Is it legal for people to sell these coats made from pony pelts? Sound a woman on Ebay selling them. She's also selling coats made if monkey hair and all kinds of things. I can't inside this USAF legal in the usa today! Please help me.no need to post if you just reply.

Meet the Lady who walks with the Wild Horses
Eco-Tourism and Conservation

ISPMB has been..."Saving America's Wild Horses and Burros since 1960. Karen Sussman’s private land has seen Stephen Spielberg’s crew and Kevin Costner from “Dancing with Wolves”,interested parties and Wowed wild horse loving folks.

Karen Sussman is charming as well as educated about 400 hundred horses. She is the only women in the world with (4) wild horse herds. Karen has navigated herself to talk in front of Congress.

Nothing is impossible for Karen she has help organized the freedom for the Apache Sitgrave horses with Dr. Pat Haigh and the only free herd wild horses. She assisted to moving buffalos from Catalina Island to South Dakota keep them as an American symbol, yet her dreams got bigger.

Karen feels comfortable on her rural South Dakota farm and conservation with hundreds of acres on grazing prairie. The Lakota believe they would have a person come to them to re-unit the horses with their culture. They believe the horse woman is Ms. Karen. Return of (mustang). The Lakota people once relied on and lived with the wild horse. The horse was used in ceremonies, games, hunting, and war and in everyday life. The horse was a symbol of freedom, strength, pride and courage. It was necessary to travel many miles sometimes non-stop for days. The speed was required for hunting, war and games. Returning us to nature, Karen Sussman makes the magic of the natural world real again.

Princeton University is coming this summer to research the behavior of wild horses in natural herds and its founding president “Wild Horse Annie” is going to be Hollywood movie, Wild Horse Annie.

Yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JDcQE0a0uw

You tube ~A must watch ~ a delightful story

International Society of Mustangs and Burros, Karen Sussman,
Address: ISPMB, PO Box 55, Lantry, SD 57636-0055
Messages will be returned in farm time
E-Mail: ispmb@lakotanetwork.com

I'm sure it doesn't make lot of sense to a lot of dishonest types, why we need to keep the remaining mustang herds intact as part of our cultural heritage. The most likely are greedy cattle ranchers who let their herds graze onto BLM land; there are those who probably see a profit in selling The Mustang for its meat, hide, etc.; or just those looking to purchase the Land they occupy.

“Mustang” is derived from the Spanish word “mesteno.” Spanish herding practices in the New World were “open range” husbandry. Ownership was proved by branding and ear marking. The Spaniards had specific terms for different classes of estrayed stock. Depending upon species the stock could be classified as "alzado" (strayed); "orejano" (unmarked and unbranded); "mostrenco" (stock abandoned or lost; usually applied to cattle); and "cimarrón" (stock that had returned to a state of nature and was too wild for humans to handle; the word "ladino" is also used). "Mesteno" came to mean stock (horse or anything else) that as "alzado," "orejano," and "mostrenco."

"Mustang” has nothing to do with blood; it's a legal status. The creatures that became the “mustangs” were NOT unique or special. They’re just the descendants of abandoned or strayed livestock.

The story doesn’t end there. Anglos come to Texas and the Plains on the Northern European horses (including draft horses) that they imported and have been breeding for 100 years or more in "the States." These horses will freely interbreed in from north to south.

And still the story does not end. As mechanization displaces the horse many in the West will just turn loose their now surplus, mixed breed horses. Open range stock practices are the rule in much of the West. These will make another genetic infusion into the ranks of the mustangs.

And today, in a very saturated equine economy, we again are receiving regular, credible reports of surplus horses being turned loose around the U.S, making one more genetic infusion into the mustang.

The story of the mustang is not very romantic although it is very interesting. It also demonstrates that the claims that these horses are something special are simply not true. The Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 was a bit foolish legislation based upon emotion, myth, and legend. It should be repealed and practical management measures instituted.

