wp:verifiability

Behaving One's Self Pays Off

January 27 Accusing Another

January 28 Warning that accusation is harrasment AND Last Post on Mustang Article

February 19 Bad Timing

February 21 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971-First edit

February 23 My Dear Lassie

February 28 Followed to the Mustang Article

March 2 Baiting

March 2 Really? "Followed" her to "Mustang"? The last time she had been there was a month prior.

March 3 Well, the "Lassie" Snark makes sense now

March 8 Someone really needs to learn what it means to quote.

March 8 No, I never said that

March 12 Gee, ownership issues maybe? And yet another accusation of another account

March 17 Attempted Dig? No, I didn't write that article

March 19 Lassie again AND Trying to subvert DR with Sockpuppet accusation

April 1 Had to get in the last dig and accusation

April 10 Satisfied?

April 11 Attempted Outing

Mustang Sources (Books and Articles)

• Amaral, Anthony, 1977, Mustang: Life and Legends of Nevada's Wild Horses, Reno: University of Nevada Press.

• De Steiguer, J. Edward (2011). Wild Horses of the West: History and Politics of America's Mustangs. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-8165-2826-4.

• Dobie, Frank (1952). The Mustangs. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. LC no. 52-6802.

• Roe, Frank Gilbert (1955) The Indian and the Horse Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, Fourth Printing, 1974.

• Ryden, Hope, 1970, America's Last Wild Horses, E. P. Dutton. Reprinted with Revisions, E. P. Dutton, 1978.

• Young, James A. and Sparks, B. Abbott 1985 Cattle in the Cold Desert Logan, Utah State University Press, Reprinted Reno, University of Nevada Press, 1992.

• Wyman, Walker D., 1945 The Wild Horse of the West, University of Nebraska Press. Reprinted, Bison Books, 1968.

http://www.rangemagazine.com/features/winter-11/wi11-range-mustang.pdf

DR

Some sources ^[1][2][3] say that millions of feral horses, having been captured from the Spanish, dispersed by the Native Americans,^[4] and escaped to roam the vast unsettled area west of the Mississippi. Tom L McKnight stated that the population would have peaked in the late 1700's or early 1800's, and that the "best guesses apparently lie between two and five million".^[5] According to J. Frank Dobie, the peak would have been around the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, but "No scientific estimates of their numbers was made...My own guess is that at no time were there more than a million mustangs in Texas and no more than a million others scattered over the remainder of the West."^[6] De Steiguer stated that Dobie's lower guess is still "subject to question" as to being too high, but agreed with Dobie and McKnight that highest populations were found in the southern Great Plains and California grasslands,^[7] where the environment most closely mimicked the Mediterranean Climate from which the horses originated.^[8] During the latter part of the 1800s, many of these horses were were rounded up and trailed north and east with the longhorns, to be sold to farmers and settlers.^[9]"On page 104 of The Official Horse Breed Standards Guide", Lynghaug stated that numbers declined due to "competition with cattle and sheep for food and resources...as the West became more populated" however McKnight indicates that the latter part of her statement was more indicative of the reason, as he stated the horses were displaced as the "press of civilization" brought about fencing and fragmenting of the open range.^[10] As demonstrated by this map depicting public lands, there is virtually no public rangelands left in the warm grassland habitats where the horses once flourished.

