My fascination with Wild Horses 

 began years ago while watching the movie Perfect Storm.

I was so intrigued by Sable Island which is mentioned in the film, an island that houses many shipwrecks. When I looked it up online during the movie I was even more mesmerized that wild horses actually live there today, untouched. I could not believe that they were not some mythical creature like a unicorn. I was in such awe.

My next encounter with wild horses came a few years later while walking around lower Manhattan. I accidentally stumbled upon a gallery, in a way it felt like i was led there. At the time I was lost walking on some backstreet cobblestone road in Soho. As I wondered which way to walk to get back to Broadway, I looked to my side and gazed in a window. My jaw dropped. I was in front of Robert Dutesco’s gallery. I then learned that Robert Dutesco was a photographer who was granted permission to go to Sable Island and live with the wild horses and photograph them.

www.dutescoart.com

The gallery was closed. When I came back a few days later, I stood in front of these huge life-size pictures of these beautiful beings, tears filled my eyes. I was in such awe of their raw beauty, spirit and connection to one another. It took my breath away.  

Years later I was surprised and excited to learn that we have wild horses here in the United States. Really, where? I wanted to know about them. Why was it unknown to me that there are wild horses in my own country?

What I found out haunts me every day and night.

The BLM (“Bureau of Land Management” branch of our government) roundups.

The photographs below appear courtesy of photographer Mike Lorden. Mike traveled from where he lives in Washington State to Nevada in January 2012 to document the Tri-State Calico Complex RoundUp. Mike discusses the trip in his blog, and the similarities of the wild horse roundups here in the US by our government and dolphin hunting in Taiji.

Link to Mike Lorden's Blog


Calico Roundup January 2012, Photo by Mike Lorden


Calico Roundup January 2012, Photo by Mike Lorden

Calico Roundup January 2012 BLM (Bureau of Land Management, a division of the US government)
Calico Roundup January 2012, Photo by Mike Lorden


Calico Roundup, January 2012, Photo by Mike Lorden, Horses comforting one another.


This photo by Mike Lorden, taken at the Calico Roundup January 2012, reminds me of Robert Dutesco's work.

BLM Calico Roundup January 2012, Mike Lorden Photo
Calico Roundup January 2012, Photo by Mike Lorden

BLM Rounds up our wild horses, Calico Roundup January 2012
Calico Roundup January 2012. Photo by Mike Lorden.  This horse watches his family being taken away.

To oppose the BLM roundups, take action now, call or write to your state representative.

Direct Link to American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign email sign-up:

They will notify you when action is needed, the links they provide make it so easy and quick to communicate with your senators and representatives when issues pertaining to the wild horses come up.

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign website:
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/

The horse is a symbol of the American dream, of a land of freedom and opportunity. How ironic that we are chasing around and capturing our very own horses in America during these difficult times in our nation’s history. We are only hurting ourselves. Stand up for the wild horse. Stand up for your freedom.

Martha Graham to Agnes DeMille: 

 There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action,
and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.
The world will not have it.  It is not your business to determine how good it is;
nor how valuable it is; nor how it compares with other expectations.
It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.

Keep the channel open.  No artist is pleased.  There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.
There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction; a blessed unrest that keeps us marching
and makes us more alive than the others.

Martha Graham to Agnes DeMille