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America's Last Wild Horses
No wild animal captures the spirit of North America quite so powerfully as the wild horse--nor has any faced such diverse and potent enemies. In this provocative account, Hope Ryden--who helped to ensure the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which grants mustangs special protection--combs the history of these proud and noble horses. Descended from the Spanish horses ridden by the conquistadors, they evolved into the tough and intelligent ponies that Indians--and later, explorers and cowboys--learned to rely on.
From the period when wholesale extermination of the buffalo was under way until recent times, commercial and political interests have sought to eliminate the wild horses as varmints. In this update to this classic story, Ryden tells of the successes and failures of regulation, and includes stunning color photographs. The subject of a front-page article in The New York Times when it was first published, America's Last Wild Horses continues to be a compelling testament to the life of a uniquely American symbol of grace and wildness, and is a must-read for horse lovers and Western history enthusiasts everywhere.
From the period when wholesale extermination of the buffalo was under way until recent times, commercial and political interests have sought to eliminate the wild horses as varmints. In this update to this classic story, Ryden tells of the successes and failures of regulation, and includes stunning color photographs. The subject of a front-page article in The New York Times when it was first published, America's Last Wild Horses continues to be a compelling testament to the life of a uniquely American symbol of grace and wildness, and is a must-read for horse lovers and Western history enthusiasts everywhere.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 1978
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About the author
Hope Ryden
34 books23 followersAuthor-Naturalist Hope Ryden has spent years in the field, studying and photographing North American wildlife. Her behavioral findings have been published in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Audubon magazine, and her books have been translated into German, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Russian. To date she has twenty-three books to her credit, all of which are illustrated with her own photography. Her most recent titles can be ordered through Barnes and Noble.com or Amazon.com. Some of her earlier books can be ordered directly from her or from iUniverse.com. Hope is available for school programs, and she also lectures for adult audiences. Her wildlife photographs are handled by the National Geographic's Image Collection or can be ordered directly from her.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 15, 2019
The book that helped save the American mustang
When the book came out in 1970, it informed the public about the plight of the wild horse. Hope Ryden's was a voice that was heard and, along with Velma Johnston's (Wild Horse Annie), it was vital in introducing the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
America's Last Wild Horses traces the history of the West through horses, recounting their role during the exploration period, the settlement, the wars. It's the story of the deteriorating land, of disappearing buffalo, of destroying the wilderness, of forcing Native Americans out of their homelands. And, of course, of all the horses that were exploited, harassed, maimed, chased, and killed in the process.
It's extremely readable throughout, but the pace really picks up when the history of the wild horse is over and the controversy over its managment arises. Hope Ryden details, for example, the efforts to save the Pryor Mountains horses from a roundup and slaughter, and the victory can be witnessed through today's Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range refuge and the popular PBS documentaries that were filmed there: Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies, Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns and Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions that I'm sure the horse enthusiasts are all familiar with.
Further reading
The book may seem dated, but the new edition contains updates up to 2005, and I'd say is the starting point in reading about mustangs. From that point on, I'd recommend picking up Wild Horse Country that covers the issue till 2017; it also describes the history of the mustang but the contents don't overlap. An inside look at the roundups themselves is provided in the excellent Nobody's Horses. For more about the wild horse sanctuaries that Hope Ryden mentions in the update, see The Horse Lover. To find out what happens to the individual animals that end up in the adoption programs, consider Last Chance Mustang.
Actual rating: 4.25*
When the book came out in 1970, it informed the public about the plight of the wild horse. Hope Ryden's was a voice that was heard and, along with Velma Johnston's (Wild Horse Annie), it was vital in introducing the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
America's Last Wild Horses traces the history of the West through horses, recounting their role during the exploration period, the settlement, the wars. It's the story of the deteriorating land, of disappearing buffalo, of destroying the wilderness, of forcing Native Americans out of their homelands. And, of course, of all the horses that were exploited, harassed, maimed, chased, and killed in the process.
It's extremely readable throughout, but the pace really picks up when the history of the wild horse is over and the controversy over its managment arises. Hope Ryden details, for example, the efforts to save the Pryor Mountains horses from a roundup and slaughter, and the victory can be witnessed through today's Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range refuge and the popular PBS documentaries that were filmed there: Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies, Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns and Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions that I'm sure the horse enthusiasts are all familiar with.
Further reading
The book may seem dated, but the new edition contains updates up to 2005, and I'd say is the starting point in reading about mustangs. From that point on, I'd recommend picking up Wild Horse Country that covers the issue till 2017; it also describes the history of the mustang but the contents don't overlap. An inside look at the roundups themselves is provided in the excellent Nobody's Horses. For more about the wild horse sanctuaries that Hope Ryden mentions in the update, see The Horse Lover. To find out what happens to the individual animals that end up in the adoption programs, consider Last Chance Mustang.
