In memory of many, in honor of all (finned, feathered, furred, four legged and human), we express our deepest gratitude.

As advocates for wild horses and burros we pay honor to equines that have served and paid the ultimate price. Nearly 1.5 million horses died during the Civil War. It is estimated that nearly eight million horses, mules and donkeys died in World War I alone. Click HERE for more…
Non-human continue to serve alongside their human brothers and sisters in conflict zones around the globe. Many never return.

Thank you for your service.

Are the descendants of America’s Cavalry mounts deserving of protection?

All of our herds in the U.S. are unique to the “land they stand.” This fact is one of the reasons the language in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses was part species protection and part historic preservation. A wild horse from Sand Wash Basin (CO) is not a wild horse from Fish Creek (NV) with ties to the Damele Curlies. A Fish Creek is not a Twin Peaks (CA) with deep ties to the U.S. Cavalry remount program. Each herd is unique to the human history of the area it stands.

However, none of this matters to how the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) determines relentless removals that, to this day, continue to treat our American treasures as “pests” in the way of private profit bottom-lines on our public lands.

Herds with the strongest ties to the U.S. Cavalry (through mounds of documentation) have been wiped off the map, like the horses of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.

Ten-year old video, done on a laptop on a dashboard by a very upset advocate, may show the last of the Sheldon. Good-bye old man.

The central location of Harry Winton (the most well documented Cavalry remount contractor) was within what is now the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. However, Winton’s horses ran up into Oregon and south toward Reno. Winton would herd these horses to a rail station south of Susanville, CA. After the cross-country train ride they were shipped overseas. During some periods of the World War l, 1,000 horses per day were arriving in Europe.

BLM has finalized a plan to complete the devastation of the entire multi-state corridor. The ill-conceived plan lumps Buckhorn and Coppersmith with the Carter Reservoir HMA (a primarily genetically isolated herd that carries an entirely different and unique history). 

The first steps in litigation to protect these herds from suffering under a lazy bureaucracy  have been taken. You can see more by clicking HERE.

Today we honor all who have served and paid the ultimate price. May they be finned, furred, feathered or human, thank you for your sacrifice. 

We continue to honor the legacy of the “war horse” by recognizing the need to protect the beating hearts that carry that history. 

Together, we will continue the fight to protect and preserve our wild ones. Every herd we are fighting for has a unique legacy carried in their beating hearts. Our wild ones truly are living symbols of the history of our country deserving of respect and protection.

Thank you for standing with us.

All of our work is only possible with your support. 

We thank you for being a vital part of the work of WHE at this critical time. You support keeps our teams in the field, our investigations running and our litigation alive. Together, we will take a strong stand for our wild ones.