Free-Roaming Horses: Symbols of the Untamed American West

Free-roaming horses have long been a symbol of the untamed history of the American West. These majestic animals, thriving in the sagebrush and juniper country, face a complex future intertwined with land-use policies and conservation efforts. This article explores the challenges and collaborative efforts to manage wild horse populations while preserving their natural habitat.

Challenges Facing Free-Roaming Horses

Several centuries after they first began to proliferate across the vast rangelands of the American West, the fate of free-roaming bands of horses is bound up in complex land-use policy goals. These competing interests range from domestic livestock grazing to climate change, eroding wildlife habitat, ethical treatment of animals, and the federal budget.

Wild horse author and photographer John A. Wagner, of Dinosaur, has been studying Northwest Colorado’s wild horses for most of his life. He fears there will come a day when no wild horses will be left, except for those in sanctuaries. “I have been traipsing the Sand Wash Basin for over 60 years, and I have been observing and photographing the wild horses in their own habitat. It is an experience that will last forever in my heart,” he said. “If a wild horse is adopted and tamed, then that horse is no longer a wild horse. It is a tamed horse. Only horses that run free on the open range are wild horses.”

Conservation Efforts and Population Management

The hard reality, according to conservationists and federal land managers, is that, left unchecked, wild horse populations, which can grow at a rate of 20 percent per year, have the capacity to eat themselves into starvation while irreversibly damaging the range. Callie Hendrickson, executive director of both the White River and Douglas Creek conservation districts, expressed concerns about the impact of increasing horse populations on native vegetation.

Yet, wild horse advocates are also collaborating with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to find ways to reduce overpopulated herds humanely. Aleta Wolf, program director for the Sand Wash Advocacy Team, said her volunteers collaborate with BLM personnel to manage the wild horse population in Sand Wash. They keep records of the population of each band of horses and even train as volunteers to inoculate the horses with infertility vaccines.

Conflicting Views and Future Prospects

Longtime rural Routt County resident Connie Wagner understands the conflict surrounding the future of wild horse herds. She grew up on a cattle ranch but has also participated in efforts to manage wild horse populations through fertility control. “It’s hard,” Wagner said. “But I just fell in love with these horses.”

While livestock growers often view the horses as undermining their ranching operations, federal land managers worry the forage on arid public lands has already been damaged beyond the point of no return. Hendrickson believes it's important for federal land managers to exercise the original intent of the 1971 Wild Horses and Burros Act, which allows for euthanizing some horses under specific circumstances to maintain healthy populations.

Conclusion

The BLM acknowledges it has fallen behind its established Appropriate Management Levels. As of March 1, the total estimated population of wild equids in the United States was 58,150 animals, representing an 18 percent increase from 2014. Under current policy, removing more horses from the range would only inflate the costs of warehousing formerly wild horses in pastures far from their birthplaces.

The original 1971 Wild Horse Act requires humane management of wild horses, but Congress has blocked the slaughter of excess wild horses with routine funding bills. The BLM maintains a policy not to sell or send any wild horses or burros to slaughterhouses. As such, there is no permanent remedy in sight for the fate of wild horses.

Originally Posted By Steamboat Today