Freedom Given Back: Renegade's Story
Freedom Given Back ----------- In south Oregon, lives one of the most magnificent wild horse herds - an opinion held by many wild horse lovers. The South Steens Wild Horse Herd is home to some of the most intricately-colored pinto horses - pintos that you never knew could exist. The mustangs’ home is a spectacular location mainly composed of canyons, but with a harsh climate. For centuries, only the strongest mustangs have survived. This wild horse herd is followed closely, and in 2006, an adorable blue roan pinto was born. People all over the country fell in love with this colt and began following his life. Excitement grew as he became a bachelor, then a band stallion and father. Renegade thrived in his wild home and lived for his freedom and family. Renegade running wild and free. Photo Credit: Mustang Meg Even though South Steens encompases 130,000 acres, the Appropriate Management Level (AML) is 159-304 horses. The Bureau of Land Manag...
Erin, congrats on your new mustang and your website! I have a question, why can't the horses just be released again? Why wouldn't someone like you just let them go in the wild again?
ReplyDeleteHi Libby! Thank you for your kind words.
ReplyDeleteMustangs can't be released back into the wild for a few reasons:
-It is illegal.
-The Bureau of Land Management has branded them so they could be identified as a captured mustang. If someone was to release their mustang back into the wild the BLM would see it and recapture it.
-When a stallion is removed from the wild, he is gelded immediately, which removes a lot of his natural behaviors that make a wild horse wild. The BLM has actually experimented (unfortunately) with capturing stallions, gelding them, and releasing them back into the wild and they often become "outcasts" in a way.
There are several mustang rescues that have a lot of private property and have started a sanctuary where captured mustangs can be released into large open spaces and live free. For example, Skydog Sanctuary in Oregon owns 9,000+ acres and has about 200 mustangs. Many mustangs are given the opportunity to live "wild" again on these private sanctuaries, but they cannot be released back onto their native rangelands.