My background in biology is somewhat slim, but having just read “The Mustang Mystique,” by Abigail Tucker, I have to question by what miracle of nature the wild palomino pintos were descended from gelded Cavalry horses?

This article spotlights the absurdity of the BLM saying they "don't have the stomach" for letting nature take its course. Meanwhile, they apparently do have the stomach to let helicopters chase the mustangs miles in the dead of winter, resulting the breakup of family herds, in the miscarriage of mares' unborn foals, in young foals running their hooves off (literaly), in horses fighting and scrambling in a mass of panic as they are captured, and then in "processing them" or gelding the stallions, putting them in holding pens indefinitely. The 37,000 in captivity will hardly all get adopted. It goes on and on. Since when was nature more cruel? The BLM does have the stomach to squander $millions of our tax dollars to keep this insanity up and drive one of our western heritages to extinction. It lines the pockets of government contractors and favors the multi-million dollar industrial cattle barons who exploit subsidized welfare grazing, again, at our expense. Wake up America and take some action to stop it, instead of musing over some maudlin quasi-scientific article with pretty pictures.

The photos accompanying this article are wonderful, but unfortunately the author has borrowed some questionable BLM rhetoric.

There probably are not as many as 37,000 mustangs on public lands. I have seen one estimate of only 15,000. Someone needs to come up with the correct number, for sure.

The horses are not responsible for overgrazing. Cattle, which outnumber the horses 100 to 1 on public lands, are to blame. The BLM represents cattle interests.

The horses are not starving. All one has to do to realize this is look at photos and videos posted on the Internet. They are lighter in winter, heavier in summer.

"Captured mustangs are sold to private owners." This statement is misleading. Very few horses have been adopted. Most spend their lives in holding facilties provided by the BLM at great expense to the American taxpayer. Those older than 10 can be sold at auction and usually are bought by "killer" buyers, who sell them to slaughterhouses.

It would be very unusual for a herd to double every 4 years. This assumes that every mare and foal survives foaling and no horses die during that time.

Thank you for helping to bring the public's attention to this matter.

Anyone who thinks that the wild horses are inferior should take a look at some of the footage--before round-ups. I sure don't see any misfits. The law of natural selection works beautifully, when man doesn't interfere. I have never understood why they have been the scapegoat for damage that they do not cause. In Nevada, there are more pronghorn antelope than there are wild horses--this is according to the Nevada Department of Wildlife figures. The horses are beneficial to the range in every respect and fit beautifully into the ecosystem. Their digestive systems are such that they reseed the soil as they graze and their hooves help break the ice in the winter, allowing smaller, weaker animal to drink. They eat the drier forage that other animals don't eat, thereby helping reduce the danger of wildfires. It has been noted that wildfires have increased in areas where herds have been zeroed out. Their reproduction rate is less than 10%--this is according to the National Academy of Sciences. I would guess that it is even less than that. Many foals simply do not make it to maturity. The ones that do make it are strong and smart. What advocates are calling for is an "in the wild management" program that would be implemented by people who have the expertise and the horses' best interest at heart. This makes fiscal sense as well as being the right and humane way to take care of our wildlife--they do belong to us, as does that land that they rightfully share with our other wild creatures.

Most of the responses to “The Mustang Mystique” by Tucker, echoes my deeply researched understanding of this complex issue. The horses in the mist are beautifully presented but the content of the article is sadly lacking in scope and research. Since I’ve been on the trail of tears for the wild horses of America, while researching the episodes for my series "Wild Horses In Winds of Change", I’ve interviewed experts on all sides of this crooked fence. There’s truth and solutions in the middle ground and the adaptable horse, who on this continent survived the dinosaur and whose blood proteins and bones have been found in caches with Clovis tools, knows there’s something good to be found on both sides of the fence. The problem is the boundaries aren’t logical, scientific, respectful or honorably drawn, let alone in a language horses can read. The boundaries are a drift of defensive, biased maneuvers and laws to protect self and special interests with the primary reason to gain wealth or if you’re a scientist, perhaps to gain a name for yourself. The BLM, established as Land Managers, were put in the position to protect the mustang, the very animal they and many of their ranching families had previously hated and destroyed. If the BLM would have been true stewards of the wild horse they would have studied their ability to survive, come to understand their herd structure and would have been able to stop ranchers and miners from releasing domestic stock into the wild. If you know the horses who are out there, you sure know when there are new ones about. Hooray to the advocates who are raising awareness of the mustangs in peril, in spite of an unyielding patriarchal force, many who like the Salazar's, are generational ranchers, with horse blood in their boots.