By the beginning of the 20th century, most feral horses were found in the inhospitable desert regions of the Great Basin and the Red Desert of Wyoming^[10], where, as this map depicting the HMA's indicates that, for the most part, they are found today. Also, for the most part, they are descended from horses settlers/ranchers once allowed to run free on the public rangelands (desert range) to be rounded up as they needed them for sale or use.^[11] In the 1890's, the State of Nevada began efforts to reduce the numbers of unbranded horses on the range,^[12] but by 1900, when the numbers may have reached a peak of 100,000 feral or semi-feral horses in the state,^[13] the demand for horses in the Boer War then World War I reduced the oversupply.^[14], although at one point ranchers removed the horses they claimed from the Forest Reserves and the U. S. Forest Service shot any remaining animals to preserve prime summer grazing lands for sheep and cattle.^[15] However, after World War I, just as motorized farming implements reduced the need for "horsepower" even furthur^[16] a new market for them as chicken food opened up, and they began to be rounded up to be slaughtered.^[17] A few years later, in 1924, demand for horsemeat increased for use in pet food.^[18] By 1934, when the pressure on them intensified as a new agency in the federal government got into the act of controlling their numbers,^[19] there were approximately 150,000 feral horses on the desert range in the 11 Western States.^[20]. After decades of unregulated cattle, sheep and horse grazing, the desert range was becoming overgrazed, which had led to the passage of the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act and the U.S. Grazing Service was established to regulate grazing on the public lands by issuing permits with associated fees.^[21] The Grazing Service determined that the fee for grazing horses would be double that for cattle and sheep and ranchers, many of whom had gone broke during the Great Depression, simply left their unpermitted horses on the range,^[20] and the Grazing Service teamed with grazing permittees and mustangers to round them up, even though many ranchers objected to the eradication of "their" horses.^[22] During World War II, the government decreased roundups, but they continued on a smaller scale due to the demand for horsemeat for human consumption.^[18] After World War II, as motorized vehicles and tractors became commonplace, horse populations ranchers had even less use for horses.^[20] In 1946 the Grazing Service and the General Land Office were combined to create the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).^[23]. From 1946, the BLM paid private contractors to roundup feral horses to be sent to slaughter for pet food.^[15]

Citations

No more than two million feral horses may have once roamed the American West.^{[citation needed]} According to historian J. Frank Dobie, the peak would have been around the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, but, "No scientific estimates of their numbers was made...My own guess is that at no time were there more than a million mustangs in Texas and no more than a million others scattered over the remainder of the West."^[1] However, no scientific census of feral horse numbers had ever been performed prior to the 1930s, and any estimate is speculative.^[2] Horse numbers were in decline as domestic cattle and sheep competed with them for resources.^[3] At the time the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act was passed, it was estimated that 150,000 horses roamed wild on public land subject to the Act. ^[4]After that legislation was enacted, horse numbers fell even more after the United States Forest Service and the U.S. Grazing Service (the predecessor to the BLM) began to remove feral horses from federal land.^{[citation needed]} The two agencies were concerned that there were too many horses on the land, which led to overgrazing and significant soil erosion.^{[citation needed]} Ranchers wanted the feral horses removed because they were grazing on land ranchers wanted to use for their own livestock.^{[citation needed]} Hunters were worried that as horses degraded range land, hunting species would also suffer.^{[citation needed]} It was not clear that there were too many horses, or that the land was incurring damage due to the presence of the horses.^{[citation needed]} Nonetheless, both agencies responded to political pressure to act, and they began to remove hundreds of thousands of feral horses from federal property.^{[citation needed]} From 1934 to 1963, the Grazing Service (and from 1946 onward, the BLM) paid private contractors to kill Mustangs and permitted their carcasses to be used for pet food.^[5] Ranchers were often permitted to round up any horses they wanted, and the Forest Service shot any remaining animals.^[5]

