America’s Wild Mustangs by Robin Davies
On a very hot Thursday afternoon in 2007 on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, my life changed forever. After driving for almost six hours through a wild horse management area in Jicarilla, New Mexico I finally saw what I came looking for.
Four wild horses, a stallion, a bachelor, a mare and her foal, standing in the tall grass, backed by a thick stand of pine trees. “Stop! Stop the truck! There they are!” I was grabbing my camera and opening the door before the truck came to a complete stop. As I began photographing the horses, my hands were shaking and my heart was racing. I had wanted to see this for so long and it was even more magical than I had imagined.
But here’s the reality…the horses I saw that day are most likely either now living in a government holding facility with thousands of others or they have been shipped to slaughter in either Mexico or Canada and ended up on a foreigner’s dinner plate. As an equine photographer from the Northeast, I was totally unaware of what is happening to America’s Wild Mustangs and I vowed to learn more.
A free roaming species on public lands for hundreds of years, these majestic animals are now being systematically eradicated by the Bureau of Land Management, or the BLM, a government agency given the job of managing public land-land paid for by the American people through our taxes. Unfortunately, greed and corruption has reared its ugly head and the Wild Mustangs are paying the price with their lives.
The cattle ranchers want their land for their cattle and are willing to pay $1.50 per head to the BLM-in effect allowing the government to “double dip” in the land. The problem is that there are not enough natural resources to accommodate them all, and water is quickly becoming very scarce. The ranchers and the powers that be at the BLM are saying “some things gotta give”. Unfortunately, it’s the horses. For years now, the horses have been rounded up by helicopters, herded into long chutes that lead into fenced pens and finally loaded onto trucks to be shipped to “holding facilities”.
We now have almost three times the number of horses in these facilities as we have running free, and they are costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to be kept. They are ripped from their bands, foals are forced to run miles and separated from their mothers, and many die of exhaustion or heat prostration. Now, as if that isn’t enough, the land is also wanted by the oil industry.
It is my intention to educate the public, through my photography, as to what is happening to one of America’s vanishing icons. The reality is that if something isn’t done, the Wild Mustang will be extinct in under 5 years. I have traveled to 5 states in the last 5 years; Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada and I see the same thing each time. A tremendous amount of public land and not many wild horses. These animals deserve better than what they’re being given. They have fought with us in wars, they have helped build our railroads and they need our help now. I, for one, want my children and grandchildren to experience the magic of seeing a wild horse, to feel the shaking hands and the racing heart and to know that they are protected and will always be there, living free and living wild.
On that hot afternoon on that dirt road many years ago many of my photographs were blurry because my hands were shaking so much, but I knew as that stallion herded his band into that stand of trees, that I would fight for his freedom for as long and as hard as I could. I hope you’ll join me on my journey.
For more information and to view my photographs, please visit www.sagehorsestudio.com or contact me at 267 251-5262.
NOTE FROM THE SPRING HILL LIBRARY:
Robin’s work is on display at the Spring Hill Library throughout the month of November. 100% of the proceeds from her art go to the Wild Horse Sanctuary.
She will also give a free class to the public on HOW TO HAND PAINT PHOTOGRAPHS: 5:30 p.m., Monday, November 23. Robin Davies will demonstrate how to hand paint your photographs. She will also talk about what’s happening with the wild horses in New Mexico that inspire her work.
For more info go to www.springhilllibrary.org or call 931.486.2932.
