Virginia Range Wild Horse Pinto Foal Challenge Painting #400

 Mike Holmes, Former Nevada Department of Agriculture Astray Manager, Interview Part 3 of 3

"Virginia Range Foal"
5 by 7 mixed media
by Linda L Martin Artist
Original $65.00

Mike Holmes, wasn’t just your average mustanger coming into the job of full time Virginia Range Estray Manager . He had experience with horses . Enough experience to  know that he had to learn the difference in handling wild horses and  those horses who had been domesticated from birth.  His many years in the construction business and ranching also gave him the people skills to understand how to work with people.

Among his skills was a  fair and honest method of understanding people and being diplomatic, as well as respectful, while clearly  stating his case to make the point. He didn’t just go out and “manage” wild horses he also tried to learn from those who knew about them.

When asked who probably influenced him the most as he developed his management style, this is what Mike told me: “ Dawn  Lappin , she was the person I went to   when I needed to know something about wild horses.  She knew and worked with Velma Johnston.”   According to Mike, Dawn understood wild horses almost better than anyone he had met. She had also worked with Mrs. Johnston to help get the pass the laws protecting the Virginia Range horses on both a state and federal level.

 “Those were the precise horses that were left out of the Wild Horse and Burro Act. Dawn fought alongside Velma to get them protected. No one ever worked to treat those horses well before Velma came along. “ Mike said.
Velma Johnston of course is also known as Wild Horse Annie.  “There was just something wrong that the Federal Government managed to protect so many wild horses but the Virginia Range was left out.”

Dawn Lappin was also the person that knew enough about wild horses to help with orphan or injured foals.  “ I always brought the foals to her when  we found one orphaned.  She would nurse them until they were old enough, then we would adopt them out. “According to Mike, Dawn also took orphans and injured foals from Nevada BLM Sources. Mike also cooperated with the BLM on a lot of the management issues.  “ It was good to work with everyone and share resources. It was better for the horses that way.”

Dawn Lappin’s  program is WHOA or Wild Horse Organized Assistance . You can read about the work of that organization here: http://www.mustangsofamericafoundation.org/index.html 

“I worked with several  different legitimate non-profits who helped us place and train the horses that we had to take from the range.” Mike added.
Jill Star and Life Savers helped with a lot of adoptions and placement in sanctuary.  Their  web page address is http://wildhorserescue.org/about/history-of-lifesavers/   

And  LRTC  or Least Resistance Training at http://www.whmentors.org/   Helped with the saddle training program and adoption auction held each year to help offset costs of the management and help place some better started animals in home for easier adoption.

“We had a yearlong waiting period for adopters .“ Mike said, “ I would sign the title over to the non-profit that helped adopt them and they would release the horses’ titles once it was proven that  the  adopter  had the horse for a year and the horse was being taken care of. The non-profit organization would decide if it was a good fit  and mentor the new adopters if need be.

 Unfortunately, the program that Mike Holmes started in managing the Wild horses of the Virginia Range was de-funded in 2009. As a result Mike lost his job as Virginia Range Estray Manager. Although he doesn’t work  in Nevada any longer, he is still a wild horse manager on a private ranch.

“There is a lot of difference between wild horses and domestics” Mike stated. “ You have to move slowly and steady around them. You can’t rush in and run at them like you do with a domestic.  They will go straight over or through a fence if you do. They think you are chasing them to eat them.  A wild horse will not follow a domestic horse in, you have to gently push them forward from behind.  This is the way you can move them from place to place safely.” 

 “We have 2000 acres here and run about 134 wild horses.”   According to Mike, some of the horses were nuisance horses from the Virginia Range. Others were some that had over run a ranch and were too old to adopt out.

I asked Mike what advice he would give to anyone who wanted to become a Wild Horse Estray Manager. He answered: “ They need to keep in mind that they are a public servant. They are holding these horses in trust for the people. If they can work with everyone  they will be successful. The main thing is to do the right thing by the horses.”

A special thank you to  Mike Holmes for taking the time to speak with me and share his incites about wild horse management on the Virginia Range in Nevada.

Thank you to Mikel Hettrick for the reference photography.

Virginia Range Wild Horse Challenge Painting #399

Mike Holmes, Former Nevada Department of Agriculture Astray Manager, Interview Part 2 of 3

"Running Through Lava Rocks"
5 by  7 inches Watercolor
LindaLMartin Artist
 Original $65.00
11 by 8.5 inches In house Signed Prints: $35.00
To check availability email: info@llmartin.com

One of the Questions I asked Mike Holmes,  was, 'Why do you think your approach to wild horse management was so successful?"
 
“ I think it was because I listened to every body.” He said thoughtfully “ I was a public servant and I listened to everyone’s ideas and what they thought.”  He was quick to insist that didn’t mean everyone agreed with all of his decisions or they way he handled things. That was to be expected.  Mike knew how to be diplomatic and he knew how to generate working compromises. His ability to work with people and  also his fair and compassionate treatment of wild horses has made him probably one of the best loved  wild horse managers in Nevada.

Mike also came to the position armed with common sense and the law as well, as the ability to solve problems.  While he was busy listening to people, he was also making good decisions that reflected well on his superiors and generated a lot of public support for them. His handling of the Virginia Range horses had a very positive Public Relations affect and he was always available  to address groups  and meet with individuals when asked.

“ When schools or organizations  invited me to come and speak about what I did and the Virginia Range Horses, I always tried to make myself available.”  Mike told me.

Mike’s job consisted of a number of management tasks.  He was charged with maintaining the herd numbers so they didn’t grow to be too many to sustain on the available habitat.  The state managed well over 300,000 acres for wild horses and under Mike the numbers stayed  between 1200 and 1500 head of horses.  This was unlike the BLM managed Pine Nut Mountain HMA which can only sustain  110 to 175 horses on about 90,000 acres. Mike was also empowered to remove  nuisance horses and issue citations for people who insisted on feeding or harassing the horses.

“ Mostly what I tried to do was  educate people, “ Mike said when talking of visiting people who had been sighted feeding wild horses. He explain to them how what they were doing was harmful to the horses and would prevent them from going off and finding food as they should in the wild. Then he told offenders  that if he issued them a warning citation and they continued feeding the horses and someone was injured or killed because of what they had done, then because he had warned them,  he would testify if they were charged, that  they had been warned. “ I usually didn’t have to warn people twice”  Mike insisted.  He made them aware that the civil suits would probably be worse than the fines, if they continued  feeding wild horses and someone was hurt or killed.

When horses would continue hanging around people’s homes, the public roads or other industrial areas where they or people could be hurt, Mike would trap the horses and release them in another part of the range far from towns and populated areas. If he had to remove the same horse or band  3 or 4 times then Mike would call one of several non-profit  groups that work with wild horses and place the horse with them. The non-profits would then seek either sanctuary for them or to place them in adoptive homes.

“I would usually have to remove between 100 and 150 wild horses a year”Mike explained “ That kept the numbers  steady. That was about the size of one year’s foal crop.”  Mike told me that most of the removals were with traps or on horseback, however ,Mike did several round ups using contractor helicopters. "When we did those sort of removals we knew exactly how many horses we expected to remove  from the range and we had per-arranged  with  one( or more) of the approved legitimate non-profits to take the horses in advance.” 

According to Mike Holmes he always tried to do right by the horses first and foremost. “ The horses in our care were always taken care of.  I can go on record that no horse ever went to a stock sale under my watch, not even the few domestic horses that we had to bring in occasionally.”

Also under his watch was the first PZP round up for Birth Control of Virginia Range Wild Horses. “ The contractor rounded up as many horses as they could in  2 or 3 days. We gave about 150 mares a dose of PZP. That kept the numbers from going up for a few years.”

Also under Mike Holmes’ watch was a special "Saddle  Horse Program" in which non-profits were chosen for their horse training programs. Selected wild horses were  accepted for training  and then auctioned off much like the BLM auctions, with the  Non-profit holding the title until the new owner  had the horse for at least one year under approved supervision. “This protected buyers from taking the horses and turning around then selling them at auction for slaughter. “ He said.

Mike tried to use the best most successful and most humane management practices available and made himself available to help educate and solve problems.

Tomorrow : Groups Mike Holmes worked with and people that influenced and aided him in the good management of the Virginia Range Horses.

Special Thank-you to Mikel Ann Hettrick for the reference photography for today's painting.

Blogger's Note: A lot of people have misgivings when talking about rounding up wild horses and removing them from the range. Some people think that good range management should not include removing horses. However, if wild horses were not protected and removed they would soon over populate and that would lead to starvation and suffering , the like of which many advocates have neither seen nor experienced.

All forms of wild life in the United States have some sort of "culling" procedure and also a relocation plan for nuisance animals. One of the many  things that impresses me about  what Mike Holmes did  was that instead of stock piling the wild horses that were removed from the range in hopes that people would come forward to adopt or provide sanctuary for them, he made sure that there was a place for each horse to go before it ever was taken from the range.

Placing horses to be removed before removal required working together with a number of people and organizations that didn't always agree on every aspect of range management.  That he was able to do this, in my opinion, is part of Mike Holmes' success as a wild horse manager. 

Virginia Range Stallions Challenge Painting #398

Part 6: The first part of a 3 Part Interview with Former State of Nevada Estray Manager Mike Holmes:

"Scuffle"
Virginia Range Stallions
11 by 8.5  inches Graphite on #110 paper
by LindaLMartin Artist
Original $200.00
Signed Prints $35.00 each plus S&H
info@llmartin.com

I had the great privilege to interview Mike Holmes, the first full-time Estray Manager for the Nevada Department of Agriculture, this evening. Mike and his Wife and their Son currently reside on a privately owned Ranch in California. Mike is the Wild Horse Manager of the ranch there.  The majority of the wild horses managed by Mike and his family on the ranch are horses in sanctuary. The newest additions are a group of Pine Nut Mountain Horses  recently removed from a housing development  where they were considered a nuisance, outside of Carson City, Nevada. Horses in Mike’s care are allowed to roam freely on the ranch  where he and his son inspect each band  almost daily on horseback to make sure they are healthy and injury free.

Over the years Mike Holmes has developed a unique skill as a wild horse manager and understands that wild horses must be handled differently than domestics. He loves the life and wouldn’t change it.

“I really never expected to be doing this all the rest of my life” Mike told me in our phone conversation. “ We are glad we did. As my wife always says: One right turn changes everything down the road.”

While Mike says that he was always involved in ranching growing up; however,  his main occupation had been in the construction industry. One day a friend ,who happened to be brand inspector for the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA)  at Carson City asked him if he would like to work part time as the Virginia Range Astray Manager.
“I agreed and 3 or 4 months later they decided to make me full time” Mike shared with me, “ I wasn’t the first.  That was Bruce Greenhalgh.”Mike also told me that prior to the creation of the  Astray Manager it was the state brand inspector under  the state Veterinarian who removed the horses that caused problems.

Mr Greenlalgh was a retired state trooper who had already retired from one job and according to Mike didn’t want to take on another full time position.  “At the time  the job was mostly picking up nuisance horses  and releasing them in a part of the range that was farther away.”

Occasionally, a horse would keep coming back in to the industrial areas and make themselves a nuisance again so the astray manager would basically remove the animal and then contact a local non-profit organization to take the horse.

“When they made the job full time, I basically had to answer only to three people, Paul Iverson, the Director of NDA; Dr. David Thaine, the State Veterinarian; and The Governor of Nevada.” said Mike.
Mike Holmes’ superiors were looking to him to build a program for wild horse management on the Virginia Range that would serve both the public and the wild horses.

When the state assumed responsibility for the  Virginia Range horses in the 1980s there had been no real management. Ten years later all these horses were spread out and into the developed industrial areas and some were becoming a problem in great number .