In 1990, the General Accounting Office(GAO) stated that "at the beginning of the 20th century, an estimated 2 million wild horses roamed America’s ranges" ^[1] (in a subsequent 2008 report the GAO backed off that assertion). The BLM Myths and Facts webpage attributes the estimate to historian J. Frank Dobie and characterizes the number as "speculative" (Myth #13). According to Dobie, the "2 million" number would have occurred around the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848^[2] and was mostly applicable to the southern Great Plains and California where the environment most closely mimicked the Mediterranean Climate from which the Spanish horses originated.^[3]. By the beginning of the 20th century, most feral horses were found in the inhospitable desert regions of the Great Basin and the Red Desert of Wyoming^[4], where, as this map depicting the BLM Herd Areas & Herd Management Areas indicates, for the most part, they are found today. Also, for the most part, they are descended from horses settlers/ranchers set free to graze on the open rangelands (open range) to be rounded up as they needed them for sale or use^[5] and those that were not recaptured began to multiply in feral herds that can double in number every four years.^[6] In the 1890's, the State of Nevada began efforts to reduce the numbers of unbranded horses on the open range,^[7] about when the numbers may have reached a peak of 100,000 feral or semi-feral horses in 1900 in that state alone.^[8] As they multiplied over the next fifty years, over one million horses may have been removed from Nevada and other Western states.^[9] At first, the demand for horses in the Boer War then World War I reduced the oversupply ^[10] but, after World War I, motorized farming implements reduced the need for "horsepower". ^[11] A new market for horsemeat to be processed for chicken food opened up, followed by demand as pet food in 1924, and the horses were rounded up by "mustangers" to be slaughtered.^[12][13] In the late 1920's, ranchers were told to remove the horses they claimed from the Forest Reserves and the U. S. Forest Service put out a bounty on those that remained to preserve prime summer grazing lands for sheep and cattle.^[14][9] By 1934, there were approximately 150,000 feral horses on the open range in the 11 Western States.^[15] when the pressure on them intensified as a new agency in the federal government got into the act of controlling their numbers.^[16] After decades of unregulated cattle, sheep and horse grazing, the open range was degrading, which had led to the passage of the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act and the U.S. Grazing Service was established to regulate the "public grazing lands" by issuing livestock permits with associated fees.^[17] The Grazing Service determined that the fee for grazing horses would be double that for cattle and sheep and ranchers, many of whom had gone broke during the Great Depression, simply left their unpermitted horses on the range.^[15] The Grazing Service teamed with grazing permittees and mustangers to round them up, even though many ranchers objected to the eradication of "their" horses.^[18] During World War II, the roundups decreased, but were continued by mustangers due to the demand for horsemeat for human consumption.^[13] However after World War II, as motorized vehicles and tractors became commonplace, ranchers had even less use for horses^[15] and upon the 1946 creation of the BLM by combining the Grazing Service and the General Land Office^[19] until 1963, the BLM "condoned and even paid for the killing of [feral horses]."^[9]

DR 2

In 1990, the General Accounting Office(GAO) stated that "at the beginning of the 20th century, an estimated 2 million wild horses roamed America’s ranges" ^[1] (in a subsequent 2008 report the GAO backed off that assertion). The BLM Myths and Facts webpage attributes the estimate to historian J. Frank Dobie and characterizes the number as "speculative" (Myth #13). According to Dobie, the "2 million" number would have occurred around the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848^[2] and was mostly applicable to the southern Great Plains and California where the environment most closely mimicked the Mediterranean Climate from which the Spanish horses originated.^[3]. By the beginning of the 20th century, most feral horses were found in the inhospitable desert regions of the Great Basin and the Red Desert of Wyoming^[4], where, as this map depicting the BLM Herd Areas & Herd Management Areas indicates, for the most part, they are found today. Also, for the most part, they are descended from horses settlers/ranchers set free in the latter part of the 1800's to graze on the open rangelands (open range) to be rounded up as they needed them for sale or use^[5] and those that were not recaptured began to multiply in feral herds that can double in number every four years.^[6] As early as the late 1890's, the large number of unbranded horses on the open range was seen as a problem, and states, and then the newly formed U.S.Forest Service, began to encourage their removal under various estray laws.^[7] Horses were eliminated by shooting them, capturing them for domestic use, or rounding them up to send to slaughter^[1] for horsemeat for us as chicken or pet or, during World War II (WWII), even human consumption.^[4] As they reproduced over the next fifty years, over one million horses may have been removed from the open range.^[8] By 1934, when the Taylor Grazing Act (TGA) was passed, there were approximately 150,000 feral or unbranded horses on the public grazing lands in the 11 Western States.^[9] As of 1900, there had been an estimated 100,000 of them in Nevada alone,^[10] indicating that reproduction was not keeping up with their removal. Because the horses were seen as "trespass livestock"^[11] the U.S. Grazing Service, which was established to administer the TGA, directly hired contractors to remove them from public land^[11], but with the outbreak of WWII, that practice ceased.^[4]

