Wild Horses on Public Land - An Iconic Image but a Troubled History
An American Icon, the wild horse, or Mustang, is not a native American although they are very much a part of our culture and lore. Like many imports, controversy swirls around them. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Wildlife photographer, Destination: Wildlife Team member, Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
By Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Wild Horses. Every encounter I have with them is a reminder of the true spirit of the American West. But, my very first introduction to them on Arizona's Salt River came as a complete surprise. I hadn't realized that wild horses exist in America.
As I watched them graze or compete, or dip their noses into the water, or care for their young, or run free across the landscape, I wondered where they came from and how they got here? Being with these fantastic creatures quickly became my instant escape from the busy, overly connected world, and I was not alone.
American's Love Our Wild Horses, Don't We?
Sunset is one of my favorite times to photograph wild horses. This image was taken at the Salt River in Arizona’s Tonto national Forest. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
The iconic wild horse is fundamental to the history and lore of our American West and beloved by so many that my biggest surprise came when I learned that we don't always treat our wild horses well. To my thinking, we Americans owe them a debt.
A Brief History of Wild Horses
in America
Technically, “wild” horses, or Mustangs, are feral because they descend from domestic horses brought to the New World by Spanish explorers. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
The wild horses we see today are not native to the Americas.
The American Museum of Natural History states that horses have been in existence for 50 million years. The first horses are actually believed to have originated on the North American continent and then to have spread to Europe and Asia via the Bering land bridge. The last Ice Age, however, completely wiped out the North American horse population.
The 15th and 16th Centuries brought scores of Spanish explorers with their horses to the New World. Over time, a few horses escaped or were released.
Re-captured horses quickly became integral to the lives of both Native Americans and immigrants to the New World. Horses came west with homesteaders, ranchers, and prospectors – and more escaped.
Once introduced onto the great plains, wild horses thrived. By the 19th Century, western writer and journalist, J. Frank Dobie estimated that the population had reached over 2 million horses.
Mixed Reviews for Growing Wild Horse Populations
By the 1930s, the growing popularity of house pets had many American minds focused on a different animal – the dog. At the same time, western ranchers, grazing their cattle and sheep on public lands, were on a collision course with the herds of wild horses living and breeding there.
Wild horses were hunted or shot, and their water holes poisoned to make way on public land for sheep and cattle. Then, a new "solution" evolved that seemed to address both concerns of the ranchers and the new pet-owning families—the systematic slaughter of wild horses for pet food.
Lang’s manufactured by Kal Kan, trademarked in 1963. In 2021. Horse meat is still used today for pet, although not as overtly advertised. Image thanks to River Front Times, from Horse Meat is on the Menu?
By the 1950s, America's wild horse population was down to 25,000 individuals and declining. People who loved them started taking notice. One of them was Velma Bronn Johnston, better known as "Wild Horse Annie." She and other advocates lobbied Congress until, in 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the "Wild Horse Annie Act." banning the hunting of the American mustangs on federal land.
Still, that did not protect herds residing on state land. In Nevada, for example, state law still allowed ranchers to round up free-roaming horses for slaughter or sale.
A New Bill and a Monumental Task
Competition between wild stallions (the adult males) gets rough. These two are fighting it out at the McCullough Wild Horse Management Area in Wyoming. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
By 1971, wild horse numbers had plummeted to 17,000. Then, thanks to continuing public advocacy, Congress passed the "Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act" for "all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands in the United States." The Act made harassment or killing of these animals on federal land a crime.
Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management (B.L.M.) was mandated to create a plan that would balance the range's natural ecology with the wild horses, the livestock, the vegetation, and the natural wildlife. Their answer to this monumental task was the establishment of Herd Management Areas.
Herd Management Areas Spark More Controversy
The McCullough Wild Horse Management Area in Wyoming is one of my favorite places to watch and photograph wild horses. image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Currently, the B.L.M. has 177 Herd Management Areas in which separated herds are allowed to live, each with a set maximum population number.
It would be easy to assume that these B.L.M. Herd management areas are the happy end of the story – but that is not the case.
The B.L.M's plan does not address the main continuing issue: overpopulation by an introduced, albeit iconic species with no natural predators.
✍︎Editor's Note: As of March 01, 2020, The B.L.M. estimated the wild horse and burro population to be 88,090. Some advocacy groups feel that the number is inflated.
Rounding up Wild Horse
One of the B.L.M.'s solutions to overpopulation is to periodically round up the wild horses and make them available for private adoption.
I have never personally attended a round-up, but they spark multiple controversies in the wildlife conservation communities.
Low flying helicopters herd the horses together. Witnesses say they have seen horses under extreme stress; some have died. Witnesses also report that as horses are spooked and forced into corrals for capture, they suffer broken legs and foals separated from their mothers. I am sure that this is not what the writers and supporters of the 1971 act had in mind.
Wild Horse Adoption, Not the Final Answer
As beautiful as these horses (and their babies) are, allowing them to be adopted has not been the solution to over population. The Salt River, Tonto National Forest, Arizona. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Once captured, the B.L.M. places the horses in short-term holding pens, in theory, to await adoption.
Unfortunately, that admirable plan isn't working. Annually falling adoption numbers have forced the B.L.M. into leasing land for long-term placements.
