FREE-ROAMING HORSE MANAGEMENT

HB0315

HOUSE BILL 315

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Matthew McQueen

AN ACT

RELATING TO ANIMALS; AMENDING DEFINITIONS IN THE LIVESTOCK
CODE; ALLOWING FERTILITY CONTROL, RELOCATION AND ADOPTION OF
FREE-ROAMING HORSES UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; ALLOWING A
FREE-ROAMING HORSE EXPERT TO IMPLEMENT FREE-ROAMING HORSE HERD
MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES ON CERTAIN LAND THROUGH CERTAIN METHODS;
REQUIRING THE NEW MEXICO LIVESTOCK BOARD TO APPROVE THE
QUALIFICATIONS OF A FREE-ROAMING HORSE EXPERT; ALLOWING THE NEW
MEXICO LIVESTOCK BOARD TO MAKE RULES REGARDING THE APPROVAL OF
THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A FREE-ROAMING HORSE EXPERT; PROHIBITING
THE SLAUGHTER OR EXPORT FOR SLAUGHTER OF FREE-ROAMING HORSES;
PROVIDING A PENALTY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1.
Section 77-2-1.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993,
Chapter 248, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

"77-2-1.1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in The Livestock Code:

A. "animals" or "livestock" means all domestic or
domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or
ranch, including the carcasses thereof, and exotic animals in
captivity and includes equines, cattle, sheep, goats, swine,
bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed
cervidae upon any land in New Mexico. "Animals" or "livestock"
does not include canine or feline animals
or free-roaming
horses
;

B. "bill of sale" means an instrument in
substantially the form specified in The Livestock Code by which
the owner or the owner's authorized agent transfers to the
buyer the title to animals described in the bill of sale;

C. "bison" or "buffalo" means a bovine animal of
the species bison;

D. "board" means the New Mexico livestock board;

E. "bond" means cash or an insurance agreement from
a New Mexico licensed surety or insurance corporation pledging
surety for financial loss caused to another, including
certificate of deposit, letter of credit or other surety as may
be approved by the grain inspection, packers and stockyards
administration of the United States department of agriculture
or the board;

F. "brand" means a symbol or device in a form
approved by and recorded with the board as may be sufficient to
readily distinguish livestock should they become intermixed
with other livestock;

G. "brand inspector" means an inspector who is not
certified as a peace officer;

H. "carcasses" means dead or dressed bodies of
livestock or parts thereof;

I. "cattle" means animals of the genus bos,
including dairy cattle, and does not include any other kind of
livestock;

J. "dairy cattle" means animals of the genus bos
raised not for consumption but for dairy products and
distinguished from meat breed cattle;

K. "director" means the executive director of the
board;

L. "disease" means a communicable, infectious or
contagious disease;

M. "district" means a livestock inspection
district;

N. "equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey or
hinny;

O. "equine rescue or retirement facility" means a
facility, including a public or private reserve or preserve,
that provides lifelong care or finds new owners for unwanted,
abused or neglected equines or captured free-roaming horses,
but does not include a federal facility;

[
O.
]
P.
"estray" means livestock found running at
large upon public or private lands, either fenced or unfenced,
whose owner is unknown, or that is branded with a brand that is
not on record in the office of the board or is a freshly
branded or marked offspring not with its branded or marked
mother, unless other proof of ownership is produced;

Q. "fertility control" means the reduction or
maintenance of the reproduction rate of animals or free-roaming
horses using castration or non-surgical contraceptives;

R. "free-roaming horse" means an unclaimed horse
found at large that is not an estray due to lack of evidence of
private ownership or domestication and does not include horses
subject to the jurisdiction of the federal government pursuant
to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act;

S. "free-roaming horse expert" means a person
registered and authorized by the board as qualified to perform
free-roaming horse or herd management services;

[
P.
]
T.
"inspector" means a livestock or brand
inspector;

[
Q.
]
U.
"livestock inspector" means a certified
inspector who is granted full law enforcement powers for
enforcement of The Livestock Code and other criminal laws
relating to livestock;

[
R.
]
V.
"mark" means an ear tag or ownership mark
that is not a brand;

[
S.
]
W.
"meat" means the edible flesh of poultry,
birds or animals sold for human consumption and includes
livestock, poultry and livestock and poultry products;

[
T.
]
X.
"mule" means a hybrid resulting from the
cross of a horse and [
an ass
]
a donkey
; and

[
U.
]
Y.
"person" means an individual, firm,
partnership, association, corporation or similar legal entity."

