Mustangs are a mythic symbol of freedom, heroism, romance, and limitless possibilities, as well as the vanishing West. Along with that fantasy, wild horses embody some of the intractable complexities and contradictions of modern American life.
In 1900, two million wild horses roamed the still largely unfenced American West. In the hundred years since, a growing human population’s expanding urbanization has eaten up much of the range. Less than 30,000 wild horses are squeezed onto public lands in ten western states.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management spends 40 million dollars annually caring for wild horses. Most visible are the gathers or roundups performed by contractors who use helicopters to drive horses into a trap to be culled. Mustangs can be adopted by the public, but much of the BLM’s funding is spent caring for the once wild horses for the rest of their lives in long-term facilities.
Melissa Farlow, photographer
