“At the end of each day, as you prepare for the next, take an inventory of your life, your thoughts and where you’re headed.”
~ Richie Norton

Hello and Happy Tuesday to everyone!

As promised, we have some updates to share on what we are working on and the future direction of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates.

Our day-to-day advocacy continues.  Matters are not as pressing as they have been over the last 3 years, so there isn’t as much to share or as much rallying our followers as we had to do to get Theodore Roosevelt National Park to allow the wild horses to remain in the park.  We have moved back to sharing photos, videos and stories about the horses on social media.  Please make sure you check us out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChasingHorsesWHA Instagram: @chasinghorseswha and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChasingHorsesWildHorseAd-vj8hm

Please note:  The TRNP wild horses are NOT “saved”.  We did a lot of work together and we are so grateful to all of you who have helped us over the last 3 years. 

The horses are STILL being treated aggressively with GonaCon.  Only 5 foals have been born so far in 2025.  Also note that because of the GonaCon, the mares foal out of season.  Last year, the last foal born to this herd was born in December.  We are NOT opposed to the use of RESPONSIBLE fertility control as part of the new management plan.  I know a lot of you don’t want to hear that but, in all honesty, this is a fenced park, and the horses have no natural predators.  The complete discontinuation of fertility control on this herd is also a fight we will NEVER win.  Their numbers have to be controlled.  It is also important to note that this herd still has a lot of older horses.  Currently, Mare Frosty is the oldest horse ever documented in this herd.  She turned 26 this year.  With regards to fertility control, we are asking that the park use PZP, like the BLM mandates for the Pryor Mountain and McCullough Peaks wild horses.  In those herds, from an agency also under the Department of the Interior, GonaCon is ONLY used on mares who are non-responders to PZP or mares over the age of 15 who have contributed to the genetics of the herd. 

We are also still trying to get those collars off the horses!  During a meeting in May with Secretary Burgum’s office, NPS Regional Director, Bert Frost, stated that they had already noticed (because of the collars) that many of the horses have changed habitats.  This, he said, tells them that the horses have destroyed their previous habitat and were now looking for a new place to graze.  He concluded this with “This tells us that there are too many horses in the park.”

First of all, and I did say this in the meeting, the main reason we want the collars off is because we knew that it would just be a matter of time before they used data from the collars to blame the horses for something that required the removal of the horses or lowering the number of horses the park can sustain.  Here we were, 5 months into the collar wearing, and the horses are being blamed for destroying habitats in the park.

Interesting to note:  bison graze the same as wild horses – so if habitats ARE in fact being destroyed, how do we know it is the horses and not the 500+ bison that also share these habitats with the horses? 

Also, how do they know where the horses were prior to October 2024, to compare year over year data, especially since we have been told how invalid human observation is?

We did correct him and let him know that the horses are moving because of the increased number of bachelors in the park.  The band stallions are trying to find safe places to keep their bands away from those bachelors. 

Director Frost replied, “That is your hypothesis.” 

To which I replied, that what he shared was his. 

I will also say that anyone hiking out in the park can easily see that “habitats” are not being destroyed anywhere.  The park is currently very green for this time of the year and there is plenty for all of the large animals to eat. 

Lastly, we are told that there is so much scientific data they are getting from these collars.  If you look at the park’s website: https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/nature/feral-horses.htm you will see that the last time data was shared was in July.  The data shared was from March/April of 2025.  How is that timely or relevant?  I can tell you from my own park visitation this year that most of the horses are NOT in the same places now that they were in the spring now that it is summer.  In a few months, they won’t be where they are now or where they were in the spring.  Regular visitors to the park who monitor this herd know this and are more than willing to share this information with the park.  CHWHA has personally offered to dedicate a few days a week to help the park with whatever observation records they need.  To date, the park has not taken us up on our offer. 

We will continue fighting to have ALL experimentation on these horses stop!

Last week, we shared the response we received from Karen Budd-Falen from Secretary Burgum’s office on these two topics.  This response was a follow up from our May meeting with her.  She stated that she took our concerns to Secretary Burgum and responded accordingly.  You can read all about this, including our reply to her email, in our blog from last week: https://chwha.org/2025/08/11/the-department-of-the-interiors-response/

What she did NOT mention in her response was our FOIA appeal that we have been waiting YEARS for a response to. 

She also did NOT address the “livestock” classification. 

If you remember, the park at some point, changed the classification of the horses to “livestock”.  Previously, the horses had always been referred to as a historic and cultural resource.  Our lawyers have been asking for YEARS when this classification was changed and for the documentation that it was properly changed.  This is also part of our outstanding FOIA request.  Since we have not received an answer, we are left to believe that the classification was not properly changed. 

