I hope that everyone had a great Independence Day. Mine was shadowed because I am very unhappy about some choices the federal government is making. Specifically, they announced this month that more than half of the wild mustangs that the bureau of land management is responsible for are likely to be put down. I know people who were born at a time when there were 2 million wild mustangs in America. Now there are 33,000 living in 10 western states, and another 30,000 in federal corrals. The problem is, of course, money. They don’t want to pay for care of the corralled horses. They want to euthanize them.
I don’t ride. I don’t really like horses up close. But I believe that horses, like dogs, are our partners in a very profound way. Man doesn’t build civilization without horses. People need a strong and willing companion in order to begin the process of trade, building and pioneering. The American wild mustang is a symbol of freedom that has a deeper and more inspiring effect than the other animals we use to evoke our country’s philosophy. The bald eagle, the wild turkey, each has a place in the nation’s lexicon. But the mustang is a part of our heritage that has much deeper meaning. It really is the horse we rode in on. And what excuse do the bureaucrats give to wipe them out? Because they don’t want them to over graze the range. Horses don’t over graze like sheep and goats. The only place there is overpopulation is in the federal corrals, where the horses were removed from their home turf. And sometimes neglected. How often are they released back to the wild?
One way to fund the necessary management of the herds is to make one of those optional tax return check marks, like they have for the election funds. I know I’d rather give a buck to the horses than give it to the part of ‘em that goes through the gate last.