Learn more about Wild Horses Lives Matter

The organization remains committed to transparency, efficiency, and purpose-driven work. Each dollar entrusted to Wild Horses Lives Matter directly contributes to protecting the freedom, dignity, and survival of America’s wild horses

A sweeping University of Wyoming study of wild horses on federal lands across seven Western states has found that the animals have a high ability to gain nutrition from a variety of plants and, by so doing, maintain good body condition, even in winter.

In legal filings and court rulings tied to a 2022 environmental challenge, the Ninth Circuit noted that the Winnemucca Off-Range Corrals operate under the same conditions and standards as other BLM holding facilities nationwide.

When Americans think of wild horses, we picture untamed freedom — not government-issued GPS collars and data transmitters strapped around their necks. But hundreds of mustangs across the West currently carry those collars, part of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies designed to track their movements, survival, and range use.

Many Americans believe that wild horses and burros are vastly overpopulated on public lands..that their numbers are exploding, they are degrading ecosystems, and they must be removed. But a close look at the data, the models, and the funding reveals a far more complex picture. Below are data points, critical analyses, and scientific observations that suggest the “overpopulation” narrative is heavily shaped by assumptions, agency incentives, and funding sources—not always by unbiased science.

What’s the Difference Between Wild Horses on Federal Lands and Those on Nevada’s Virginia Range?

A lot of people don’t know this—but there’s a big difference.

Embedding free-roaming horses and burros within a utilitarian framework and viewing them as livestock at best or pests -  at worst allows the BLM the latitude to establish welfare standards of convenience in other words to suit them. These standards need only exceed the lowest threshold of public acceptability. As a result, management can default to roundups and removals. These methods sever deep-rooted social and family bonds, and relegate previously free and self-sufficient to diminished lives in holding pens. These environments are often environmentally and socially impoverished, and the Wild Horses are subjected to the acute stress of roundups and unfamiliar human handling. Once removed from their home ranges and families, the best they can hope for is the companionship of buddy in holding and the care of (hopefully) kind humans.