Wild Horses of Alto. Save the Herd!

WILD HORSES OF ALTO (W.H.O.A!) disclaimer: this blog is in no way associated with the group WHOA (Wild Horse Observers Association). This blog has actually become like a vertical file in the library where important past documents - like newspaper articles - are filed and kept for research when needed. It has become almost a lesson in librarianship for me.

WILD HORSES OF ALTO The herd of wild horses in Alto, N.M., are the offspring of estray horses that roamed Sierra Blanca on Mescalero and National Forest land. Today the herds roam the same territory as well as dropping in to visit some of the subdivisions, such as Enchanted Forest, Sierra Vista, Sun Valley, LaJunta, Little Creek and occasionally Alto Lakes Golf & Country Club. For the most part, the herds are loved and welcomed. But sometimes not.

At this time, it is being decided in a court of law whether the horses are wild or domesticated (and therefore estray). At present, the horses fall under the auspices of the N.M. Livestock Board. We are trying to save all members the herd and other herds that exist in the area. We do NOT want to deny the horses the freedom they have known in the past and the comradeship the herd provides them.

To institute change in the policy and protect the future of our magnificent Wild Horses of Alto herd, we have a petition at https://www.change.org/p/new-mexico-governor-save-alto-wild-horses, a fundraising site for lawyers and feed/care at https://www.gofundme.com/altohorses, an account set up at City Bank-Ruidoso for donations to the "Wild Horses of Lincoln County Trust Fund" and an ongoing facebook group "Bring Ruidoso Horse's Back". Click on the Stallion's photo to go directly there.

PLEASE SPEAK UP, sign petitions, give to the trust fund for the horses. Sign up to this blog to get continual updates and to also post your own comments.

We LOVE our horse herd.

HELP save the Wild Horses of Alto (WHOA!) herd


Thursday, December 29, 2016

Alto herd now allowed to mingle Oct. 28, 2016



Mares are allowed to mingle again as a herd while waiting for an answer from the court

Alto herd advocates continue to wait on the court system to grind out an answer on the future of 13 horses that used to run wild, but were rounded up by a resident as nuisances and hauled to Santa Fe by state livestock board staff.
The horses were returned to Lincoln County while a judge decides whether they are wild and do not fall under livestock board rules or are estray livestock and must be put up for sale. That decision could come by mid-November.
The horses, mares with their foals, were kept in pens for 21 days of isolation after their return, then the mares were released into a larger area to meld back into a herd. However, the younger horses were weaned and separated from the mares, although they can interact with each other, Teeatta Lippert said.
"We took the gates of the quarantine area, but the mares are pregnant and one colt was biting its mother," she said. "When the new foals arrive, the colts would be mean to the new babies. They had to be separated."
One mare, who has been estranged from the herd, also is kept separate, but in a spacious confinement, Lippert said.
Although the stallion who led the herd has been spotted by many residents of the area, he apparently has not yet located his returned mares.
The signers (who are responsible for the horses in an agreement with the livestock board worked out through the court) are doing everything under instructions from the veterinarian (Becky Washburn), but I worry (the colts) are being treated like domestic horses and will not know how to be wild horses,” Bruna Campos, who has been involved with several wild herds n Alto for more than two decades, said.
Some supporters advocated for transporting the herd to a larger pasture off Ski Run Road, but that area is the territory of another smaller group of horses headed by a stallion, she pointed out. The road becomes icy and clogged with traffic during ski season, presenting a danger to drivers and horses, especially if the smaller group acted aggressively with the invasion of its territory, she said. Lippert said the nine signers of responsibility for the horses didn't feel it would be in the best interests of anyone or the herd for the horses to be moved to Ski Run Road.
Supporter Lorri Burnett said Patience O’Dowd was in Ruidoso Monday and visited several classes under Ruidoso High School art teacher Heather Kinney, to tell the story of the Alto herd and of the fate of wild horses in Placitas and other areas. O’Dowd through the Wild Horse Observers Association filed litigation against the livestock board that stopped the sale of the Alto herd and threw the decision into the lap of 12th Judicial District Judge Dan Bryant on whether the horses meet the definition of “wild.”
“We spent the entire day with all classes,” Burnett said, and a future art competition is planned based on the story of the horses. “It was wonderful meeting with them. Heather Kinney is the art teacher who invited us. The kids will decide what projects they will be doing. We are looking forward to working with them and are excited to see what they come up with.”
Robbie Davis continues to head fundraising efforts for the horses through the sale of calendars featuring their photographs and raffles for other items, including a valuable custom saddle. Donations also can be dropped off at City Bank NM for the Wild Horses of Lincoln County account or submitted through gofundme.
"We sold out of the first shipment of calendars in four or five days," she said. "They sell for $10 if they are picked up and $12 if we have to mail them. We have a double shipment coming in next week. We also have T-shirts with an awesome logo and coffee mugs."

To order items, call 315-0807 and leave a message. One of the fund raising committee members will return the call. The items also will be on display and for sale at the Capitan Country Christmas Bazaar the first weekend in December.
Although supporters and donations have paid for six to eight weeks of food for the herd, supporters said the expenses will continue and more fencing panels are needed to expand the area where the horses can roam within the designated confines on Fort Stanton Road.

