Calico stallion  2012

Songwriter Jennifer Johnson wrote a beautiful song titled “Mustang Soul.”

“Mustang Soul – I wrote this song after seeing for the first time video of the US government ‘Bureau of Land Management’ chasing wild horses with helicopters ’rounding them up’.   I had only recently discovered that we have wild horses in the United States. I wonder how we have become so out of touch with the soul of this country, as our government captures these wild horses and holds captive the very symbol of American freedom.”~ Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer contacted Laura Leigh of Wild Horse Education to see if there was roundup footage that could be used in the video and Leigh sent several clips.

“This song really embodies this experience,” said Laura Leigh, “extraordinary beauty contrasted by absolute terror and heartache. The desire to remember yourself as an American, to experience your ‘mustang soul.’ This song has made me cry every time I hear it.”

Jennifer is offering a free download of the song on her website. Please contact her before using the song for any purpose other than your personal listening experience.http://www.jajohnsonmusic.com/wildhorses.cfm

Magnificent Sheldon Mustang fights for freedom… Isn’t freedom a core American concept?

UPDATE 3/15, Wild Angel

Jennifer has written another song centered around our wild horses. This song is particularly pertinent to us this year. The Sheldon Mustangs, a herd with very strong documentation as “America’s War Horse,” was “zeroed out” by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The herd had been an “experiment ground” for surgical sterilization of wild horses.

“I have never seen such an aggressive place for wild horses,” said Laura Leigh “With so few fertile mares on the range the competition for them was fierce. Stallions that had vasectomies did not know they were ‘shooting blanks’ and the few mares that did not receive hysterectomies in the field were fiercely fought over. Bands with new babies had no rest.” (note: the mustangs of Sheldon are managed by USFWS, they are not protected under the Act that governs BLM and Forest Service. The mares of Sheldon were surgically sterilized, a practice currently being considered by the BLM. These mares were not seen as ‘managed’ but were in a holding pattern to be permanently removed. No temporary fertility vaccines, like PZP, were used in Sheldon. There were only ‘final’ solutions).

A little “wild angel” now nothing more than a statistic from the zero out of the last of the Sheldon Mustangs. This removal was like no other with the ongoing drama and callous behavior that ranged far and wide.

Sheldon was particularly heart breaking as these horses had no real adoption option and the vast majority found themselves at sale auction, or used in low level rodeo and then sent to sale. Unhandled horses that go to sale auction, go to slaughter (it is very rare that horses do not go to slaughter that go to auction. Usually only when the public is notified that a “rescue” is needed and the Sheldon horses were kept as secretive as possible).

A link to a story written for Rosie and Kidron, two rescued Sheldon Mustangs http://wildhorseeducation.org/2014/05/24/in-loving-memory/

Thank you Jennifer for brining our horses into the public eye through your gift of song.