SECTION 2.
Section 77-2-30 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2005,
Chapter 236, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"77-2-30. EQUINE RESCUE OR RETIREMENT FACILITY--REGISTRATION--BOARD POWERS AND DUTIES--FEES.--

A. As used in this section, "facility" means an
equine rescue or retirement facility. [
including a private
reserve or private preserve, that advertises or solicits for
equines and provides lifelong care or finds new owners for
equines that are unwanted or have been neglected or abused or
captured wild equines that cannot be returned to their range
]

B. A facility shall not operate in New Mexico
unless registered by the board.

C. The board shall:

(1) register facilities that meet the
requirements of this section
and rules promulgated by the
board
;

(2) [
annually
] consult with representatives
from the equine industry, equine rescue organizations and
veterinarians on facility standards; and

(3) after consideration of recommendations by
national organizations for the care of unwanted equines and
equine rescue and retirement facilities, promulgate rules for
facilities, including:

(a) health and sanitary requirements;

(b) standards for barns, paddocks,
pastures and ranges;

(c) qualifications of the facility
staff;

(d) provision of veterinary care;

(e) feeding and watering requirements;

(f) transportation;

(g) a process to issue a temporary
capacity waiver to a facility for the purpose of transferring
equines in the custody of the board to a facility; and

(h) other requirements necessary to
ensure the humane care of equines.

D. The board may establish civil fines not
exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation for
violations of this section and rules related to equine rescue
and retirement facilities promulgated by the board.

[
D.
]
E.
The board may charge the following fees:

(1) an initial inspection and registration fee
of not more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250);

(2) an annual inspection and registration fee
of not more than one hundred dollars ($100); and

(3) reinspection fees of not more than one
hundred dollars ($100).

[
E.
]
F.
Fees collected pursuant to this section
shall be deposited in the New Mexico livestock board general
fund and may be used to carry out the provisions of this
section and Section 77-2-31 NMSA 1978."

SECTION 3.
A new section of Chapter 77, Article 2 NMSA
1978 is enacted to read:

"[
NEW MATERIAL
] FREE-ROAMING HORSE EXPERT--APPROVAL OF
QUALIFICATIONS--RULES.--

A. A person shall not provide free-roaming horse or
herd management services, administer free-roaming horse
fertility control or capture a free-roaming horse for
relocation unless registered by the board as a free-roaming
horse expert; provided that this section shall not apply to:

(1) persons providing free-roaming horse or
herd management services prior to the effective date of this
2026 act who apply for registration as a free-roaming horse
expert within three months after the board promulgates rules
related to registration and subsequently become registered, or
who cease such free-roaming horse or herd management services;
or

(2) the federal bureau of land management or
the United States forest service acting in accordance with
applicable federal law, regulations and policy.

B. A free-roaming horse expert shall meet or exceed
minimum qualifications to be registered by the board to perform
free-roaming horse or herd management services pursuant to
Section 77-18-5 NMSA 1978, including demonstrated expertise in:

(1) conducting free-roaming horse herd
surveys;

(2) determining the ownership status of land;

(3) analyzing the carrying capacity of land in
conjunction with environmental health; and

(4) understanding free-roaming horse habitat,
biology, behavior, management strategies and population
dynamics.

C. The board shall:

(1) promulgate rules regarding the
determination and approval of qualifications and registration
of free-roaming horse experts and may establish civil fines not
exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation for
violations of Subsection A of this section;

(2) register free-roaming horse experts that
meet the requirements of this section and the rules promulgated
by the board; and

(3) revoke the registration of a free-roaming
horse expert that fails to comply with Section 77-18-5 NMSA
1978, or related rules, and apply other penalties that the
board deems appropriate.