I have been studying the BlM for the last 4 years and you can go back and forth on cattle no cattle , this and that, they don't have food, they might not have food in the furture, its dribble. Blm is afraid of one thing 35000 that is what they are afraid of,at 35000 at even a 15 % growth rate they lose. They can't find homes for that 15%. They use to but not now. I want to introduce predators back into the eco system, with birth control I think we could get the horses up to maybe 50 or 45000. I want HMAS at 150 plus at least 70% of the HMA at 150 plus. Wolfs mountain lions will keep the herds strong, yes some will die , but you can't have nature own your terms, just hers.

Horses are native to this continent and actually evolved from here millions of years ago. We lost them during the late Pleistocene and the Spanish merely re-introduced a genetically identical species to their native homeland (Kirkpatrick and Fazio, Natural History Magazine, 2008). If we are not careful we are going to lose them again.

Wow, what a huge disappointment in the vaunted Smithsonian magazine. This article is so full of one-sided half truths, PR right out of the BLM and Rancher handooks, it's frightening to think Smithsonian journalists care so little to offer nothing even close to a balanced comprehensive article. It really isn't that difficult to access the data for this. Here, I'll do a little research for you:

Wild horses comprise 0.5% of grazing animals on public lands. That's accounting for approximately 30,000 BLM says are out there (experts say 15,000 is more accurate).

There are 4-6 million cattle, 950K elk, 780K pronghorn antelope, 70K bighorn sheep, tens or hundreds of thousands of deer, ALSO on public lands, competing for the same forage.

So it's 30,000 (or 15,000) wild horses VERSUS millions of cattle, almost a million each of elk & pronghorn, 2 to 4 times as many bighorn (as horses) and who knows how many deer (we do KNOW they are many times overpopulated, hunting notwithstanding). Which population is smallest? Which is the only one under pressure to be made even smaller by BLM's hand? Clear as a bell, just look at the numbers. No matter who tries to spin them, they do not lie when their reality of relativity is shown. Imagine a pie chart, it's astounding to compare population sizes to each other. Horses are by far the very least burden and cattle reign supreme in number and impact on the range. Sources: BLM's range forage allotment reports, State Game & Fish stats

In one year, livestock consumed 70% of grazing resources on public lands, while wild horses and burros consumed less than 5%. Source: National Academy of Sciences, study mandated by Congress

Privately owned cattle grazed on public lands comprise about 2-3% of the total beef produced in the US. EXCELLENT FACT SHEET w/govt sources cited here: http://www.sagebrushsea.org/pdf/factsheet_Grazing_Economic_Contributions.pdf

I too am saddened to see the Smithsonian run such a superficial and poorly researched article. But, then I see people here making comments about a subject about which they obviously know nothing.

The most egregious error - besides the screamingly funny idea that one can count the horses with Google Earth! Give me strength... - is that the horse was originally brought here by the Spaniards. The entire genus Equus originated in North America and lived here for millions of years, spreading to other continents over the land bridge that came and went in the Bering Strait. The remaining horses in North America evolved into E caballus - the same species as our modern horse - before becoming extinct, or very nearly so, in an unknown extinction event. They were returned to their home by the Spaniards.

