Are Mustangs Exotic, Native, or Neither?

Photo credit: http://vancouverscape.com/yukon-beringia-interpretive-centre/

Before I begin, there are a few things you must understand. First, the modern horse Equus caballos is one of several species under the genus Equus. Equus covers horses, asses (donkeys), and zebras. All three are separate species. Of horses, there are two surviving subspecies: Equus caballos and Equus ferus. The two subspecies are genetically and visibly different from each other, although they can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Most scientists (and myself) agree that Equus caballos was created through domestication. However, there is also an extinct third subspecies of horse: Equus lambei. Preserved remains of Equus lambei have been discovered and there is no visible difference between it and Equus caballos. Genetic testing has revealed that this horse - which is estimated to have gone extinct 10,000 - 6,000 years ago - is the most recent ancestor of our modern Equus caballos. Where did Equus lambei originate? North America.

In this journal I will discuss the evidence of pre-Columbian equine presence in North America. I will provide a variety and large number of sources for you to explore. There are two prevailing theories: The first is that single-toed horses (caballoid-type horses) never existed in North America at any point in history. The second theory is that Equus caballos appeared on its own and was present in North America until the point when Christopher Columbus sailed in 1492. As you will see, neither theory is correct.

 “The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America” by Craig C. Downer: article.sciencepublishinggroup…

 Craig C. Downer. The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America. American Journal of Life Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 1, 2014, pp. 5-23. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12

Single-toed horses originated in North America and went extinct around the end of the last Ice Age. Theories of the cause of the extinction include drought, disease, or a result of hunting by humans (early Native Americans). As you will see, the modern horse (Equus caballos) is most likely not native to North America, but evidence suggests that it is not an exotic species. Thus, perhaps the most accurate way to describe E. caballos' relation to North America is "familiar."

Summary of above paper: A common view is that the modern horse species (Equus caballos) is not native to North America and only appeared on the scene 500 years ago, but this article describes how caballoid-type horses are most likely native to North America, and were killed off by humans before being later reintroduced by the Spanish about 500 years ago. The article is written from an evolutionary point of view, but describes various fossils of equines that originated in North America. While the “millions of years” is debatable, the fossils are not. The evidence, including fossils, DNA, an actual frozen Equus lambei dating back 10,000 years, pre-Columbian cave paintings of horses, as well as Chinese writings from over 3,000 years ago describing horses resembling modern Appaloosas, indicates that the equine animal family originated in North America and spread outward, perhaps on ice bridges during the Ice Age (after the Flood, according to a Creationist perspective), or perhaps they were brought to other continents by humans. The Yukon Horse, as Equus lambei became known as, was outwardly identical to Equus caballos (and as ancient writing indicate, behaved identically to Equus caballos) was present in North America approximately 10,000 years ago, which indicates that the horse species originated in North America. The article ends by describing various ways that horses benefit the North American ecosystems.

For those who don't know, Equus lambei is an extinct subspecies of horse that is virtually identical to the modern Equus cabllos, and most biologists agree that Equus caballosis a direct descendant of Equus lambei. As such, the only difference between the modern wild horses living in North America and the ones that died out around 7,500 years ago is a minute DNA discrepancy. In the end, fossils of E. caballos have not yet been discovered in North America, but seeing as they are nearly identical to E. lambei, which is native to North America, then modern horses are actually very familiar to the North American landscape. While not a native subspecies of horse, Equus caballos is not exotic, either.

During the mid-1990s, horse remains were discovered by placer miners in the Yukon. They were well preserved in the permafrost and seemed to have died recently, yet proved to be approximately twenty-five thousand years old. Their rufous color, flaxen mane and solid hooves had the aspect of a typical, small and wiry mustang of the West. Based on external morphology, the specimen was identified as a “Yukon horse,” whose Latin name is Equus lambei. Intrigued, paleontologists conducted a genetic analysis of this specimen, which showed it to be one and the same as the modern horse: Equus caballus. Further independent analysis conclusively proved this. With this substantiation came a more widespread recognition of wild horses as returned native species in North America, since E. lambei was seen to be identical to E. caballus.

