Home on the Range
If home is where your heart is then my home is on the range. The vast layout of untamed, rugged landscapes, placed before me like a welcome mat, embraces me like an old friend, welcoming me home.
I love the textures of the sage brush, cactuses, grasses, and other vegetation that carpets the desolate grounds of the desert.
I love the layering of fat & fluffy clouds, sitting atop a sometimes spooky sky.
I love the soft, muted earth tones that radiate tranquility throughout the wild horse range,
I love the steep, jagged hills with deep crevices, that frame the desert floor.
I love the striping of purples, reds, greens, and oranges of towering mountain ranges & buttes, spanning the horizon, painting a beautiful backdrop for this place the wild horses call home.
I love the leading lines engraved in the steep slopes, cliffs and canyons, providing order and symmetry to an otherwise chaotic environment.
This is the place that ignites me with energy.
This is the place that calms me.
This is the paradox of the wild horse range.
Every day was a new adventure & gifted us with something new, whether it be newly discovered areas, such as the rocky outcropping and cliffs in the Whistle Creek area
.....or an enchanting watering hole hugged by golden grasses and topped off with a panoramic view of snow capped mountains,
.....or weather conditions that were strikingly different from the day before
.....or stunning colors in the sky right around sunrise
...or evening silhouettes
...or a new baby,
.....or a mare getting separated from her band by a stretch of fencing on the range and the stallion showing her where to go to be able to cross over and join them,
.....or watching as a mare and her band members cross back over the creek to awaken and retrieve a sleeping baby and chasing her til she crossed the creek. (I could just hear the lead stallion saying, “Stay with us and don’t ever sleep in again!”}
Every day, every setting, & every band presented us with more than we could have hoped for!
Just when we thought it couldnt get any better, it got better!
This is the kind of stuff I dream about at night!
The wild horse range encompasses 109,814 acres of land (15 miles). Some areas are accessible by car with high clearance and 4 wheel drive, other areas can only be accessed by foot. Weather conditions, which change rapidly in the Peaks, can make the roads unable to be navigated even by a 4 wheel drive vehicle. In some areas you can see the highway (Wild Horse Highway) and other areas are remote and isolated. It's easy to forget there's a real world that exists outside the range. There's no better place to escape from the noise and chatter of busy living. At times I found myself in remote areas and felt as though the only living creatures left on the planet were the wild horses and me. Id sit and watch, always ready to snap a special moment or some action between the horses, but easily lulled into an almost hypnotic state by the soothing sounds of the wild ones nearby.
This is the stuff that brings me to life, that awakens every cell in my body, that sets a fire beneath my feet and makes me sit back and think to myself, "It is well with my soul."
Wild horses are truly a remarkable animal. Photographing them gives me an opportunity to observe them in an intimate way. For the duration of my visit with them, I am a first hand witness to their survival, challenges, pain, and play. It is an awe-inspiring yet humbling experience to be a guest in their home.
The mustangs who call the McCullough Peaks home are an extraordinary herd indeed! The splash of colors seen from a distance dotting the base of a mountain is stunning!
Where did these horses come from? That is something that always intrigues me: the story behind the wild horses. Based on my research, the ancestors of these mustangs had been released or escaped from Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. More horses joined the herd as their descendants escaped from early settlers, Indians, and the U.S. Calvary. You know about Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, right? Reportedly he let his Wild West Show herd loose in the McCullough Peaks when he was not touring from 1883-1906. How cool is that? In addition to all this exciting information, DNA analysis established a connection with one of the Queen of England’s stock that was a gift to Cody!
The wild horses are under the protection of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, is the government agency responsible for ensuring they are protected. A formula is used to determine how many horses can be supported by the land where they live. Often it seems the number they have formulated is far lower than necessary. That finding is reported by the Academy of Science.
But why would the BLM want to remove the number of horses exceeding their 'optimal' number? The prevailing belief is because the BLM benefits from reduced numbers of horses on these public lands because they lease the same land to cattle ranchers and sheep herders who do not want the horses grazing on the lands they are paying to use, because, they assert the horses are stripping the land of its grazing reserves. This argument, that the wild horses are stripping the land of its grazing potential is not substantiated by scientific facts according to the Academy of Science and numerous wildlife biologists. Furthermore, one of the benefits of protecting the wild horses on these public lands is actually related to the nature of their grazing. The explanation is that the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act recognized the benefits of these animals (wild horses) to vegetation. Horses do not eat the entire blade of grass from the root. Due to their nature of having upper and lower incisors, they clip the grass as they graze. The organic material survives as it passes through the horse’s digestive track (post-gastric system) so their waste actually reseeds and fertilizes the land! Cattle, on the other hand, do not have these upper teeth, and so pull the grass up by the roots with their tongues. Their waste has less organic matter preserved due to their pre-gastric digestive system so they do not have the same benefits to the soil with reseeding and fertilizing!
The numbers of privately owned cattle grazing on these western public lands is approximately 2-3 MILLION. The numbers of wild horses and burros (wildlife just like elk, moose, bears, etc...) is between approximately 27-78,000. The number of wild horses is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of privately owned cattle.