Studies of mitochondrial DNA have determined the the horses reintroduced by the Spaniards were the same species - E caballus - that had gone extinct. Even more recent discoveries of ancient DNA prove that the horse and the mastodon had survived thousands of years later than had previously been accepted. E caballus was living here no longer ago than about 7,500 years. This is less than a blink of an eye in geological terms. There really is no excuse for refusing to acknowledge that these horses are native wildlife - unless you have reasons other than scientific ones that is. Strange that the BLM adamantly refuses to even consider the evidence, while the US Forestry Service has accepted the horses as native even before these most recent DNA studies.

I guess the BLM has more to lose if the horses are granted the protection they deserve as a native species - and an endangered one at that.

And this is exactly how the uninformed become misinformed, by articles such as this. I expected something well researched and factual from Smithsonian. Instead it appears the editor simply regurgitated information given to her from a BLM employee and obviously spent no time researching this issue. Shame on you Smithsonian for printing a biased, misleading article. Consider my subscription CANCELLED.

As a person who as traveled around the west and seen many HMA's (Herd Managment Area) in all seasons of the year they are an amazing live stock species. Thats right i said live stock! Horses are live stock and not wild life like so many people are calling them these days. People think that wild horses can jump fences like deer and elk that are wild life but they can not. So stating that they need to be managed in there designated HMA's by the BLM so that the people of the world not just the United States can be able to come and see wild horses running free in the wild. Nothing is worse than to see sick and dying horses standing around with no food or water because they have eaten them selfs out of house and home by over population on places where it has not been gazed by cattle or sheep in three years or more. They destroy there homes when they get over populated and there is not enough feed for them let alone cattle or sheep. That is going to happen to all of the wild horses if we do not allow the BLM to manage the wild horses and stop the gathers. Do you want to go see sick skinny dying horses when you go out to see them or fat happy horses because they do not have to fight for food and water every day from over populated un managed HMA's?

One issue not covered by the wide ranging comments posted above is that of the WELFARE CATTLE and the WELFARE SHEEP on our Public Lands. WHY is livestock grazing so attractive to those who choose to lease our Public Lands? Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation gave these statistics on NHR radio February 19th. The grazing program brings in about 23 million dollars each year to our federal government. It COSTS the federal government about 143 million dollars per year to run the program! In addition, from my own research I have discovered that our federal government pays 75% of the cost of predator control on our Public Lands, and an astronomical number of valuable predators are eradicated each year. This is not done for the wildlife, including our wild horses and burros. This is done for livestock. Removing natural predators removes a natural check on wild populations. I have also discovered that less than 3% of the beef eaten in the US is sold in the US. It is exported instead (I conclude that the American people are not worthy of grass feed beef - just that from feedlots!). Large corporations not only take advantage of every subsidy provided by the grazing program on Public Lands - they also use tax write offs provided by the program. Therefore, forever forward in all my writing about this issue I will be referring to the WELFARE CATTLE and the WELFARE SHEEP we have grazing on our Public Lands. It is important to use accurate nomenclature when discussing such matters!

i think that what the author is trying to say is that the mustangs are not acknowledge for true beauty as it once was in other words mustang mystique

Finally someone got it right. Becky L. you are right on

It would seem the federal courts have decided in favor of the Western Watersheds Projects lawsuits against the BLM and their "welfare ranchers cattle allotments" having proved time and again the "cattle" are responsible for ruining the grazing lands along with BLM mismanagement. The WWP has had millions of acres removed from cattle allotments with their lawsuits...there are thousands of articles using gps on cattle to prove that cattle will only graze up to 6/10 of a mile away from water-where as horses will travel up to 50 miles a day-thus not over grazing...There is NO actual science to back up cattlemans claims..quite the contrary. I am particularily opposed to spending my tax dollars to subsidise private business. The BLM only charges 1.35 head a month for a cow and calf-yet I see that same allotment for sale by those ranchers-for $80.00 per cow/calf...I think that is called "flipping" in the real estate business..so i guess that makes them "cow flippers!"