Here I came upon some fascinating petroglyphs dating from modern times to a few thousand years ago (Bureau of Land Management, Bishop California office, archeologist, pers. comm.). These artful designs had been painstakingly chiseled with hard tools on granite to form hypnotizing spirals, geometrical checkerboards, arrowheads, lances, strange anthrozooic (man-animal) figures, eagles, bighorn sheep with large, curved horns, and then, much to my amazement, a definite horse figure, without apparent rider, bridle, rope or saddle, rendered in simple rectilinear fashion – but with proportions unmistakably those of a horse. Judging from the brownish oxidation on the chiseling, this horse was not a recent addition to the ancient petroglyphs here. Scientific analysis of the patina of some of these petroglyphs has revealed ages up to 3,000 years. By visually comparing patina hues, I estimated this horse could be well over 1,000 years old.

An intriguing line of evidence that horses were present in America over 3,000 years before Columbus's arrival comes from Chinese writings. One manuscript dating from 2,200 B.C. indicates that the Chinese came to North America by sea at very early dates and described several animals occurring in Fu Sang, or the “Land to the East" [which refers to North America, according to modern cartographers]. Their descriptions match certain North American animals, including bighorn sheep and horses resembling the appaloosa.

While there is still debate over where horses originated, this paper certainly raises interesting questions. I'm curious: what did you think after reading it?

Craige C. Downer is a wildlife ecologist who specializes on Perissodactyl mammals: www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/d…, andeantapirfund.com/CraigCDown…, and is clearly qualified to write scientific articles: equinewelfarealliance.org/uplo…, academic.research.microsoft.co…

UPDATE #1: It has been brought to my attention that one of my incessant stalkers on here has been making Ad Hominem claims against Science Publishing Group in an attempt to discredit this article. Aside from the fact that the article was written by Craige C. Downer for the American Journal of Life Sciences (more information above) and not by or for Science Publishing Group, Ad Hominem attacks are a logical fallacy and therefore suggest that this individual is desperate. On top of that, this person's claims against Science Publishing Group (SPG) are baseless. I have looked into SPG myself, and they are merely an outlet for scientists of all fields to publish papers. They have no overarching worldview or agenda, other than to let scientists speak up. There are no scams or viruses on their homepage, as my stalker claims there are: www.sciencepublishinggroup.com… . They answer their phone. They answer their e-mail. Everything you need to contact them is literally at the bottom of their homepage, where one would expect it to be. Their unsubscribe button works. It leads to this page right here: www.sciencepub123.com/unsubscr…. She even went so far as to say that SPG is predatory. Either my stalker is mistaking Science Publishing Group for a different organization, or she is deliberately deceiving her audience. What's perhaps the most obvious, however, is how she claimed that mitochondrial DNA testing is not reliable, even though she has used it many times to make points about how wolves should be eradicated from various parts of North and South America. Convenient how she'll rely on mitochondrial DNA testing when it agrees with her points, but suddenly turns her back on it when it implies that she's wrong. She also mistakenly assumed that the paper was written by Jay F. Kirkpatrick, which implies that she didn't even read it. Even more so, she says my sources are unavailable, even though they are...right here on this page. She finishes off by describing all of the worst-case problems that wild horses have supposedly caused, even though those problems were actually caused cases of extreme mismanagement of wild horses but principally by cattle. (She's under the impression that cattle are not allowed on HMAs, but that's not true; check out the last two questions and answers on this page: www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b…). While it's undeniable that overpopulated horses cause environmental damage, horses in healthy populations actually benefit the land in many ways, as Craige C. Downer described. They're like any animal: when in unnatural populations, they're damaging, but not when they're in healthy populations.  All of these Ad Hominem attacks, convenient changes of mind, and baseless/nonsensical accusations, all just go to show how far anti-Mustang people will go to justify their hatred and and personal vendettas against mere animals.

