Why does the government conduct roundups that affect Cloud and his family as well as countless other wild horses? What’s at stake for the mustangs of Montana and other Western states and what happens to the animals auctioned off? Use the guide below to find out more about this longstanding controversy.

How did the roundups get started?

For decades, wild horses that came too close to cattle or sheep on public grazing lands were targets for capture or slaughter. Airplanes or cars were used to round up horses that got in the way of domestic livestock. Water holes were contaminated with poison to kill them off. Outraged by the gratuitous destruction of the horses, Nevada resident Velma Johnston (known as “Wild Horse Annie”) launched a national campaign to encourage states and the federal government to protect the wild horse as a symbol of the American West. In 1971, Congress responded, passing the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act that authorized only agents of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to gather the horses as part of their work in preserving federal lands

Why not just let the horses run free?

Some animal activists think they should run free. They argue that the West’s wild horses, which number roughly 47,000, are greatly outnumbered by privately owned cattle and sheep that also graze on public lands. They portray the Bureau of Land Management as a special interest group for ranchers.

Needless to say, the BLM disagrees. According to the bureau, the roundups, known as “gathers,” are used to keep herds from multiplying beyond a sustainable population. State BLM offices estimate that wild horses repopulate at the rate of roughly 18 percent per year. Apart from the mountain lion and black bear, wild horses have few natural predators. The BLM claims that without their intervention, wild horses would die from starvation or dehydration as they compete for limited range and water resources with other wild animals and livestock. Drought, disease, and fire are also cited as justifications for a roundup.

The Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Alliance, however, points out that wild horses have diversified grazing habits and usually only briefly enter cattle-grazing areas for water. They note that even after massive roundups of mustangs, grazing areas are not necessarily improved for cattle.

How are roundups carried out?

Since 1976, the BLM has used helicopters. Flying at low altitudes, bureau agents drive the herds for miles to an area where they are then loaded onto trucks headed for a holding center. Agents may bring in an entire herd and then winnow out adoptable horses or take in a band out of an entire herd. Depending on its size, a roundup can last for several days or several weeks.

The bureau maintains that helicopters are the most humane way of driving these wild animals across plain and mountain ridge to the centers, but animal activists disagree. The Fund for Animals argues that the sound of the helicopters can spark panic in wild horse herds and place undue stress on the animals — particularly in late winter or during droughts. Of particular concern are mares that are pregnant during the roundups. Foals, unaccustomed to running long distances, can also suffer various limb injuries that make them unsuitable for adoption.

Once at the holding area, wild horse specialists separate the animals according to sex and age. Mares with foals are kept apart. The bureau states that it makes “every effort” to reunite mares with lost foals. Agents then decide which horses are eligible for adoption, which go into a federal rest home, and which are returned to the range.

How many horses does the BLM roundup each year?

Totals and the frequency of the roundups vary according to the target area. Local BLM officers decide upon the figure based on periodic studies meant to indicate how many horses can co-exist with native wildlife and domestic livestock and still have adequate access to water and fodder. Some horse advocates question this practice and argue that the 1971 act and a subsequent 1992 regulation does not empower the Bureau of Land Management with decision-making powers about the removal of wild horses. They claim that only the Secretary of the Interior can make binding decisions on wild horse removal strategies. In fiscal 2003, the BLM removed 10,091 horses from public ranges.

Where Cloud lives, in Montana’s Pryor Mountains, 6 to 12 stallions were captured in late September 2003 to keep the herd at 140-150 animals, according to the Casper STAR-TRIBUNE. Roundups in this part of Montana occur once every 3 years.

How does the BLM choose what horse to keep or not?

In theory, it’s a question of what characteristics — sex, age, genetic stock — the BLM’s local wild horse specialist thinks will best help a herd maintain its “appropriate management level” or AML. An AML is a target population for a herd that guarantees that there will be adequate vegetation and water for livestock and other wildlife without undue stress on the environment. In some locations, these criteria are determined with the help of wild horse advocates.

Horses under five years old are sent to a facility where they are vaccinated, wormed, and freezemarked (branded with an iron chilled in liquid nitrogen) before being offered for adoption.

Horses that are over 10 years old are defined as ready for retirement and are transferred to government-run long-term holding centers to receive permanent care. Horses between the ages of 5 and 9 are returned to the range. The bureau says that “under normal circumstances,” unadoptable horses are returned to the range.

How are wild horse adoptions managed?

In 2003, about 6,185 wild horses were adopted, according to the BLM. Adoption fees are usually established by competitive bids at an auction — the minimum price is $125, the average is $185. Any person who can pay the fee, is at least 18 years old, has no prior conviction for inhumane treatment of animals, and can demonstrate to BLM inspectors that the horse will be adequately cared for within the U.S. is eligible to adopt a horse. Individuals can adopt up to 4 wild horses per year. Candidates to adopt a horse must sign a statement that says that they will not sell the horse to a slaughterhouse, for use in a rodeo, or for any commercial purpose.