I am surprised that the Smithsonian did not solicit an article on the Mustangs from people who have been involved with them much longer than Melissa Farlow. Matt Dillon, in Lovell, Wyoming has been studying the Pryor Mountain Mustangs for years. Ginger Kathrens of the Cloud Foundation has been filming and studying mustangs for over 15 years. This article is - unfortunately - not totally factual.

Per the US Census Bureau, in 1900 we had a US population of 75,995,000 with 841 million acres of farm land. In 2000 the US population was 282,224,000 and the farm land was 941 million acres. We are farming the land in a more efficient /bountiful way. Also the Western range lands were destroyed 150-200 or more years ago, thanks to the greed of the Western pioneers, and the cattle - which do not move as they graze as the horses do. The cattle stay in one place till there's nothing left to eat. The West has never been the place for farms and certainly won't be in the future.

The midwest has better farmland, so then why does Sec Salazar want to move the horses/burros to the midwest? The wild herds are best where they are. They had centuries to relocate to other parts of the unfenced US and didn't. So why does some government bureaucrat think he knows what is best for them. Nature manages nature much better than man, but man keeps trying and never learns from his mistakes! The problem really isn't the horses, but the mismanagement of the horses by the BLM. Nowhere in the BLM (Bureau of LAND Management) is the word HORSE!

To Becky L. - Please provide a link to your "Google Earth" comment about the potential numbers of mustangs (100,000)on public lands. I'd like to check that out for myself.

If there were that many wild horses in the past, so many more than there are now then why the change in the effects on the ecology? Why is it now considered overgrazing, when back then the range animals survived just fine? Seems to me the difference is there are more cattle. It's the number of cattle on the range that's gone up not the number of horses. Nor has the land vanished, it hasn't been beamed up and carted off by aliens or something. People aren't moving en masse to the middle of nowhere either. Not one iota of scientific evidence supports the idea that the horses have more of a negative affect than the cattle! Whatever the count, whatever the science, BLM is not using it to base their decisions on when or how many to roundup. And if their reasons are legitimate why object to showing us the data used in the process? Why refuse to consider any possibility the data is flawed?
It can admittedly be challenging juggling multiple interests on the range. But one thing seems sure: the mustang, who does not have big buck lobbyists supporting him gets the short end of the stick every time. Yet his perseverance and independence has long been a symbol for American Spirit-it says something about our willingness to sacrifice ideals in the name of the great god money.
I've got news for the BLM "Wild" and "Fenced" are contradictions!

How nice - an unbiased invitation to the public to explore the beauty and majesty of an animal you apparently loathe .
Shame on you, Dear; quoting a representative of an agency that regards Wild Equines with the same disdain normally reserved for rats, without doing any due diligence of your own.
For instance, the BLM purports 1200 acres of rangeland are required to sustain a single horse. Wild Equines are kept within very specific borders in Management Areas; wildlife are free to roam wherever they choose.
Wild Horses EAT cheatgrass, an invasive winter annual that is so much more than 'pesky'; it is an environmental disaster. In it's dormant, dried state it is biomass for wildfires, and because it's an 'early riser', it chokes off it's competition, and thrives in areas disturbed by wildfire and overgrazing.
No mention, either, of damage done to those same ranges by domestic cattle which outnumber Wild Equines 100 to 1.
It's too bad, really. I would have thought a publication as prestigious as this would have ensured the author reported ALL the facts, not just the convenient and at-hand.

Good article, wild horses are not wildlife! They became extinct here milions of years ago for a reason! Our ecosystem cannot support the herds we have today. I do not see how starvation, inbreeding, and disease would be a better fate than being rounded up, adopted if possible, or euthanized. Before the 1971 act herds were managed in other ways, many ranchers rounded up work horses for the ranch (such as my family done for years). They also kept bloodlines from becoming too crossed by buying stallions to release into the herds, or releasing mares to improve the herd confirmations. Now we are not allowed to do that and the herds are becoming short, stocky,and not as desireable to the average horse person. As for them being descendants of The ancient spanish horses, only a few herds can officially be traced to spanish horses.
Please people, get your facts and do your research before letting your heart get in the way. I love mustangs as much as many of the "advocates". I do not see how anyone who knows squat about the horse industry can not see how they need to be managed!
I salute the BLM for doing a great job. I have adopted a few horses from them, and have had great luck.

