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The Hart Mountain Wild Horses
Over the course of two recent summers, Shilo's Inn founder Laura Moretti (then co-founder and vice president of the National Wild Horse Rescue & Sanctuary — or WHR, for short) helped to capture and place 236 wild horses from the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in southeastern Oregon.
Due to the requirements of law, wild horses may be rounded up on Bureau of Land Management lands by motorized vehicles but may not be killed; however, on U.S. Fish & Wildlife-governed lands, wild horses may not be rounded up with motorized vehicles but they may be legally killed. So when the Service decided to rid the refuge of its wild equines, WHR agreed to capture the horses alive and find them homes.
And that meant that the roundup needed to be orchestrated from horseback — so you can imagine the challenge that was! Below are pictures of some of these magnificent animals, both in the wild and in the process of capture.
For more information about wild horse issues, read Laura Moretti's investigative report: Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America's Disappearing Wild Horses.
Click on the smaller images below to see larger ones.
   
Entering Hart Mountain. |
A view from the box canyon trap. |
Early morning set out across the desert. |
Domestic horses begin a long day's ride. |
   
Some of Hart Mountain's wild horses. |
Some of Hart Mountain's wild horses. |
Some of Hart Mountain's wild horses. |
A wild bachelor stallion. |
   
Horses approach the trap. |
A herd of horses enters the trap. |
Two wild foals. |
The trap gates are closed. |
  
The view from a truck window. |
Wild ponies are halter broken. |
A young wild foal.
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Wild horses are caught in the trap.
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A group poses for a portrait. |
The horses were very curious about us. |
A trio of wild stallions.
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A proud and magnificent wild stallion.
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What many thought about confinement.
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Dozens of horses await adoption.
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Two of the Hart Mountain horses reside among another two dozen at the Return to Freedom American Wild Horse Sanctuary in southern California.
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