Films & Videos / HORSES / Videos

The Fight to Save the Wild Horses of the American West

by Jennie Richards · Published November 1, 2018 · Updated March 19, 2019

Wild mustang horses are a symbol of the great American West and are our American heritage. But America’s wild mustangs are being rounded up by the American government, corralled at tax-payer’s expense, and sold to slaughterhouses for horse meat that is exported to Japan and Europe. But one woman is fighting valiantly to keep these magnificent animals and our heritage horses, wild and free. Watch this six-minute video by The New Yorker about how one woman is trying to change the plight and fate of America’s magnificent wild horses.

Read the article by The New Yorker: A New Documentary Seeks to Capture the Plight of America’s Wild Horses

Film Launch: January 2018

Film Length: 6:22 Minutes

To help advocate for wild horses, visit: American Wild Horse Campaign at www.americanwildhorsecampaign.org

Some Statistics

Every year, kill buyers funnel more than a hundred thousand American horses into the horse-meat trade, for slaughter outside of the U.S. in Mexico and Canada.

Today there are 60,000 wild horses being held in federally run holding facilities.

President Trump’s proposed budget for 2018 seeks to institute the federally funded slaughter of those horses.

Quotes from the Film

“We’re on the verge of losing not only America’s wild horses, but the land they stand on – and it will be gone before they even know it.”

“It amazed me something could be born free and wild, and at the end of the day, we send it off to a horrific death in Mexico.”

“When I asked about why we are doing this, they said, ‘We do this for their own good.’ I understood that kind of language, I understood that kind of justification.’”

“The only way to fight this is document, document, document.”

“I learned how to write litigation, I was gum on their shoe—and I won every case.”

“Well, I have done something that no one else has done, as a homeless woman, with no money.”

“If we lose wild horses in the wild, it’s an indication of what we human beings have become.”

“I’m not going away, if there’s a herd out there that I can fight for—I will.”

Learn More About Wild Horse Roundups by the U.S. Government

Watch the short film, Free Spirits, Saving America’s Wild Horses, by Joseph Piner

Watch the short film, North America’s Wild Horses, by Jan Delaport

Read A Brief History of the public lands, the BLM and cattle grazing, The Wildlife News

The New York Times, Retro Report Film, Wild Horses: No Home on the Range– A good history of wild horses in the U.S.

BLM Plan to Round Up 6,000 Wild Horses from Public Lands Assailed, American Wild Horse Campaign, 2018

The Future of America’s Wild Horses: The Options, by National Geographic

About the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971

Listen to Saving America’s Wild Horses, on TEDx Talks (about Arizona’s Salt River horses)

THE HISTORY

Wild Free-Roaming American Mustangs

America’s wild horses descended from the domestic colonial horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish and European explorers in the early 1500s. They could once be found throughout much of the American West, west of the Mississippi River, and may have numbered as high as two million by the 1850s. But since the mid 1900s, wild mustangs have been in decline due to ranchers living on government-owned and private land, using the land to graze domestic cattle and sheep, who don’t want the horses competing for the land or grass. Ranchers have long battled against America’s wild mustangs, shooting and killing them in large numbers, to have more grazing land for their cattle and sheep. Other horses have been captured from the range for human use, and others still have been sold for slaughter – exported as horse meat for Japan and Europe. America’s wild mustangs are considered feral horses that have highly developed and extremely strong social structures and their family and social bonds are life long.

1959 – WILD HORSE ANNIE ACT

In 1959, Congress passed the “Wild Horse Annie Act” (PL86-234) to provide for the humane treatment of wild horses on federal lands. Velma Johnston, known as “Wild Horse Annie” is the iconic figure associated with the movement, but did no act alone in her efforts. Hundreds, even thousands of citizens across the country, were active in wild horse advocacy. Some of them just as outspoken and influential as Annie.

1971 – WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT

The National Adopt-A-Horse and Burro Program was initiated by the BLM. Congress amends the 1971 Act to allow gathers by helicopters. The horses and burros available for adoption come from overpopulated Herd Management Areas where vegetation and water can become scarce if too many animals, including wildlife and livestock, use the area. Ranchers grazing cattle, have long advocated against America’s wild horses and politically have strong lobbyists fighting at the federal and state level for their specific interests, and encourage the horse roundups, as they compete for grass with rancher’s cattle.

2001 – MUSTANG HERITAGE FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED

The Mustang Heritage Foundation was established to facilitate successful adoptions for America’s mustangs that were rounded up and placed in holding pens. Since 2007, the Mustang Heritage Foundation has placed nearly 10,000 BLM held mustangs into private care through training and gentling programs.

2009 – CARING FOR AMERICA’S WILD HORSES

In October 2009, the Secretary of the Interior in the Obama Administration announced a national initiative to create a sustainable and cost-efficient Wild Horse and Burro Program. The goal of the initiative was to reduce the number of unadopted wild mustangs and burros in short-term corrals and long-term pastures, reduce the costs to the American taxpayer for their care and conservation, and protect and manage the heritage animals in the West for future generations.