Beaty Butte Working Group

Meet our Board Members…

Left to right: John Kiely, Mary Bradbury, Dick Bradbury, Ken Kestner, Richard Kiely, Tom Kiely, and Anna Kerr, assistant. Not pictured: Jim Hiatt, Jason Jaeger & Alina Bradbury

When I was invited to join the BBWG, I knew the primary issues were focused on the sage grouse and the overpopulation of the Beaty Butte public lands by the wild horses. Honestly, I did not understand the depth of the issues surrounding the ranching lifestyle, culture and the uses of public lands Through both our formal BBWG meetings and the informal discussions at breaks, lunches, dinners and on the several field trips we took to physically see the public lands in the area, I began to understand the importance of such a program as the wild horse training facility and program. Initially, it can help reduce the overpopulation of the wild horses by training them in cooperation with BLM to be adoptable by the public, help stabilize the habitat of the public lands for the sage grouse and, potentially, help improve the economics of the local communities like Lakeview, Adel, Paisley, and Plush. To me, I see it as a way to tell the story of the ranching culture with their support and involvement with the public lands. From governmental and envirommental aspects, it has the potential to bring people together with very different perceptions on the issues of the public lands. Truly, it has the potential to become a working model for those that deal with the public lands. I hope the BBWG will see the program as a mechanism for us to continue to work together and help tell the story of the public lands through the support of the training facility and those people that made it happen. – Robert Petit

In 2013 a cowboy named Tom Hagwood won the Mustang Million on a Beaty Butte horse he called “Merv.”  Also…were you aware that a handful of Beaty Butte horses went to Germany for what was called “American Mustang Makeover Germany” ??  I have a movie here about several women that competed with those horses that I would love to send you to watch.  Bob visited Friday and watched it here.  It brings us to near tears to know that our Oregon (Beaty Butte) mustangs have been trained and have performed all over the world!  The BB horses have a good name.  I am constantly having people ask me if I have their horses photo while they are on the range.  Many times I’ve stopped and explained how vast it is over there and how spooky the horses were/are.  I did get a few shots at the gather but they were very far away.  Beautiful horses! – Maggie J. Rothauge