After WWII, the demand for pet food^[9] led to the use of airplanes to roundup horses becoming commonplace.(Ryden Page 211) Although jurisdiction of unbranded horses remained under the state's estray laws, the BLM (which by that time had been formed from a merge between the U.S. Grazing Service and the General Land Office^[12]) and which had jurisdiction over the public grazing lands, would issue permits to mustangers to chase and roundup horses by air (Ryden, page 217). Mustangers, bent only on getting horses to the pet food canneries employed brutal methods, and citizens were concerned that the roundups were abusive and inhumane.^[1] Also, the numbers of feral horses were dwindling, being down to an estimated 25,000 within ten years after the end of WWII.^[13] Led by Velma Bronn Johnston—better known as "Wild Horse Annie," a secretary at an insurance firm in Reno, Nevada—animal welfare and horse advocates lobbied for passage of a federal law to prevent the use of airplanes or other motorized vehicles to chase them.^[8] Their efforts were successful. On September 8, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Hunting Wild Horses and Burros on Public Lands Act (Public Law 86- 234, also known as the "Wild Horse Annie Act"), which banned the hunting of feral horses on federal land from aircraft or motorized vehicles.^[14]

DR Three

At the beginning of the 20th century as many as two million feral horses may have roamed the American West. "The beginning of the 20th century" is wrong as even the GAO stated in an later statement^[1]

However, no scientific census of feral horse numbers had been performed in the 19th or early 20th centuries, Wrong. There are two "scientific estimates" for Nevada in 1900 and 1911 and thus the two million figure is speculative. It also applies to a different geographical area than where the horses subject to the Act were located. ^[2]

However, horse numbers were in decline as domestic cattle and sheep competed with them for resources. The source is talking about the horses in the geographic location and time as those above. The reason Lynhaug gives for their decline is only in a small way correct. They were mostly displaced as the land was settled in the latter part of the 1800's, but in the meantime they were also rounded up and domesticated ^[3]

The first three sentences here are really irrelevant to the Act. If the 2 million number is to be brought in, it must be brought into context.

Ranchers shot horses to leave more grazing land for other livestock, other horses were captured off the range for human use, and some were rounded up for slaughter. the first part of the sentence applies more to the earlier horses on the southern Great Plains. Ranchers did shoot a lot of horses after they had fenced off their holdings. But, in the case of the horses under the jurisdiction of the Act, just leave out who shot them because they were shot mostly by bounty hunters, first under bounty by the States, then the FS^[1]

At the time the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act was passed, it was estimated that 150,000 horses roamed wild on public land subject to the Act.There may have been more on FS lands, but it appears that by the time, the FS had been mostly successful in removing the unbranded horses. Also, the 150,000 number sounds like Sherretts meant for it to included unbranded but claimed, not just feral, horses.

When that legislation was enacted, ranchers obtained individual grazing allotments and the fee to graze a horse was twice that for a cow.This comes out of nowhere. should either be explained more fully, or left out.

As a result, ranchers allowed unbranded horses to run loose rather than pay for them, and management of horses running on the range was initially left to Mustangers and local ranchers. This sort of comes out of nowhere. By 1934, Ranchers had been allowing unbranded horses to go feral for 50 years, and the States had been trying to control their numbers since the turn of the century. It just got worse after 1934, when the ranchers stopped claiming unbranded horses. ^[4]

While it was not clear if there were too many horses, or that the land was incurring damage due to the presence of the horses, there's no lead in to "land was incurring damage due to the presence of the horses" also, there's no page number. And, the reason for the follow up "U.S. Grazing Service began to...remove horses from public land" was more because the horses were "in trespass". They were a non-native species, and there was no concept of managing them as "wild". The job of the Grazing Service was to permit livestock grazing on the public land and horses were livestock. If no one claimed ownership of them and paid a grazing fee for them, it was part of the mission of the agency to remove them, just as the BLM attempted to do last year with Cliven Bundy's cows. Later on, when the removal became controversial, was when the debate started as to whether or not the horses were causing resource damage. I suggest this point be brought up in the next paragraph ^[5]

By 1939, the U.S. Grazing Service (the predecessor to the BLM) began to directly hire people to remove horses from public land. This practice was short-lived. After the outbreak of WWII, resources were diverted towards the War. Wyman first published his book in 1945, so what he wrote does not necessarily apply to what happened after WWII. I have found no sources that say that after the War, (right after which the grazing service became the BLM) the BLM did anything but encourage and assist in the removal of horses, which were, until 1971, under the jurisdiction of the States.^[6]