Economics and Unintended Consequences
Enjoying a fresh green meal is not a perk of the Bureau of land Managements holding pens. The Salt River Wild Horse management Area, Arizona. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Currently, the B.L.M. holds an estimated 13,500 wild horses and burros, separated by gender and castrated, in short-term pens and another approximately 31,500 (!) in long-term pastures.
Imagine the size of those captive herds! Not only is the quality of life for these horses questionable, but the cost to taxpayers is likely unsustainable.
In 2016 alone, the cost of maintaining the horses used nearly two-thirds of the Bureau of Land Management's total annual budget!
A "Solution" Revives an Old Problem
The unintended consequences of good intentions leaves wild mustangs vulnerable again to being used for animal feed. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven The Salt River Wild Horse Management Area, Tonto national Forest, Arizona.
In an effort to raise adoption numbers, the government initiated a program giving $1,000 to anyone willing to adopt an untrained wild horse.
The unintended consequences of this incentive brought us right back to legalized wild horse slaughter for animal feed and other products.
An alternative solution to overpopulation is sterilization. Although most wild horse advocacy groups favor a sterilization program; (see more below), some animal rights activists do not agree.
Citizens Step Up
Advocacy groups, formed by concerned citizens and staffed mostly by dedicated volunteers, work to help the Bureau of Land Management provide for the needs of the wild horses like these at the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horse Management Area in Colorado. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Since 1971, local and national organizations (mostly not-for-profit), formed by private citizens to assist the B.L.M., have sprung up. They advocate and provide quality of life programs for the horses.
One such organization, The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, was instrumental in getting the Salt River horses protected.
The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group is Born
I had no idea that wild horses existed in the U.S. until I “met” them by accident on the Salt River in Tonto State Forest, Arizona. ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Wild horses have been documented along the Salt river since the late 18th Century, well before the area became a National Forest in 1905. But the 1971 Act left The Salt river horses (The Tonto National Forest) unprotected. The Act considered this population "feral," not "wild," and therefore not under B.L.M. management and not protected.
Years ago, when I first discovered the wild horses along the Salt River and spent every weekend visiting them, I had no idea that they were not protected. I loved watching and photographing them in the River and nearby lakes or while they grazed in the forest surrounding the River. And I was not alone.
When the U.S. Forest Service posted a notice that “their” wild horses would be removed, the local people fought back and the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group was born. ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
On July 31, 2015, The U.S. Forest Service posted a notice that they would remove the "feral" horses from the Salt River and sell them at public auction.
The announcement shocked everyone. But the local people didn't give up 'their' wild horses without a fight! They got together and held rallies, involved the press, and a group of citizens formed the not-for-profit Salt River Wild Horse Management Group.
They successfully lobbied the Arizona state government. On May 11, 2016, Arizona House Bill 2340 passed, protecting the horses and paving the way for a government to partner with a private organization, the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (S.R.W.H.M.G.), to manage them.
All of us who love the wild horses breathed a big sign of relief.
Today the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group works with the state and local government to care for the needs the wild horses. ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Today, the S.R.W.H.M.G. is under contract with the Arizona Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest service, rescues and rehabilitates injured wild horses, operates emergency feed protocols because of the ongoing drought, deals with fencing issues and many other aspects of keeping the horses and people safe.
They, and many other wild horse advocacy groups are also working on a humane the fertility-control program, a key component of sustainable population management.
Most experts agree that a humane fertility-control program is the best way to balance the populations and ensure their continuation in the wild. ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven The Salt River Wild Horse Management Area, Tonto National Forest, Arizona
Most local citizen-run organizations like the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, work with and assist the underfunded, understaffed B.L.M. in managing the herds.
While I don't personally agree with their every decision, these groups provide hope that the iconic wild horses, the spirit of our American West, will continue to run free for generations to come.
More Good News for the Horses
These stallions compete for top position in the herd, unaware that they have a possible new advocate in the government. ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven The Salt River Wild Horse Management Area, Tonto National Forest, Arizona
This year, wild horses and other wildlife won a critical ally in the confirmation of Deb Haaland as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, long an advocate for nature and the environment.
Even so, leading wild horse advocates wasted no time underscoring their plight. More than 70 organizations and 60 individuals immediately signed a letter to Haagland urging her toward safe management methods.
Protect Wild Horses and Other Wildlife – By Having Fun
Plan to visit the wild horses in one of the gorgeous herd management areas. The best way to protect wildlife (including feral horses) is make them economically valuable. Your visit brings hope for their survival. ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven. The Salt River Wild Horse Management Area, Tonto National Forest, Arizona
One of the best ways anyone can help protect the wildlife we love is to see it in its natural habitat. Stay a few days in a local lodge, try the special at a local cafe. Hire a local guide and explore the area's unique nature. Take a few pictures, get to know the people. Tell them why you there. It reminds them that they live among and are the guardians of something with value, something irreplaceable.
When you bring your tourist dollars directly to local communities, you prove the value of its wildlife and the pristine environment it needs – that we humans need - to survive.
Want to experience America’s iconic mustangs in the wild? Give us a shout. Subject line: Wild Horses!
A Few Local Groups Working to Conserve America's Iconic Wild Horses.
Arizona: The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
California: Return to Freedom, Wild Horse Conservation
Colorado: Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin
Idaho: Wild Love Preserve
Wyoming: Friends of a Legacy (F.O.A.L)
