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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 28

1/25/2023

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Oh those bachelors! What an important role they play in a wild horse herd.

Remember, every stallion started out as a bachelor! So don’t let your human emotions get in the way if you see a bachelor attempting to steal a mare or two from your favorite band stallion. They are just answering nature’s call and an important call it is.

Nature’s Way

Over the two plus decades that we have been watching the Heber herd we have noticed years where there were significantly more colts born than fillies. This results in a natural male gender ratio skew. In a wild herd with minimal human interference and no use of birth control or culls, a greater number of breeding age stallions will result in smaller band sizes and thus a deepening of the gene pool. A natural sex ratio skew is not the same as that imposed by manmade management plans which have the intention of shrinking the herd size for motives having nothing to do with the health of the herd.

Another advantage that comes with having a larger number of stallions...
“Having a larger number of males competing could favor females by enhancing the opportunities for mate choice, could mean that males of higher genetic quality would achieve harem stallion status, or both."
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2013. Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13511.

A research paper, “Population Characteristics of Feral Horses Impacted by Anthropogenic Factors and Their Management Implications” published in 2022 by Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution stated in their conclusion:

“We suggest minimizing human interference with these feral populations. This should start by not arbitrarily and irresponsibly removing the adult males because they are the key for group protection, both against predation or harassment from other males and for genetic variability.” Also noted in the conclusion was how research on equine behavior and ecology can “provide essential guidelines to aid population management and fight the extinction” of horse breeds.
Certainly more research on wild horses is needed in order for our wild herds to be responsibly managed in a way that protects them instead of destroys them.

Please call Secretary Vilsack’s office at 202-720-3631 and ask that the Heber Herd become a “Study Herd” .

Ask that the Secretary of Agriculture, TOM VILSACK, declare the HEBER HERD of NORTHERN ARIZONA a “STUDY HERD” for the next 7-10 years as requested by the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN 1980; (As ordered by PRIA, Public Rangelands Improvement Act and never carried out by the BLM and FS)

That NO horses be removed until the study is completed;

That NO fertility control drugs ever be implemented on this herd.

Some of the boys...

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 27

1/24/2023

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In May of 2014 the Forest Service conducted their first aerial wild horse inventory of the Apache-Sitgreaves. They followed up with another one in February of 2015 and some since then. Inventories are part of their preparation of the Heber Wild Horse Territory management plan.

A sample of some of the numerous flight photos taken during the 2014 and 2015 inventories. Also a map showing where horses were seen during the 2014 inventory. Most of the horses are not in the Territory partially due to being unable to access a large part of it because of cattle pasture fences and natural geographical barriers. The Heber Wild Horse Territory draft management plan calls for the capture and removal of horses not using the Territory. Photos and map obtained through a FOIA request.

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 26

1/24/2023

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Band stallions of the Heber herd.

Not all bachelors become band stallions. But in about two decades of our observations we have noticed that if a stallion is going to become a band stallion he often begins aquiring mares when he is approximately 4-6 years old.

Here are just a few band stallions of the Heber herd past and present.

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 25

1/20/2023

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“Wanagi”

“According to Lakota tradition, every Lakota baby that is born is given a wanagi. A wanagi is like a spirit from a star.” ~ Chynna Lockett

He was first seen as a colt by one of the Heber wild horse advocates prior to the Rodeo-Chediski fire in 2002. He was only about two months old at the time and he was the first cremello she had seen in forest. She didn’t see him again until February of 2005. It became customary for him to disappear around Oct only to resurface in March of every year with a least one bachelor but usually three or four. They would hang with him for a few days then he would run them off. She often wondered if he had “babysat” them all winter in the canyons. Although she loved seeing him she didn’t give him a name because back then naming a wild one wasn’t something she did. It wasn’t until 2015 when a family that was local to the area named him Wanagi. She last saw Wanagi in 2020. There have been some more recent photos mislabeled as Wanagi.

Not all wild stallions are destined to be band stallions yet they all have purpose within the herd. As humans we often tend to anthropomorphize animals which on one hand is good because it helps to generate empathy and compassion for them. However we cannot let that cloud our understanding of their biological course in the world of nature. Horses are sentient beings with the capacity to have feelings and emotions but they are still different than humans. We often assign human feelings and characteristics to them, we give them names, we have our favorites and those we may not like so much, particularly if we feel they are in some way doing harm to the ones we favor. An example would be if a bachelor “steals” a mare from our favorite band stallion. Some would see the bachelor as an enemy of sorts while all he is doing is carrying out his role within the herd by adding to the depth of the gene pool which is crucial to the success of the herd.

Henry Beston said it best:

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 24

1/20/2023

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Failed capture attempts...ones that got away.

Over the years people have captured some of the Heber wild horses with various motives in mind. Some have made it a business to capture, break, and sell them without the prospective buyers knowing the horse they are considering buying was once wild. There will be more on that in future “Chronicles”. But this is about some that managed to escape their captors. Some with a little help from their friends aka wild horse advocates.

