Wild Horses: A Connection to Our Past

A recent assignment to photograph wild horses that roam free near Heber-Overgaard moved me in a way I didn't expect. After traveling in a 4-wheel-drive truck for several hours, our party of five, including horse advocate Mary Hauser, finally came upon a group of three young stallions. This is a small part of what Arizona Republic reporter Brenna Goth wrote about the experience:

"Three young chestnut, black and chocolate-colored stallions from the wild herd that roams the forest here spent a recent Friday morning lazing in a clearing, offering no clarity on where they came from. The animals — known by their backers as the Heber wild horses — have drawn support from residents, visitors, and an Arizona congressman who say they were born in the wild and should stay there as a federally protected symbol of the West."

But the U.S. Forest Service says few of the horses, whose exact herd size is under survey, are actually descended from the original free-roaming creatures. Instead, the agency argues that lost and abandoned horses have proliferated on public land to the point that the population needs to be controlled.

Rumors of a roundup have swirled in these small Navajo County communities on the Mogollon Rim, where about 2,800 people live. Trucks in the forest, helicopters overhead, and unanswered questions led some to fear capture of the animals was imminent.

Mary Hauser, 61, printed red, white, and blue fliers, reading, "THEY NEED OUR HELP!!!!" for the restaurant bulletin boards and shop doors here. Hauser, who has been tracking the horses for years, said she has distributed 500 fliers since September.

"Our American spirit spikes up," she said.

I couldn't help but feel that I was looking at remnants from the Old West, from the days of wide open, unexplored lands that were inhabited by Native American tribes and their horses.

I wondered if these three young stallions were descendants of horses ridden hundreds of years ago by Indian warriors, or even, perhaps, a chief or two. It was like looking into the past.

Originally Posted By The Arizona Republic