UPDATE #2: My stalker has once again used more Ad Hominem attacks and irrelevant information to attempt to explain away Equus lambei's presence in North America. She says the article I linked to is not from a scientific journal. Not only is that Ad Hominem and a logical fallacy, but it's also false. It's from the American Journal of Life Sciences. She conveniently ignores this and focuses on the online publication source, which is irrelevant. She also seems to have difficulty following citations, because the paper's sources are quite easy to find. She is also free to contact Craige C. Downer himself for direct access to his sources (his contact information is at the beginning of his paper.) But I have a feeling she'd rather write rants on DeviantART rather than actually talk to an expert. She continued on to pick fun at cave paintings of animals that resemble horses, saying that they're "obviously" mountain lions (ancient mountain lions must have had really long necks...) What's ironic, though, is how she herself admits that cave painting interpretations are subjective. We both agree that the real evidence lies in the fossils and preserved remains of E. lambei, which she tries to explain away by erroneously comparing E. lambei and E. caballos to dogs and wolves (more about that further on). She also seems to have missed the entire point of the paper I linked to as well as my point: we don't know for sure where Equus caballos (modern horse) originated, but we know that Equus lambei originated in North America, and since DNA testing has revealed that E. caballos is nearly identical to E. lambei, it stands to reason that the two are closely linked. This would mean that caballoid-type horses (single-toed, long-maned, long-tailed horses) were present in North America as late as 7,600 years ago. To deny this is to remain willfully ignorant, as the skeleton and pelt of the animal in question is documented and one specimen is on display in Canadian museums. You can see it with your own eyes. I won't even bother to address her ridiculous claim that the Yukon horse is fabrication. I don't have time for such nonsense. The question is now this: how related is E. lambei to E. caballos? According to mitochondrial DNA testing, they are virtually identical. Unlike dogs and wolves, there is almost no difference genetically or visibly. They are more like Siberian tigers vs. Bengal tigers than dogs vs. wolves (Siberian tigers and Bengal tigers are both subspecies of the Tigris genus, just like how Equus caballos and Equus lambei are both subspecies of the Equus genus.) My stalker attempts to explain this away by claiming that mtDNA testing is unreliable. However, as I mentioned above, she relies on mtDNA testing frequently to make claims about how various species of wolves are not the original native subspecies of various areas of North and South America. If she believes mtDNA testing is reliable when it supports her beliefs, how come it's suddenly not reliable when it contradicts her? This kind of selective logic is extremely unscientific.

In the end, she's once again letting hatred and emotion get in the way of scientific reason. She's making strawmen out of my arguments: I am not saying that Mustangs are a native species or that they should go un-managed. Unlike her, I'm open to the fact that there is debate in the scientific community about the native status of E. caballos to North America. We both agree that the Yukon Horse (E. lambei) is not an E. caballos (Mustang). We  both agree that Mustangs should be managed. Where we disagree is how they should be managed. She believes that single-toed horses are an "exotic" species to North America (therefore ignoring the fossil evidence) and thus should be completely eradicated, even though that would not solve the habitat degradation problem. I believe that single-toed horses existed in North America as recently as 7,600 years ago (seeing as we have fossils of them), and while those horses were not E. caballos, they are the ancestor of E. caballos, and thus modern horses are not as "exotic" as one would think. However, seeing as humans hunt horses' natural predators and use the land for cattle grazing (blaming the environmental damage caused by their cattle on the horses), the horses need to be managed. We can't expect people to go hungry for the sake of animals. Mustangs don't need to be eradicated, but they do need to be managed. In the end, I don't believe Equus caballos is native to North America, there is no denying that it is familiar. It's not a native subspecies to North America and I never claimed that it was, but it is not the exotic animal that this hater makes it out to be.

I will not be responding to any further of her strawman "responses," threats, or immature jabs at my intelligence because A) they're not worth my time, and B) she's a stalker.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

More information about the possibility of equines being familiar to the North American landscape:

www.thecloudfoundation.org/ima… 

I phoned Dr. Gotthardt, and she explained how she had immediately flown north to Dawson City to investigate the land. As she hiked into Last Chance Creek canyon, the stench of rotting flesh greeted her long before she saw the partial body of a horse jutting out of the canyon wall above. Initially she believed the miners had unearthed a contemporary horse. Beyond the smell, it had all the characteristics of a contemporary horse - solid hooves and a brown coat with a flop-over, blondish mane. But, when the carcass was radiocarbon dated, it turned out to be 26,000 years old!

