Laura Leigh seeks injunction to immediately halt wild horse roundups

Barely 18 hours before BLM-hired helicopters are scheduled to lift off in pursuit of almost 600 wild horses in the Silver King Herd Management Area south of Ely, Nevada, advocate and journalist Laura Leigh went to federal court in Reno yesterday in an effort to ground them.

And Ms. Leigh's far-ranging motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) wouldn't stop there.  She seeks nothing less than an injunction to cause the immediate cessation of "all helicopter operations wherever situated," all "transporting, whever situated or intended, of captured wild horses, feral horses," and other BLM-managed horses, and all "bulk shipment of horses from long-term holding facilities, short-term holding facilities, or sale horses outside the regular BLM adoption program."  Ms. Leigh wants to impose these prohibitions not just on the proposed Silver King Gather, but on all ongoing and planned roundups under BLM jurisdiction in every state in which they are occurring or are expected to occur.

The implications of Ms. Leigh's suit are huge, and potentially ground-breaking.  If successful, her motion would not only halt--at least temporarily--the anticipated BLM roundup at Silver King, in Nevada, but a host of other previously scheduled roundups, including the controversial Wyoming gather of almost 2000 wild horses in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek HMAs, which is due to start at the end of next week.
Ultimately, when these roundups resume, Ms. Leigh wants access, and she wants transparency.  In the wake of the disastrous Calico Complex roundup earlier this year, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 100 horses, the BLM has gone to extreme lengths to restrict public observers from witnessing its wild horse chases, entrapment methods, and stress-filled holding sites, hoping that by hiding what actually happens when wild horses are forcefully wrenched from their ranges, it would silence the outrage of an impassioned American public.

Instead, the voices of protest have only grown louder.

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Thoroughbred Mare Stolen in Dead of Night in Pennsylvania is Still Missing

It was unusually windy on Wednesday night, September 8th, so Tracy Twarkusky didn't think much of it when she thought she saw the motion lights come on around 8:00pm, out by the barn within 200 yards of her home.  She thought the vibration of the wind gusts was responsible, but still, something seemed vaguely amiss, so she pulled out a pair of binoculars to see if they would reveal something out of the ordinary.  They didn't.

Tracy reasoned that her two dogs would bark if anyone had approached her 23-acre farm in rural Columbia Cross Roads, Pennsylvania, but the dogs hadn't made a peep.  She could still see the lights outside the barn of the 80-acre farm next door, which housed several thoroughbreds, including an imposing eight-year-old thoroughbred mare, Hero's Home, and her three-month-old colt, "Little Man."  But she never heard a sound.

The next morning, as she rushed to bring her daughter to the school bus, Tracy thought it odd that Little Man was standing alone by the fence outside the barn, whinnying as if to tell her something was wrong.  Hero's Home was nowhere in sight, but Tracy hastily thought she might just be resting in her run-in stall.  But when she returned.  Tracy's heart sank.  The big, 17.2 bay dark bay mare wasn't in her stall.  She was gone.  Only her halter and lead rope remained.

And now, more than a week after her unexplained disappearance in the middle of the night, there is only one conclusion to be drawn:  Hero's Home was stolen.

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Death on the Track

Just minutes before she fell and died in the stretch of the second race at Saratoga yesterday, Forest Whip was looking beautiful and seemingly relaxed in the paddock. The elegant bay daughter of Forestry walked calmly, gently swishing her tail. There wasn't a clue that anything was wrong. She didn't seem to have a care in the world, and I was impressed with her easy demeanor. She was making only her second start.

I happened to be watching Forest Whip because when I'd handicapped the race, I thought she could win it: a $60,000 maiden claimer against other two-year-old fillies going six furlongs. She was stepping down in class, and switching from turf to dirt: she looked interesting, both on paper, and as a pretty presence in the paddock. The last time I checked the tote board, as I stepped up to the window to place a modest bet on her, I realized that lots of other people liked Forest Whip's chances, too. She went off the favorite, at 9-5.

I could see through my binoculars that Forest Whip balked slightly as she was led up to the gate. With a little bit of coaxing, she went in without much fuss. In hindsight, it would have been better if she hadn't.

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