If your Monday was anything like my Monday, my sympathies are with you. FYI - we're on the road again, which will undoubtedly equate to sporadic posts as I juggle all the fun!
Now, on to today's marvelous post.
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Reno, the “Biggest Little City in the World,” has the biggest little heart when it comes to wild horses. Nevada is home to more than half of the 38,000 mustangs currently running free in eleven states in the Wild West.
It’s amazing what I learn travelling in my own back yard. The Virginia Range herd in southeast Reno numbers 1,400 strong, although the day I got the chance to see these living legends of the Old West during a holiday visit with family, I counted maybe a dozen in all that had trickled down the mountain in search of food.
Little did I know these mustangs were at the center of one of the Wild West’s biggest battles of the twenty-first century.
Now, on to today's marvelous post.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Reno, the “Biggest Little City in the World,” has the biggest little heart when it comes to wild horses. Nevada is home to more than half of the 38,000 mustangs currently running free in eleven states in the Wild West.
It’s amazing what I learn travelling in my own back yard. The Virginia Range herd in southeast Reno numbers 1,400 strong, although the day I got the chance to see these living legends of the Old West during a holiday visit with family, I counted maybe a dozen in all that had trickled down the mountain in search of food.
Little did I know these mustangs were at the center of one of the Wild West’s biggest battles of the twenty-first century.
No battle for these steeds, unless it's who gets to take the lead.
With the hustle and hoopla of the holidays behind us, Jimmy and I had embraced the crisp, clear alpine morning with Jimmy’s daughter Rachel as guide. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of Rachel's equine neighbors.
I want this view!
“They’re wild horses, is all I know,” Rachel offered as we made our way to a vacant stretch of land adjacent to her Reno neighborhood where she and her husband Brian have been living for the last two and a half years. The mustangs (a word deriving from the Spanish mustengo, which means ownerless beast) often grazed in that patch of pasture.
I knew even less when it came to horses, wild or otherwise. What I did know I’d gleaned years ago as an adolescent while reading Anna Sewell’s popular book, Black Beauty. I’d also watched Elizabeth Taylor learn to care for and ride her spirited gelding, “Pie,” from the movie National Velvet, but without the fame and fortune of a twelve-year-old child star, I’d had to put any chance of a horse in my life out to pasture years ago.
Standing there on the Virginia Range admiring this icon of American spirit and freedom, what I knew about the controversy surrounding these mustangs amounted to little more than horse chips.
I knew even less when it came to horses, wild or otherwise. What I did know I’d gleaned years ago as an adolescent while reading Anna Sewell’s popular book, Black Beauty. I’d also watched Elizabeth Taylor learn to care for and ride her spirited gelding, “Pie,” from the movie National Velvet, but without the fame and fortune of a twelve-year-old child star, I’d had to put any chance of a horse in my life out to pasture years ago.
Standing there on the Virginia Range admiring this icon of American spirit and freedom, what I knew about the controversy surrounding these mustangs amounted to little more than horse chips.
Hello there, fella! Nice to meet you.
Weeks later, with the voluminous details of this controversy at my disposal, I couldn’t stop thinking about those beautiful wild horses.
Two million had roamed free in 1900; over the next fifty years their numbers dropped considerably as the horses were captured and domesticated for private and military use, others killed for sport. Some were slaughtered to make glue, pet food or pony furs; some went to foreign markets for consumption. Horse meat is regularly eaten in France, Sweden and Japan. Oh, dear! That’s a horse of a very different color.
These feral descendants of the 16th century steeds the Spanish conquistadors brought to North America had dwindled to 17,000 by the time Reno secretary and horse lover Velma Johnston pressured the U.S. government to prohibit the use of aircraft and motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses. In 1959, passage of “The Wild Horse Annie Act” effectively reduced the capture and slaughter of these “wild symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of America.”
In 1971, the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burros Act put the cost of protecting and managing these living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West in the hands of the taxpayers. Those costs are predicted to reach $1 billion by 2030 as the numbers of protected horses continues to rise.
Keeping the mustang population at a “natural ecological balance” that allows both man and wild horse room to roam the 34 million acres designated public land (in 1971, when the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act became law, 80 million acres had been designated public land to be shared by farmers’ livestock and wild horses) means every year about 9,000 mustangs are captured and warehoused in tax-payer funded short and long-term holding facilities, most for the rest of their lives. About 45,000 wild horses are currently living in captivity with another 37,000 running free, the largest numbers concentrated in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Environmentalists find it difficult to imagine wild horses living out their lives fenced in. They argue that too many of those wild horses warehoused eventually find their way to slaughter houses. One in three wild horses rounded up as surplus do find adoptive homes, although those numbers have dropped following the economic downturn in recent years.
Two million had roamed free in 1900; over the next fifty years their numbers dropped considerably as the horses were captured and domesticated for private and military use, others killed for sport. Some were slaughtered to make glue, pet food or pony furs; some went to foreign markets for consumption. Horse meat is regularly eaten in France, Sweden and Japan. Oh, dear! That’s a horse of a very different color.
These feral descendants of the 16th century steeds the Spanish conquistadors brought to North America had dwindled to 17,000 by the time Reno secretary and horse lover Velma Johnston pressured the U.S. government to prohibit the use of aircraft and motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses. In 1959, passage of “The Wild Horse Annie Act” effectively reduced the capture and slaughter of these “wild symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of America.”
