Open letter to Alex Dawson, Fish Creek Films:
Dear Alex,
It is with great sadness that I viewed the trailer for your movie, Wild Horse, Wild Ride, which is set to play at our local theatre November 17. While it looks like a lovely film, there is a side of the BLM roundups that is dangerous, ugly and very sad for the horses that are in holding pens for years and are never adopted. The romancing of the mustang adoptions only lends credence to the brutal tactics of the BLM roundups and therefore misleads the moviegoers as to the negative fallout of this practice.
Would you be willing to do a film that documents the death, injury and incarceration of tens of thousands of formerly wild horses that were helicopter stampeded into submission? Foals and pregnant mares are part of these stampedes and their deaths and injuries are the result. Proud stallions, leaders of their family group, are gelded and removed from the group.
There are now more horses in government holding facilities than wild horses left free on the range. The BLM is interfering with natural horse families and reproduction and reducing the size of herds unnaturally, upsetting the eco balance of the herds.
The cost of this BLM program is an outrageous use of taxpayer dollars. The cost of feeding and vet care once they are rounded up is not something we should be paying taxes for, especially in this economic downturn. Then add the brutality of what it does to the animals and you have an animal abuse nightmare. In Eastern Oregon last spring, a four-month-old foal was killed in the roundup. Is this to be supported?
I am willing to bet that the BLM wouldn’t even let you near the roundups to see what really goes on. They would only allow you the access they want, not full access, if they knew what you were after. Please go to the following website (www.wildhorsepreservation.org) and get more facts and see videos of the dangerous and brutal roundups that have already been captured on film by American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.
At our local horse rescue sanctuary there are horses saved from the Warm Springs Reservation roundup that were on their way to slaughter. Believe me; all horses do not go to adoption. So, please, a film on the real wild horse situation would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your consideration of my request.
– Nancy Engebretson
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2011.
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Thank you Nancy Engebretson for educating me and others like me who were unaware of the brutality and confinement of wild horse round ups.It’s a horrible existence for any wild animal to remain trapped in a pen endlessly.I’m sorry I went out of my way to see Wild Horse,Wild Ride.I would never have supported a movie that creates a positive spin on wild horse round ups had I been aware of the real story.
It is great that you criticize the movie by watching just a trailer. Why don’t you watch the entire film and then write a review of the movie? If anything, the film promotes the adoption of these animals. Therefore, keeping them out of being endlessly trapped in pens. The movie is not a commercial for the BLM’s programs. It is a documentary that tells the story of horse training and the relationship between human and animal. In fact, not one individual in the movie would support brutality towards animals. It is just the opposite. These individuals would probably give up nearly anything for the well being of these horses.
Documentaries are just that, documenting something that exists in life. Alex is not at fault here. I agree with your concerns but you are attacking a filmmaker and that isn’t fair.
Your argument is short-sided.
I am absolutely astounded that you used the term “eco-balance” to describe a population of non-native, feral, invasive horses. Unbelievable. Wild horses have no place in the ecology of Oregon’s wild lands, and the damage they do to our native wildlife is tremendous. They need to be controlled and the BLM has done its best to round up and adopt these animals out to placate horse lovers, when in reality what is needed in many areas is aggressive management to get horse populations under control and minimize habitat damage that is detrimental to WILDLIFE. The problem with their efforts is that it has failed on both counts. Horse lovers still get upset about the roundups, and wild horses are still tearing up and degrading range land and displacing wildlife in many areas across the state. People need to wake up and come to terms with the fact that with the notable exception of a few herds that have cultural or historical significance, most of Oregon’s horses are feral animals and should be removed from the ecosystem by any means necessary, and if “horse lovers” don’t want to adopt these animals then lethal removal may be the next best method to deal with the problem.