One point that no one seems to know or comment about is that the cattle that are run on public lands are highly monitored and managed by the BLM and Forest Service. Not only that but the rancher is required to make improvements to these public lands at his own expense. The mustangs and all wildlife benefit from the water impovements that are made. Also, ranchers put out salt and possibly other supplements that the horses have free access to. These mustangs also do not know the difference between private and public lands, so they are often on private land also. Lets look at both sides of this story before you bash one.

I kind of liked the article, it exposed feral equids for what they really are and what they do to our rangelands.

First and foremost, the BLM operates under a multiple use ideal, which encompasses all use of public lands. It is misleading to state that land was specifically set aside for the mustangs, and for mustangs alone. That mustangs are allowed to range on public lands as a result of the WH&B act does NOT exclude other uses of public lands, including domestic livestock grazing and recreation.

Comparative domestic livestock numbers and mustang numbers do not necessarily relate, and actually are like comparing apples and oranges.

A 2008 GAO report showed that the BLM's methods of counting mustangs on the range "consistently undercount." In addition, informal counts from Google Earth photos suggest that as many as 100,000 mustangs are on public lands.

What is also not noted in the article is that domestic livestock grazing of public lands is carefully managed according to sound rangeland ecology principles, and that domestic livestock are not on the range 365 days a year. They are allowed to graze during time periods that are appropriate for rangeland health. Mustangs and native wildlife do not have to follow those rules, and must be otherwise managed. Native wildlife is managed through hunting, for example.

Domestic livestock grazing benefits the land itself, as it imitates the conditions under which grasslands evolved under the hooves of grazing animals.

Beef production, for example, benefits people every day, even if they choose not to eat meat, because by products of beef production can be found in everything from medicinal products to asphalt. 99% of the cow is utilized.

According to a recent UN Food & Agriculture Organization report, the world will have 2.3 billion more people by 2050, which means that 70% more food will be needed than what is available today. This means that uniquely renewable resources, such as rangeland, will become more and more essential for food production.

This story has pretty photos, but what is written stinks to high heaven! The science is all wrong; the numbers are wrong; and the BLM tries to paint a pretty picture of what is actually a horrible, inhumane practice and plan to decimate our country's wild horses.

The mustangs are a native species and were reintroduced by the Spanish as early as 1598. Bones of the eohippus (ancient horse) have been found all over the U.S.

GET REAL, Smithsonian!

It is interesting that an article about wild horses on America's public lands -- in the travel section of the magazine -- includes so little about the "travel" angle of the topic.

As a wild horse enthusiast, I've had great fun learning about BLM herd areas in the Western states, and traveling in search of a glimpse of mustangs. Ginger Kathrens' "Cloud" films depict the wonderful behavior exhibited by wild horses but seeing them in person is truly spectacular, even if all you get is a view from a distance.

Americans can still visit the West for the adventure of spying a wild horse in natural habitat. As readers have already stated, there really is no shortage of room for wildlife in our wilderness. But unless we insist that wilderness and wildlife be preserved, both will surely disappear under the crush of new BLM projects on tap for exploiting resources on public land. For 150 years, cattle grazing and oil/mineral exploration were king on the Western range; now it's full-speed-ahead harnessing of the very wind and sunshine there that threatens the environment.

How about a followup article about where we can still see mustangs in the wild, and where they'll end up if the BLM succeeds in sweeping the wilderness clean of wildlife?

The science of mitochondrial DNA is something that should not escape the Smithsonian. Simple math, and the science of top down grazing should not escape the Smithsonian.