D. The board may charge the following fees:

(1) an initial approval fee of not more than
five hundred dollars ($500); and

(2) an annual registration fee of not more
than two hundred fifty dollars ($250).

E. Fees collected pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in the New Mexico livestock board general fund and
may be used to carry out the provisions of this section."

SECTION 4.
Section 77-18-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2007,
Chapter 216, Section 1) is repealed and a new Section 77-18-5
NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"77-18-5. [
NEW MATERIAL
] FREE-ROAMING HORSES--HUMANE
MANAGEMENT--FERTILITY CONTROL--PROHIBITIONS.--

A. A state, county or municipal government or
governmental subdivision may enter into an agreement with a
registered free-roaming horse expert to conduct free-roaming
horse surveys and management and determine land carrying
capacity. If a registered free-roaming horse expert determines
as part of the agreement that the free-roaming horse or herd
exceeds the carrying capacity of the land inhabited, the expert
or the expert's agents may cause control of a free-roaming
horse or herd upon the approval of the appropriate landowner
through:

(1) the use of fertility control via
immunocontraception or castration;

(2) humane capture and relocation to an equine
rescue or retirement facility, with permission of the facility,
having the capacity to accept free-roaming horses that is
registered with the board pursuant to Section 77-2-30 NMSA 1978
or an equivalent out-of-state facility that meets the board's
facility standards for lifelong sanctuary care or for the
purposes of adoption of the free-roaming horse or horses;

(3) humane capture and relocation to land,
with the permission of the landowner, that has the capacity to
sustain free-roaming horse herds or family bands; or

(4) for a horse determined by a veterinarian
licensed to practice in New Mexico to suffer from a medical
condition that significantly impacts the horse's quality of
life and cannot be reasonably treated, humane euthanasia.

B. A free-roaming horse captured and relocated to
an equine rescue or retirement facility pursuant to this
section shall be microchipped or freeze branded for individual
and ownership identification purposes.

C. A free-roaming horse expert shall not enter
private land or state land without the permission of the owner
or lessee of that land.

D. A free-roaming horse expert shall not engage in
herd management activities on federal land without the
appropriate federal entity's permission or on tribal land
without the appropriate tribal entity's permission.

E. Nothing in this section shall affect the federal
bureau of land management's or the United States forest
service's authority to manage free-roaming horses that are not
subject to the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act
and found on lands administered by the federal bureau of land
management or the United States forest service, including the
federal bureau of land management's or the United States forest
service's authority to gather, remove and sell free-roaming
horses in accordance with applicable law, regulations and
policy.

F. A person shall not knowingly slaughter, sell for
slaughter, cause or allow to be slaughtered, transport for
slaughter or release from an equine rescue or retirement
facility or adoptive home into the wild a free-roaming horse.
A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a
misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be sentenced in
accordance with the provisions of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978.
Each free-roaming horse that is slaughtered, sold for
slaughter, caused or allowed to be slaughtered, transported for
slaughter or released in violation of this subsection
constitutes a separate offense.

G. As used in this section:

(1) "adoption" means the taking of custody and
ownership of a free-roaming horse by a qualified individual who
has demonstrated to the equine rescue or retirement facility in
possession of that horse the capacity and intent to provide
humane treatment and care of the animal, including proper
feeding, sheltering, husbandry, handling and care;

(2) "carrying capacity" means the number of
free-roaming horses that a given amount of land can support
long-term while maintaining or improving healthy vegetation,
soil, water and free-roaming horse herds inhabiting that land,
taking into account human uses, including livestock grazing and
other agricultural uses, and wildlife populations;

(3) "humane capture" means to gather or move
free-roaming horses to a holding location using baited corrals
or other low-stress methods whenever feasible, but does not
include use of aircraft or motorized vehicles; and

(4) "humane euthanasia" means to produce a
humane death of an animal by standards deemed acceptable by the
board of veterinary medicine as set forth in the board's
rules."

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