Feral, wild and free: horse report released

Herds of feral horses in New Mexico may be in danger and neighbors to the iconic beasts of the southwest are concerned.

The State Land office owns the Berry Ranch parcel in Socorro County, which borders the Alamo Navajo Reservation, where neighbors have reported about one thousand horses have made their homes.

The land was acquired in an exchange with the Navajo Nation in 2018 but left unattended. As the horse population grows, the land has become overgrazed and as resources dwindle, nearby residents wonder what will happen to the horses if nothing is done.

In response to concerns, the State Land Office confirmed in early May that they were committed to looking into the situation, and have since released a survey conducted on May 27.

According to the report, New Mexico Game and Fish performed a helicopter survey on behalf of the New Mexico State Land Office. The survey covered the north and south parcels of the Berry Ranch, totaling 236 square kilometers. During the survey, they covered 77 plus miles over a duration of 96 minutes and observed a minimum total of 526 feral horses, equating to 2.2 horses per square kilometer. The report stated the conditions were poor and degraded.

“Because minimum counts surveys tend to undercount realized abundance, there are likely more horses occupying the ranch property than reported herein,” said the report.

Long-time neighboring rancher Adren Nance said he appreciated the report’s recognition of the undercount of horses since his observations place the numbers at over 1,000, but he felt the report lacked important details on the conditions.

“The report was accurate in its observation that the habitat conditions were poor and degraded. What was not included in the report were water sources. Since the ranch hasn’t been managed for years the livestock watering system has deteriorated beyond repair. The only sources of water are the very limited spring water or seasonal rainwater. This means that there is almost no grass near the water supplies and the horses have to travel further each day to forage.” Nance said, “I’m greatly concerned that the horses may not only die from starvation but from dehydration.”

Nance, who has been watching the population grow on the abandoned ranch, said as of now, the horses are in tolerable conditions because there is some forage from snow over the winter. Still, he knows it can and will quickly change with dry conditions that will inevitably worsen.

“I have witnessed over the years when conditions get bad, the horses begin to starve and deteriorate to a condition where they are simply skin and bones and the old horses and foals die. If a livestock owner allowed his or her horses to get to that condition, the horses would be confiscated and they would be criminally charged,” Nance said. “My main concern is for the horses themselves, no rancher can abide to see any animal starving, especially horses that we use on a daily basis as partners to make a living, it goes against all of our core beliefs and culture.”

Nance’s concerns don’t end there. A once-thriving ranch is now in ruins and the horses are having a negative impact on neighboring ranches and wildlife.

“I am also concerned about the effect the situation is having on the bordering ranches and the Alamo Community. The horses destroy fences in their desperation to find water and food; they mix with other livestock and may spread disease and take other desperately needed resources, not to mention adding days of work to ranchers,” Nance said.

State Land Office Obligation

The state trust land was allocated to New Mexico by the federal government under the Ferguson Act of 1898; the mission is to use the revenue for New Mexico public schools, hospitals, colleges and other public institutions. The entities are the beneficiaries of the revenue raised when the Land Office does business on state trust land.

Each tract of land is tied to a specific beneficiary, and in the case of the Berry Ranch, revenue from it is 98.6% allocated for common schools, according to State Land Office documents.

“Currently, the Berry Ranch is not being leased, and it is unlikely that any rancher would lease the land with the feral horses, and it would be unmanageable, not to mention that the infrastructure of the ranch is so deteriorated that it would take a small fortune to make it manageable. The situation keeps the State Land Office from fulfilling its legal mandate and the children of the county and state, as well as the horses, are also the victims of the situation.” Nance said. “We have an unheard of situation in the 21st century, a 57,000 plus acre no man’s land in the Socorro and Cibola Counties where poachers, livestock rustlers and bandits do as they please.”

In a statement addressing the concern of the Berry Ranch left to deteriorate, instead of being leased out over the years, the State Land Office responded that the previous administration expressed an intent to lease the land back to the Navajo Nation after the completion of the land exchange in 2018.

“We have been honoring that commitment by continuing the conversation with the Navajo Nation. Since we last spoke, staff with our Surface Resources Division have exchanged additional emails and phone calls with the Navajo Nation and we hope to determine a resolution through those conversations soon,” Joey O’Keefe, state land office communications assistant, wrote in a statement.

The State Land office also confirmed that if the Navajo Nation ultimately decided not to lease the land in question, they would make it available for lease again.

Is there a solution?

Nina Eydelman, equine and wildlife chief program & policy officer of Animal Protection New Mexico, said she has read the report and reached out to the State Land office to offer help. A partnership has yet to be established, but she is confident that there is hope for managing the free-roaming horses if they are enlisted to help.

“That’s a lot of horses, but any number of horses could be worked with,” Eydelman said, “We’re happy to work with anyone to plan and implement humane horse management. We’re already working with several indigenous communities on to implement some humane horse management.”

She said ideally, with free-roaming horses, there is a proactive approach to management.

“A lot of these things spiral out of control because there’s nobody there and taking action being out there,” Eydelman said.

Their approach is holistic and she is opposed to rounds ups and putting the animals down.

“I don’t think shooting your way out of a problem is ever the solution. And I don’t think it’s going to create a lasting solution. Because there might be more horses that would come to replace them. Without something that actually addresses the core issue, which is the population growth, the problem will continue,” Eydelman said.

She said roundups are not only expensive and inhumane, but they are, most importantly, ineffective.

“Roundups create an endless cycle of population growth and removals without addressing the underlying issue, which is the reproduction rate,” Eydelman said.

She believes the most humane approach is to let as many horses live out their natural lives, as long as it’s in sustainable numbers. Issues include current lack of shelter capacity and adopters. Feral horses, especially older horses, don’t do as well in adoption programs. She said managing their fertility is key to managing the population.

“Any horses that do need to be removed from the range, we have to make sure that those horses have a safe place to go because often because of the lack of space and lack of adopters, these are the first horses to end up on the slaughter pipeline,” Eydelman said.

O’Keefe confirmed their contact with APNM.

“APNM did reach out to us offering to share their insights on the issue and we expressed that we are interested in listening to them and potentially setting up a formal meeting to learn more,” O’Keefe said, “ We have also met internally and determined that any lease involving these parcels – whether the land is leased to the Navajo Nation or another entity – includes language requiring humane management of any horses on the property.”

In the meantime neighbors await for some type of solution.

“There is a way to coexist. And there is hope. We just have to have the will to implement it,”Eydelman said.