Wild Horses
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"Spirit of the Wild" Mustang Stallions
Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary
Lompoc, California
I have always wanted to photograph horses and my opportunity arose when a colleague invited me to visit Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, California. We attended both a morning and an evening photography tour in addition to learning about the plight of wild horses in America. Knowing very little about horses in general, I was deeply moved both by the experience and the tragedy that is unfolding before our very eyes.
The picture of horses running free across open lands is one of our country’s most romantic images. And wild horses still roam in America today. For the most part, wild horses in the United States live on public lands owned by U.S. citizens and paid for by Americans’ tax dollars. Most public lands are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. However, our beautiful, iconic, federally protected wild horses are currently being brutally rounded up in order to appease private ranchers who are given cheap, below-market grazing on our public lands which they do not want to share with the horses. This is costing tax payers tens of millions of dollars.
You may notice the silver lettering and numbers on this stallion, as it galloped by with its beautiful blond mane flowing in the wind. I could have digitally removed them from the image, but they tell a story and serve as a reminder of freedom lost.
CaliforniaEquineEquus ferus caballusHerdHorsesLompocMaresNaturePreservationRefugeReturn to FreedomSanctuaryStallionsWild HorsesWild MustangsWildlife