Although it didn’t happen overnight the number of horses had grown to between 1200 and 1500. Even though technically the State Was responsible for the management there was no agency in place to manage the horses. “ There were always wild horses there”  Mike insisted, “ but the management was slim to none until the Virginia Range Estray Manager position was created.”

Tomorrow: What may  have been the most successful State Run Wild Horse Management program in The United States.

 Special thanks to Mikel Hettrick for the use of her photography.

Virginia Range Wild Mares Challenge Painting #397

Part 5: Figuring Out Who Would Protect the Wild Horses of the Virginia Range in Nevada

Virginia Range Wild Mares
5 by 7 inches  Drawing on #110 Paper
by Linda L Martin
Original $65.00
11 by 8.5 inches Signed Prints $35.00 plus S&H
info@llmartin.com for availability

At the time the Wild Horse and Burro Act one estimate said that fewer than 17,000 wild horses lived on public federal lands across the entire west. One estimate put the number as low as 12,000. Due to lack of grazing and frequent drought conditions most range specialists and biologists agreed  at the that the total number of horses that could be sustained on all Wild Horse Herd Areas was a maximum of 27,000 total for all range areas in the west.

These numbers were based on what the land could sustain in an average rain year.  Had there been plans in place managing wild horses, which was a totally new science at the time, those numbers probably would not have gone over 25,000 at any given year.  And under drought conditions, die offs would have lowered the numbers substantially. Instead the number of wild horses not only exploded but, the horses, due to lack of forage and water, as well as territorial issues when new bands were created, began to expand into areas that prior to 1971 had no wild horses.

The arduous task of figuring out which horses were owned by whom and what their legal status was became that action that took precedence to any hard core management plans. In fact, on some Herd Management Area plans are still evolving and changing even after 42 years of learning how to manage wild horses.

After a number of court rulings, several decisions were made to establish the ownership and control of wild horses. By 1976 property owners were requesting that wild horses be removed from their property by the BLM.  These horses were considered by the BLM to be estray, or formally domestic horses, that had gone feral and were not among the original wild horses protected by the act.  In fact, it was geography and time period that determined which horses were wild and which were not. If title could be proven in ownership, private citizens were responsible. If in the wrong place at the time of the Wild Horse and Burro Act they were estray.

The first group of Pine Nut Mountain HMA wild horses had migrated down to High Way 50 by 1978 and were causing problems on private land and road hazards.  Due to fencing and natural obstacles the BLM took responsibility for those horses and removed any horse that became a problem in that area that bordered  the Herd Area and has done so since.

Another document stated that both the BLM and The Nevada Department of Agriculture recognized the ownership of  wild "feral" horses by private land owners . Private land owners had to make a determination. If they did not want the horses removed by the BLM on their property the horses, no matter what the origins, were theirs and they must control both the populations and the migration.   Some property owners did round up and sell off wild horses others did not.   Wild horses were being rounded up by privately hired helicopter contractors on private land well into the 1990s, until pressure was brought to bear by private groups living in the areas of the Virginia Highlands.

Yet still, wild horses were running freely throughout the state controlled region and private citizens had stopped claiming ownership. In 1982 the Nevada Department of Agriculture took responsibility for the horses and solidified their legal rights to do so.

The feeling was that the Department of Agriculture, the citizens of Nevada and the local government and land owners didn’t want to remove the horses totally. They wanted to preserve them to healthy levels so that they could be enjoyed by everyone safely.  The determination that the Virginia Range could sustain from 100 to 150 wild horses in good health was actually determined sometime in 1995.

What was needed was a good plan to keep the animals healthy, control the populations and to make sure the animals were protected. The Department of Agriculture created a position: Virginia Range Astray Manager. Governor Bob Miller of Nevada from 1989 to 1999 appointed Mike Holmes, to that position.

Tomorrow: Mike Holmes and what he accomplished for the Virginia Range Horses.

Special thanks to Mikel Hettrick for the use of her photography.
Sources for some of the information in this section are from different wild horse advocacy groups, public information, The State of Nevada and interviews provided from advocates of the Virginia Range horses who wish to remain anonymous.