Adoptions, however, may not continue for long. In November 2003, the BLM announced that rising costs may force the program to end. Instead, horses would be kept in holding centers that are cheaper to run. It costs $445 per horse per year to keep a wild horse in a holding center, while arranging for the adoption of a single horse can run as high as $1,400, the Reno GAZETTE-JOURNAL reported.

Is there any other way to control wild horse populations other than auctions?

BLM officers also use the fertility control agent PZP (porcine zonae pellucidae), a vaccine derived from pig cells. Captured mares can be injected at close range, or a dart gun can be used for those who are still free. The vaccine is effective 90 percent of the time and, according to a 2001 study by the UC Davis Center for Equine Health, does not produce any side effects in the horses. PZP, however, requires two injections, which can make using it on an entire herd a logistical challenge. The vaccine lasts for two years.

In Montana, where CLOUD’S LEGACY was filmed, a fertility control program has been in effect since 2001. Yearlings and two-year-old mares are vaccinated every year with PZP to prevent pregnancies. In 2003, the Montana BLM began to vaccinate mares that are 14 years old or older. The office says its long-term goal is to vaccinate these animals for the rest of their lives and argues that the vaccine improves their physical condition by reducing the chances of pregnancies at an age when they are less suited to give birth.

Animal-rights activists have extended a cautious welcome to PZP. The Fund for Animals argues that the vaccine is more humane than roundups, but cautions that it should not be used to delay pregnancies in young mares.

What happens to horses that are deemed not suitable for auction?

They are either returned to the range or placed in five long-term, government-run holding facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma. Stallions are gelded and pastured separately from mares. Even here, however, horses can be adopted. Postings on state BLM Web sites often feature the photos of horses up for adoption that have been placed in permanent care. Sick, elderly horses can undergo euthanasia at three centers. Privately run wild horse sanctuaries are another alternative.

Are wild horses endangered animals?

Officially, no. Currently, the bureau estimates that there are some 45,000 horses in the wild, about half of them in Nevada. By comparison, a century ago, some 2 million horses roamed the Western ranges. The BLM puts the optimal number of horses on the Western ranges at 25,000. Worried by the large costs of the adoption program (which takes up nearly a third of the annual BLM wild horse budget of $11.6 million), the BLM wants to reduce the number of wild horses on the Western ranges by half and is also reconsidering its adoption program. Equine population experts worry that reducing the number of horses in the wild could lead to a loss of genetic diversity and, ultimately, the eventual extinction of this living legend.

Producer: Sarah Birnbaum
Associate Producer: Ronnie Godeanu
Design Director: Mohammad Riza
Writer: David Malakoff
Designers: Sabina Daley, Shannon Palmer
Graphic Art and Animation: Lenny Drozner
Acting Technical Director: G. Francisco Perin
Scientific Consultant: Gianna Scaralia

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Ann Willmott Andersson, Director of Interactive & Broadband.

© 1999 Thirteen/WNET New York

All Rights Reserved

Television Credits

A co-production of TV Matters, Thirteen/WNET New York, and Nature Conservation Films.

Funder Credits

Funding for the TV series NATURE is made possible in part by Park Foundation. Major corporate support is provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc., Ford Motor Company, and TIAA-CREF. Additional support is provided by the nation’s public television stations.

We recommend the following Web sites for those interested in subjects presented on the program. All links are valid as of March 8, 2002.

Carousel Riding Center
http://www.carouselridingcenter.org
Learn more about Carol Wooley’s therapeutic riding center and the medal-winning horse Carousel.

American Quarter Horse — Characteristics
http://www.storeybooks.com/main/horse/horse_pages/horse_breeds/quarter_horse.html#Anchor-Breed-35882
Traits of one of the world’s most popular breeds.

American Horse Defense Fund
http://www.ahdf.org/
The AHDF’s mission is to facilitate the protection, conservation, and humane treatment of members of all Equid species.

Fossil Horses in Cyberspace
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/fhc.htm
A virtual museum exhibit developed by the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Wild Horse and Burro Internet Adoption
http://www.adoptahorse.blm.gov/
The Bureau of Land Management tells you how to adopt a wild horse.

International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros
http://www.ispmb.com/
Dedicated to the preservation and protection of free-roaming wild horses and burros, nationally and internationally.

Horses and History
http://mysite.verizon.net/mmaidens
A nice review of the horse’s impact on human society from Melinda Maidens.

Print Resources

Ames, Fran. THE BIG BOOK OF HORSES: THE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO MORE THAN 100 OF THE WORLD’S BEST BREEDS. New York: Courage Books, 1999.