The United States Forest Service periodically gave ranchers notice to round up their strays and thereafter shot any remaining horses. This happened prior to the TGA, which did not apply to National Forests^[7]

After World War II, horses were removed in larger numbers to meet the demands of the pet food market. The pet food market started in 1924. However, with the Depression being over and the increased prosperity after WWII, the pet food market increased significantly, which led to it being profitable for mustangers to round up the horses with no financial outlay by the government. The increase in the rate of decline of horses was due more to the increased availability of aircraft and motorized vehicles after WWII for use in rounding up them up. As the source for the "25,000" number implies, this is when the largest decrease would have happened. My guess is that there was probably still close to 150,000 horses at the end of WWII, and that it was about 20% of that about the time of the Wild Horse Annie Act.

By the 1950s, the free-roaming horse population was down to an estimated 25,000 animals. I think this statement, and the previous one, belongs in the next paragraph.^[8]

DR four

Prior to 1900, as many as two million feral horses may have roamed the American West.^[1] However, no scientific census of feral horse numbers had been performed in the 19th or early 20th centuries, and thus the two million figure is speculative.^[2] In 1990, the General Accounting Office(GAO) stated that "at the beginning of the 20th century, an estimated 2 million wild horses roamed America’s ranges" ^[1] (in a subsequent 2008 report the GAO backed off that assertion). The BLM Myths and Facts webpage attributes the estimate to historian J. Frank Dobie and characterizes the number as "speculative" (Myth #13). According to Dobie, the "2 million" number would have occurred around the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848^[3] and was mostly applicable to the southern Great Plains and California where the environment most closely mimicked the Mediterranean Climate from which the Spanish horses originated.^[4]. However, horse numbers were in decline as domestic cattle and sheep competed with them for resources.^[5] By the beginning of the 20th century, most feral horses were found in the inhospitable desert regions of the Great Basin and the Red Desert of Wyoming^[6], where, as this map depicting the BLM Herd Areas & Herd Management Areas indicates, for the most part, they are found today. Also, for the most part, they are descended from horses settlers/ranchers set free in the latter part of the 1800's to graze on the open rangelands (open range) to be rounded up as they needed them for sale or use^[7] and those that were not recaptured began to multiply in feral herds that can double in number every four years.^[8] As early as the late 1890's, the large number of unbranded horses on the open range was seen as a problem, and states, and then the newly formed U.S.Forest Service, began to encourage their removal under various estray laws.^[9] Horses were eliminated by shooting them, capturing them for domestic use, or rounding them up to send to slaughter^[1] for horsemeat for us as chicken or pet or, during World War II (WWII), even human consumption.^[6] As they reproduced over the next fifty years, over one million horses may have been removed from the open range.^[10]Ranchers shot horses to leave more grazing land for other livestock, other horses were captured off the range for human use, and some were rounded up for slaughter.^[1]The United States Forest Service periodically gave ranchers notice to round up their strays and thereafter shot any remaining horses.^[10] At the time the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act(TGA) was passed, it was estimated that 150,000 horses roamed wild on public land subject to the Act. When that legislation was enacted, ranchers obtained individual grazing allotments and the fee to graze a horse was twice that for a cow. As a result, ranchers allowed unbranded horses to run loose rather than pay for them, and management of horses running on the range was initially left to Mustangers and local ranchers.^[11] While it was not clear if there were too many horses, or that the land was incurring damage due to the presence of the horses,^[12]Because the horses were seen as "trespass livestock"[6] the U.S. Grazing Service, which was established to administer the TGA, directly hired contractors to remove them from public land[6], but with the outbreak of WWII, that practice ceased ^[13]In 1939, the U.S. Grazing Service (the predecessor to the BLM) began to directly hire people to remove horses from public land.^[14] The United States Forest Service periodically gave ranchers notice to round up their strays and thereafter shot any remaining horses.^[10] After World War II, horses were removed in larger numbers to meet the increased demands of the pet food market. By the 1950s, the free-roaming horse population was down to an estimated 25,000 animals.^[15]