Third Floor
Wild horses on the Stone Cabin HMA today
After the Act Passed
The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was a massive achievement. The lifelong goal of advocates of the time, including Velma Bronn Johnston (“Wild Horse Annie”). The Act gained federal jurisdiction that defined free-roaming horses and burros as part of the natural system of public domain; managed in-trust for the American people and their best interests. The Act eventually stopped the practice of mustanging, the unregulated capture and sale of wild horses and burros for pet food, chicken feed and fertilizer. The intention of the original law was that on the areas “where presently found” wild horses and their ranges were to be managed “principally, but not exclusively” for future generations to enjoy. All actions of the federal government were to treat wild horses and burros humanely and to protect them, at every step, from entering that brutal slaughter pipeline that ground them up for commercial product.
What happened?
Exhibit created and presented by Wild Horse Education.
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