Per the Washing Bureau Chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program, in July of 2009. Four Million (4,000,000) cattle is a good number for the cattle on our BLM public lands.

What no one, absolutely no one, is talking about is that cattle evolved in Asia (totally) and are not top down grazers as are horses. With these two facts alone, the wild horses should have the support of the Smithsonian vs the cattle industry.

What are Top Down Grazers? They improve biodiversity by mowing grasses and roaming about creating high and low graases and cause plants to tiller thereby covering more ground. Cattle, though called top down grazers in order to justify the grazing permits, have no upper front teeth. They use their tongues to pull the grasses out by the roots depending on soil conditions.

Secretary of Interior (BLM) Salazar talks about Balance with regard to anything he is discussing, including wild horses.

Where is the balance with 4 Million cattle and less than thirty thousand horses. 4,000,000 vs 30,000. Lets not forget, there were 60,000 horses in 1974 at the completion of the first Census per the Joint Report to Congress BLM and USDA FS. Where is the balance in these number? Where is the science? Where is the Smithsonians loyalty to truth and science? I am shocked and have no intention of bringing my children to the Smithsonian.

The article failed to mention the fact that thousands and thousands of cattle and sheep are overgrazing the areas where the mustangs are accused of ruining the environment.

What a bias article! In no way are the wild horses overpopulated today. They are very underpopulated. Further they are returned natives that restore and enhance the native North American ecosystem. What unfairness and partial view in this lopsided article!D

Oh yes let's see 37,000 horses on 30 million acres and 7.5 million cattle on our lands, so who's causing problems, doesn't take a rocket scientist.

So far all the roundup pictures that I see the horses are fat and healthy.

Get the facts right will ya.

Thank you for the wonderful article! I appreciate that fact that you are willing to look at all aspects of the Mustang's lives. And the fact that you are willing to take into consideration BLM's views on Mustangs and the Wild horse advocates views on how the Mustang's current living and regulating situation should be handled. Your research is greatly appreciated.

Kallie Leonard

I was thrilled to see that Smithsonian Magazine had done a story on the mustangs--that is until I read it. Apparently there was not enough research done on the mustang issue or you would not have so easily thrown out the that old tired statement of mustangs originating with the conquistadors when they are actually a reintroduced native species. Your statement that the horses are responsible for range conditions when cattle out number the horses by millions, not to mention fires, mining and other commercial interests, off-road vehicles etc. The research on this article apppears to have been nothing more than picking up the phone and calling the local BLM office. The many intelligent and well researched horse advocates who spend hour upon hour combing through the many documents and photos along with hands on(or feet on) monitoring of the ranges were given one very poor paragraph. Shame on you Smithsonian--just when did you decide to become yet another pawn for the lies and destructive land management style of the BLM?

Abigail Tucker, With all due respect, a Smithsonian publication such as The Mustang Mystique should be based on scientific and historical fact rather than conjecture. I invite you to educate yourself on the origins of this magnificent species as well as the ecological health and balance sustained by its unmanaged presence.

From the "Personal Memoirs of Ulsysses S. Grant" (1999 paperback, Modern Library Addition, pgs 40-41, Grant describes probably the same massive group of horses mentioned in your article near the "Colorado River," on the coast when they had not yet reached the Rio Grande. "People who saw the Southern herd of buffalo, fifteen or twenty years ago, can appreciate the size of the Texas band of wild horses in 1846." He also commented that had they been corralled "pasturage would have given out the first day." He talked about wolves howling and finding it hard to estimate their numbers because the grass was so thick and high they couldn't see them. On page 32 Grant states " The country abounded in game, such as deer and antelope, with an abundance of wild turkeys..." Page 35 he again commented about the "great numbers" of deer or antelope. In this section Grant does not mention cattle, and he is riding a mustang himself, an animal he speaks affectionately of.

Wild horses are highly adaptable animals wildlife. They do not reproduce at the same rate in the desert west as they did on the plains and there is no danger of them accumulating in such vast numbers here. Not saying that they shouldn't be managed.

