

(Times photo - Paul Natonabah) TOP: A buyer herds horses into a livestock trailer at the Navajo Nation fairgrounds on Oct. 25. The horses were rounded up in Ganado.



BOTTOM: This horse is still under sedation following a surgical castration at the Navajo Nation fairgrounds on Oct. 25.







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brown and white paint horse lay sedated in a bucking shoot at Dean Jackson Memorial Arena midday on Oct. 25.

The horse was of one of about 30 horses that were picked up during a recent roundup of feral horses near Ganado.

The horse breathed deeply as Kelly Upshaw, a Navajo Nation veterinarian, initiated surgical castration.

Using a razor blade and a clamp, a mere five minutes passed as the stud turned into a gelding. The horse had to be castrated according to Navajo Nation law.

The horse was victim to the Livestock and Foreign Animal Disease Response Act of 2006, which includes laws to prevent overstocking and overgrazing of reservation lands.

Navajo Nation officials estimate the reservation is home to about 30,000 feral horses that roam the countryside and pose problems such as vehicle accidents, overgrazing and overpopulation.

But Upshaw said most of the horses aren't truly wild and were once owned by someone.

She said that a majority of the horses that she sees in roundups usually have evidence of being previously owned. Some have brands and others are gelded.

"They all belonged to somebody at one time," she said. "It's a people problem."

But for the Department of Agriculture, who works with Navajo Rangers, the task of upholding the law is unpopular even though they see their job as being stewards of Navajo land.

"We're wanting to promote management and stewardship," said Leo Watchman, director of the Department of Agriculture.

The roundups can't happen without the request of a chapter, Watchman said.

He said the chapter has to pass a resolution that requests the department to round up rogue horses and other livestock.

In the recent roundup near Ganado, Ray Castillo, a Department of Agriculture extension agent, said nearly two dozen people - most who volunteered - helped.

Using horseback riders, all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles, volunteers and staffers rounded up horses that were branded and unbranded.

However, on a recent drive through Ganado, Castillo said he saw horses roaming the roadside near Ganado just a couple of days after the roundup.

Watchman said before a roundup happens, the chapter has to post a public notice 10 days before.

As a result, people who have livestock grazing illegally have time to pen their animals before the roundup, he said.

In order to have horses or other livestock graze openly, the owner needs a grazing permit. However, some owners don't follow the livestock limits listed on the permit.

And sometimes people will use permits that belong to relatives and claim animals under the relative's permit, Castillo said.

However, to own livestock on the reservation, Watchman said you don't need a permit.

"You can have as many horses as you want, if you keep them penned up," he said.

Ivan Becenti, Tribal Ranch Program manager, said some people let their horses graze in the open because if the animals are corralled the owner would have to buy feed for the animal. And with bales of hay costing as much as $15 each, open grazing is a more economical choice.

But rounding up the horses is only a beginning for the agriculture department.

Once the horses are rounded up, they have to be transported then inspected. Throughout the process they must be fed.

Although the tribe finds buyers for horses that are rounded up and not claimed, Watchman said the costs outweigh the money made from sales.

The horses sell between $25 and $35 per animal but because of health codes the horses aren't sold individually but in a lot.

Processing a horse can cost nearly $70 and even more if the horse needs medical attention, Watchman said.

In addition, the department has had to make special agreements with the buyers to ensure they won't be resold to owners on the Navajo Nation, Watchman added.

But fixing the problem of feral horses on the Navajo Reservation is a large one, Watchman said.

He plans to ask the Navajo Nation Council for more than $1 million to help with the costs of removing unpenned horses.

Upshaw added that she'd like to see a study done to account for where the horses roam because some areas of the reservation don't have enough forage to support feral horses.

With the ongoing drought, water has been tough to come by for Duane Charley and his wife, who have horses in the Coal Mine Canyon area.

Charley, 39, said he and his wife own and care for the allotted number of horses and cattle assigned to their grazing permit.

Near the end of the summer, local residents decided to start rounding up feral horses on their own. Charley said he helped but the idea came from a local family.

Within two weeks, the group rounded up nearly 200 horses. All the while, community members paid to feed the horses and hauled water for them.

They then called the BIA and the Navajo Rangers to remove the horses, almost all of which were unbranded, he said.

But the officials said they didn't go through the proper procedure in obtaining a chapter resolution. So the group had to release the horses, he said.

Afterwards they attended the next chapter meeting and secured a resolution in September but they haven't heard anything further.

A message left for Coal Mine Canyon grazing official Willis Yellowhair seeking comment for this story was not answered by press time Wednesday.

Charley said two weekends ago he was driving through the Gold Mine Ranch area where most of the horses were rounded up and, "There are herds of horses everywhere. Some of the horses, their hooves are all curled up. The problem is still out there."

Upshaw said she doesn't think there is an easy solution to the feral horse situation.

"There are so many aspects. It's not a one-fix solution," she said.

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