A six and a half hour rescue and an important reminder

This month’s rescue highlight focuses on some of the many reasons why it is imperative that our wild horses remain WILD.

This past month LRTC’s Technical Large Animal Rescue Team was called to assist in relocating a large band of horses that had made themselves at home in a busy residential neighborhood. They had done so because a few residents had been feeding them, watering them, and had even gotten to the point of touching them.

Understandably, many of the local residents were very unhappy with the horses feeling at home on the neighborhood streets. And many complaints were made to the range management group and the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

LRTC has relocated trailer loads of wild horses for various reasons. A “wild” horse with a healthy fear of people will view the trailer as a place to get away from the pressure applied by the people attempting to relocate them. The loads usually go fairly easily, with only a small amount of pressure applied. LRTC sets up the right choice for the horse, the easy choice to get away from the unpredictable, scary humans, and in they go.

That *fear* is healthy. It keeps them wild, it means they keep themselves safe. It means they know how to SURVIVE.

Trapping this particular band was easy - they just followed the hay because they were unfortunately used to it. Loading them was a whole different story. Because these horses did not have that healthy fear, the usual methods didn’t work. These horses were *used* to people. What should have taken less than two hours to load them into three trailers took six and a half hours! LRTC will always get the job done, but sometimes humans make the job much more difficult than it should be.

Any contact with humans puts the horses in danger. Danger of being on roads and getting hit, danger of being injured, danger of getting painfully sick from too many rich *treats* than their systems can’t handle, danger of losing their freedom forever, and worst - danger of being sent to a livestock auction if the state has to step in and pick them up and no one can take them.

It puts an incredible amount of stress on the animals and puts both the horses and the rescue team in dangerous situations when they have to get close and use increased pressure to load them and relocate them to a new area. Ultimately humans have put horses like this into an unfair position for their own personal satisfaction.

As always, LRTC got the job done. They often say that they start with Plan A and B but sometimes they end with Plan D or E. They rarely give up.

Remember:

-The best relationship to have with a wild horse is through a zoom lens from a distance.

-Feeding or harassing wild horses is illegal under Nevada Revised Statutes (state law).

-Do not water if you are in a neighborhood or near roadways. So basically do not water unless you have an approved water source.

Please know this - the Wild Horse Connection range management team and all of the local wild horse protection organizations know where the current water sources are on the range. If there are horses that need water, they know about it and can work on it. Diversionary feeding is ONLY done by Wild Horse Connection for public safety to draw horses away from the roadways and only in NDA approved areas with certified weed free hay, during approved months.

If you see a horse injured or in danger, please call the Wild Horse Hotline at 775-352-3944 - THIS IS THE FASTEST WAY TO GET HELP.

If you see someone feeding, touching, or otherwise endangering wild horses please call the Wild Horse Hotline at 775-352-3944. You can choose the voicemail option if it is not urgent. If possible please take photos/video, get a vehicle license number or an address. That is the best way for it to be addressed and stopped by the proper authorities.

If you want to be active HELPING the wild horses or helping the rescued horses please reach out to Wild Horse Connection or one of the other nonprofit groups in your area that work tirelessly to protect the Virginia Range Horses and volunteer your time, or make a monetary donation.