Advocates for free-roaming horse herds north of Ruidoso grow impatient with court and fear one herd is missing One of the herds that frequents Ski Run Road around Eagle Creek seems to have disappeared

Dianne L. Stallings | Ruidoso News

Advocates for free-roaming horse herds in the Alro area north of Ruidoso say they are growing impatient waiting for a district court judge to rule on the fate of the horses

While the advocates for the horses of Alto have split into two different camps, they both want District Court Judge Dan Bryant to settle the ultimate disposition of about 15 horses and for a ruling on a motion that two colts rounded up in June be added to a temporary restraining order against any the of herd being sold.

In one of the hearings on the 2016 case, the judge himself said he never imagined it would drag on for such a long period, those attending the hearing reported.

Adding to their anxiety is the seeming disappearance of a herd that frequented the Ski Ruin road area.

“Folks we need many prayers and help to locate the wild horses as we continue to search for the Eagle Creek small herd on Ski Run Road,” Debi Wilcox wrote in an appeal on social media and through emails. “It appears they are missing for over a month and rumored to have been rounded far back behind the Alto Chisum Convenience store.”

“May we find them safe and together,” she wrote. “We are actively searching, but only finding the stallion Diamond. They were not listed on the New Mexico Livestock Board’s auction page, but disappeared the same time NMLB rounded up the two colts, which are waiting for the judge to bring them back home.

“We have 15 horses on a ranch in free roaming, two colts in Santa Fe in holding now Ski Run Road missing. No one can find them and NMLB has not listed them.”

The original lawsuit seeking to establish the herd’s status and protect them from possible sale for slaughter, was filed by Wild Horse Observers Association in 2016, after a herd of about a dozen mares and offspring were hauled away by the livestock board after a rancher enclosed them in a corral, claiming they posed a danger to her mare and property.

Those horses were returned to teh county, one or two were adopted, because of special physical problems. The rest remained confined waiting for a trial or ruling. As money became tight and time dragged on, some advocates reached the conclusion the horses never could survive if returned to the wild after so long being dependent on humans.

Signers of agreements to care for the horses were released from those pledges in February and March. WHOA members moved them earlier this year to a larger tract of land near Carrizozo, where advocates on the side still pushing for return to free roaming, contend they are being reconditioned to survival without heavy human intervention.

The last hearing was July 6, and the last filing occurred July 13. according to New Mexico Court records.