Barclay, Harold. THE ROLE OF THE HORSE IN MAN’S CULTURE. New York: J.A. Allen, 1980.

Budiansky, Stephen. THE NATURE OF HORSES. New York: Free Press, 1997.

Price, Steven D. THE AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE: AN INTRODUCTION TO SELECTION, CARE, AND ENJOYMENT. New York: The Lyons Press, 1998.

Prince, Eleanor. BASIC HORSE CARE. New York: Main Street Books, 1989.

“A dog may be a man’s best friend,” a horse breeder once said, “but history was written by the horse.”

An overstatement? Perhaps not. Since humans first domesticated horses nearly 5,000 years ago, the brainy and brawny horse has played a central role in shaping human culture. They not only enabled faster communication and travel, but also proved decisive allies in military campaigns, with mounted troops often overwhelming foot-bound infantry.

The horse was such an effective weapon, in fact, that empires from Egypt to Mexico crumbled before the onslaught of mounted enemies, who brought with them new ideas, technologies, and cultural practices. As an 18th-century historian, John Moore, once put it in the purple prose of the time: “Wherever man has left his footprint in the long ascent from barbarism, we will find the hoofprint of the horse beside it.”

Historians disagree, however, about whether the first tamed horses were used primarily for food, riding, or to pull carts — probably all three. But they do agree that by about 3,000 years ago, the horse had become a fixture of many ancient civilizations. Indeed, due to their use in war, horses quickly became associated with power and prestige, while slow-footed donkeys enjoyed a less exciting reputation.

Military horses have proven essential.

The horse’s quick feet so impressed the Persians that they put the animal to work as a communications tool. In the 5th century BC, Persian officials used mounted couriers, who would ride a short distance, then hand messages off to

Riders in Jerez, Spain, revisit another era. Rested riders, to send instructions to their far-flung colonies. The riders were instructed not to let “snow, rain, heat, nor darkness” keep them from delivering their precious cargo. Centuries later, in the 1800s, the U.S. Pony Express borrowed the same method — and motto — as its riders galloped across the new nation, delivering the messages that drew America together.

It is the lowly workhorse, however, that may have had the biggest impact on human history. Bred to haul heavy loads day in and day out, the workhorse changed the practice of farming and industry. Harvests could suddenly be transported long distances, creating trade and wealth in villages that had once had little contact with the outside world. Similarly, timber and stone could be moved to cities and towns, greatly increasing the supplies of raw materials available to shipyards, carpenters, and builders.

In an age of trucks and trains, it is hard to imagine that a trained team of draft horses once pulled as much as some locomotives. But the term “horsepower” — coined by the English engineer James Watt to measure how much work is done by an engine — suggests just how much respect these animal teams earned. Still, they proved no match for modern engines. Watt concluded, after careful experiments with workhorses, that a one-horsepower engine could pull about 50% more weight in a single day than a horse.

But even racecar owners would agree: no high-horsepower motor has anywhere near the personality — or historical importance — of a real horse.

The horse has long been a symbol of freedom. But for disabled people confined to wheelchairs, time spent riding can take on a special meaning — a chance to break free for a while from the confines of everyday life and challenge stereotypes about the disabled.

NATURE’s HORSES profiles the remarkable story of one woman who has dedicated her life to nurturing this therapeutic bond between horses and people. Carol Wooley has loved horses since she was a child. “I wanted to have a horse ever since I can remember,” she says. Finally, at 19, she got her wish: “A two-year-old palomino who tried to kill me a few times, but we got along,” Wooley remembers. Indeed, she ended up riding the horse for 22 years.

Carol Wooley, founder of the Carousel Riding School.

In 1996, however, Carol took her love of horses one step further. Two weeks after the Atlanta Olympic Games, another world-class competition came to town: the Paralympics, for the world’s best disabled athletes. Organizers needed horses for equestrian events and Carol decided to help out, taking time off work to bring several horses to the games. One was an old swaybacked hunting pony named Carousel.

Carousel proved to be too much to handle for several riders, but then Brita Anderson of Denmark took the reins. “Brita and Carousel made a connection,” Wooley recalls. “He knew exactly what she wanted and she knew how to get the most out of him . . . they were a perfect match.”

Indeed, Anderson and Carousel went on to win a gold medal in dressage riding, a competition that puts horse and rider through a demanding, disciplined series of routines in a show ring. “Carousel hadn’t done dressage work since I don’t know when,” Wooley recalls. “But he went out there like he’d always done it.” The unexpected win “had to be one of the high points of my life,” Wooley says.

