By Steven Long – Author and Editor/Publisher of “Horseback Magazine”
Field Update from Undercover Observer
Stallion "Freedom" dashes for freedom after being injured during escape from BLM - Photo by Craig Downer
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management has ceased communicating with Horseback Magazine.
On December 31, the magazine sent several pointed questions to the bureau and copied the email to its director Bob Abbey. The agency has not responded since, despite follow-up emails to both its Nevada spokesperson, Heather Emmons, and it’s chief Washington spokesman, Tom Gorey.
The magazine has also repeatedly asked for an interview with BLM Director Bob Abbey only to be rebuffed again and again.
Horseback Magazine has formalized its requests through inquiries utalizing the Fredom of Information Act. The BLM is required by law to respond to such a request.
Meanwhile, the BLM has increasingly founded itself wrapped in scandal as protests have mounted from coast to coast over its “gaqther” of a proposed 2,500 wild horses from their native habitat.
‘The agency plans to put some of the horses up for adoption and hold the remainder in massive pens at taxpayer expense..
Horseback Online will continue to cover the ongoing capture of horses in Nevada’s rugged Calico Mountains.
The following is a report on yesterday’s capture from a source who declined to be identified.
“There were approx 150 horses on site.
“They had separated the 2 mares with their 2 foals and the newly orphaned foal from the rest of the horses.. keeping them at t
“he front – two of the foals were lame! The mares and stallions were in two large separate pens on the back side of the lot, next to each other and the yearlings were next to the mares.
“I noticed a few lame mares.
” We saw no brands on any horses. They were all being fed oat hay. It was roughly 18 degrees today, no wind, but fairly foggy.
The horses were mostly huddled in groups.. many seemed like their spirits had already been broken. They were very skiddish. Much like other holding facilities, it was very barren. The place is brand new.. several workers on site welding and setting up pens, etc..
“The last public observation day for the round up was Saturday and the next one is Wed. They will be rounding up from the other side of the range in the Soldier Meadows area next. The horses are loaded from the trap site the following morning after the round up and taken to holding. This site is geared to hold 2800 horses. It’s a very sad thought to think that one day soon it will be all filled up with wild horses that should be roaming free.”
The same sourse reported to Horseback late Tuesday.
“Spent the day on the range attempting to site all the “excess” horses. 12 hours later.. all day on the Calico range, we sited 7 wild horses. 6 in a band and one stallion on his own.
” I hope the BLM has even more trouble finding them… like you say.. it’s hard to phathom.. hundreds of thousands of acres of land, yet no room for these wild horses and burros? the truth is that there is no excess.. of course we all know that.”
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
BLM doesn’t believe they have to answer to just about anyone…they belong and actively support the Meat Mafia on our dime.
Steve, good story….but you have some typo’s.
R.T.: Since the BLM/DOI are notorious foot-draggers re: FOIAs, would it help to send letters/requests through the House and Senate committees’s offices that oversee BLM? It might help if Steve stresses the lack of communication, timely responses/acknowledgements and the critical time sensitivity of the round-ups. And does anyone know if e-letters are handled differently than snail mail correspondence for FOIAs?
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Steve has had a pretty good communication channel working with the BLM and they have been pretty quick with what he requests, be it the truth or not they have at least responded. I imagine that they are in a real fire storm, right now, and just won’t let anything out. If they were to pull the plug on the project, as recommended, this would all be a moot point.
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I got that they were cooperative to a point and have since withdrawn based on Editor Long’s piece.
Maybe all the backlash and scrutinization with rebuttals of their statements have made them become less responsive….I just wondered if it would be helpful to remind the chairmen of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that transparency and responsiveness needs to be timely and complete, no matter how much the agency’s distaste for same.
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Keep the massage going. Be politely critical. Be wary and aware. Be a voice for the voiceless. Is there any one who will listen? There is no reason to decimate these herds. Nature will take care of the excess animals. There is more to this story ( oil? minerals? cattle interests?). I live in the east– we do not have wild horses here! Will there be any to view when I travel “out west”?? Keep the message going!
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Dear Governors, Presidents, Kings and Leaders,
You, the United States Government, is removing our freedom from the land of the free, the wild from the west, the inoocent mustangs from their rightful homes, or simply the liberty from American, from us All.
The freedom of One is the freedom of All.
And the denial of Ones freedom is the denial of All.
Our forefathers fought and died for America’s freedom, and today you round it up and haul it away.
For Shame on you All,
On us All,
America the land that was free.
=
MJA
If you want to help free the west, boycott beef.
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Good background on the subject, plus myriad comments from the public:
http://www.nevadamagazine.com/index.php/issues/read/wild_horses/
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Hmmm…no, “Editor” the link is not good background. Agree about the myriad of comments to include the ever persistent, uninformed Meat Mafia.
God Bless the USA…no other country in the world allows people to speak so freely; too bad the constitution didn’t require some form of fact in their pursuit under the protection of the 2nd Amendment.
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EXCUSE ME!!!! HANGING AROUND THESE COW PEOPLE COMMENTS I HAVE TEMPORARILY LOST MY MIND.
It’s the First Amendment(Free Speech)…Second is militia and gun rights.
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Go to the BLM website. There is a daily acocunting of the Calico roundup.
As of this morning, all reports by BLM were that the horses are in good shape, except for the one mare!
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I meant to add – they have had to give up on the starving horse!
Also, previous question about barbed wire. Since this portion of the Calico roundup is on private property – and there being barbed wire, and being no way or too expensive a way to take it down or other wise shield it, or just noth bothered to do so, may have caused the attempt to keep out observers in the first place?
So neither attempt worked. We are there, the barbed wire is there, and “Freedom” has been injured due to the “hubris” of Sue Cattor and the BLM in general (sorry for the big words, pro horse slaughter Sue caused me to have to do some research, which led me on a quest for some appropriate words to use).
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Roxy, what do you mean by “they have had to give up on the starving horse!”?
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my opinion is: what roxy mwnat when she said; I meant to add – they have had to give up on the starving horse!
What I perceive and had this thought before I read this is;
They say the Horses are starving on the range so they have to round them up to give them food;
wrong; there is enuf grass on the range for 100,000 horses…just my opinion…
ps anyone with eyes can see what healthy condition the wikd horses are in…but their helathy conditon will not last after they stand in cold damp pens for days;
GIVE THEM HAY ! ! !
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Roxy:
They chose the private property….ergo, the barbed wire must be removed for contingency reasons (loose horse, etc). Then they have to put it back up.
BS it’s too difficult to remove and then put back up….ranchers do it all the time. It’s one of the easiest (and honestly one of the most useless types of fencing) to put up and take down.
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Good to know – I say take them all directly to jail, do not pass Go, for knowingly and intentilally allowing a potential incident!
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In the video on this page is a pix of a horse with a big gash to his head; and you can see the horse staggering in confusion and pain;
Is this the BLM’s idea of a humane roundup ?
Injuring Horses and not giving them aid? then “apparantly “shooting a Mare; who had a one year old Colt standing at her side ?
Question: Is it legal to “shoot a horse in the United States of America ? Anna usa
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Hi Anna, I was looking for you. I’m just learning about what is acceptable means of humane euthanazia, and remembered you said a while back not to shoot them?
I think, D. Masters – step in please – that in fact if done properly by trained personell shooting is an acceptable means?
There seem to be three acceptble means, chemical shot, rifle shot and captive bolt.
Any of those three can fail at anytime – given even all the best training and equipment, every thing in perfect place, just happens – so there is no absolute knowing that it will always 100% be quick and stressfree.
Captive bolt vs bullet. Maybe D. Masters or someone can continue this discussion or a minute or refer to some sources of more information. I’m not really seeing the difference – both put a metal piece in the brain – is the bolt bigger or better in some other manner?
I know the American You Tubes shows the captive bolt and the horse trying to avoid it – but that is after an already grueling and abusive ordeal at the hand of scarry men just in the minutes befor hand.
I’m asking would the correct method of captive bolt be face on whenever possible instead of from above, if the horse were calm enough to do so?
And if not calm enough as shown in the UK slaughter YouTubes, then a head restraint is utilized? And is could that still be face to face? I’m sure this all depends on the nature and level of stress of the horse.
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hello presonal note; be careful about watching U tube pix and videos; these vidwos can cause “nightmeres; imo; A.
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ps Roxy…
when you say “acceptable means I think what you mean is Legal means…
my comment is: Legal is not the same as acceptable; it is legal to do alot of wicked things to critters; this does mean means this is morally acceptable by any mesns !
I have been a vegetaranin for 40 yrs !
I do not accept the idea Man is above the Critters and other wildlife; anna
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PS I still think we do not know if the mare were standing by the foal and rest of the horses or not. Actually – soooo much info to filter through – I do think they must have taken her back to the range, because they wanted to leave the carcus there – did I dream that?
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Hi Roxy;
we know the Foal was with the Mare; this is how they know the Foal is the Mare’s;
they actually killed a Nursing Mare and intentinally made the Foal an orphan! Why?;
ps I don’t beleive “even injuring a horse is acceptable in any way under any circumstances; I do not believe Man as the Authoity to do what is he doing…Anna
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ps I have read a third Horse has perished in Fallon; I do not know if this was the Foal whom the BLM took the ussupecting Mare off to the side;
whipped out “a gun
and shot and killed the Colt’s Mum in front of the colt and the other Horses;
according to the BLM handbook; the Mare should have been takne out into the wildnerness and “shot there…
as to not upset the other horses; the BLM did not follow their own laws ! ! !
To the BLM; YOU are not above the Law; I am not above the Law; no one is ! ! Anna
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Anna,
I don’t think anyone has said for certain where the mare with the foal was killed.
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I spoke with Don Glen, Division Chief for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program. Here are his statements:
• Using helicopters isn’t cruel and the video that’s on the Internet is misleading. (Am we going to believe him or our own lying eyes?)
• Trapping horses using food/water as bait doesn’t work despite his claim that the horses are suffering from living on overgrazed land. He said it’s because there is too much food and water available – bait traps don’t work and take too much time.
• Horses that die are already in very poor condition – pregnant, old, lame – and that chasing them across the plan for up to 15 miles does not constitute cruelty. The would have died anyway and that being chased by a helicopter doesn’t contribute to their suffering and death.
• Ironically, they stopped roundups using horses and cowboys because too many of the contractor’s horses and cowboys were getting injured.
Finally, he confirmed that the BLM does not know how many horses are on the range. Therefore, the decision of removing the horses are based on issues that have nothing to do with science – biology and ecology. Politics, perhaps?
The answers he gave me confirm for me we are on the right track. Mr. Glen doesn’t think chasing down weak, pregnant, old horses with a helicopter in the middle of winter over 15 miles only to collapse and die in their facilities isn’t’ cruel. The vast majority of people who love horses would not agree with Mr. Glen and we will be appealing to them.
please sign our facebook page “ground the helicopters”
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/423794/46223259?m=71bb3202
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