Mare Euthanized during Wild Horse Roundup - Photo Story
Photos and narration from a locally protested wild horse roundup that ended in tragedy.
Once every 5-10 years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) assesses the wild horse population atop of the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range in western Colorado, just outside De Beque, and decide whether the herd is healthy enough to be left alone, or if intervention is needed. In 2024, around six years after the last horse roundup, the agency decided that the size of the herd was well over the decades-used Appropriate Management Level, which recommends how many horses can occupy a certain amount of land, and began plans to remove around 100 of the some 220 wild horses on the range.
For two hours, protestors asked questions and debated BLM staff about the risks involved with using helicopters for the roundups, the quality of the land that the horses graze on, if the horses have any predators to help lower the population, and about about previous roundups and the number or injuries involved with horses previously moved off of the range. During the protest, BLM Grand Junction Assistant Field Manager Issac Pittman, seen middle, told protestors that in the 15 gathers he's supervised within the BLM district, he hasn't seen any horses get separated from their foals or break a leg while running from the helicopters. At the end of the protest, BLM said it would go through with the round up while trying to minimize stress and harm to the wild animals. “Cruelty is like intentionally hurting something, which isn’t what we’re trying to do,” Pittman said. “We’re trying to do these gathers as safe and humane as possible, recognizing that we’re dealing with wild animals and difficult terrain."
The BLM then invited members of the public and members of the media to view the live trapping process of the horses a few days later on Sept. 17, but the wind was still too high and spectators were sent back without seeing the trapping process. The following day on Sept. 18, the BLM invited spectators once again to view a live trapping, this time in a canyon area of the range. Members of the public and members of the media had a direct view into the middle of the canyon while standing on a surrounding hill, with a fenced trap set up near the corner of the canyon for hoses to be guided into by a helicopter giving chase.
As plans were made to remove the horses with traps on the book cliffs, plans simultaneously were made to oppose the round up. Wild horses advocates oppose the use of helicopters for steering wild horses into traps during round ups, a practice that Wyoming Wildlife Protection Group Activist Madhu Anderson called "cruel" during a planned protest at the local Grand Junction Bureau of Land Management office on Sept. 7, 2025. Sentiments shared by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in summer 2024, who sent a letter to the BLM citing his "grave concerns" over the roundup, and urged the agency to delay its plans.
Two weeks later on Sept. 12, a holding pen is established on private property nearby the horse range as a temporary holding facility before the horses are moved to a permanent holding facility located in Cañon City, Colorado. The media was invited by the BLM to photograph the few horses that had already been gathered at the holding facility, and to get photos of the helicopter and its crew as it goes to track down wild horses in the rugged 36,000 acres of terrain. That first day that media was invited, wind was too high and the helicopter was grounded.
Over the next hour, less than ten horses were led into the traps by the helicopter in smaller batches. The next group being led was a muscular black mustang, a mare, and a foal, who were running across the canyon floor in an attempt to outrun the helicopter. After the horses avoided the trap on the first try, the helicopter circled around chased the horses back across the canyon, honing in on the mustang as it broke away from the mare and foal and gave chase at a full sprint. The mustang proved to be a challenge, so the helicopter pilot focused back on the mare and the foal, now in the middle of the canyon.
As the pilot gave chase back toward the trap, the mare was sprinting with the foal across the rugged terrain and broke her back left leg while trying to traverse the terrain. All media and BLM officials froze, as the helicopter calmly whirled overhead in a stationary position. The mare tried walking and dragging its broken leg, but couldn't make it further than 15 feet, where it finally plopped down next to its foal and appeared to use the foal for stability to keep its head upright.
Contracted wranglers moved in on horseback to surround the mare, as the foal moved a bit away out of fear. At this point, BLM officials urged the spectra's away from the hill where they were informed that a veterinarian was on site to assess and likely euthanize the mare. BLM said that wranglers were moving toward the foal and were going to capture it because they were unsure if it was old enough to be weaned off milk, but didn't want to cause any more stress to the animal.
That was the end of spectating for the day, as the BLM concluded that they had captured enough horses over the week to meet the appropriate management level. The mare was euthanized in the canyon, and while BLM initially said that the wranglers would capture the foal, it was never captured. An advocate with a local horse group "Friends with the Mustangs" saw the foal on the range a couple weeks later traveling with an older mare.
Media traveled back to the holding facility seen a week earlier, to see it was now filled with horses off all ages, sizes and colors.
After the horse was euthanized, Pittman said the mare was 24 years old and had a body condition score of 2.5 on a scale of 10. "She was pretty old and not healthy. She had a foal with her so that kind of drags down her body condition a little bit, too. Based on that information she would have really struggled through this winter. ... It doesn’t mean we’re not sad about that loss or that it justifies it in any way. This is information about that animal,” he said.
In total, the agency permanently removed 98 of 140 horses captured to reduce the population on the range to within its designated appropriate management level. On top of the death during the roundup, another Little Book Cliffs horse died on Oct. 8 as a result of an injury it suffered during feeding at a temporary holding facility in Mack, Colorado.
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In March 2025, fostering became available for a few of the wild horses taken off the range.