The Devil’s Garden
The Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory is 500-square miles of rolling and rough country within the Modoc National Forest just outside of Alturas, California. The area consists of sharp rocks and dense brush — in fact, if the Devil were to grow his own garden, this would be it. It’s a rough, beautiful country managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS).
Devil’s Garden wild horses on their rocky terrain. Photo by American Wild Horse Campaign.
There is an abundance of wildlife in this area including California's largest and most significant wild horse herd that have called the forest home since the 1800s. Like so many areas where wild horses reside - there are also private ranchers with grazing leases within the Territory that bring their cattle and sheep up from the valley for summer grazing. These interests have made it a hostile environment for the horses
Rescue of Devil’s Garden Mustangs
The first helicopter roundup happened in the Fall of 2016, where 220 Devil's Garden wild horses lost their freedom. After the operation, the horses were sent to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Litchfield Corrals. Many of the mares were pregnant and delivered their foals in the BLM's holding pens in the spring and summer of 2017.
Pocket today with her human, Alyssa.
In the fall of 2017, the BLM separated a group of 28 "weanlings" from their mothers and shortly after 25 of them tragically died from antibiotic-induced colitis. One of the survivors, who we named Selena, was adopted by Montgomery Creek Ranch, along with four Devil's Garden mare/foal pairs and one orphan filly, Pocket, whose mother died in the BLM corrals.
These were such wonderful young horses, we decided to put them in our training and adoption program. Mustangs that hail from Devil’s Garden are known to be sturdy, have great attitudes and personality and are good prospects to grow up to be great trail horses because their ancestors evolved in the rough terrain of the Garden. All of these horses been adopted into their forever homes.
Selling Mustangs for Slaughter
In 2018, Suzanne Roy, Director of the American Wild Horse Campaign, and Montgomery Creek Ranch founder, Ellie Phipps Price, traveled to the Modoc National Forest to meet with the Forest Service to discuss how we could help manage and fund a fertility control program for the remaining wild horses. Even though the Forest Service initially expressed interest in working with us, they proceeded with a roundup of another 932 horses in October 2018.
The Forest Service’s unprecedented plan was to sell the horses without limitation on slaughter for as little as $1 per horse. This put hundreds of Devils Garden horses in grave danger of being sold for human consumption in Asia and Europe. Even worse: this horrific plan was going to take place in California, a state that has prohibited the cruel practice of horse slaughter for two decades.
As soon as word of the plan was out, the American Wild Horse Campaign and the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed suit to stop the Forest Service. During that time, the agency announced yet another roundup of the Devil’s Garden horses which began at the beginning of September of 2019. The advocacy groups are currently participating in court-ordered mediation with the Forest Service and as part of the agreement, the horses are safe from slaughter for now.
Safeguards for California’s Most Historic Herd
Shortly after the Forest Service announced its plan to sell the Devil’s Garden mustangs for slaughter, Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) sprung into action. Working with the American Wild Horse Campaign, Mr. Gloria introduced legislation, AB128, to strengthen and improve enforcement of Section 598 of the penal code, which makes it a felony to sell, import, export or possess a horse for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption.
The bill was successful, passing through both the California Assembly and the State Senate and AB 128 has been signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Mustangs We Love
The last of the six youngsters we rescued in 2017 from Devil’s Garden has just been adopted. When MCR horses are adopted from our training program, we take in other at-risk horses.
Magic, one of our newest horses-in-training from Devil’s Garden.
To that end, we recently welcomed three young, Devil’s Garden geldings from the Bureau of Land Management’s Litchfield corrals in California. These horses have an incredible disposition and will soon be looking for their forever homes.
At our Ranch, we have two full-time trainers who partner to gentle, start and finish horses using natural horsemanship. We usually have about 20-30 horses in training at all levels of ability from just gentled, like the Devil's Garden youngsters, to fully-trained riding horses.
Our horses-in-training get lots of time on the trails, crossing creeks, climbing steep hills, and riding out over all kinds of terrain to give them the mileage that will make them safe and dependable trail horses ready to find their forever homes.
If you’re in the market to adopt a mustang, we hope you will continue to follow the progress of our MCR horses.
