New Rules For Wild Horse Roundups May Not Help Horses

The 2026 roundups of America’s wild horses are exposing changes in policy and practice that affect the care of the horses and raise objections from advocates

COLDEN, NY, UNITED STATES, August 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — There are noticeable changes in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) policy where it applies to the 2026 wild horse and burro roundups or gathers as the BLM refers to them.
The records below, taken directly from the BLM website (www.blm.gov) daily gather reports show that the people reporting on the gathers do not properly distinguish the difference between a filly and a mare, as can be seen in the copy and paste of the daily gather reports. “It may seem an insignificant detail, defining filly as a female horse under the age of 4 years but it indicates a lack of general knowledge that should be a qualification for the other decisions that these employees are expected to make”. said Equine Collaborative International’s, Barbara Moore.

Saturday/Sunday- July 25/26
Deaths: 1
– Sudden / Acute: 1
7 m/o, bay, mare- Died/Unexpected, Undiagnosed

Wednesday, July 22
Deaths: 2
– Sudden / Acute: 2
3 y/o, Bay, mare, died, traumatic head injury
2 y/o, Bay, mare, died, undiagnosed

Tuesday, July 21
Deaths: 1
– Sudden / Acute: 1
3 m/o, Bay, mare – Died: chronic, undiagnosed/Unknown

Sunday, July 19
Deaths: 1
– Sudden / Acute: 1
3 m/o, Bay mare, died unexpected, undiagnosed

Friday, July 17
Deaths: 1
– Pre-existing / Chronic: 1
3 m/o, Bay Mare, Chronic/Pre-existing, respiratory infection

Saturday, July 11
Deaths: 2
– Sudden / Acute: 2
3 y/o, Bay, Mare – Acute/Sudden, broken neck
3 m/o, Sorrel, filly – Acute/Sudden, indicators consistent with colic

Friday, July 10
Deaths: 1
– Sudden / Acute: 1
Sorrel, filly, <6 months, Acute/Sudden, Euthanized, kicked in holding resulting in broken leg.

The daily observation at roundups is now being limited during some roundups. Not just by the distance and inconvenience of placement that they have explained by saying the locations were chosen for public safety reasons. Now the BLM is limiting the number of days, in some cases, to just 3 days per week, during the roundup that interested parties can attend and see the roundup procedure. BLM claiming that they do not have enough employees to place one at the observation point. Roundups are occurring on public land where observers have every right to be, especially in light of the fact that the horses are owned by the citizens who want to observe and record the goings on at the roundup. Lifelong horsewoman and advocate, Phyllis Jensen stated, “I believe, as an owner of America’s wild horses and public lands that we have the constitutional right to have observers at roundups. Infringement on both 1st and 14th Amendment rights is evident.”
Insufficient staff is the excuse that’s given as a reason that they cannot support daily observation. An armed BLM guard is assigned to the observation area to limit the attending individuals from moving outside the assigned viewing area. The questions we hear from advocates include but are not limited to:

 If staffing is so limited is there enough staff to maximize safety at the roundup?
 Would there be more staff members available if the roundups were not being scheduled to be conducted simultaneously?

Transparency and truth have been requested and demanded by equine advocates for years. Instead of truth we see adjusted numbers, horses that go to holding are not accounted for, and animals treated in negligent fashion even when there are observers present to report it. Reports from observers include roundups continuing when the:
 Ambient temperature is named, but not the heat index is in the danger zone
 Air quality index is listed as dangerous due to wildfire smoke
 Though roundups are prohibited during foaling season, young foals that cannot keep up with bands being chased by helicopters and are left behind or are run to the point that they die (sometimes undiagnosed, sometimes attributed to colic, chronic lameness or capture myopathy)

Some of the problems that could be fixed easily if safety for the horses were a priority:
 The roundups are rushed so that horses are crammed into small holding pens and the speed at which they are chased and overcrowding result in more injuries such as broken necks from hitting fences and broken legs from kicks
 Horses are not provided with shade protection even though it is required to qualify as an adopter.
 Horses are not provided with electrolytes after high heat, long distance chases and harassment by helicopters.

“It concerns me that without observation, more guidelines and health recommendations could be overlooked,” said Jensen.

The absence of an on-sight veterinarian is another changed circumstance. Decisions to end lives are being made by people who do not even follow the guidelines of their own organization. It is clearly stated in this BLM Document (see photo #1) that, in order to be eligible for sale, horses must have at least 1 eye. Again, copied and pasted from the BLM website, a gather report from the recent Callaghan Gather, daily report for July 16, 2026 indicates that 2 horses were killed because they were missing an eye.
Thursday, July 16
Deaths: 2 – Pre-existing / Chronic: 2 10 y/o, Bay, stud, Chronic/Pre-existing, missing and eye 3 y/o , Bay, stud, Chronic/Pre-existing, missing an eye.

Scheduling roundups (see photo #2) to overlap each other limits observation as the number of properly trained observers with proper photographic and/or video equipment is limited and it stretches the BLM schedule so that observation can be cancelled because they do not have sufficient staff.

Moore added, “With all these facts exposed, advocates recognize that America’s wild horse and burro populations are being pushed toward extinction by the very agency that is assigned to protect them. We suggest you engage with your Congresspersons and Senators, present the facts and let them know that preserving these iconic animals is important to you as the owner of the wild ones and the public land that supports them”.

Barbara Moore and Phyllis Jensen
Equine Collaborative International, Inc.
411eci@gmail.com