Equus lambei is the link between our contemporary wild horse (currently roaming in remnant herds across 10 western states), and the horses that died out as recently as 7,600 years ago. Both are caballoid-type horses - Equus Caballus, the modern horse. The Yukon Horse confirms that the horses that died out on this continent arevirtually the same as the ones that returned with the Spanish Conquistadors in the early 1500s and eventually escaped to reclaim their freedom.

A growing number of scientists are acknowledging the mustang as a returned native species, not the least of whom is the Curator of the Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, Ross MacPhee, PhD. He states, "The contemporary wild horse in the United States is recently derived from lines domesticated in Europe and Asia. But those lines themselves go much further back in time, and converge on populations that lived in North America during the latter part of the Pleistocene (2.5M to 10k years ago)." Dr. MacPhee refers to this re-introduction as, biologically speaking, Aa non-event: horses were merely returned to part of their former native range, where they have since prospered because ecologically they never left.

protectmustangs.org/?page_id=5… (Contains links to several papers)

"Scientists know from fossil remains that the horse originated and evolved in North America, and that these small 12 to 13 hand horses or ponys (sic) migrated to Asia across the Bering Strait, then spread throughout Asia and finally reached Europe. The drawings in the French Laseaux caves, dating about 10,000 B.C., are a testimony to their long westward migration. Scientists contend, however, that the aboriginal horse became extinct in North America during what is (known) as the “Pleistocene kill,” in other words, that they disappeared at the same time as the mammoth, the ground sloth, and other Ice Age mammals."  -PRESENTED BY Claire Henderson, Laval University, Quebec, Canada. 2-1-91. IN SUPPORT OF SENATE BILL 2278 (North Dakota)
STATEMENT OF CLAIRE HENDERSON
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
BATIMENT DE KONINCK
LAVAL UNIVERSITY
QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC CANADA
236 Rve Lavergne Quebec, Quebec, G1K-2k2 Canada
418-647-1032

It’s generally accepted that [the] horse species evolved on the North American continent. The fossil record for equine-like species goes back nearly 4 million years. Modern horses evolved in North America about 1.7 million years ago, according to researchers at Uppsala University, who studied equine DNA. Scientists say North American horses died out between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, after the species had spread to Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Horses were reintroduced by the Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Animals that subsequently escaped or were let loose from human captivity are the ancestors of the wild herds that roam public lands today.

The submergence of the Bering land bridge prevented any return migration from Asia [which is why horses did not reappear until the Spanish brought them over.] There’s no proof any horses escaped extinction in the Americas. If horses survived in the New World up to the 15th century, then no one has ever been able to find the physical evidence to prove the theory.

Many scientists once thought horses died out on the continent before the arrival of the ancestors of the American Indians, but archeologists have found equine and human bones together at sites dating back to more than 10,000 years ago. The horse bones had butchering marks, indicating the animals were eaten by people, according to “Horses and Humans: The Evolution of Human-Equine Relationships,” edited by Sandra L. Olsen.

The horses were “reintroduced” to the continent [North America], unlike the Asian clams in Tahoe or the rabbits of Australia, which were inserted into regions where Nature never put them and where they could disrupt the ecological balance.

www.thecloudfoundation.org/edu…

The evidence thus favors the view that this species is "native" to North America, given any rational understanding of the term "native". By contrast, there are no paleontological or genetic grounds for concluding that it is native to any other continent.

 -Ross MacPhee, PhD





www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/… and www.thecloudfoundation.org/edu…

Researchers who removed ancient DNA of horses and mammoths from permanently frozen soil in central Alaskan permafrost dated the material at between 7600 and 10,500 years old.

Some large species such as the horse became extinct in North America but persisted in small populations elsewhere, having crossed a land bridge into Asia.

