Wild horses

My son went to college in Ellensburg, Wa. On the way to visit my son at college you would come across miles and miles of fields, hills, and streams somewhere before Yakima. If you were lucky enough you would spot the wild Mustang horses. Sometimes you would see specks of them up in the hills. Other times you would get lucky enough to see them right down by the road. On those days I would pull over and get my camera out and take as many pictures as I could. It is not something you see very often anymore. Some would be off by themselves enjoying their peace and quiet. Others would be in families down by the streams drinking and eating, resting in the shade. They are so majestic and beautiful. There are an estimated 20,000 wild horses running all through the Indian Country. Foals raise the population by 20 percent a year. Wild horses have lived and roamed the Yakima Valley since the 1700s. Many people think these horses are fenced in. They see a few fences along the road and think they are owned horses and kept in by fences. These horses are not fenced in. Covering thousands of acres of land, there are no homes or ranch buildings, no feeding stations, few two-track roads, and no additional fencing. These horses don’t belong to any one person. They’re wild. There are at least 20 different packs of horses roaming the land day and night. They are giant and amazing. For the Yakama Nation, the wild horses are a big part of their history and culture.. Unfortunately, the horses are overgrazing their land and finding it hard to find food. Along with the harsh, cold winters and the issues of finding food, many horses are found dead, skeletons laying on the bare ground. The horses are devastating the land and destroying the terrain. There are way too many horses for the amount of land they live on without any kind of management from the Yakama people or the government. The land can support fewer than 3,000 of the animals. The current population, which was between 12,000 and 14,000, is now estimated to be near 5,000 due to starvation, according to Washines. The property the horses live on is about the size of Rhode Island. Soil is getting eroded and the ecosystem is getting destroyed. Also many plants and vegetation the Yakama tribe find spiritual are disappearing. Other animals are being driven out of the land because of the lack of food due to the Mustangs. Sacred deer, an animal important to the Yakama people, have left the area instead of competing with the larger animals. Deer meat is an important part of Yakama Nation ceremonies, and now that is almost impossible to find due to the immense number of Mustangs in the area. Due to the Horse Protection Act which makes it illegal to slaughter the horses and due to animal activists, it is harder and harder to deal with the Mustangs on the tribal land. The tribes have actually tried using birth control on the female horses to help the population from growing, but it is said the horses are not easy to catch. Just within the last year, the horse mortality rate has been 50 percent. There are hopes that since the population has gone down so much, that the vegetation and land might have a chance to regrow and that the deer and other animals will hopefully come home again. I, myself, love seeing the horses and love photographing them. I am very sad about the deaths and mortality rate of these beautiful creatures.