Wild horses and the BLM

If you have ever been lucky enough to visit out west and actually see the wild mustangs running wild, you would watch for stories like this to appear and then wonder why things were changing. The ranchers out west are allowed to lease grazing land for their cattle and sheep from the BLM, which has millions of acres of protected land. The problem is the land in much of the west is arid and not covered in vegetation like we in Florida are used to.

The wild mustangs make is necessary for the ranchers' animals to compete for food, which doesn't make the ranchers happy.

Over the years I have watched them try controversial treatments to prevent pregnancy, watched roundups to cull the herds of the sick and old animals and that is just the tip of the problem.

Whenever an impartial board is implemented, the ranchers' voices seem to be raised above the animal protectors and the ranchers seem to win.

I actually got to see some wild mustangs who had been purchased at an auction and were in the process of being broken. Although small when compared to the horses I was used to, they were still magnificent animals with long flowing manes and tails who were very curious but standoffish.

Check out the story in the Washington Post.