Megan Parks, a photographic artist, loves beautiful, wild-spirited things so she was naturally drawn to the mustang. She and husband, Gary, own several and say that they are gentle and easy to train. They purchased them from the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency that has legal oversight of mustangs. The Parks search BLM websites where they view photos and profiles. Confirmation (how well they’re built) is a priority. And the horse must be sane. Gary and Megan say they love mustangs because they tend to be hardy, beautiful and sweet- tempered.
Their latest acquisition is Wakita, cremello-colored with crystal blue eyes, who they found in a Herd Management Area in Colorado. Megan began working with him the morning he arrived. Now, two weeks later, Wakita is completely focused on Megan. He follows her around the pen and leans his head on her shoulder.
The BLM reports that there are some 40,000 mustangs, or about 14,000 more than the federal regulations allow. The herd, which has not been culled for years due to lack of money, increases a fifth every year. Some groups want the mustangs slaughtered because they get in the way of commercial land use. Advocates for the mustangs say they should be allowed to roam freely. Ranchers say failure to manage the herds has sharply cut the availably of range grasses needed for grazing their cattle. Whatever happens politically in the rest of the world, The Parks’ mustangs know that here, they are safe.
The Parks say the mustangs are awesomely intelligent. They are examples of survival of the fittest. If they aren’t smart, they don’t live long out in the wild.
No comments:
Post a Comment