(The News As We See It) by R.T. Fitch ~ author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart”
Champion of the American Horse, Steven Long ~ Photo by R.T. Fitch
Investigative journalist/author/editor/publisher Steven Long of Houston, Texas has uncovered yet another glaring, corrupt distortion of truth and regulation by controversial Secretary of the Department of Interior (DoI) Ken Salazar’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Within a recent article in Horseback Magazine Long exposes the fact that the BLM’s secret “No Fly Zones” over their aerial attacks on native wild horses is a figment of their own imagination, proving that America has been duped for years by the malevolent federal agency.
Press and public alike have always taken the BLM’s warnings at face value but under questioning by Long a Washington based BLM Spin Master gave a polished up answer:
“…we did consider a TFR for the Nevada gathers, but the field staff learned from the Federal Aviation Administration that gather operations (roundups) currently do not meet the standard criteria…”
This news comes as a great boon to the bulk of U.S. taxpayers who are collectively banding together in an effort to stop the BLM from moving forward with their inhumane and unnecessary wild horse roundups.
As of late, the BLM and their helicopter stampede contractors have slipped into a “covert mode” of operations due to increased fear that the truth regarding their questionable operations will be documented by the press and U.S. citizens. During the deadly Calico Complex roundup, earlier this year, eye witness accounts and photos surfaced of young horses being run to their deaths by helicopters and videos were circulated of the hostile and aggressive manner in which helicopters are utilized to harass and terrify America’s native wild horses. Since that time, BLM roundups have been conducted under a cloak of secrecy by securing the trap sites and holding areas on private land, therefore ensuring that American citizen’s First Amendment rights cannot be exercised.
Author R.T. Fitch observes from a Helicopter
Even more disturbing than hiding out on private property in the midst of millions of acres of public land is the new subversive tactic of misrepresenting to the press/public and federal courts that there are immediate health risks involved and the horses must be ripped from their rightful homes for “their own good”. In the case of the Tuscarora debacle it was an alleged issue of lack of water. Once again, Steven Long broke a story proving that there was ample water in the area and that the “emergency” was actually the result of the BLM’s contractor stampeding the horses to a staging area, prior to the official roundup and possibly during a TRO period, where there was no water available. Dozens of horses died that day and the BLM’s contractor fabricated the “no water on the HMA” as a means of covering up their own abusive behavior and lack of proper planning.
Now that the air is cleared, literally, of the BLM/Contractor threats regarding “no fly zones” qualified scientists, environmentalists, equine advocates, press, private investigators, politicians and lawyers will be able to directly observe the truth/facts for the very first time, regarding the BLM contractor’s activities pre-attack, during the destructive roundups and the mess that is left post disruption. It’s obvious that the flagrant harassment of the wild horses from only several hundred feet over the desert floor to just a few scant inches over their heads is of no concern to the flight patterns regulated by the FAA, but it is a serious concern to the voting taxpayers of the United States of America.
Click on Image (below) to Read Steven Long’s Article
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- WildHorse@BLM.gov: Fact or more BLM Fiction (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
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Categories: Horse News, The Force of the Horse, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Go get ’em Steve!!!!! Thanks RT.
Imagine….the government not telling the truth? I’m shocked!
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Steven, not only have you struck pay dirt these last few days, you’ve struck the mother lode! Keep digging, keep digging…..
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And be safe out there! We’d like to keep you around for awhile.
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RIGHT!!!
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Does anyone who CAN do something about this, CARE enough or is brave enough, to actually STOP BLM in their tracks?????
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Jan, There is us… we would stop them but the law seems stacked against us for now. It is getting dicier all the time. That means that sooner not later there will be a real showdown.
