November/December 2026 Issue

November/December 2026 | EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN 14 Where the Wild Things Are — for Now “What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself.” —Mollie Beattie, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service By Suzanne Bush Wild Horses. The words tap into a deep well of emotion. Their unbridled wild- ness, grace and struggles remind us of what humans have taken away from the animals we’ve domesticated over thou- sands of years. The reality faced by many is something else entirely: flight, eyes wide, chased by low-flying helicopters. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), charged with protecting these horses and their habitats, use helicopters to drive them into pens for removal to off-range holding facilities. It’s a controversial and dangerous operation, but hardly the most worrisome chapter in their lives. The BLM rejects claims that helicopter gathers are inhumane, arguing they are safe and sometimes preferable for moving large herds across rugged terrain. Univer- sity of Wyoming researcher John Derek Scasta analyzed 70 federal gathers involv- ing approximately 29,000 horses and 2,000 burros between 2010 and 2019. Reported capture mortality was no higher with he- licopters than with bait trapping, and in- jury-related deaths were uncommon in both. But the study didn’t establish wheth- er horses suffer psychological trauma. Physical safety and psychological safety aren’t necessarily the same thing. Who’s in Charge Here? The Forest Service and BLM manage 229 wild horse and burro territories across 26.6 million acres of public lands. BLM estimates indicate populations peaked around 95,000 animals in 2020 and stood near 85,000 in 2026. In 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Its language was explic- it: “…Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversi- ty of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappear- ing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death…” Yet the agencies’ increasingly convolut- ed management strategies have produced a system in which protection, removal and long-term confinement coexist. Horses and Burros vs. Cattle Horses and burros aren’t alone on feder- al grazing lands. According to Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), 62 percent of BLM lands and 49 percent of Forest Ser- vice lands are available to private ranchers at extraordinarily generous rates. Ameri- can taxpayers, in effect, subsidize ranchers whose cattle graze on public land. Federal grazing fees are calculated by Animal Unit Month (AUM), roughly the Image Courtesy of AmericanWild Horse Conservation