A dead foal lies on the side of the road in the Big Summit HMA in July 2025. A herd was grazing nearby the carcass.
A mare and foal graze in a meadow in the Big Summit HMA in July 2025. These horses were grazing off the road, near the deceased foal.
The Controversy
For a variety of reasons, the management of wild equines in the United States is a subject prone to controversy and strongly held opinions. One thing everyone agrees on, though maybe not for the same reasons, is that current systems are unsustainable and changes need to be made.
Ecological Impact
The main reason that wild horses and burros are under such strict management by the BLM is due to their environmental impact. As their populations grow, especially in desert states like Nevada (which has the largest population of wild horses and burros out of any US state), equines wipe out local vegetation. Much of the land within these HMAs is grazed upon by cattle, with a large proportion of the land being privately owned by ranchers.
However, horses have upper and lower arcades of teeth, while cattle just possess lower incisors. This difference in dentition means that horses are better able to graze down to the roots of their forage, decreasing the health of local vegetation. Additionally, the cloven hooves of cattle are less harsh on soil, while odd-toed ungulates like horses pack down the soil they tread on. While both animals can cause environmental damage, cattle are often rotated by ranchers and tend to consolidate their grazing more than horse herds.
Jarred Foruria was a prior BLM Deputy District Manager in Elko, Nevada, supervised the local wild horse and burro specialist, while also the authorized officer for horse gathers and other projects. According to Foruia, “both species impact the land, but large, unmanaged horse populations cause more continuous pressure, especially in riparian zones and arid ecosystems.”
Overpopulation, combined with these anatomical factors, results in starvation for some animals. Additionally, scarce water sources in HMAs can result in dehydration. In fact, according to James Beck, a large number of the animals at the Palomino Valley Center were rounded up in an emergency gather this year. Horses in the Maverick-Medicine HMA ran out of water sources, requiring them either to be rounded up and brought into holding or they would dehydrate.
Some wild horse advocates call for cattle to be blocked from HMAs, which would result in less animals grazing on the land and potentially more resources. However, since much HMA land is privately owned by ranchers, fencing off cattle would result in fencing off many water sources for the wild equines.
Photographs from the Palomino Valley Wild Horse and Burro Center outside of Sparks, Nevada. This is the largest short-term holding facility in the United States.
A special thank you to James Beck, who welcomed us to Palomino Valley, answered all of our questions, and let us spend a couple of hours taking many photographs.
As of November 28, 2025, when these photos were taken, the facility was housing about 600 animals. Around 4,000 pass through the facility annually.
Management
Family groups can become separated, including foals from mares. The BLM sometimes opts to release healthy animals with good conformation, aiming to create hardier, healthier herds that are still out in the wild. “The cream of the crop,” as Dr. Dawn Sherwood said.
Once rounded up, these animals are brought to short-term holding facilities. At these facilities, horses are branded and separated by sex and sometimes age. Volunteers and employees work with the animals to determine which would be good candidates for adoption. These can be adopted from directly preparation facilities, but sometimes will be sent to facilities with higher adoption rates or to auction. Many are also listed for sale online. Others are sent to long-term pasture holding, where they live out the remainder of their life under government care.
As previously discussed, it costs over $100 million for the U.S. government to manage and care for wild horses and burros, on and off range, every year. While increasing adoption rates could save the government money, there is also controversy regarding adoption processes. Wild horses and burros cannot be privately titled until one year after their adoption, after the BLM has confirmed adequate care was provided.
However, after this point, tabs are no longer kept on owners. Horses can wild up being sent to slaughter or auction, where owners can sometimes make more money off an animal than they spent on them. Some people buy horses from auction specifically to send to slaughter for this same reason. Therefore, there are many advocates who believe that stricter regulations and tracking of BLM animals after adoption would help reduce instances of this occurring.
More controversy is spawned by round-ups. Horses are directed into corrals by helicopters, with some ending up injured, and the practice itself relies on the fact that scare horses will run where they are chased. That being said, it is an efficient manner in which many horses can be rounded up.
According to Eastern Oregon wild horse advocate Andi Harmon, who has attended gathers and conducted personal research on outcomes, “helicopters are the safest and most humane method” of round-up and “injuries are rare.” Such injuries can include running into barbed wire, broken bones, capture myopathy, and other cuts and abrasions.
A branded horse at the Palomino Valley National Horse and Burro Center in November 2025. A large number of the horses at the center during this time were from an emergency gather due to lack of water.