The Conger/Confusion roundup that started unexpectedly, today, near Garrison, Utah, is doing an ‘in house’ roundup and are not hiring Cattoor but another helicopter pilot. I will have more info on that on Monday. mar
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What could, should and can probably still be done, is that there should have been numerous complaints filed on the abuse and dangerous use of the helicopter on the horses at calico…with OSHA, the FAA and the DOI has a process to file a complaint, I had to go thru hoops to get the helicopter guidlines manual in the BLM as to the rules and restrictions and catoor plainly violated the safety of workers(BLM) and spectators on the ground, there are very specific parameters they must follow in the wings of that trap..they violated all of them and it was caught on tape…It goes on the official file of the contractor in the DOI, you could have pulled that as evidence to present in twin peaks roundup..where the stinking judge believes they can walk horses with a helicopter,, aught to put him ON a horse and have a helicopter purse it..love to see him in his robes hanging on for dear life. Still need to file that complaint…all on video..may never happen again
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There must be some law about lieing about having an FAA flight restriction?
This appears to me to be a grose misrepresentation of a Federal agency.
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Please click on my name and go to my blog and watch Rick Harmon, of Cayuse, Inc.
flying at Twin Peaks in 2007. He comes down on an exhausted palomino and touches it with the runners of the helicopter. These guys are arrogant and dangerous. There are other videos of them knocking down burros. If we talk with FAA we can get an idea of what they need to know for us to file a complaint. Sandra is right, they violate safety laws all the time and OSHA should get these people. mar
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I watched that Mar. Thanks for linking this through your site. Obviously the horse was exhausted, you don’t spur on any living being to run faster when they are in an obvious state of distress. I do think Sandra has hit on something there and this is another route to follow up on. Seems you could take any horse raid and start ticking off the violations to the horses, the lies, the rights of the American people, animal abuse, disturbing nesting sites of endangered species like sage grouse possibly, now FAA violations, intimidation of litigants in lawsuits I’m gonna run out of fingers and toes to count on.
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I have been after these helicopter cowboys for Years. They have single handedly killed thousands with their ability to frighten and run down exhausted horses. I am shocked that more people do not see the cruelty. The Kentucky Derby is a mile and an eighth. These horses are run a dozen miles and more.
This is the Sport Of Mustanging Perpetuating Itself, Legally before our very eyes!!! Hide in plain sight? That has been it all along. Make it a modern chase but what is the difference when they are trying to see how far and how fast the horses can be kept going?
Be mad and be focused and keep at these bastards. mar
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Good job! Do some investigative reporting on their pocketbooks and see which Judges are being ‘paid off’ to keep making insane and illogical decisions against the horses every single time. With so much evidence and uproar from the American people, this shouldn’t be so darn difficult to stop these roundups – at least temporarily (and I mean for more than a day, or a week, or a month….) There has got to be “payoffs” going on.
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yes, I think there should be complaints for unsafe flying!! with the pros the FFA!!
one of these days one of those helicopters engine will stop and that helicopter is going to crash into people around the corrals!
and there are plenty of crop dusters that fly at the same time other aircraft are much higher!
Plus the wildlife groups need to take note of the disruption of small wildlife and the land from BLM round-up activities!!
The dust the helicopters raise, the extrime NOISE and the low stunt flying kill off and scare small wild life for MILES around!! Their trucks and trailers that are proven to go off road on pristine land, crush everything and that land will never be the same agan.
The taxpayers pay millions of dollars for helicoptor round-ups that ruin pristine land and waterways.
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On the next roundup, get a helicopter or airplane in the air of the so-called no fly zone. Without a TFR(temporary flight restriction) from the FAA, the BLM has ABSOLUTELY NO power to stop you. And if they think they can, let them try. They manage the land, not the air.
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Here is how those helicopter jockies really chase horses when they are not being reined in by any humane laws or public observation. note the loud speakers playing war woops and the foals.
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtIfcg-MTM&playnext=1&videos=SlyXUyZBaFI
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Thank you Steven Long! This is seriour stuff. The plot thickens.
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Good thing I don’t make a living as a proofreader–I’d be fired.
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I agree with Tami. Too many judges have caved in. The decisions have made no sense . One begins to wonder whether they have even listened or taken any time to review the cases that have been presented, AND they have allowed too much time to elapse while the round-ups have be allowed to continue.
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The e and the n missing from “been” landed here–to make another word–E N OUGH.
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Stephen Long – you ROCK!
BLM and Cattoor – you SUCK! I keep thinking no one can get any LOWER and yet, AGAIN, here you prove there are no limits from your camp.
