BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — After years of crashes, injuries and warnings about horses on roads, the Martin County Fiscal Court has approved a birth control plan for the county’s feral horse population.

The Fiscal Court, in a March 26 special meeting, authorized Kentucky Humane Society Equine C.A.R.E. to begin using a fertility-control vaccine on mares to slow herd growth in the Debord area, where feral horses have become both a local attraction and a recurring public-safety problem.

The program is the county’s first coordinated response to a long-running issue tied to a 2023 human fatality, vehicle collisions, repeated roadside hazards and growing concerns about animal welfare.

“We know we have a problem with horses in the road,” Martin County Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty said. “So this is a solution to take care of that.”

Under the plan, the Kentucky Humane Society will use Porcine Zona Pellucida, or PZP, a fertility-control vaccine widely used as birth control for horses, to prevent pregnancy in targeted mares without causing permanent sterility.

The treatment requires an initial dose, a booster three to four weeks later and annual boosters to remain effective.

The horses, most often seen in the Debord area near New Route 3 and Airport Road, occupy an unusual place in Martin County life. Residents and visitors frequently admire, feed and photograph them, while officials promote them as part of the county’s backroads appeal.

The novelty has long been shadowed by danger.

In October 2023, a Martin County man died after jumping on the back of a wild horse. Over the years, there have also been injuries to people and animals, vehicle collisions and repeated warnings from law enforcement about horses on or near roadways.

Martin County Sheriff John Kirk has publicly urged the Fiscal Court on multiple occasions to act.

In December 2025, Kirk again raised concerns in a Fiscal Court meeting after horses created a hazard on New Route 3. Later that month, a vehicle struck and killed a horse, causing heavy damage. Also in December, dog attacks on horses in Debord heightened concerns about animal safety and welfare.

The Kentucky Humane Society’s equine team has spent years rescuing and rehoming horses from the region. Still, officials say removal and gelding alone have not kept pace with population growth. The organization estimates 1,000 to 2,000 free-roaming horses remain across Appalachia.

The PZP program will gradually reduce population growth. Mares vaccinated in 2026 will avoid pregnancy beginning in 2027.

Problem years in the making

The challenge in Martin County is broader than a single herd or a single roadway. Limited flat pasture, large expanses of reclaimed mine land and a long-standing practice of turning livestock onto mountain land have all helped sustain the herds.

The “wild” or “feral” horses are not Western mustangs. They are the descendants of domestic horses that owners turned loose on reclaimed mine land over time. Some owners may still claim some of the horses, others likely turned theirs loose, and still others were born in the mountains and have grown up feral.

That mix makes the issue unusually difficult to manage, with ownership often the biggest obstacle. Authorities are reluctant to seize animals without a clear legal process and rescues need local authorization before intervening.

In the meantime, the horses drift onto roads, especially in winter, when forage is scarce and salt on roadways draws them down from reclaimed mine land.

The issue is also one of animal welfare. Officials and groups working with the herds say many free-roaming horses suffer from poor body condition, injuries and lack of regular hoof, dental and veterinary care. Remote terrain makes rescue difficult, especially on old, unmaintained mine roads accessible only by ATV.

The horses also create persistent nuisance problems for nearby residents, who report damage to landscaping and crops.