In fact, her Paralympic experience changed the direction of her life. She never returned to her previous job as a graphic artist. Instead, she started a nonprofit therapeutic riding school on a small farm about 100 miles south of Atlanta. The Carousel Riding School is one of some 600 such schools in the United States which use riding as a way to improve the lives of those dealing with disabilities, both physical and emotional. For people who must often rely on others to move their wheelchairs from place to place, the freedom of horseback can be particularly fulfilling, Wooley says. “People who are tired of being pushed around can get a lot psychologically out of being able to control their own horse,” she says.

Today, a “fat and happy” Carousel lives on the farm in semi-retirement, along with 15 other horses and ponies. Donations and more than two dozen volunteers help keep the place going, including one who traveled from Japan intent on learning skills she can take home with her. About three dozen riders from seven surrounding counties use the facility, keeping everyone “plenty busy,” says Wooley. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of work that gets done around here.” But there is always more to do: development is encroaching on the 17 acres the school rents, meaning it may soon be sold. So Wooley is beginning to look for a new home.

And though the transition — at age 53 — to a new career “has been kind of rough financially” for Wooley, she says she doesn’t regret the decision. The rewards of her work — from a young girl who smiled broadly the first time she held the reins to the growing confidence of a disabled dressage rider intent on making a future Paralympic team — “makes you proud to be human,” she says. “It brings out the best in people.”

They gallop and trot, whinny and neigh, capturing our imagination — and our hearts. Indeed, horses are said to have done more to change human history than any other domestic animal, once upon a time carrying explorers to new frontiers and mighty armies to great conquests.

Though their glory days may be in the past, these hoofed creatures continue to enthrall us, as the NATURE program HORSES demonstrates in sparkling detail. From the steppes of Mongolia, where children race at breakneck speeds perched on stallions ten times their size, to the fields of Georgia, where people confined to wheelchairs find new freedom in the saddle, HORSES highlights the many roles played by this multi-talented beast of burden. There are also rare glimpses of the world’s most endangered horse, and an inside look at the art of the horse whisperers, the trainers who through their gentle touch can transform a wild bucking bronco into a stately show horse.

But the star of the show is the animal that scientists call Equus caballus, the modern horse species that includes everything from miniature Shetland ponies to massive draft horses able to pull astounding loads. The horse we know today, however, evolved from an ancestor that was quite different.

More than 50 million years ago, a small fox-sized animal crept through the forests of North America, browsing on fruit and leaves. Its arched-back body was only about a foot high at the shoulder, and a long tail and short-snouted head probably gave it a distinctly dog-like look. In fact, its feet sported pads like a dog’s, except each toe ended in a tiny hoof instead of a claw. Interestingly, in modern horses, one toe has become the hoof, and the others remain as vestigial bumps higher up the leg.

When fossil hunters first discovered the bones of this creature a century ago, they named it Eohippus — “the dawn horse” — and believed it was the first link in an evolutionary chain that led directly to today’s horse. Indeed, many museums and textbooks still have displays and pictures showing this neat, predictable progression, with horses gradually getting larger, shifting from many toes to modern hooves, and gaining longer teeth able to grind down tough prairie grasses.

These days, however, researchers have a far more complex picture of horse evolution — and they have given the dawn horse a much less colorful name. While they agree that today’s horse probably arose from that smaller ancestor, the path was by no means direct. Instead, paleontologists have uncovered fossils that show that horse ancestors varied in size: some large early horses gave way later to smaller ones. They also discovered that some lines of horse-like animals alternated between many and few toes over time. In addition, some proto-horses once thought to be direct forefathers of the modern animals were revealed to be distantly related cousins — just one dead-end branch on a bushy family tree.

One branch, however, kept growing. About a million years ago, it produced an array of small pony-sized animals that galloped across ancient plains around the world in large herds. They probably behaved much as today’s wild horses do, using their flowing tails as remarkably accurate fly swatters and signal flags, and snorting the air for the smell of enemies and the scent of food.

Less than 10,000 years ago, however, many of these horse-like species became extinct, along with other browsing animals such as mammoths. Climate changes and over-hunting by humans may have been to blame, but no one knows for sure. The only survivors were horses in Asia and several zebras. In North America, however, horses were wiped out.

So where did the modern horses come from, the ones that spawned America’s cowboy myth? Historians believe that Spanish explorers brought the animals with them on their voyages to the New World in the 1500s. Let loose upon the land, they soon reclaimed the prairies that had once been theirs alone, producing vast herds of wild horses.

Even today, as HORSES shows, tens of thousands of wild horses roam the American West. To prevent the herds from destroying their habitat, the U.S. government captures hundreds each year and puts them up for adoption. For some of the proud new owners, the chance to ride a wild-born horse is a dream come true — and the continuation of an age-old relationship that has made the horse one of our most revered and fascinating animal partners.

Online content for Horses was originally posted November 1999.