Like I’ve said, if there lips are moving they are lieing.
Hey, Sue, caught you with you pants down red-handed this time – please DO write us another letter about this Title, ‘ya hear, ‘ya scum eating, below bottom feeding (don’t want to insult the bottom feeders), etc. etc. etc.
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Great investigation Steve, you the man. Sandra I love your comment about the judge on the horse robes flying, not the walk he had been promised. Madeleine Pickens flew in and no one arrested her or filed criminal charges, of course she is a bit harder to mess with than us poor grass rooters. Oh Roxy, I got a momentary flash of Sue Cattoor with her pants down in my mind’s eye OW, OW, OW!!!!!
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Sandra has been urging for a long time for us to check on this. Probably, there are pilot licenses that need to be revoked. That CAN be done.
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Before we get off the subject of Sue Catoor and the palamino mare on the cliff..I have one more thing I want to say..In Sues ramblings she talked about the mare as being albino and light colored and blind, now you may not know this, so i want to point it out..That mare was NOT an Albino, nor was she a cremeola(which is only a palamino with a double dilution gene(both parents contribute 1) while some cremolas have blues eyes some do not, I have seen black, chestnuts sorrels and paints and others with 1 or 2 blue eyes-has nothing to do with being blind, anymore than blue eyed people are blind..it is a seperate gene..So if this in anyway affected the decision of catoors to push these 2 horses off that cliff(the other horse was also palamino)because of some backwoods, hick and uneducated prejudice..let me say this..those horses have enough prejudices against them without Sue or her Advocate friend piling any more on…and I will take you both on if I find that to be the case.
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I have heard this discussion myself and I was shocked that there was such ignorance and prejudice against horses over color. The quarter horse ass. won’t register white above the knee and other stupidity. Is this a reason for killing a horse? Guess what? Yes. When I visited a Spanish herd this Spring, on private land, there were horses dead along a road. A small band. 5 or 6 horses all bays and one red dun. Turns out a local rancher thinks the bays are not Spanish enough. So here are horses shot in winter. Their bodies radiating out from where someone was shooting them as they tried to run away. What can be done if they are not BLM horses? Nada. mar
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QH ass, nicely put mar..lol..even the asses there finally realised cremolas were not to be banned from registration and now a QH that looks like a full blown paint can be registered as long as both parents were, and all are DNA tested now..So, it proves-even the most ignorant can be educated..even if it takes 100 years!
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Well, I have not been up on the registry for over 20 years. It still is sad when people think that there is some kind of genetic weakness in horses through color variation.
Why are Sage Grouse being hunted if they are declining in numbers??? Sounds like wild horses to me.
The Blame Game needs to be Put To Rest!! Wild horses contribute to range health. Cattle need to be removed from public range. Corporate cattle need to be gone like NOW. Their ranches are huge. Stay off our lands and stop stealing our tax dollars. mar
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perhaps the Judge can be educated by others in the court.
How people who kill, slaughter,cull or abuse animals can be ‘desensitised’ to the point they see nothing wrong in their actions. Plus it makes them more violent in the real world. That is why I ask for inspection by independent animal facility experts (and not a usda food meat animal inspection)
That BLM board position for HUMANE person has been empty for YEARS. maybe because they can’t find anyone the blm want in that spot.
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http://www.igha.org/BLM8.html..interesting article on nevada state argument on wild horses
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http://www.igha.org/BLM8.html
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http://www.ndow.org/wild/concerns/horses/index.shtm
anyone want to explain to me why they are issuing “special hunts” for sage grouse in Nevada while having horses removed to protect their habitat…and since WWP is the greatest defender of watersheds across the west-and do not see horses as the threat to wildlife…how can these …dopers…come to that conclusion..except by prejudice, not science
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Click to access Approved%20Wild%20Horse%20Amendment.pdf
Read this RMPdone in 2003 for the Owyhee, rock creek and humbolt..hmas..The input from pemitees and ranchers were used as the criteria for the decision to remove lands from the horses..OUTRAGEOUS! We must support WWPs suit against the blm on 28 of these RMPs as being illegal..