But one core, deposited between 7,600 and 10,500 years ago, confirmed the presence of both mammoth and horse DNA. To make certain that the integrity of this sample had not been compromised by geologic processes (for example, that ancient DNA had not blown into the surface soils), the team did extensive surface sampling in the vicinity of Stevens Village. No DNA evidence of mammoth, horse, or other extinct species was found in modern samples, a result that supports previous studies which have shown that DNA degrades rapidly when exposed to sunlight and various chemical reactions.

www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/…

Miners Sam and Lee Olynyk, and Ron Toews, who were working a claim in the Klondike, found the remains in September 1993. It has since been identified as a horsewhich once roamed the plains of the area and has been radiocarbon dated at 26,000 years old.

www.horsetalk.co.nz/features/n… , www.thecloudfoundation.org/edu…
byJay F. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. andPatricia M. Fazio, Ph.D. Also available here: ispmb.org/WildHorsesInAmerica.…

The precise date of origin for the genus Equus is unknown, but evidence documents the dispersal of Equus from North America to Eurasia approximately 2-3 million years ago and a possible origin at about 3.4-3.9 million years ago. Following this original emigration, several extinctions occurred in North America, with additional migrations to Asia (presumably across the Bering Land Bridge), and return migrations back to North America, over time. The last North American extinction probably occurred between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago (Fazio 1995), although more recent extinctions for horses have been suggested. Dr. Ross MacPhee, Curator of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History, and colleagues, have dated the existence of woolly mammoths and horses in North America to as recent as 7,600 years ago. Had it not been for previous westward migration, over the 2 Bering Land Bridge, into northwestern Russia (Siberia) and Asia, the horse would have faced complete extinction. However, Equus survived and spread to all continents of the globe, except Australia and Antarctica.

Thus, based on a great deal of paleontological data, the origin of E. caballus is thought to be about two million years ago, and it originated in North America.

Not only is E. caballus genetically equivalent to E. lambei, but no evidence exists for the origin of E. caballus anywhere except North America (Forstén 1992).

The issue of feralization and the use of the word "feral" is a human construct that has little biological meaning except in transitory behavior, usually forced on the animal in some manner. Consider this parallel: E. Przewalskii (Mongolian wild horse) disappeared from Mongolia a hundred years ago. It has survived since then in zoos. That is not domestication in the classic sense, but it is captivity, with keepers providing food and veterinarians providing health care. Then they were released during the 1990s and now repopulate their native range in Mongolia. Are they a reintroduced native species or not? And what is the difference between them [E. Przewalskii] and E. caballus in North America, except for the time frame and degree of captivity?

Three Articles Regarding the Mustang Situation

  1)      “The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America” by Craig C. Downer:  http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20140201.12.pdf

Summary: The prevailing view is that the horse species (Equus caballos) is not native to North America and only appeared on the scene 500 years ago, but this article describes how horses are most likely native to North America, and were killed off by humans before being later reintroduced by the Spanish about 500 years ago. The article is written from an evolutionary point of view, but describes various fossils of equines that originated in North America. While the “millions of years” is debatable, the fossils are not. The evidence, including fossils, DNA, an actual frozen Equus caballos dating back 10,000 years, pre-Columbian cave paintings of horses, as well as Chinese writings from over 3,000 years ago describing horses resembling modern Appaloosas, indicates that the equine animal family originated in North America and spread outward, perhaps on ice bridges during the Ice Age (after the Flood, according to a Creationist perspective), or perhaps was brought to othe continents by humans after earmy people visited North Americ, possibly the Chinese. Equus caballos was present in North America approximately 10,000 years ago, which indicates that the horse species originated in North America. The article continues on to describe how horses benefit the North American ecosystem.

