When I was a young girl I had dreams. These dreams, for the most part, consisted of wild horses (though the occasional dream of being a princess did slip through.) I would be sitting passengers seat of a helicopter, pointing to the exact mustang that I wanted (which was always a stunning sorrel pinto.) The pilot would swoop down into the grassy valley and separate my horse from the rest of the herd. This is the point when my mother would come into my room and wake me up for school.
Since that frequent dream many things have changed--the biggest change being my view of wild horses and the area in which they live. Though they still capture my imagination and send excited shivers down my spine, I no longer envision such plump, happy ponies, galloping across green grounds and through fresh, sparkling waters. What I see, sadly, through the romantic curtain of the American Mustang, is suffering. I see a horse with no natural predator and a minuscule amount of edible foliage. I see starvation and overpopulation. I see the need for a solution.
Lucky for me--luckier for the horses, the BLM is doing what they can to keep the wild horse population at level which minimizes overgrazing among other issues which result from overpopulation, as well as keeps enough horses on the land to both preserve the existence of the living legend as well as prevent inbreeding. This is done by reliable contractors which use helicopters to slowly, calmly, and safely maneuver the horses into the paneled area which they have set up to contain the horses before the sorting begins (at which point they separate the mares from the studs and the horses which they're going to be returning to the wild to assure strong, healthy genetics, from the ones which they will put up for adoption to qualified homes.)
Sadly, though, there are many people who very strongly disagree that this is a good idea in the least. Some believe that the horses are getting enough food as is (most of which have only ever seen the healthy horses which do exist, or view skin and bones as a 'fit endurance horse.') Some think that the rest of the native wildlife should simply be removed from the land so that the horses can have it all. Some, though, are pushing the limits of sane, and claiming the BLM is secretly breeding horses. Some have long since broken the limits and crossed over to full fledged insanity, claiming the BLM is rounding horses up at night so that no one will be there to see the dying, overrun horses which they've gathered. These people believe themselves to be helping the horses, and refer to themselves as 'advocates.' (Don't tell my mum I've said that--it's recently been dubbed a dirty word.)
Weather or not these people have become more common or I've simply been ignoring them for the past four years, I do not know. What I do know, though, is that these horses need someone to speak up for them and against the wild horse advocates. These horses need
their voices heard, and that's what I'm here to do.
Sincerely,
The Lady In The Red Dress.
