Return of horses "a matter of days"

• Logistics of return to be discussed

The return of 12-members of a horse herd hauled away from Alto last month by the New Mexico Livestock Board after being penned by a private landowner as nuisances seems down to a matter of days, advocate Mellisa Babcock said Thursday.

Nine people signed an agreement accepting responsibility for the horses on their return.

A hearing on litigation filed by the Wild Horse Observers Association against the livestock board was conducted on Sept. 8, and 12th Judicial District Judge Dan Bryant indicated he wanted the order to reflect his exact wording, attorney Freda McSwane said Thursday. McSwane and Steven K. Sanders represent WHOA, which received a restraining order banning the sale of the horses by the livestock board while the judge decides whether the horse are wild, and not under the board’s jurisdiction, or are estray livestock.

The day after the hearing, a Friday, McSwane requested a copy of the hearing tape with the offer to drive over and pick it up. However, the tape was mailed and when it had not arrived by the following Tuesday, she requested another copy and it was driven to her office after work hours, she said.

“So we got it late Tuesday night (Sept. 13) and we began transcribing the tape on Wednesday, getting it in the final form,” she said. “We presented it to the attorney general’s office last Friday (Sept. 16). We’ve been communicating back and forth, because in the meantime, the attorney general’s office and the livestock board worked out the language on the contract the way they believed it needed to be and submitted it to us.”

Minor revisions were made. Nine people accepted the responsibility jointly for all of the horses and she began last Friday securing the signatures of those people.

“We were able by the end of the day, Monday (Sept. 19), to get the last one,” McSwane said. “Those nine people also had to sign certificates to be filed with the court saying they would follow the court’s order.”

The contract was signed and sent back to the attorney general's office, where at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, it was approved and signed by Assistant Attorney Gen. Ari Biernoff, she said. As soon as she had word it was signed, her office filed the nine certificates the court requested. Each one contained an attachment of the contract entered into by the parties and the livestock board.

“This morning I received back from the attorney general’s office some requested revisions to the (court) order,” she said. “We’ve gone back and forth and have agreed to an order. I’m expecting an approval any moment and as soon as we get that, it will be electronically sent for the judge’s signature and filed with the court. Once filed, we are going to set up a communication between the livestock board and the attorney to discuss the logistics of how quickly they can transport the horses back down here and be received by those nine individuals on that property.”

The property consists of 10 acres with reinforced pens located on Fort Stanton Road to be used as an isolation area for a 21-day period.

“The livestock board I believe is as anxious for us to take responsibility for them as we are,” McSwane said. “All we’re waiting on at this particular moment is (Biernoff’s) signature on the court order. I don’t know his schedule today, but he has been good at being responsive, so I anticipate he’ll try to sign as quickly as possible and I’m hoping we can get it to the judge today.”

Biernoff indicated to her that the return of the horses should be a matter of days, not weeks, McSwane said.

“We anticipate a smooth return just as quickly as we can get the logistics worked out,” she said. “If we get the order signed, I will try to get a conference call this afternoon (Thursday) between the livestock board and the attorney. We are pressing as much as we can. We would love to get them returned tomorrow. We would certainly receive them even Saturday (if the livestock board was willing).”

Babcock said the nine people who signed to care for the horses primarily came from a sign-up list at a second town hall meeting on the plight of the mares and foals that were taken to Santa Fe in late August, but others came from Facebook.

“I want to stress the nine who stepped forward are not assigned to a particular horse, more of a group responsibility that will end when the court case is over,” Babcock said. “This is not an adoption.”