Wild Horses: Running Free

We might associate wild horses with movies or novels about the past. Do they even still exist? The positive answer in this book is presented with fascinating details about wild horses around the world and their complex history. In the “Introduction”, the author confesses to being ‘horse crazy’ from a young age, especially intrigued by mustangs. She discovered the world has changed for the wild horses of old, just as the land they historically called home has changed. The first chapter digs into horse ancestry, all the way back to prehistory and up to today’s new DNA evidence about their origins. The second chapter looks at horse society, their physiology, habitat and food. The American Mustang is the topic in Chapter 3: examining the debate about where they came from, and whether they should be protected as native species. Chapter 4 looks at the wide variety of wild horses around the world and differing attitudes towards them. That topic is expanded in the final chapter, considering how wild horses affect the environment and what their future might be. Several focused pages are included: e.g. detailing the Bureau of Land Management’s responsibility for US public lands where wild horses roam, a description of a study about cougars as a predator of wild horses, a biographical note on Velma Bronn Johnston who advocated for protections against cruel treatment, profiles of a famous mustang named Picasso and the horses of Sable Island, and a listing of all wild horse colors by name. A Glossary, Resources lists and Index (to come) complete the book.

Apart from the basic information about common horse ancestry, their biology and a description of about a dozen species, the book attempts to highlight a couple of controversies—one surrounds how they came to be in North America and another deals with whether they should still be entitled to their free existence. The question of origin faces ongoing clarification: did the horse always inhabit North America, or were there periods of extinction and reintroduction, possibly by Spanish explorers? Should they be considered wild (a natural part of the environment) or feral (descended from domestic animals)? Both sides of the debate are explained with evolving historic evidence, some of which poses hypothetical impacts with respect to colonization.

The more urgent issue concerns their current home alongside human populations where wild horses must compete for land that is being used for resources, such as oil, and livestock. In many countries, the herds are managed or protected either on wild land or in zoos or nature preserves. In the US, there is evidence that wild horses consume large quantities of wildfire material, and, in the UK, their ‘selective munching’ helps conserve different vegetative habitats for biodiversity. Organizations concerned with wild horse futures present their arguments on how best to protect them. One page is dedicated to comparing Good/Bad with respect to the wild horse, and the final pages detail options used to control the US population: readers are left to make their own decision. So this book will inspire discussion and open readers’ eyes to much more about wild horses than simply admiring their power, beauty and story appeal.

Wild Horses: Running Free is generously illustrated with appealing color photographs. While it was noted in the list of selling points for the book that “most of the photos’ were taken by the author, only five could be found showing her name as credit. As well, the back cover blurb suggests the contents highlight how young people play a major role in protecting wild horses, but only two brief mentions appear throughout the book of the involvement of young people. The writing style is conversational, engaging and mostly well-targeted to the intended audience. A couple of the pages dealing with special topics (e.g. V B Johnston’s advocacy) use extremely small type size.

The appeal of Wild Horses: Running Free, beyond an interesting account of wild horse populations, lies with the discourse on their historical value and future, and what they symbolize to different people in a changing environment. Horse lovers will have lots to consider.