THE HORSE is native to North America. Equus callabus, the species that encompasses all domestic horses and their wild ancestors, arose on this continent during the latter part of the Pleistocene era between two and three million years ago—and there is no existing evidence that E. callabus arose anywhere except North America—and crossed a land bridge from here into Eurasia. Their reintroduction half a millennium ago merely returned them to part of their former native range, where they naturally prospered. From this perspective, the mustang can be viewed not as an invasive feral species, but as native wildlife.

Thanks to government policy of planned extinction driven by agricultural livestock interests, there are now fewer than four hundred wild horses left in Colorado. Without aggressive advocacy and drastic changes is Bureau of Land Management policy, it is almost certain that ours will be the last generation to see wild horses in the American West. This photographic project documents the few remaining bands in the East Douglas and Sand Wash Basin areas.