In 1971, the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burros Act put the cost of protecting and managing these living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West in the hands of the taxpayers. Those costs are predicted to reach $1 billion by 2030 as the numbers of protected horses continues to rise.
Keeping the mustang population at a “natural ecological balance” that allows both man and wild horse room to roam the 34 million acres designated public land (in 1971, when the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act became law, 80 million acres had been designated public land to be shared by farmers’ livestock and wild horses) means every year about 9,000 mustangs are captured and warehoused in tax-payer funded short and long-term holding facilities, most for the rest of their lives. About 45,000 wild horses are currently living in captivity with another 37,000 running free, the largest numbers concentrated in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Environmentalists find it difficult to imagine wild horses living out their lives fenced in. They argue that too many of those wild horses warehoused eventually find their way to slaughter houses. One in three wild horses rounded up as surplus do find adoptive homes, although those numbers have dropped following the economic downturn in recent years.
I'm definitely a wild filly (okay, mare). I hate being fenced in.
Opponents contend overgrazing can lead to erosion and water pollution and make way for pesky invasive species like cheatgrass. Such ecological damage causes food and water shortages for the horses as well as the sage grouse, bighorn sheep, elk and domestic cattle that share their pastures. Strip away the layers, and money almost always rises to surface of too many controversies.
The words of Lisa LeBlanc, a volunteer for the Nevada non-profit organization, Wild Horse Education, dedicated to protecting America’s wild horses from abuse, slaughter and extinction, resonated for me.
"Nearly everything in America is owned or leased by someone; every piece of forage or timber, every wild animal, every hard rock or open space has the potential to generate income. Among the last bastions of true freedom - those things owned by all Americans equally - are Public Lands and Wild Equines. Each can be viewed and enjoyed absolutely without cost: You may camp, respectfully, on America's wide open spaces and wildernesses, for free, any time or anywhere. And wild equines are the only living wildlife owned by no one and everyone - simply because they are protected American icons. There are no licenses issued to hunt them, no grazing fees collected - they are truly free in every sense and for all to enjoy and admire. Perhaps this is why wild equines, along with our remaining open spaces, are such serious objects of contention - because the only monetary value they generate is upon their removal or utility. With everything in America for sale to the highest bidder, foreign or domestic, shouldn't there be something preserved, something regarded for simple aesthetics? Does everything need a dollar value attached?"
The words of Lisa LeBlanc, a volunteer for the Nevada non-profit organization, Wild Horse Education, dedicated to protecting America’s wild horses from abuse, slaughter and extinction, resonated for me.
"Nearly everything in America is owned or leased by someone; every piece of forage or timber, every wild animal, every hard rock or open space has the potential to generate income. Among the last bastions of true freedom - those things owned by all Americans equally - are Public Lands and Wild Equines. Each can be viewed and enjoyed absolutely without cost: You may camp, respectfully, on America's wide open spaces and wildernesses, for free, any time or anywhere. And wild equines are the only living wildlife owned by no one and everyone - simply because they are protected American icons. There are no licenses issued to hunt them, no grazing fees collected - they are truly free in every sense and for all to enjoy and admire. Perhaps this is why wild equines, along with our remaining open spaces, are such serious objects of contention - because the only monetary value they generate is upon their removal or utility. With everything in America for sale to the highest bidder, foreign or domestic, shouldn't there be something preserved, something regarded for simple aesthetics? Does everything need a dollar value attached?"
Cha ching?
Opponents like to point to Australia (on my bucket list!), where the government is so desperate to reduce its population of 400,000 wild horses (feral horses are called brumbies in Australia) that it’s considering shooting tens of thousands of the horses.
Ironically, the Virginia Range horses I got the chance to see that morning in Reno belong to and are managed by the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA). Because the land the Virginia Range herd occupies is not public land, the BLM is not responsible for protecting and managing this particular herd.
The animal rights group Return to Freedom (RTF), a non-profit organization located in Lompoc, California works with the NDA to preserve and protect this particular herd of wild horses, handling everything from public safety and traffic issues, to private and federal property concerns. RTF has the right to purchase all Virginia Range horses collected by the NDA for public safety purposes at $100 per horse on an as-is basis. RTF manages adoption programs to help defray the costs associated with rescuing the Virginia Range wild horses.
Ironically, the Virginia Range horses I got the chance to see that morning in Reno belong to and are managed by the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA). Because the land the Virginia Range herd occupies is not public land, the BLM is not responsible for protecting and managing this particular herd.
The animal rights group Return to Freedom (RTF), a non-profit organization located in Lompoc, California works with the NDA to preserve and protect this particular herd of wild horses, handling everything from public safety and traffic issues, to private and federal property concerns. RTF has the right to purchase all Virginia Range horses collected by the NDA for public safety purposes at $100 per horse on an as-is basis. RTF manages adoption programs to help defray the costs associated with rescuing the Virginia Range wild horses.
I love their white socks!
In hindsight, I’m glad I knew nothing of the controversy the day of our equine visit. In the wide open spaces of America’s Wild West, I’d felt nothing but pride for our heritage watching this living icon of all we’ve deemed precious roaming wild and free.
I'll probably still be around in 2030. The bigger issue: how many wild horses will still be running wild?
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