Keep the Wild Horses Wild
Keep the Wild Horses Wild
Back in April I took the opportunity to go out into the west desert of Utah and photograph the wild horses. This was an amazing experience, as I said in this post.
Since then, I have been waiting until we could take a few days and go camp near the horses. I have also been doing a lot of reading, and have become engaged with some wild horse preservation pages on facebook. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is especially active, and is great at spreading relevant news. They are trying to keep the wild horses wild, through education, petitions to stop the roundups, and stopping the sterilization of mares. Most specifically the sterilization of the mares is inhumane, dangerous, and in my opinion, unethical. The Bureau of Land (MIS) Management feels there are too many horses for them to be healthy. I feel this is complete crap. Where I have gone in the west desert there are miles, upon miles, upon miles of open grass lands. This trip we saw 2 herds, that were about 15 miles apart. One herd has around 100-120 horses, the other around 60. There is more than enough feed for this many horses. Another photographer out there told me there are some small bands scattered around, but certainly not enough to make a difference.
There were some incredibly cute foals. This little one had a bird friend.
The thing that angers me the very most about the wild horse issue is the ranchers. They want the ground for their smelly cows, and feel the horses are competition for the cows food. But this is public land. My land, your land, I don’t want cows on my land. What gives them the right to graze their cows on our land? If they want to raise cattle, they should buy their own land, then they can do whatever they want. Cows on public land has bugged me for years, and years. Go hiking, or camping somewhere and you better hope the cows aren’t there to ruin it for you. (And no, I don’t eat beef)
I feel it’s way more important to keep the wild horses wild for future generations. They are an icon of all that is wild and free, isn’t that important? Why spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money to round them up and imprison them in pens for the rest of their lives? How does this make sense when they can be free and not cost anybody, anything.
If I win the lottery, I will buy a giant tract of land, adopt all the wild horses that are trapped in BLM pens, and set them free.
Ok, I’m going to step down off my soapbox now, and share a few of the 2000 photos I took. I will do another post with more photos another day, I’m trying to sift through them all.
To observe the herd and their family dynamics, plus the hierarchy they obviously observe is fascinating. I will have more on that in the next post though.
I called this guy Mr. Bag of Chips, because he thought he was all that. He was challenging the other stallions, and was quite the instigator.
Sometimes, it didn’t go as planned for him.
But he gave it his all.
This foal couldn’t have been more than a day or two. Mom was very protective of him and kept him away from us, and the herd. This stallion stayed right near her too. Clearly he was the dad, and was protecting both mom and baby.
He wanted her near the rest of the herd, but she was having none of it.
This little pinto has a horse pattern on him, can you see it?
I had an interesting perspective of this one.
It was a great couple of days, and we are already planning on another trip before we head to Wyoming for the summer.
What’s your opinion on the wild horses?
I think the BLM is in a tough position; they have to enforce current policies which require allowing ‘free range’ land to have cattle on it. In that kind of eco-system each animal requires many acres of grazing land to be healthy – I’m impressed with how good the horses you photographed look and part of that probably is due to BLM making sure there aren’t too many ‘animals’ of any kind grazing. I certainly don’t want to see the horses pushed out for cattle. But I also don’t want to see horses starving in hard winters because there is no management or oversight.
They are in a tough position, and I wish they would look at what they are doing. Horses graze like all wild animals. They eat for a day or so in one spot, then move on. So nothing is over grazed. Cattle aren’t that smart. Of course I would never want to see any animal starve for lack of food, it is a tough place for everything, and everyone.
Grazing isn’t about brains :-) It’s about number of mouths trying to get by on available food. All animals given a choice would move as grazing and select the best tasting, tender grass. Part of the natural cycle is also starvation during lean years, and predation. Humans have interfered with the cycle; we pushed out and killed bison to make way for cattle. Now horses are also pushed out for cattle. As long as cattle grazing is a reality, however, if numbers of animals aren’t managed there will be destruction of the grazing land and returning to starvation is inevitable. To keep wild horses means lobbying to limit cattle; but we’re also beyond a point where horses can reproduce without oversight unless we accept the other “natural” parts of that cycle, starvation during dry seasons, and predation on young, old, weak animals by wolves and cougars.
I really appreciate you sharing your opinion here. Every story has many sides, and all of them need to be discussed and looked at. As a wise friend once told me, every story has two sides and the truth is somewhere in the middle. I can only speak for the horses I have seen. They are healthy and have so much ground. Maybe in other areas this is not the case. Perhaps the BLM should have a state by state policy, instead of a blanket one.