Without a doubt the most well known Heber wild horse who regained his freedom from would-be thieves is Sir Studly Dudley. He ran around in the forest for a few years with the red halter they managed to put on him. It never stopped him from becoming a successful band stallion. Over time the halter became more and more worn. The last time it was seen on him it was just barely hanging on. To this day some say the halter was somehow taken off of him by a human. Dudley is not a people friendly guy, so until we see some evidence, such as photos or video of a person taking it off or even a photo of somebody holding the halter, we’re not inclined to believe that story.

Not as well known is the bay mare, Juniper. In 2015 game camera photos were the first to surface of her with a halter and two very long leads attached. It didn’t take long for the leads to be shortened by her hooves as she grazed. We don’t know the circumstances of her capture and getaway but she was back with her band and her beautiful new foal was delivered shortly thereafter.

In 2018 there were the two palomino mares and two foals that were captured in a corral in the forest. We got word through a Facebook private message from kind and caring people who spotted them captured in a corral and suspected they were wild. We contacted another advocate, Stacy Sanchez and asked he if could check out the situation. When he got to the corral he realized the two palomino mares and very young foals were indeed wild. Only one of the captured mares had a foal of her own but she was seen nursing both foals. Stacy opened the gate of the large corral and was able to slowly move all four horses through. He followed them and watched as they reunited with their band that was back in the trees not far away. The little foal found his real mom which turned out to be a third palomino. It was a happy ending to what was most likely another failed horse theft attempt. Sometimes it takes a village.

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Time is running out for the Heber wild horse herd.

1/17/2023

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Why the Heber wild horse herd "Chronicles"?
Because time is running out and their truth needs to be told.

“If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.”
― Albert Einstein

Photo of Old Buck who was a magnificent Heber wild stallion and protector of his band.

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 23

1/17/2023

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“hundreds of thousands of horses running all over the place” in Nevada. Really? Oh, Mark, shame on you. You’re either woefully ignorant or willfully deceptive.

In June of 2015 the public lands ranchers in the Heber/Overgaard area had a rally to gather the troops in opposition to the Heber wild horse herd. Their keynote speaker was Arizona Department of Agriculture Director Mark Killian. So here we have yet another government agency that has ignored the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and come out against the Heber wild horses, YOURS and MINE!

The following is a transcript from the video of AZ Dept of AG Director Mark Killian speaking at the Public Lands Rancher Rally and posted on Endangered Ranchers of Arizona June 12, 2015

“And the thing that’s most important for the ranchers right now is that the horse numbers go up they’re going to cut the number of cattle off these allotments. And if this continues on, pretty soon there won’t be any ranchers left on these allotments. It’ll be just like it is in Nevada where they’ve got hundreds of thousands of horses running all over the place creating all kinds of problems. And so we’re working with the Forest Service to see if we can’t find a solution. But ultimately in my opinion we’re going to have to go back into court and prove to the court that these horses are not original....

At that point the person who took the video ran out of memory for her camera but posted that Killian had finished that sentence by saying: “we have to go back to court to prove that these horses are feral horses, not original wild horses.”

There is no support for any argument that in order to prove the horses are protected as wild free-roaming,‭ ‬one must show a direct line to particular horses from any particular time.

Heber wild horses with leg barring. Photo was taken in July 2017.

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 22

1/12/2023

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Federal agencies, state agencies, and local public lands ranchers spoke out against wild horses and in many instances specifically Arizona’s Heber herd.

As time went on it became more and more apparent who the enemies of the Heber wild horses were. The public lands ranchers appeared to be a driving force pushing for the removal and even the slaughter of the wild horses living in the Sitgreaves National Forest.

Heber Wild Horses: Legendary Or Problematic?
KNAU News Talk - Arizona Public Radio | By Aaron Granillo
Published June 5, 2015

Excerpt:
In his own lifetime – 57-years – Gibson’s seen the wild horse population increase exponentially. He pays the Forest Service about $1,600 a month for grazing rights, and feels he’s not getting his money’s worth. Gibson believes there’s one solution to protect livelihood and land.
“So in my opinion, the best thing to with these up here would be remove every one of them. [Heber wild horses] Whether they go to adoption, or, you know, I hate to say it, euthanized or to a slaughter plant," Gibson says. "I mean that sounds kind of harsh, but something has to be done with them.”

This interview gives the impression that Mr. Gibson was the ranch and grazing lease owner at the time. In fact he was not. He was the ranch manager. Therefore it doesn’t add up that "he" paid for the grazing rights and "he" wasn’t getting “his money’s worth”. As for the population increase, based on numbers by the Forest Service the herd size has remained relatively stable using their estimates from 2005 to the present. Overpopulation of the Heber herd has never been proven.

https://www.knau.org/.../heber-wild-horses-legendary-or...

Arizona Game and Fish Department Director Larry Voyles had recommended killing healthy wild horses. He didn’t specify the Heber herd, just wild horses in general.

Arizona agency lobbies for wild horse euthanasia
Posted on Sep 3, 2010 by Tuesday's Horse

Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), is recommending the Bureau of Land Management euthanize healthy excess wild horses and burros as a management alternative.