    2)      “The Declining Importance of Public Lands Ranching in the West” by Mark N. Salvo:  http://scholarship.law.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1217&context=plrlr

Summary: The article describes the debate over how important public lands ranching is to the U.S. economy. The pro-ranching industry says that raising grazing fees will cost America jobs and cause Americans to go hungry, but is this really the case? The article claims that it isn’t. The article describes how the majority of our beef products do not come from public lands ranching, even though ranchers hold such an enormous number of cattle on those lands (approximately 4,000,000.) Such a massive population of non-native animals is undoubtedly extremely damaging to the environment. On top of that, Americans are moving away from eating beef, which is causing cattle ranching to die a natural death. Grazing fees and wild horses are not causing it, the nation’s diet as a whole is. Americans are discovering that beef is not a sustainable diet. The article describes how every year there are fewer and fewer ranchers, and fewer beef producers in general nationwide. Cattle ranch-related jobs, ranching included, make up only around 5% of jobs in the Western United States. The article even goes so far as to say that completely eliminating the ranching industry in the West would not cause any significant employment impact or loss of food.

    3)      “Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward” by the National Research Council: http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/materials-based-on-reports/reports-in-brief/wild-horses-report-brief-final.pdf

Summary: The article describes how the Bureau of Land Management’s current method of removals and stockpiling is ineffective and expensive (not to mention inhumane), and will ultimately send the BLM into a financial train wreck. The BLM is not using scientifically sound methods to keep wild horse populations under control, and thus the horses double their populations every 4 – 5 years, many are starving, and there are more horses in BLM captivity than the BLM can afford, thus causing questions of euthanasia and horse slaughter that wouldn’t have to be asked if proper science was used in the first place. The National Research Council (of the National Academy of Sciences) recommends that the BLM use on-the-range management – particularly fertility drugs such as PZP – to prevent the horses from overpopulating without requiring removals and stockpiling. On-the-range management would also not remove genetic material, thus keeping the wild herds small (so as not to cause environmental damage), sustainable, and genetically diverse. PZP is also far less expensive than helicopter roundups; it costs approximately $100 to render a mare infertile for a minimum of 2 years, whereas it costs over $1,000 to remove and process a single wild horse for adoption, and that’s assuming the horse will be adopted (there is always a chance it will not find a home and will live out its life in a BLM corral, sucking up tax dollars in feed and veterinary care). The article mentioned how the wild ponies on Assateague Island have been managed through PZP since 1988 and have been kept at a stable population of 150. PZP is tried and true. Roundups do not work.

Herd Removed and Slaughtered - 4 Foals Saved

From Ginger Katherens of the Cloud Foundation: Dear Friends of Wild Horses;

The journey from my office in Colorado Springs to Lovell, Wyoming near Cloud’s home in the Pryor Mountains, is a long drive—about nine and a half hours. Spotting wildlife along the way makes the time pass. I enjoy seeing herds of elegant pronghorn antelope and the occasional golden eagle.

The rare sighting of a coyote or a wintering bald eagle is exciting, but nothing I spotted in the past year surprised me as much as seeing a band of wild horses! Past the town of Greybull, Wyoming and about 20 miles from Lovell, I saw them for the first time. It was June 22, 2013. I pulled off to the side of the road, grabbed my binoculars and began glassing.

They were grazing peacefully in front of the only trees I could see for miles. I counted 12 including two foals and assumed that the larger black horse with a blaze was the band stallion. He looked like quite a handsome fellow. There had once been wild horses in the area, but I thought the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency charged with preserving our wild horses, had removed them long ago. Over 150 times BLM has chosen to “zero out” herds for various reasons, even though the horses were designated for management under the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. In the shadows of the stunted cottonwoods I noticed a shimmer of light. There was at least one small pond back in there. I snapped a picture of the tranquil scene and looked through my binoculars again. In the distance there was movement.

It was another, smaller band trailing across a rise with Sheep Mountain in the background. The bright sorrel coats of the smaller band shone in the late afternoon light. The lead mare had a small foal at her side. What a stark and beautiful landscape.

Beyond were the flat-topped Bighorn Mountains still sporting patches of snow. How exciting, I thought—a secret herd of lost mustangs. In my mind, I imagined bringing Trace up from Colorado and riding him in search of the herd. We’d have to take lots of water, but what an adventure it would be. I noted several roads that led from the paved highway toward Sheep Mountain where I would take the trailer and park. In retrospect I wish I had done this sooner rather than later.

