America's Last Wild Horses by Hope Ryden

[gilda_elise]

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.

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.






Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.


1. A Wicked War
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3. The End Is Always Near: Apocalyptic Moments, from the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses
4. Thera: Pompeii of the Ancient Aegean
5. Unbury Carol
6. The Institute
7. With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change
8. Elevation
9. The Remaking
10. The Great Lakes Water Wars
11. The Heresy of Dr Dee (John Dee Papers #2)
12. The Black Death
13. A Chain of Thunder (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater #2)
14. American's Last Wild Horses




BOOK BINGO 2020 - 13. Read a Book by a Female Author

Comments

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I can't read stuff like this. I've always loved horses and the way man has fucked them over (well, the whole planet, but certain vulnerable species in particular) infuriates me.

When I think of the animals who've suffered in war - in many cases just because they are so loyal, like dogs and horses - and in scientific experiments it just makes me loathe my species.

I still think rapists and child molesters should replace animals used in scientific experiments, if those experiments must occur.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize that she would go so much into their mistreatment, though I suppose I should have. Still, I'm glad I did, because it gave me a greater appreciation for the wild horses that still roam the Plains and the Southwest.

But, I'm with you. Bad people, not good animals, should be used in scientific experiment. The drugs or procedures are usually for us, anyway.