double every 4 years.We need to castrate every colt in herds that are released and stop this STUPIDITY YES STUPIDITY .We as a country are going broke-from a bad economy mixed with mismanagement-no wonder the BLM is out of control --someone need to make the right decisions CASTRATE__HELLO horses are an expensive HOBBY/business whatever you want to call it --they cost minimum 2,000.00 a year..and that doesn not include boarding or big vet bills--and having the land to keep them on.
you have to have room to keep feed for the winter and have to train and keep them 30 years think about it. The happy years of prosperity are over we need to batten down castrate all the crap stallions in the US IT will in turn bring back in the future the market of quality and pricing for a good horse will be just that it is a buyers market right now and i do not see that changing anytime in the future unless we strive as a country for quality and not allow anymore poor quality pairings to take place(breeding) we as horse owners have the responsibility to our horses and to the future of the horse market. (if there is to be one) we need to make the changes NOW.
Mary in Wisconsin -- i have a (he has been proven in the showring,and is quality stallion and hold to a code of ethics will not breed crap nor will i breed unless the foal is sold before breeding on contract--PS we cannot afford 36 million a year to house and care for the MUSTANGS WE need to focus on castration it is money better spent ....
Castration is NOT the answer for wild horse numbers. It would destroy their natural selection and complex society. These native species did just fine for centuries without man's interference. They will naturally regulate their numbers if left alone. Also there is NOT an excess population. Only about 25,000 are still free in all the western states and 75% of the herds are not genetically viable or sustainable.
The costly unnecessary roundups need to stop now. Killing 11 wild horses is just nothing but cruelty , and the BLM should be prosecuted for breaking the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. Our wild horses and burros were supposed to have ben protect4ed and preserved but this is not being done.
The mustang herds double every 4 years - REALLY? REALLY? In 1971 there were approximately 17,300 free roaming mustangs, which means that by 2001 there should have been 8,857,600! However, there were fewer than 50,000 in 2001 as reported by the National Geographic. That would mean that someone miscounted and missed over 8 million horses.
These horses belong on our Western ranges...leave them be. They also belong to the American people, the BLM only manages them.
This is just a question & not a negative comment. The BLM considers a mare and foal to be 'one horse unit'. is there any reason why the mares with foals cannot go to this group together?
I certainly hope other do take your example seriously. These Mustangs and desert burros need good homes with those who truly understand the spirit of the Mustangs.
Leave them the hell alone! They have been stripped from their land, which at one time was millions of acres more! They, the BLM, are a corrupt lot a, and have taken away from them their land to lease to cattle owners. That's the problem, not that there are too many horses, but that they are in bed with the cattleman that want the land for grazing. We wouldn't have this problem of "millions of taxpayers dollars" being spent to keep them in pens if they would just leave them where they belong. The BLM doesn't give a damn if they are "starving" that is an excuse to capture them. LOOK AT THEM! Do they look starved to you? Castration and birth control is NOT an option if the herds are to keep their natural selection and DNA intact. leave nature alone, and give them back the land taken from them for cattle and there is no need for adoption or God forbid spending money to feed horses kidnapped off their own range. BS!
11 fatalities? That's pretty rough. WOW.