This is important because that “livestock” classification became the driving force for the park as they attempted to remove ALL of the horses from the boundaries of the park the last 3 years. 

We are still waiting for a response from her office. We will share her response when we receive it.

We also discussed many other possibilities with the new TRNP Superintendent, Rachel Daniels.  We are hoping to meet with her again, once she gets settled in Southwestern North Dakota, and follow up to see if we can initiate some of those ideas.  We will share those ideas when we get a response from her. 

I was speaking with our friend, Patrick Springer, from the Fargo Forum last week. Patrick was instrumental in his coverage of the wild horses during this 3-year battle.  Patrick’s work on his book about the horses is almost done and we were happy to hear that he will be coming back to the Forum, as a reporter, for a few more months this year, before he officially retires!  He promised to write a few articles about the horses, including the recent response from Secretary Burgum’s office.

During our discussion about the horses a few weeks ago, Patrick said, “Your work will truly never end, it seems.”

We agreed.  There will always be a need for oversight to make sure the horses are being managed in the best possible way.  That includes ideas we shared with Superintendent Daniels and also our ongoing discussions with Senator Hoeven on firming up the legislation he introduced earlier this year that will FINALLY give these horses the federal protection they deserve. 

There are a few other things brewing that we CAN talk about:

Our next silent auction will be held October 13-19, 2025.  We have already started collecting items – THANK YOU to everyone who has donated!  If you have an item or items you would like to donate, please email us at info@chwha.org.  We will share a link to the auction soon where you can upload your donations yourself and also get a sneak peek at items that have been donated! 

Many of you have started asking and YES, we do plan on hosting another educational summit in January of 2026!  If you are interested any of the following, please email us at info@chwha.org :

• Helping to organize the event
• Giving a presentation during the summit
• Helping to moderate the individual speakers

We will share information as we get plans in place but count on several weekends of fun, educational and informative discussions again in January!

In all honesty, the last few months, with my battle with pneumonia, have shown me that I have been burning the candle at way too many ends for way too long.  I can never fully quantify the endless hours that went into the fight for these historic wild horses over the last 3 years.  There were A LOT of 16-hour days, and 7 day work weeks, I can tell you that! 

As CHWHA moves forward, we need your help!  We are in the process of adding some committees to our organization.  If you are interested in any of these, please email us at info@chwha.org and let us know what you are interested in and even let us know if there is something we are missing that you would like to see in the future of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates:

• We need help fundraising.  This can be anything from new creative ways to raise money to helping to find items for our silent auctions and researching and writing grant applications!  Without funds, nonprofits cannot survive.  We are no different.  This is a good place to insert a plug on where you can make your tax-deductible donation – https://secure.everyaction.com/wnK6YjHlTkCC2Aq57_7srQ2
• We are asked many times to help other wild horse herds.  We have spoken with our nonprofit lawyers, and our bylaws and articles DO allow that.  There is no way we can have the knowledge we do about the TRNP wild horses, but many of you do!  If you are interested in working with us to advocate for other wild horse herds, send us an email!
• We are always in search of people who can help us expand our reach through different social media channels.  Currently, we are really only posting on Facebook and Instagram.  If you would like to help us on other platforms, please send us an email.

I will say again that one of the things on this nonprofit journey that has really stuck with me is that nonprofits belong to the communities they serve.  CHWHA is YOUR nonprofit.  Please feel free to let us know what other ideas or committees you would like to see as we move forward as a nonprofit. 

We do need financial help!

Since I was out of commission for the last few months, donations are down.  We have about $2,000 in outstanding expenses and have about $1500 in monthly expenses.  In addition to that, our PO Box fees will be due soon – add another $200 for the year.  We also have our Giving Hearts Day fees that are due this month – add another $900.  Giving Hearts Day is our biggest fundraiser of the year.  The fees we pay help support the backing we get from the foundation for this huge event, including all of the office time, marketing and advertising that goes into the success of the Giving Hearts Day event. 

If you are able to, please make your tax-deductible donation to us here:  https://secure.everyaction.com/wnK6YjHlTkCC2Aq57_7srQ2

Donations can also be mailed to us at:
                CHWHA
                P.O. Box 3562
                Dickinson, ND  58602

We also ask that you consider becoming a monthly donor.  We have over 100,000 people who follow us.  Imagine if just ¼ of you committed to donating $5 every month!  You would hear a lot less from me about donations (maybe!) lol

Thank you again for your continued support!  We hope this gives you a small sample of where we are headed now that we put a HUGE battle in our win column.  Don’t forget, the war against this herd continues! CHWHA is committed to being in this for the long haul and for the many battles that still lie ahead of us.  We hope that we can count on you to continue Fighting for the Spirit of the Badlands with us.

Thank you again for your continued support and have a great day!

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