From the desk of WHE volunteer Colette Kaluza

A desert sunrise (with wild horses) seems especially fitting for this birthday, because Laura Leigh’s story is one of rising — again and again — from places most people never come back from. From living homeless, fighting cancer, and standing alone at trap sites with a camera and a notebook, she has carried the wild ones with her through every storm, and changed what is possible for them under the law. As her birthday arrives at the dawning of the Year of the Fire Horse, we honor a life that has turned personal hardship into a fierce, enduring promise to America’s wild horses and burros through the creation of Wild Horse Education where she no longer works alone.

Laura Leigh, WHE founder, boarding a helicopter for a survey flight of Owyhee, 2010

From the edge of survival to the frontlines

Before there was an organization, there was one woman in the dirt and the dust, documenting what was never meant to be seen. Long before anyone routinely went to a roundup, Laura began as a photojournalist, traveling to remote roundup sites, often with no safety net of her own. She kept going even when illness and instability would have justified walking away, carrying her cameras into the field while battling cancer and housing insecurity, determined that the suffering of wild horses would not stay invisible.

Laura leaving the hospital after going septic after surgery for breast cancer and living on the road. Cat Kindsfather had brought her favorite soup, her computer (and flowers) so Leigh could work on court cases from her hospital bed. (2013)

Racing from field-to-courtroom, Leigh went from journalist to advocate in the blink of an eye when an 8-month-old colt was driven relentlessly over volcanic rock with a helicopter just feet off his back and into a holding facility where BLM refused to allow him to go into private care for adequate veterinary treatment. The foal died in agony, as his feet literally fell off, under layers of inadequate paperwork and relentless lies.

Hope, the foal that died of hoof slough that started her on her advocacy journey.

Those years forged the core of Wild Horse Education: witness first, tell the truth, and refuse to look away.

Every long drive, every freezing morning at a trap, and every night spent sorting photos and field notes built the record that would eventually follow her into courtrooms. Core beliefs carried by every member of WHE today.

Landmark cases and stopping abuse

Out of that record came a series of lawsuits that reshaped the landscape for wild horses, the public, and the First Amendment. In 2010, Laura’s First Amendment litigation at Silver King challenged BLM’s efforts to keep the public away from roundups, ultimately producing a landmark Ninth Circuit ruling that opened gathers to daily observation and is now cited in civil rights and wild horse cases nationwide. That ruling helped cement the principle that the government cannot simply hide what happens to wild horses on our public lands.

At the same time, Laura brought the first case in history specifically targeting abuse at wild horse roundups, winning a preliminary injunction that halted roundup operations and forced a beginning for changes in conduct. That victory sent a clear message: cruelty at the trap is not “business as usual” — it is a violation that can be challenged and stopped. From Tuscarora/Owyhee and Jackson Mountain to Triple B and beyond, her litigation has repeatedly pushed back attempts to shut the public out, stretch emergency claims, and run roughshod over the law.

Below: With a Court Order issued late in the day after hearing in Reno, two advocates accompanied Leigh to try to see the roundup. Leigh had a concussion from being rear-ended by a drunk driver. After the events on the video, Leigh was offered what BLM called “red-carpet” access to view the roundup but no one else could go. Instead of accepting the offer, Leigh continued to fight for all and gained a landmark court ruling in the Ninth Circuit guaranteeing access and affirming press freedoms. A case cited as a gold-standard for the First Amendment today nationwide. 

These events inspired a bit of creativity in the advocate community and the video below was sent to Leigh as she was heading back to another hearing: “We hope this makes you smile.”

Building Wild Horse Education

What began as one woman’s fight has grown into Wild Horse Education, an organization that now blends field documentation, legal action, policy work, and public education into a single, coherent force. WHE’s litigation history reads like a roadmap of modern wild horse advocacy: cases that opened roundups, stopped unjustified removals, challenged dangerous experiments, and held agencies accountable for what they do in the shadows.

Today, the organization continues to press active cases aimed at reforming how wild horses and burros are managed and enforcing the promises of the 1971 Act on the ground, not just on paper. The distance from those early days — homeless, sick, standing alone at the fence — to an organization whose cases are used as precedent nationwide is measured in courage, persistence, and thousands of hours on the range and in the courts.

The meaning of the Fire Horse

The Year of the Fire Horse is rare, powerful, and not for the faint of heart. In Chinese tradition, the horse symbolizes strength, speed, freedom, and perseverance, while the Fire element amplifies those traits into courage, action, and transformation. Fire Horse years are known for dynamic energy, breaking old patterns, and demanding bold, decisive leadership — a time when hesitation is punished and truth insists on coming to light.

It is hard to imagine a more fitting backdrop for Laura’s birthday. Her work has always been about moving, not standing still — racing evidence into court before the record disappears, standing up when access is denied, and insisting that the story of wild horses and burros be written in daylight, not darkness. In a Fire Horse year that promises “unstoppable energy” and transformative change, her life’s work is both an example and a challenge: to meet this moment with the same unyielding resolve she has shown for years.

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A birthday and a promise

So this year, we do more than say “happy birthday.” We honor a journey that moved from the margins of survival to the center of precedent-setting law, from one person with a camera to an organization whose cases echo across courtrooms and herd management areas. We also recognize that Laura’s story is not just about victories won, but about a promise kept — to be resolute for the wild ones, no matter the personal cost.

As the Year of the Fire Horse dawns, Wild Horse Education stands on the foundation she built: daily access where there was once a closed gate, injunctions where there was once unchecked abuse, and a growing legacy of litigation that others now use to defend their own herds. May this rare Fire Horse year carry her work — and all of us who care about wild horses and burros — into a future where “wild and free” is finally honored on the range, not just written in law.

Happy Birthday Laura.

A very generous donor will match every gift dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. until February 21st for the love of our wild ones in honor of the Year of the Fire Horse and Laura’s birthday.

Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support.