Fertility control vaccine promoted for wild horse control Nov. 8, 2016, Ruidoso News





Several articles and television features aired recently favoring chemical fertility control
2013 photo

The public and news media are beginning to catch on that humane fertility control is a better option than rounding up and killing wild horses and urban deer, officials with the Animal Fertility Vaccine Information Center said last week.
“This week saw a detailed story in National Geographic, ‘Can Birth Control Save Our Wild Horses?’ in which volunteer darter Nancy Kilian discussed how fertility control helps keep these iconic animals "healthy and free,’" they noted in a news release. “A video also recently aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation filmed about a group of Alberta volunteers, who are darting wild horses with the PZP vaccine to spare them from roundups and death.”
The coverage follows a recent story on fertility control in the Wall Street Journal and a string of court and policy victories for wild horses across the West, they pointed out.
“Over the past several months, wild horse advocates stopped a plan by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Oregon State University to subject wild horses to cruel and dangerous fertility control experiments; the BLM rejected the advice of the agency's advisory council, which recommended euthanizing thousands of horses now living in captivity; a federal court ruled that the Appropriate Management Levels the BLM uses to justify cruel, costly roundups aren't valid; a coalition of 40 advocacy groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, called on the BLM to increase use of humane fertility control vaccine as a way to reduce and end roundups.”
With AMLs in dispute and dangerous sterilization procedures, euthanasia and slaughter off the table, fertility control is the best tool we have to preserve and manage wild horses on the range, center officials contend.
“As we've noted, increased use of fertility control will help horses and save taxpayers money. It's effective, safe and humane,” they stated.

Alto Horse Herd Close to Open Pasture Oct. 20, 2016, Ruidoso News

Blaze Photo - courtesy

Supporters given update on the status of the wild horse herd rounded up by the state but returned to the county pending the outcome of litigation to determine their classification

With their mandatory period of isolation expired earlier this week, the “wild” horses of Alto rounded up in August by the New Mexico Livestock Board soon will be allowed to mingle again as a herd.
Their numbers grew from the dozen originally picked up and then returned three weeks ago to pens on Fort Stanton Road to 13, Lorri Burnett said. One colt, who still is roaming free, will be added to the mix while the court debate continues over whether the horses are wild and not under the jurisdiction of the livestock board or if they are estray livestock and fall under its rules.
“With quarantine over, we’re waiting for the landowners to arrive back,” Burnett said. “The signers of the (responsibility) for the horses then will decide when to release them into the (fenced) field.”
Robbie Davis, who heads the fund raising effort to cover the care and feeding of the horses, put together a report for supporters.
“The horses are doing very well,” she said. “They are very curious about the humans outside their pens, who are providing hay and filling their water troughs twice a day.  One of the mares seems to enjoy playing a game of ‘I’m going to knock the hose out of my trough as soon as you turn your back,’ every single time. But, how could you be aggravated with her?”
Davis said she’s received inquiries about one of the other mares who lives on the fringes of the herd.
“Dr. (Becky) Washburn examined them upon their return from Santa Fe and discovered an old injury this particular mare suffered some time in her very early life,” Davis said. “She believes this might be the reason for the partial ‘shun,’ as she is most likely perceived as a weak one.”
The horses will be released from the small corrals as soon as possible this week. The owner of the property has been out of town and all of the signers who accepted responsibility for the horses, must agree to the move, which essentially will be to open the gates and allow the horses to mingle in a larger fenced pasture area.
“We currently have approximately eight weeks’ worth of hay for them,” Davis said. Fund raising efforts continue with supporters able to drop a check off at any City Bank of New Mexico office for the Wild Horses of Lincoln County, or to contribute to the gofundme account.
“Another shipment of the Wild Horses of Lincoln County calendars has been ordered and will be here a little before Halloween,” Davis said. “Any of the Fundraising Committee members can fulfill your order at that time. We still are selling raffle tickets for the two original paintings by Barbara Yates, and a gorgeous custom made saddle donated by Shawna Dobbs Bradley, in honor of her late father, Aubrey Dobbs, who was a very sweet man.”
The people to contact are:  Sherry Snow Turner, Sandy Tubb, Debra L Anderson, John Reiner, Kathleen Prewitt, Jessica Valenzuela, Peggy Annen-Schoemann, Beverly Alexander, Pamela Brink, Kim Elkins or Davis.
Burnett characterized the legal side of the issue as being like “a herd of ants going through a tub of molasses.” Patience O’Dowd through the Wild Horse Observers Association is the plaintiff in the litigation that resulted in a temporary injunction that stopped the sale of the members of the horse herd while their classification is being determined. Burnett said the New Mexico attorney general answered the complaint by WHOA, contending the court should “deny everything.”
No date has been set for the next hearing, but Davis urged supporters to remain optimistic.
“As we wait to hear about a date for our court case to be heard, there are other cases being worked on that will affect our herds’ fight for freedom,” Davis said. “As with all legal cases, it is more complex than simple. But the march forward continues with great optimism. Don’t lose heart. Much is being done in the background in preparation for the anticipated day. The work is tedious and the waiting is excruciating for us all.”
O’Dowd will be in Ruidoso Monday.
“We’ll be working with the high school art teacher,” Burnett said. “Patience will talk to classes all day long and give a little history about the wild horses and what WHOA has done around the country to save wild horses. Then the students are going to do some sort of an art project.”
Burnett hopes to build on that beginning to develop a more elaborate art competition with the goal of creating Christmas and note cards to benefit the horses.