While I understand the need to control the numbers of wild horses that can be supported by the land, it saddens me that the number of horses determined is not grounded in science and free from the influence of a lucrative partnership between the BLM and the ranchers (ranchers who have no interest in obeying Federal law.) It also saddens me that proven safe and effective methods are not always used, even though they are available and used effectively by many horse management areas. Instead, cruel roundups are often the go to method for controlling the wild horse population. What happens to the wild horses once they are rounded up? You may think they are kept in a nice grassy pasture with access to a clean barn. You may think they are being rescued from a horrible existence. But this is not necessarily so. Even if there is a happy ending for the horse, it is wrong (in my opinion) to use BARBARIC methods that can create injury, death, separation of family members and trauma in rounding them up. Yes, many horses do get purchased by kind people. Yes, many (not sure numbers) are trained and turn out to be extremely athletic performance horses or pleasure horses. But the trauma the horses have to go through during the barbaric style of round up (helicopter) is a great price paid for without choice by the animal. I am disturbed by the wild horses who aren't so lucky: the older ones, the hard to handle ones, the injured or sick ones. They didn't ask to be captured. They legally had a right to be on their range. They are protected by Federal Law. They only know their wild life. According to the American Wild Horse Campaign, "Wild horses and burros who survive roundups are stockpiled in government holding facilities. Those who can’t be adopted or auctioned off are sentenced to a lifetime of being warehoused in long-term holding facilities. At the worst, wild horses end up in the slaughter pipeline." They further state, "Approximately 80 million taxpayer dollars fund this mismanaged program, annually."
In some cases, the BLM works cooperatively with the thousands upon thousands of advocates and volunteers. Every herd management area is different and in some cases the horses do need to be removed. But I propose they be removed safely. Not with helicopters and only in situations where darting birth control wouldn't be feasible. These are wild animals and we need to be the least intrusive possible.
Anytime you get 100-150 horses together including stallions, numerous bands (or 'families'), mares with new babies, young stallions, and all the different individual temperaments therein, you are going to have fights, sparring, posturing, playing, running, baring of teeth, and kicking. And we were witness to all of the above!
To the uninformed person, horses are just animals devoid of emotion. But a person who has spent any amount of time observing these mustangs will vouch that these animals do have relationships with each other. They have strong bonds. So strong in fact that a stallion will defend to his death his little family. They show preferences for different temperaments among the band members. It is obvious when one horse is annoyed with another horse or irritated, or seeks out the company of another band member. It is obvious that some horses are more extroverted and even annoying with their perpetual exuberance and testing of boundaries. I am not trying to assign my human traits to an animal. Perhaps love, loyalty, sadness, happiness, are the wrong word choices to apply to an animal. I dont know. But its the only words I have as a human being to describe what I witness among these horses. And what I witness is a range of emotions. My perspective with the wild mustangs is no different than any other person who has an animal living with them and will swear that cat or dog expresses grief, joy, and attachment to them. I don't understand why there is a general opinion that wild horses are nuisances and it is justified to use a helicopter to terrorize them, sending them into a running frenzy, a run for their very lives, a run that separates mares from their babies, a run that separates band (family) members, a run that causes falls resulting in broken bones, a run that pushes an older stallion, weakened from old injuries, perhaps disabled to some degree, to run to his death, a run to captivity, a nasty crowded holding pen where fights between long standing rivals breaks out and babies and their mothers shrink under their enslavement. As stated beautifully by the American Wild Horse Campaign, "Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, a federal law to protect wild horses and burros from “capture, branding, harassment, and death.” Declared “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.”
I rest my case.
Equus Caballus by Wylie & the Wild West
I have run on middle fingernail through Eolithic morning
And I’ve thundered down the coach road with Revolution’s warning
I have carried countless errant knights who never found the grail
I have strained before the caissons, I’ve moved the nation’s mail
I’ve made knights of lowly tribesmen, kings from ranks of peons
I’ve given pride and arrogance to riding men for eons
I’ve grazed among the lodges, teepees and the yurts
Felt the sting of driving whips, lashes, spurs and quirts
I am roguish- I am flighty- inbred and lowly
I’m a nightmare gone wild I am
Gallant and exalted- stately and noble
I’m awesome- I am grand I am
The Horse
I have suffered gross indignities from users and winners
I’ve felt the touch of kindness from losers and sinners
I have given for the cruel hand and given for the kind
Heaved a sigh at Appomattox when surrender had been signed
I can be as tough as hardened steel- fragile as a flower
I know not my endurance I know not my own power
I have died with heart exploded beneath the cheering stands
Calmly stood below the hanging noose of vigilante bands
I am roguish- I am flighty- inbred and lowly
I’m a nightmare gone wild- I am…
Gallant and exalted- stately and noble
I’m awesome- I am grand- I am
the Horse
So I’ll run on middle fingernail until the curtain closes
I’ll win for you your triple crown I’ll wear for you your roses
Toward you who took my freedom I’ve no malice or remorse
I’ll endure I’ll last forever I am
The Horse