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This hance… maris the fight to watch. WWP needs our support, also. At least in being a strong cheering section for work that will affect the wild herds.
Sandra, Please describe an RMP when you get a c
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What I learned earlier this week talking to BLM Wild Horse Specialist:
There is only one Round Up Helicopter Contractor — Catoors. They supply not only flight, but traps and trucks to haul. BLM only supplies personnel, and Catoors gets to decide who gets close to the holding pens out in the field (observers) and who does not because it is their liability
BLM is changing their rhetoric to justify round ups not based on current conditions of the horses — current status of body condition or hydration — but based on their assessment of the current status of the range conditions and water availability and how many cattle and deer and elk and antelope it can support in addition to the wild horses. And if they decide in their infinite wisdom that it will not be able to support all of those, and the HMA is any bit over their AML, they declare it over populated and justify a gather to low AML…
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This is just one interesting paragraph from the document that Sandra posted:
In commenting on the proposed plan, the Commission suggested a new alternative. It was to
manage the Rock Creek, Little Humboldt, and Owyhee HMAs as a complex, to include the
Snowstorm Mountains and Little Humboldt HMAs that are administered by the Winnemucca
FO. Management as a complex had been eliminated early in the process of formulating
alternatives, as being both impractical and unnecessary. The NDOW suggested an alternative to
exclude Soldier Field from the Rock Creek HMA. BLM eliminated it from consideration early in
the process, because its exclusion would not provide adequate summer habitat and water sources
for year-round horse use. Ellison Ranching Company suggested elimination of the Red Cow and
Winters Creek pastures from the Rock Creek HMA, to help meet objectives for sensitive redband
trout habitat. It was eliminated because it would not provide adequate summer habitat and water
for year-round horse use.
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Yes louie thats what I was talking about and possibly what WWP is suing on..thats exactly how horses lose land right there..any time you see a RMP being “revised” its always bad news for the horses..resource management plan, the BLM and ranchers decide how they are going to divy up the land..its repulsive..now you can add private industry to the mix, who have way more political clout than ranchers and kiss the land goodbye..these RMPs are more important than the EAs, by the time it gets to that point, they don’t even bother trying to give a legit excuse, when they remove the land..they can lower the AML..justifying it that way I supose..and remove more horses..so when we hear the HMA is 600,000 its not really because the horses are excluded from so much of it. It does say in this RMP, that horses are to be allowed to migrate throughout the HMA…In direct contridiction to sues claim that horses do not migrate, and the fact the gate was closed, and are only in 3 “pastures” what happened to the Black diamond hills I see in the RMP map????
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Truly, I would not let BLM be in charge of my backyard let alone millions of acres of wild and beautiful land..I am not even sure they could get it mowed without massacering my flowers…
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Sandra, they would most assuradly contract with Sue Cattor to do it with a helicopter!
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This may be totally off subject…
I was out on a walk the other day with my sis up here in the Grand Tetons. On the trail was horse poo. The man behind us told his son not to step in it. I told him how horse poo makes GREAT fertilizer. He looks at me like “yeah, right, tell me another one”. I wonder if he’s related to BLM or the Cattoor’s….
I clearly remember my dad telling me as a teen that once horse poo dries up you can put it on the flower garden. If you use it wet (as in fresh) you will burn the garden.
So even me with my limited knowledge of biology knew more than this daddy! And I know if I have questions I can come here and ask away. It’s great to have a support system like this.
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i clean my stalls, my neighbor uses his front end loader to push the manure/shavings into a big pile, in about 1 year, it becomes wonderful black dirt, great in gardens and flower beds and pots, it is amazing, people come to my place to get it for gardens.
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When they use the word “pasture”, is that really a pasture or a pen?
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The difference between range, pasture, paddock and pen is a function of fencing and size….typically range is not fenced.
Let the BLM or USDA define the differences and it’s anybody’s freaking guess.
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That may have been an unfortunate slip of the toungue? Something else to hang them with?
Maybe the horses were put in fenced areas, ie “pastures”?
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Right on Denise. There shouldn’t be ANY fences on the range.
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