It was decided to place a water tank near the south entrance of the underpass so the horses would have a reason to stop when wandering by. We would also "seed" the area with small droppings of hay near the entrance and through the underpass. A plan was agreed to by NDOT and NDA, so on Saturday we set up a new tank that the Wild Horse Preservation League had purchased and we placed out the bait. Sunday we checked. Nada. Monday we rode the area on horseback. Not a horse to be found. Tuesday after the Fernley project I decided to dump the remaining water I had in the PWS at the underpass stock tank. As I approached the tank I noticed many hoof prints in the sand. As I backed up to the tank I noticed horses scrambling out the far side of the underpass. They were all in the shade and I startled them. DAMN! They finally used the underpass and I spooked them out. Of all times to top off the tank. Not to worry, as it turned out. As I was pumping water into the tank the horses meandered back through the underpass to see what I was doing and they even inspected the PWS trailer.
While finishing that job I received a call about a wild horse in the group use area of the Dayton State Park. A young BLM stud had gotten off the herd management area through a damaged fence and was now hanging out in the park, grazing the pavilion lawn and wandering through the campsites. The group camp had been rented out to a kids' program so park staff were worried that something might spook the horse and he might hurt an unsuspecting youngster. Plus the campers were doing non-horsey things such as throwing apples and other food at the horse. BLM was completely tied up so we set up a trap corral and baited it with some alfalfa and a water tub. The resident ranger would close the trap and call if the horse went in. Sure enough within an hour or so we got the call. Turns out the horse was visiting the campers again. One of the park's staff was trying to move the horse to the trap set up on the pavilion lawn. A visitor with two schnauzers said his dogs would do it. Having little luck, the park staffer told the visitor he could try. The two schnauzers and parks employee carefully moved the horse over to the trap where parks staff encouraged the horse to enter.