Actual rating: 4.25*
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February 4, 2025if someone tells you they have a problem with an organization abbreviated "BLM" they are either a giant racist OR they hate the most worthless corrupt shitty piece of garbage "for sale by greedy sociopaths" government organization that tortures and kills beautiful wild horses for funsies and aids and abets other people who do it that has ever existed!!! mad and swearing and seething and raging!!! i hope those horses put YOU in a mass grave Bureau of Land Management!!!
did-not-finish
November 3, 2021mmmmm unfortunately too much of this seems to be about Native American history from a very white very inaccurate very stereotypical lens that I do not want to read
July 28, 2016
This book is truly a hidden gem. Through an overwhelming amount of research, Ryden has brought us not just a history of the wild horse, but also that of the American West. History buffs are a dime a dozen at my library, and it's a shame this book is being overlooked--I think anyone who loves not just horses, but early American history, would enjoy it.
While the earliest versions of the horse evolved on the American continent, no Homo sapiens encountered them until the Spanish explorers brought them back. Some horses naturally escaped, or were turned loose, and became the foundation stock for both the ponies used by the Native Americans and the free-living animals of today.
The overarching theme that will impress readers the most is how incredibly hardy and resilient the Spanish mustang was, and is. This is a horse who survived the journey to the New World, merciless terrain and weather conditions, ignorantly hard riding and training by both white man and Native American, regular consumption by the white settlers and explorers, and merciless persecution from the earliest days of Westward expansion until today. And still the little horse survives.
If you follow horse issues with any regularity, you will know that the American mustang is still not safe. Why so much persecution of this undersized horse, who lives in some of the most inhospitable lands in the United States? I think the author is on to something when she writes,
Not content with the slow process of starving the Plains tribes into submission by exterminating their principal food supply, the white man also seized the Indians' horses. The government as well as the settlers, sensing that the Indians' very life and culture were tied up with their animals, began to realize that the Indian would fall with the loss of his prized possession and not before.
The Indians' horse thereupon became a target. To a certain extent government policy toward the small horses of the Indians, and opinions of Westerners regarding these animals, still reflect the attitudes formed at this early date.
Seeing as animals can be used to reflect our anxieties about the world around us, it makes sense that old prejudices about "Indians" informed general antipathy toward the Indian pony. Today, fear about illegal immigration has allowed special interests to brand a variety of animal species with emotionally-charged terms like "alien" and "invasive." Yesterday, the mustang was an Indian holdout, today, he's an invasive alien.
In the middle part of the 20th century, when the mustang wasn't being shot on sight or run to death by the US government or their hired guns, they were being captured and shipped long-distance to dog food canneries. And while the maneuvering by wild horse advocates to lobby Congress was heroic, it struck me that savvier marketing may have saved more horses from this especially ugly fate. I thought that if Henry Spira were on the job, he would have taken the matter to the pet-owning public. After all, those who cared enough for their pets to feed them specially-made food in an era when many dogs and cats just got scraps would probably care about horses too. If full-page advertisements urged pet owners to boycott foods from companies that slaughtered wild mustangs, along with some photos of what mustang capture and transport entailed, the reaction from both the consumer and business world have been swift.
WILD HORSES is a look back at the history of the mustang, and so doesn't include the latest raging controversy about controlling their numbers through dosing mares with contraceptives instead of rounding up and removing horses. Some of the abolitionist types want an entirely hands-off management system and are suing to stop these programs. Other animal advocates say, hey, we're trying to save these horses from DEATH, so which is the better option here? I think if the abolitionists read this book and see for themselves how historically ugly the Bureau of Land Management's war on mustangs has been, they will realize the agency isn't going to just start playing nice with wild horses.
P.S. I was very disappointed when the author named a Senatorial advocate for the wild horses as "Senator Byrd of Virginia." The legendary Senator Byrd was from WEST Virginia--yes, we really ARE a state!
While the earliest versions of the horse evolved on the American continent, no Homo sapiens encountered them until the Spanish explorers brought them back. Some horses naturally escaped, or were turned loose, and became the foundation stock for both the ponies used by the Native Americans and the free-living animals of today.
The overarching theme that will impress readers the most is how incredibly hardy and resilient the Spanish mustang was, and is. This is a horse who survived the journey to the New World, merciless terrain and weather conditions, ignorantly hard riding and training by both white man and Native American, regular consumption by the white settlers and explorers, and merciless persecution from the earliest days of Westward expansion until today. And still the little horse survives.
If you follow horse issues with any regularity, you will know that the American mustang is still not safe. Why so much persecution of this undersized horse, who lives in some of the most inhospitable lands in the United States? I think the author is on to something when she writes,
Not content with the slow process of starving the Plains tribes into submission by exterminating their principal food supply, the white man also seized the Indians' horses. The government as well as the settlers, sensing that the Indians' very life and culture were tied up with their animals, began to realize that the Indian would fall with the loss of his prized possession and not before.
The Indians' horse thereupon became a target. To a certain extent government policy toward the small horses of the Indians, and opinions of Westerners regarding these animals, still reflect the attitudes formed at this early date.
