Body Condition Scoring for Horses

Horse enthusiasts are often concerned about their horse’s health, appearance and performance. A major key to accomplishing these three goals is to keep your horse at a desirable body condition, or degree of fat cover. However, being able to accurately evaluate a horse to tell if they are over or underweight has been a subjective practice for many years. As with all aspects of horse ownership, horse owners have different opinions on what is an ideal body weight for an individual horse. Also, because horses come in all shapes and sizes, many horse owners are not able to objectively evaluate the body condition of their horse. This fact sheet describes the Henneke Body Condition Scoring syste

Understanding Free-Roaming Horse Conflicts with Wildlife in the Great Basin

Horses and burros were introduced to North America in the 1600s with European missionaries and explorers. Over time, abandoned and released horses and burros formed herds and by the time European-American settlers began to explore North America in the 1700s, these free-roaming horses and burros had adapted to their habitat and been incorporated into Native American culture. By the mid-1900s, most Americans considered these horses as wild and symbols of freedom and beauty. In 1971, Congress passed the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (Public Law 73-482) to provide federal protection for free-roaming horses and burros (also known as wild horses and burros) in the western United States. In 1978, the Act was amended (Public Law 95-514) to require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to “determine appropriate management levels (AMLs) for wild horses and burros on [designated] public lands.” The Bureau of Land Management set AML at 26,715 wild horses and burros on 29 million acres of public land across 10 western states. The U.S. Forest Service was also tasked with managing over 7,100 wild horses and 900 burros on 53 wild horse territories (USFS, 2020). Managing free-roaming horses and burros on public lands has its challenges. In this article, we explain some of the potential conflicts free-roaming horses create with native wildlife on western public lands

Grazing and Harvest Efficiency of Forage by Cattle on Western Rangelands

This fact sheet provides guidelines for land managers to reach an appropriate level of utilization that increases animal and rangeland health

You Can Lead a Horse to Water: Mapping Seasonal Water Resources to Predict Wild Horse Movements on Utah Rangelands

All wild horse herd management areas in Utah overlap BLM grazing allotments. Although horses and cattle have similar dietary habits, both species rely heavily on predictable water sources during dry periods. The concentration of wildlife and livestock in mesic areas during droughts can become problems for farmers and livestock producers. We aimed to map the annual distribution of temporary surface water across Utah that cattle, horses, and wildlife could use. Herein we analyzed an 18-year record of satellite imagery to create a statewide map of seasonal surface-water availability for agricultural and wildlife management purposes

What Does a Sage-Grouse Eat?

Although sage-grouse may eat only sagebrush during the winter, knowing that they need to eat other foods at other times of the year helps wildlife managers implement projects that will ensure a balanced diet. By knowing what a sage-grouse eats and when, we can determine what we need to do to maintain and improve populations and their habitats