His hooves pound the earth. His breath echoes, a deep reverberation in lungs far more powerful than that of a human. His eyes are deep recesses into a soul where secrets have been kept for hundreds, thousands of years. He is proud and full of a fire for freedom. He is wild, as many horses once were, but his time and his freedom are running out.
Modern day horses were first brought to North America by the Spanish explorers. Subsequently, the wild horses were horses that escaped or were set free.
These horses were once as common as buffalo on the western plains. Then man came and brought their fences and cattle. Much was lost in this westward expansion. The American Indian and the buffalo faded away, and so too did the wild horse. Horses were far more likely to be found under a cowboy working the range.
Then, even this new way of life became archaic. Horses became secondary in our livelihoods and what few wild horses remained were viewed as a nuisance.
These animals are a direct but fragile link to what is beautiful and untamed in all of us and yet, when they need us most, many of us are not there.
We must help to preserve their freedom and effectually keep the spirit of freedom alive in this country. Is that not what we were founded on?
Years and years of abuse and murder of these magnificent creatures resulted in an outcry from animal activists, but largely, people are unaware of what the wild horse has experienced over the years.
Initially, wild horses were gathered and sent to slaughter. Then, through the efforts of Velma B. Johnston, a concerned citizen and animal rights activist, a bill was passed to protect these horses, first the Wild Horse Annie Act of 1959, which later became the Wild-Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 according to Return to Freedom, a horse sanctuary.
In charge of these horses is the Bureau of Land Management. They are receiving criticism for their increasing round ups. There are also accusations from wild horse advocates that the BLM is violating laws about the slaughter of these horses. To put it simply, the BLM is allegedly deeming horses they round up as abandoned domesticated horses and therefore not protected from slaughter according to Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, a sanctuary and non profit.
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Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
And if you live in Wyoming, don't forget to vote for Sue Wallace!
Dave
2 - Valerie James-Patton
Thank you for the wonderful article!
To Dave:
Hopefully, anyone who cares enough about horses to read this article, would never vote for Sue Wallis, aka: Slaughterhouse Sue. She has a lunatic obsession to open a horse slaughter plant in Wyoming for the slaughter of both domestic and wild horses, and feed horse meat to prisoners.
Campaigning for Wallis certainly doesn't fit in with this article.
3 - LindsayWhelchel
Thank you so much Valerie and thank you also for bringing attention to the issue with Sue Wallis. I had no idea about her. Many people just continue to shock me with their heartlessness when it comes to those in need, animal or human...
4 - Barbara Warner
Many thanks for this article favoring our American wild horses. They are a native, re-introduced species.This has been proven by DNA and paleontological studies done on the remains of Equus caballus that date back millions of years. Wild horses are a national treasure and were supposed to have been ptotected and preserved, but the Bureau of Land Management under Secretary of Interior Salazar is breaking the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Roundups are so extensive along with birth control to mares and gelding of stallions and even 1 year old colts that these magnificent horses will soon be extinct. Please call D.C. lawmakers at 202-224-3121 and President Obama at 202-456-1111 and demand that all roundups be stopped now.
5 - MJ Wilson
BLM's a rouge agency committed to the genocide of our wild horses. Salazar and his henchmen such as Cattoor are making a good life for themselves from our wild horses blood.
Slaughterhouse Sue is running an illegal non-profit, is an irresponsible over-breeder of horses, at the expense of the Am. taxpayer. She's being exposed for what she is, a money grubbing horse killer.
6 - Susan Emory
Thank you SO much for this excellent article, Lindsay! Our Wild Horses are in very real danger of planned extinction.
America's Wild Mustangs are being captured at an alarming rate. Once we have lost their precious heritage DNA, it can never be brought back.
Please don't let this happen: share this!
7 - Carol VanHoesen
If only they will see.
8 - Suzanne Moore
I hope that comment about voting for Sue Wallis was intended as a joke. Even so, it's out of place here.
Excellent article, Lindsay! Awareness is desperately needed if we are to save our American Mustangs from the government agency determined to eradicate them from their native ranges.
Thank you!
9 - michelle
I had the priviladge back in 1980 of seeing a herd a wild mustangs just out of Reno... I will never forget... it has to be one of the most awesome things I have ever seen... I get chills when I remember seeing them running wild