In a letter addressed to BLM director Bob Abbey, AZGFD Director Larry Voyles states, “In order to have a truly open dialogue and consideration for all viable management alternatives, the BLM should reconsider the inclusion of two options, which have been identified as “off the table” for the development of the new draft strategy: 1) euthanasia of healthy excess animals, and 2) their sale without limitation.”
https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/.../arizona-agency.../

Larry Voyles announced his retirement from the AZGFD in 2017.

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 21

1/12/2023

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Getting the word out

Over the next weeks and months in the summer and fall of 2014 we used this Facebook page to inform people what the Forest Service had in store for the Heber wild horse herd. We asked that people please follow and share our page and they did! In the fall of 2014 we got the attention of the media. We met up in the forest with reporter Brenna Goth and photographer Tom Tingle of the Arizona Republic. “A herd in limbo” was published on Dec 11, 2014. It was the first of numerous media outlets over the following years to cover in print, online, in television broadcasts, and or radio programs the plight of the Hebers.

The main objective of the Heber Wild Horses Facebook page is to save the herd. By that we mean all of them should be left free and free-roaming in the Sitgreaves and they should be declared a “Study Herd” for the next 7-10 years as requested by the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN 1980. According to the latest Schedule Of Proposed Actions (SOPA) the Heber Wild Horse Territory management plan final decision and implementation is expected in Oct 2023. If that happens the culls will begin along with some form of birth control such as PZP or GonaCon and there will soon no longer be any wild horses to see or photograph. The horses up in the Show Low area will all be removed. The horses that are so often enjoyed and photographed from Clay Springs west to Forest Service Rd 50 will be gone. There will only be a few token overmanaged horses in a small area of the Black Mesa Ranger District.

We are so grateful for each and every one of you who over the years helped to spread the word by following our page and sharing our posts. We are also thankful for all those who have come from near and far to visit and photograph the Hebers and share their photographs and stories of the Heber wild horses on their own Facebook pages and other social media outlets. It truly does take a village.

This black stallion is the original Diamond of the Heber herd.

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From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 20

1/12/2023

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In the summer of 2014 things took a bizarre turn.

One of the Heber wild horse herd advocates spent much of her vacation time camping in the forest. Over the years she had always been on good terms with the Black Mesa Forest Service employees. They were very friendly and helpful. But in the early summer of 2014, before we knew the Forest Service had restarted work on the Heber Wild Horse Territory management plan, she noticed a change. We didn’t know it at the time but the Forest Service had requested the services of the Enterprise Program to help them with the management plan. That created a lot more activity than what had previously been seen in the forest.

Things got strange during the 4th of July weekend when she went up to camp. Saturday, July 5th a little after 10:00 PM there was a loud knock on the side of her living quarters trailer. She was unable to see a vehicle when she looked out the window but she saw a man in a Forest Service uniform. He demanded she open the door. He said she had overstayed the 14 day limit. But the fact was that it was only her second night there. She asked him to show her his ID but he just kept pointing to the name badge on his shirt. She was unable to read it because the whole time he was shining his bright flashlight in her eyes. She offered to show him her ID but he told her it wasn’t necessary because he knew exactly who she was. The conversation went on but was going nowhere. So she finally closed and locked her door and went to sleep.

The next evening she left her trailer and went to meet up with friends for dinner in Overgaard. Upon her return to her campsite at about 6:30 pm she saw both locks to the living quarters of her trailer had been drilled out. In fear of what might happen next she hooked up her trailer and drove to Bison Ranch. She called the Sheriff’s Dept and they advised her to go to the Forest Service office when they opened. She spent the night in her trailer in the Bison Ranch parking lot.

Monday morning, July 7 she went to the Black Mesa Forest Service office in Overgaard. She told the woman at the desk what had happened. She included the description of the man who went to her trailer the night of July 5th. At that point a Forest Service employee who was in his office and overheard the conversation came out. He told her it was their law enforcement officer and told her his name. He asked her into his office to discuss the situation. He told her that since it involved law enforcement she would need to report the incident to the Patrol Captain in Springerville. When she left the FS office she called the Patrol Captain and left a message. He returned her call later that day at which time she gave him a detailed report over the phone. He asked her what she would like to see happen. She told him that at the very least the officer who went to her trailer at 10:00 pm for no valid reason should have a psych evaluation because his behavior was not normal. The Captain told her to file a report. That day she sent in a very detailed report by email to the Captain. She never heard back.

In 2018 another advocate for the Heber Wild Horses Freedom Preservation Alliance sent in a FOIA request asking for any information on incidents that were reported in July 2014 involving Forest Service employees including law enforcement where a citizen(s) felt threatened or intimidated or falsely accused by such FS employees. The following response was received:

“Staff members searched in every place where a reasonably knowledgeable professional could expect to find records pertaining to your request. We did not locate any records responsive to your request for the Black Mesa Ranger District for the month of July 2014.
For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. .See 5 U.S.C . 552(c) (2006 & Supp. IV 2010). This response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist.”

Not caving in to intimidation, still standing up for what's right by speaking out for the Heber wild horse herd.

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