WILD AND FREE

With all of the old west icons coming to an end, how much longer will there be wild horses?
The western states have had wild horses for hundreds of years.
Horses ran wild and free. You could drive out in the desert and watch them for hours. They ran in herds where one stallion had several mares. There were always colts with them. They were beautiful, proud animals.
If you lived in a remote area, a wild stallion might just steal you mare, from you. It happened a lot where I grew up in Idaho.
In my childhood we had many wild horses that were tamed and used as saddle horses on the ranch.
I had one when I was six years old. His name was Rocket. He lost his mother so when my Dad found him, he brought him home.
Rocket was so small he had to be fed with a baby bottle. He was a lot like the colt in this picture.
When he was old enough to go to the pasture with the other horses he was stolen. We called the Sheriff but we never did get him back.
They use to be wild and free, but today wild and free have restrictions.
They are rounded up by riders and helicopter each year. Some are taken from the herds for adoption and some sold for slaughter. They are sold to packing plants where they are prepared for human consumption in Europe, Asia, and other overseas markets.
Many Americans are opposed to slaughtering horses for any reason let alone for someone to eat. It is like eating the family pet.
Yet 85,000 horses are slaughtered each year.
There are adoption places in every area where you can go and view the horses. They will tell you about the adoption plan. We have one in the Salt Lake area in Butterfield Canyon, near Kennecott Copper Mine.
Utah ranks 35th in the nation in the number of farm and ranch horses, numbering in at 61,000. Just slightly fewer than Wyoming but four times more than Nevada.
I hate to see these, once free animals, not able to roam free any more. I guess I just oppose to change.