Seeing as animals can be used to reflect our anxieties about the world around us, it makes sense that old prejudices about "Indians" informed general antipathy toward the Indian pony. Today, fear about illegal immigration has allowed special interests to brand a variety of animal species with emotionally-charged terms like "alien" and "invasive." Yesterday, the mustang was an Indian holdout, today, he's an invasive alien.
In the middle part of the 20th century, when the mustang wasn't being shot on sight or run to death by the US government or their hired guns, they were being captured and shipped long-distance to dog food canneries. And while the maneuvering by wild horse advocates to lobby Congress was heroic, it struck me that savvier marketing may have saved more horses from this especially ugly fate. I thought that if Henry Spira were on the job, he would have taken the matter to the pet-owning public. After all, those who cared enough for their pets to feed them specially-made food in an era when many dogs and cats just got scraps would probably care about horses too. If full-page advertisements urged pet owners to boycott foods from companies that slaughtered wild mustangs, along with some photos of what mustang capture and transport entailed, the reaction from both the consumer and business world have been swift.
WILD HORSES is a look back at the history of the mustang, and so doesn't include the latest raging controversy about controlling their numbers through dosing mares with contraceptives instead of rounding up and removing horses. Some of the abolitionist types want an entirely hands-off management system and are suing to stop these programs. Other animal advocates say, hey, we're trying to save these horses from DEATH, so which is the better option here? I think if the abolitionists read this book and see for themselves how historically ugly the Bureau of Land Management's war on mustangs has been, they will realize the agency isn't going to just start playing nice with wild horses.
P.S. I was very disappointed when the author named a Senatorial advocate for the wild horses as "Senator Byrd of Virginia." The legendary Senator Byrd was from WEST Virginia--yes, we really ARE a state!
October 7, 2012
A comprehensive and engaging history of the wild horse in the American west. This book was published quite a few years ago now and even with recent editions won't give you the latest up to date information, but it will give you a pretty thorough understanding of how the wild horse situation came to be what it is today, why exactly the BLM's current and historical management of wild horses is so fraught, and why wild horses hold the place they do in the American consciousness. Ryden is clearly on the side of the horses so this will not be the most unbiased book you'll ever read, but she also does her best to present the history unemotionally and without hyperbole; while the material itself is deeply affecting, you won't feel like you're being manipulated into caring. This is the best book I've read to date on the subject, and was a fascinating and detailed read. This ought to be near the top of every horse lover's to-read list.
January 22, 2020
Ugh. So depressing.
I forced myself to read it. It's a book critical to the understanding of the way the west got to be the way it is, as well as the evolution in attitude of many in the ranching community. I'd read it before as a very young person, but it didn't have the same effect. 30 extra years of experience in dealing with livestock may have something to do with it. 😉
I forced myself to read it. It's a book critical to the understanding of the way the west got to be the way it is, as well as the evolution in attitude of many in the ranching community. I'd read it before as a very young person, but it didn't have the same effect. 30 extra years of experience in dealing with livestock may have something to do with it. 😉
March 21, 2020
This book was both an easy and a hard book to read. Easy, because it’s written in such a clear and straightforward manner. Hard, because it makes clear just how horribly Man has treated this animal, time and again putting his own greed before the welfare of this noble beast.
The easiest, and most interesting part of the book was the history of the wild horse, beginning with its start in the Americas as the tiny eohippus. Time would evolve them into the animal we know today, but not before some would take the journey across the Bering Straits. A lucky happenstance, since the original stock would be wiped out with the coming of Man from the other direction. So the horses brought over by the Spaniards were not an invasive species as our government prefers so name them (so, I assume, they don’t have the little protection afforded other species in our National Parks.) Instead, they were essentially coming home.
From the Spanish Conquistadors, to the Plains Indians, to their brethren in the East, all would find a need for the horse. But many of those horses would find their way to freedom, only to come up against the white man who would start a campaign of killing the wild horses of the American Plains and Southwest.
That campaign continues to this day, making the second half of the book difficult to read. While much of this part of the book is the history of the different breeds of horses, it seems that, eventually, all suffer when coming in contact with Man.
The easiest, and most interesting part of the book was the history of the wild horse, beginning with its start in the Americas as the tiny eohippus. Time would evolve them into the animal we know today, but not before some would take the journey across the Bering Straits. A lucky happenstance, since the original stock would be wiped out with the coming of Man from the other direction. So the horses brought over by the Spaniards were not an invasive species as our government prefers so name them (so, I assume, they don’t have the little protection afforded other species in our National Parks.) Instead, they were essentially coming home.
From the Spanish Conquistadors, to the Plains Indians, to their brethren in the East, all would find a need for the horse. But many of those horses would find their way to freedom, only to come up against the white man who would start a campaign of killing the wild horses of the American Plains and Southwest.
That campaign continues to this day, making the second half of the book difficult to read. While much of this part of the book is the history of the different breeds of horses, it seems that, eventually, all suffer when coming in contact with Man.
January 2, 2009
Lots of history. Good backround but a little dated.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews