The Wild Horse Gather

This has been quite the weekend here at Squaw Valley. The BLM started preparations last week for the wild horse gather. They estimate about 1500 wild horses live in the mountains (about 4 million acres) around our ranch. Unfortunately, many of them are sick and undernourished, and they are reproducing faster than their rate of natural death. The land designated for their natural presence can't support that many in either grazing or water supply, so every five or six years the BLM intervenes to reduce the numbers.

This year there has been extra drama about the event because of some outspoken and misinformed protesters who want the horses to remain in their "natural" habitat. Because the BLM set up their corrals for collecting and shipping the horses down at the end of our driveway, we have had front row seats to all of the activity.

The end goal is for the majority of the horses that are gathered to be adopted. They have already released over 200 horses back onto the land to continue to exist as a smaller herd. Those that aren't adopted, and aren't released will

go to a wild horse sanctuary in Oklahoma to live out their days.

Yesterday, I was able to watch the entire process from start to finish. There are two helicopters that are being used for the majority of the herding, and they are stationed about 100 yards from our trailer when not in use. Ricarda and I were invited to ride along yesterday morning from the ranch out to the horse "trap" in the mountains that they gather the horses into.

It was quite the ride, I got to see the ranch from a whole different perspective, and we saw a handful of coyotes and antelope as we made our way into the mountains. Once we landed at the trap, we were joined by some journalists, other ranchers, and some protesters/activists at a

viewing point about 1/4 mile away from the trap.

The trap itself consists of a fenced area in the shape of a "V", with the widest points being almost 1/4 mile apart. The helicopters locate the groups of horses and herd them from the air towards the trap. Waiting in the middle of the "v" is a cowboy on foot, with a horse standing next to him called the "Judas horse". The idea is that once the wild horses get deep enough into the V, the cowboy will release the Judas horse and it will run straight for the narrow part of the v that ends in a corral. Because the wild horses are herd animals, when they see the Judas horse running, they will follow it. The whole process was really interesting to see work over and over again.

The representatives from the BLM did an incredible job of answering questions and deflating tense emotions from some of the activists. Ricarda and I watched for almost 2 hours, but didn't say a thing. It is nice sometimes to get to just observe, and know its not your job to say

anything at all. All in all, it was a cool day, and probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.

They will continue to gather more horses through this next week. After the horses are in the corrals up at the trap, they are loaded into stock trailers and brought down to the corrals hear at the ranch to have a few days of ample water and feed before they are shipped to their next destination for veterinary care and sorting.

Since there are a lot of stock trailers going up and down the valley for the wild horse activity, this is prime time for cattle rustlers to sneak in unnoticed and get away with thousands of dollars in livestock inventory. To reduce the chances of that, and keep a closer eye on the herd, Brian, Jake, and I will start camping tomorrow morning up in the mountain allotment.

We will be taking 3 horses, a quad, a wall tent, a pop up shade tent, and our own smaller tent. We are just setting up camp out there in the boonies, so have to haul in all our water for the week, feed for the horses, food for us, fuel, etc. I am the cook for the week, and am responsible for watching camp during the day while the guys check fences and keep an eye on the herd-there's only 4,000 of them, so it shouldn't be too bad :-). The plan is to camp for the week and come home Friday morning. I'm sure by then we'll be ready for a shower!