courtesy of our friends at the Cloud Foundation Blog

The roundup of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses is over after six days- the wild horse and burro specialist made the decision to call it so the helicopter did not go out today and no more horses were brought in. The reasons given for ending this roundup were:

• The gather operation is nearly complete  and horses were coming in sore-footed.
• one mare (Brumby) tied up on Monday night
• The BLM feels it would be hard on the remining horses to be brought in
• There is a new little black foal on the mountain top

There were 11 horses on the mountain (including two older mares, Electra and Quelle Colour) that BLM had slated for removal. In place of those horses they are taking young horses from bands already in the pens. More on the individuals soon.

BLM stated again that they will not release Conquistador nor the other older horses removed from the Forest Service.

In total 57 horses and 3 foals (a their mothers’ sides) are going to be offered up for adoption. As we understand it, older horses not adopted will be offered for sale. According to BLM’s recent press release “most of the rest of the 146 horses that were gathered and evaluated have already been released back onto the horse range.”

The BLM released Cloud and his band  first. They left less Image, Rain and Arrow and Cloud Dancer (who is going to be turned out with the young stallion Exhilaration who lives in the Dryhead desert area). The wranglers did a fine job trying to get Cloud and his band out but because of all they were leaving behind the mares were reluctant to leave and for ten minutes or more Cloud snaked his band this way and that while the riders tried to push them out the half mile to the opening of the trap. It was a relief to see them finally disappear into the rolling lowland hills and start the long journey back up to their mountaintop.

The BLM released nearly all the horses who have not been tagged for removal today–  Bolder and Flint and Cloud’s mom with her band among others. The old band stallion Starman (who was to be removed in a previous roundup and has been freeze-branded before advocates convinced BLM to release him) took off an galloped back to the wild followed by his mare, Rosarita, and their black yearling daughter.

Ginger and others are on the way up to the mountaintop to check on returning horses who are in the process of climbing the 10+ miles back to the home.

Don’t stop fighting for the older horses— it is cruel and unnecessary to remove Conquistador, Grumpy and the others. We have made this request of the BLM are they are still saying no. Please work for their return.

Thank you to everyone who is supporting these horses and all wild horses across the west. Their are many new faces who have joined the work of many organizations to save our wild horses and insure that we have viable herds into the future.

It is our intent to make this blog a factual and ongoing platform for education, action alerts and wild horse preservation awareness. It has also become a community board for your comments and a good form of communication. Your suggestions for improvements are always welcome. We are doing our best to catch up on correspondence and continue work on a “plan b” for these older horses should we not be successful in lobbying for their return to the wild.

Thank you for your support.