Mary, I totally agree with you. The first time I heard of this, I actually saw footage of how these horses are wrangled; they were frightened, angry, the little ones crying for their mothers from whom there were instantly separated. It goes without saying that I wept. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and a person like you or me feels helpless as we watch this inhumane and selfish act. You are SO RIGHT; it would cost us nothing to let them run free on the land that is theirs. But of course, big industry has the power to do what they want. Why can’t they just buy their own land and limit their production to that space? Because they want EVERYTHING.
Your photos are just GORGEOUS. Oh Mary, you know how I love horses. That darling PINTO with his own “tatoo” of himself on his back! HAHAHAHAHHHAHA oh Lord, I love these beasts….
That stallion is full of it, isn’t he! LOVE.
Well Mary, what is to come of our country, our world? We imprison nature, we eventually imprison ourselves.
Thank you for being YOU, a lover of the earth.
It always comes down to greed and wanting it all, doesn’t it? Watching the family dynamics, and how the moms protected their babies, I can’t even imagine the terror a round up creates. I’m glad you love the photos, more to come.
I cross my paws for the wild horses… they are like an emblem of freedom and I hope there is a solution between the ranchers and the horses…. I love the photo of the horse and the bird… what a fabulous shot!!!
Thanks, we all need to cross paws and hands for the horses. That shot with the bird was totally unexpected. I didn’t know the bird was there until I got the photo on my computer. Bonus!
We aren’t much into horses, and actually, Mom is a fan of cows. She loves cows. But the wild horse photos are gorgeous. They are very majestic animals.
They are majestic, and thanks.
Hello, this is an awesome post on the wild horses. I agree I think they should stay wild, I would be sad to see them in pens locked up. Your photos are amazing, well done.
Have a happy day and weekend ahead!
Thanks so much.
I am SO with you on the wild horse issue. It’s upset me for a long time, but now that you’ve given the link to that active group, I’m going to follow it and if there are any petitions to be signed in favor of the horses, I’ll be signing. It makes me sick to hear about man’s total disrespect for and cruel intervention with wildlife of all types. It seems to me that humans never learn from previous mistakes, they just keep committing them over and over again on larger scales. It’s greed over right. Don’t even start me – I have a HUGE soapbox on that. Anyway, your photos are gorgeous. I can’t get over how you captured that stallion with his teeth bared and the foal checking out the flying bird! And I love the protective family, that’s so sweet. I love wild horses, their markings are always so interesting. Every pic is beautiful.
That’s the bad thing about people isn’t it, they never learn. I too have a big soap box, obviously. Lol. And thanks, I’m glad you like the photos.
I am looking forward to more horse photos!!!!! I went to a dahlia farm this past weekend with my husband. There were two horses there, one a pony, the other, a gentle white mare. WE FELL IN LOVE. She was kind to us, nuzzled up to us. I have a photo of her on my Instagram account. Come over to see her!
Greed. It will have its final day Mary. It will.
Gorgeous pics. I love wild horses!
Nina
I’m with you, let them be free on our land and tell the ranchers to hose off.
I’m not educated enough to have an opinion on this but I think your pictures are amazingly gorgeous! I love how you can capture all of that!
I don’t know a lot about it, but from what you have told us, I completely agree with you. I don’t understand the concept of cows grazing on public land. IF that land wasn’t used for anything else, fine, but if they’re trying to move out the natural native horses to do so, then that is completely wrong.
What wonderful photos you shared…it is so cool to see the horses in the wild.
I’m with you completely on this one, Mary. It’s been a longtime gripe of mine that public lands are used for private herds of cattle. Now compound that with rounding up wild horses because they supposedly compete for food. Oh, that’s right, the BLM (Bureau of Livestock and Mining) doesn’t make money from the horses. Can I help you buy some lottery tickets?
I like your name for the BLM, that’s about it, isn’t it. As a fellow outdoors person, you probably run into the same thing with cows on public land. It’s always such a treat to go camping or hiking were they are. Ugh. And yes, all lottery ticket buying is appreciated.
Thank you for bringing attention to this issue Mary. I have shared on my page. I am just scared to think these wonderful animals will be gone some day soon.
Hello Mary, your wild horse iamges are fantastic. I appreciate you linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!