Judge Rules New Mexico Horses Not Wild

A New Mexico judge has ruled that horses roaming the Placitas area of that state are not wild and that the New Mexico Livestock Board had the right to gather the animals last year.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

A New Mexico judge has ruled that horses roaming the Placitas area of that state are not wild and that the New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB) had the right to gather the animals last year.

Last summer, the NMLB gathered 50 horses from private property in Placitas at the request of area property owners. The Wild Horse Observers Association (WHOA) subsequently filed a complaint alleging that, by gathering the animals, the NMLB was unlawfully treating wild horses as estray livestock, court records said.

On July 16, Judge Valerie Huling ruled that WHOA “failed to demonstrate that the horses at issue were not estray livestock and that the (NMLB) acted outside of its authority.” In Huling's opinion, the NMLB had no obligation to treat the horses as wild and she ruled that the case be dismissed.

Ray E. Baca, NMLB executive director, welcomed the decision

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Pat Raia is a veteran journalist who enjoys covering equine welfare, industry, and news. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Tennessee Walking Horse, Sonny.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!