Over the next nine months, each time I traveled to and from the Pryors I looked for them. Two bachelor stallions were easy to spot in November as I traveled toward Greybull from Lovell. These two would be the closest I ever got to the lost herd. What a flashy pair.

The sorrel had a bald face. I was sure he had a blue eye on the side of his head that was white. He had tall stockings. The black had two back shorter stockings and a pretty star and snip. (Sorrel stallion, right, may be a brother to one of the rescued foals)

I saw the big band, led by the blaze-faced black stallion in February and in March. On March 8th when Paula King, our Communications Director, her husband, Ron, and I traveled back from the Pryors, we spotted them. There were two new foals in the band, one black and one sorrel. I never dreamed that the next time I would see these foals I would be loading them into my trailer.

On March 25th, our Facebook Manager and Board Member, Linda Hanick, called me. She has a message on our Cloud the Stallion FB page. A person wishing to remain anonymous said that a crowed truckload of mustangs had crossed over the Wyoming border into Montana. The informant said the truck driver was bound for Shelby, MT. When Linda said the word Shelby, my heart dropped.

Shelby is the place where horses are held before being transported over the border to Canada and the Alberta slaughterhouse. The informant said the horses were healthy and fat and “fresh,” meaning they had just been caught. They had come from the Worland Livestock Auction and were going to quarantine in Shelby for 30 days.

Our investigation began. Linda called the State Director of the BLM in Cheyenne who said that 31 horses had been “gathered” with a helicopter near Greybull, but they were not wild. They were domestic horses that got loose or were turned out 40 years ago. They could only be the secret herd!

I got the number for the Bar S Feedlot in Shelby and called. A woman answered the phone. "I'd like to buy the 37 wild horses that were captured in Wyoming on March 18th and 19th," I said. “That’s not possible,” she responded curtly. “We don’t sell horses to individuals.” I told her I represented an organization and that I would pay much more than the going slaughter rate. She was abrupt. “These horses were rounded up and removed for slaughter, and that’s where they’re going.” The finality of her words was chilling. “Can you at least tell me if they reached you safely?” I asked. “I won’t tell you anything,” she answered and hung up.

For the first time I was staring horse slaughter squarely in the face. Suddenly the anonymous thousands that go to slaughter across our borders had faces. Friends went to Shelby and photographed the pens and I tried unsuccessfully to match up the pictures of the pathetic horses (some mares with newborn foals) with those I had grown to love in the wild.

Paula called the Brand Inspector, the BLM in Cody, the Worland Office of BLM, and the Bighorn County Sheriff’s Department. BLM said they captured 41 “estray” horses and turned them over to the Wyoming Livestock Board who hauled them to the Worland Livestock Auction. They in turn sold them to a kill buyer for a Canadian slaughterhouse.

The Brand Inspector confirmed that 37 were shipped. Four small foals were left behind because the manager of the Worland Livestock Auction. where the horses had been taken, demanded that they not put the foals on the truck. For this act of kindness, we will all be eternally grateful.

The BLM Public Information Officer (PIO) echoed the State BLM Director. The horses were not wild, she insisted, and claimed they were removed because they were a hazard and there had been complaints. She said a horse had been hit by a Bentonite Truck and damaged the truck. The Sheriff checked his records and could not find the incident. Next she said a horse had been hit by a train. The Sheriff had no record of that either and was upset that a helicopter had been flying in his county, rounding up horses without his knowledge. (below, black stallion band)

Further digging by Paula found that there were, in fact, two incidences—one five years ago and the other 8 years ago. Why would accidents that happened so long ago precipitate an action like this at the very time the horses are most vulnerable, when there are tiny foals and heavily pregnant mares? Later we got our answer.