Your article intimates that wild horses are somehow responsible for the invasion of cheat grass when it was actually, I believe, introduced with a kind of wheat by land managers to reseed areas after wild fires. And yes, cheat grass has taken off like rabbits in Australia, and horses are one of the few animals that can eat it and thrive (because horses don't just eat grass).

There are so many millions of acres of land in the American west, it seems absurd that the author thinks that horses are "running out of land." I live in Nevada and wild horses are my neighbors. I just haven't seen the damage BLM talks about . . . or the starving horses. Horses, as with most animals suffer badly if they are cut off from water.

I really dont care to much for horses, Im one of those who would rather look at them from a distance no matter how pretty they or due to a bad experience with a horse. I feel like everything and everyone should live from, but if its gonna hurt our living, then maybe they should just be rounded up and sold to people who like horses and will take care of them.

In regards to the 37,000 mustangs on 30 million acres of public land in the western US, how many privately-owned cattle are also on those lands?

The management of wild horses is a difficult issue for many reasons, and you did not serve your readers well by simplifying the issue to its barest outlines and one-sided facts. Farlow's photographs are incredibly beautiful, but they contribute to the problem by romanticizing wildlife. The opposite extreme, vilifying wildlife as pests to be exterminated for the benefit of domestic cattle and exurban pets, has long been a problem, of course. If we are ever to succeed in managing our public lands for the future generations, we need a clear view with all the facts. Save the romanticizing and vilifying for "Avatar".

For short, simplistic articles accompanying stunning photographs, I subscribe to "National Geographic". I expect more in-depth information from "Smithsonian". I love your magazine; don't compromise.

I thank Ms. Tucker for writing on the plight of America's wild horses but I must point out some glaring omissions in her interview with BLM spokesman Tom Gorey. To paraphrase Mr. Gorey, he stated that wild horses are overgrazing their ranges and that they will starve to death if their populations are not controlled. What Mr. Gorey neglected to state is that over 95% of the original range lands guaranteed wild horses and burros in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act have been leased to private cattle ranchers by the BLM and that over 200,000 wild horses and burros have been removed since the passage of the 1971 Act. Privately owned cattle grazing on these public range lands outnumber wild horses and burros 200 to 1. This is a clear violation of the 1971 Act.

Four Government Accountability Office reports stating that improvements are needed in the federal Wild Horse and Burro Program as well as several congressional letters from the Committee on Natural Resources addressed to the BLM call for accountabilty concerning the BLM's mismangement of the Wild Horse and Burro Program. In one such letter (July 9, 2008)to BLM Deputy Director of Operations Henri Bisson, the Committee on Natural Resources stated: "You may be aware that the BLM's inability to administer the budget of the Wild horse and Burro Program with any trace of fiscal accountabilty is a long-standing concern and must not be used as a death sentence upon these celebrated symbols of the American West." This is exactly what is happening to America's heritage herds; they are disappearing at alarming rates. Acting with impunity, the BLM continues its aggressive roundup regime in clear violation of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. The BLM must halt its roundups until wild horse and burro populations can be independently assessed. A congressional investigation is in order on the BLM's old and failed policies concerning its management of America's heritage herds.

After 500 years they evolved into mustangs from whatever they were. They adapt and enhance the environment and because of their social behavior became survivors. How can the BLM manage what nature honed into perfection?

There are upwards of 100 million cattle (many grazing on public land) in the United States as well as upwards of 30 million deer (thanks to sound conservation and hunting practices). I think we can do a lot better for both the buffalo and wild horses than the present 37,000 we allow. They represent a rich resource & a rich history. - Thanks Jay Phelan

Wild horses and burros constitute less than one percent of all grazing animals on public lands and contribute less than one percent of ecological impact on forage and riparian, both a renewable resource. The real damage is done by Government mismanagement of our natural,native, historical and cultural resource inventory, the Icon of the West.