When in doubt, follow the Money. A BLM budget existed for a helicopter removal. That money would not be available to BLM after the end of March. It would have to be used or turned back into the government coffers according to a BLM employee in Cody. (left, foals captured on March 18th)

As for the complaints received by BLM? They would not confirm that any had been in writing. According to the PIO, the complaints came from people who dropped by the BLM office, or those who spoke with her while shopping at the grocery store.

Over and over the BLM said the horses were not wild and had no protections under the Wild Horse and Burro Act. They were rodeo stock let go on the range 40 years ago and the former owner had died. I recognized the name. His family reputedly stole horses off the wild horses ranges to supply their bucking horse business. How ironic, I thought. Horses stolen from the wild, turned into bucking stock, and released back to the wild weren’t wild according to the BLM.

On March 19th, just hours after the last five were captured the BLM turned all 41 horses over to the Wyoming State Livestock Board who sold them to a kill buyer for a Canadian slaughterhouse. Within hours the horses were on their way to Shelby.

On Sunday I flew back to Colorado from a conference in Massachusetts while my dear friend and TCF Board Member, Ann Evans, drove my trailer from Westcliffe, Colorado to Dr. Lisa Jacobson’s home and vet facility in Berthoud, Colorado. We met at Lisa’s that evening. Lisa had excitedly agreed to care for the four little foals.

Early the next morning Ann and I started driving north to Worland, Wyoming, a seven hour trip. Wind gusts 50 mph and even stiffer eventually combined with ice-packed roads and we nearly turned back at Douglas, Wyoming, but kept going when we sensed the worst weather was behind us.

We arrived at the Worland Livestock Yard in the early afternoon. Kim Michels, our friend from Red Lodge, Montana was already there. Kim had negotiated the purchase of the foals before we even knew that “Dr. Lisa” would take them in. In short order, a quiet cowboy helped us load the tiny foals.

The oldest foal, the one we eventually named Allegro sniffed the back of the trailer. Then she jumped in with the tiniest, the one we named Piccolo, glured to her side. Allegro immediately went to the back of the trailer and started biting on the padded wall. Ann and Kim prepared some formula for them which they divided into two buckets that we secured in the back. Within an hour we were on our way with our precious cargo. (right, Allegro sniffs)

Seven hours later we arrived and unloaded at Dr. Lisa’s place. The foals calmly hopped out and eventually found their stall piled high with soft shavings and buckets of milk replacer hanging on the wall.

The next morning I got up and walked to the barn. A meadowlark, perched on a fence post, was singing. The air was crisp but the sun was warm. I found the four foals outside in the sunshine and looking around. Lisa’s old mare, Dusty, greeted them. The foals had lost their mothers and gravitated to the old mare, as if searching for their families.

While there might not have been any illegal with the capture and sale of these lovely, wild animals, the act was unthinkably cruel, immoral, and completely unnecessary. Advocates would have purchased the entire herd had we only known.

So here they are, our four, sweet leftovers.( three pictures above courtesy Carol Walker) They are flourishing under the care of the remarkable “Dr. Lisa” who gives them their freedom in the arena they call the “big running place.” They have lots to eat and domestic mares who try to keep them in line and teach them what their parents would have reinforced each and every day. I wonder if they will always remember where they came from, and the life they lost forever in one fleeting moment when the monster in the sky came and drove them into a trap and took their families away. We have named them the Dry Creek Quartet for their herd area that had been zeroed out 27 years ago.

They are Maestro, the only male, who is a handsome blaze-faced sorrel colt (left). His half sister is, Allegro (right), the oldest who functions as lead mare for our Quartet. Then there is feisty Coronet, a darling little bay. And Piccolo, who Dr. Lisa believes was only a few days old when captured. (below right)

The blue-eyed filly is a flashy little paint who reminds me of the handsome sorrel bachelor I photographed last year. I wonder if he was her big brother? Piccolo’s resilience, her ability to survive this holocaust at such a tender age, is extraordinary. They are our band of orphans—the Dry Creek Quartet.

We are working very hard to make sure this tragedy never repeats itself. And we smile everyday as “Dr. Lisa” relates the progress the foals are making. Sadness fades, over shadowed by joy and love. Happy Trails! Ginger