THIS WEEK IN WILD BEAUTY: September 3rd, 2022
The Wild Beauty Foundation welcomes you to the sixteenth edition of our weekly newsletter!
Read the newest wild horse and burro focused headlines for the week of September 3rd, 2022
The eye of Old Man, an Onaqui wild horse from our upcoming WILD BEAUTY documentary
Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West – Official Teaser
The Wild Beauty Foundation is proud to announce that the teaser for the upcoming documentary by filmmaker and WBF founder, Ashley Avis, has officially debuted!
After four years in the making, WILD BEAUTY will have its world premiere on the festival circuit this fall.
Get swept up into the world of the wild ones. Through this cinematically stunning, immersive experience, viewers are led through the experience of being out on the range, and quite literally amongst a herd of galloping horses. Our innovative footage of mustangs— eliciting their joys, families, hardships and plight— will take your breath away.
Through WILD BEAUTY, we are hoping to raise a new, unprecedented awareness for the wild horses of today. Bringing these animals to the world stage will allow their voices to be heard, and encourage changes to be made in maintaining their protection.
We cannot wait to show you a glimpse of the breathtaking story of wildness that we have been inspired to tell.
To watch the full official teaser, click here!
Join us for the World Premiere of Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West at Breckenridge Film Festival on September 18th, 2022 and Boston Film Festival on September 23rd.
More festival dates are to be announced soon, so keep your eyes on our WBF social media pages to see if our documentary is screening at a festival near you!
Scott Beckstead Educates on the BLM’s Inhumane Roundup Plan
We announced in last week’s newsletter that Scott Beckstead, a lifelong horseman, equine expert, and animal advocate had joined the WBF team as Program Director for some very exciting future projects.
Beckstead has been outspoken about the inhumane practices that the BLM implements during wild horse roundups in the past. Recently, he published an article in the Colorado Sun about the violence these horses are subjected to during government helicopter roundups in an effort to educate Colorado locals to stand with their state’s wild beauties.
“Sadly, as has become brutally clear with each roundup, the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program is little more than window dressing meant to convince the taxpayers that our wild equines are treated with kindness and respect,” Beckstead says.
We at WBF thank Scott for educating the public on the plight of the wild ones and advocating for change within the management system.
Triple B Complex Mares Treated with Fertility Control to be Released
After the Triple B roundup outside of Ely, Nevada concluded last week, 50 mares were taken to a holding facility to be treated with equine contraceptive, GonaCon. According to a press release by the BLM, these mares will be treated with the vaccine this week and remain in holding until their second dose approximately 30 days later.
The BLM estimates that these mares will be released back into the Triple B Complex around October 20, 2022. They encourage the public to view the release.
While it is comforting to know that these mares will be able to reclaim their freedom on the lands of the Triple B Complex, their bonded families were likely broken apart during the extensive helicopter roundups of last month. Now, these mares will heartbreakingly search for their lost family members and face the challenges of bringing social structure to the broken herds.
In addition to this, the contraceptive of choice by the BLM is GonaCon. Studies have shown that this hormone blocking GnRH impacts natural wild horse social behavioral structures and data has been found that proves GonaCon breaks down ovaries, leaving mares chemically sterilized after only 2 injections.
We at WBF believe that natural predation is the most effective population management solution. This is why we cannot eradicate predatory species in our country, for any shift in the food web can lead to an imbalance. Until this is achieved, this is why we feel that the BLM should only implement fertility control that is scientifically proven to be reversible.
This Week’s Calls To Action
Share the Wild Beauty Teaser
We at WBF aim to spread as much awareness as we can about the wild horse cause. By sharing the Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West teaser with your friends on social media, we can reach new audiences and inspire them to stand with wild horses too. You can share this teaser directly from our WBF social media pages, or by forwarding this newsletter to your equine-loving friends. We thank you for advocating on behalf of the beauty of these magnificent animals.
#istandwithwild horses #wildbeautyspirit #wildhorseteamwork
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Submit a Public Comment to the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting
The BLM released a statement this week announcing an upcoming meeting of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. The board will meet October 4-6 at the Bureau of Land Management’s National Training Center in Phoenix, Arizona to discuss management responsibilities under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Although many view the Advisory Board as a livestock industry mouthpiece (only one of the nine Board positions is allocated to horse advocates), we believe it is nevertheless important for advocates to comment and share their thoughts with the Board on improving the BLM’s wild horse and burro program.
During the meeting of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, the BLM will open public comments in person and virtually via Zoom. The comment schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, October 4, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. PT
Wednesday, October 5, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. PT
Thursday, October 6, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. PT
Written comments should be emailed to the Advisory Board at:
whbadvisoryboard@blm.gov
Comments emailed three days prior to the meeting will be considered during the meeting.
Find more information on how you can submit your comment here.
Iain Glen as John Manly in Black Beauty for Disney+
WBF’s 2nd Annual Short Story Contest’s Equine-Loving Celebrity Reader: Iain Glen
WBF is proud to announce that actor, Iain Glen, will be joining us again as a Celebrity Reader for our Second Annual Short Story Contest!
Leaving the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1985, having won the prestigious Bancroft Gold Medal, Iain immediately rose to prominence with his acclaimed performance as a charismatic gang leader in The Fear for Euston Films. Followed by his multi-award-winning tour de force as imprisoned Scottish poet Larry Winters in Silent Scream he was set for a rich and varied career. Few actors have managed to maintain a balance between stage and screen and achieved such success in both.
Iain has been described as “The greatest Scottish theater actor of his generation.” His many award-winning performances include Henry V and The Crucible at the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Blue Room in the West End and on Broadway, and more recently Uncle Vanya.
Iain stars as the horse whisperer, John Manly, in Black Beauty for Disney+.
Some of his many acting credits include Game of Thrones, Resident Evil, Downton Abbey, and Jack Taylor.
We are so happy to have Glen read another brilliantly written story by one of our winners again this year!
Start writing your stories now!
The deadline to enter is October 31st, 2022 so be sure to get your stories in by then so they can be considered by our wonderful panel of judges. To learn more about the short story contest or submit your story, visit our website!
Chad Hanson Asks Wyoming to Evaluate the BLM’s Wild Horse Management
Author, professor, and photographer, Chad Hanson wrote to the WyoFile this week, advocating on behalf of wild horses to denounce the systematic removal of wild horses. Hanson is co-founder of the Wyoming Mustang Institute which works to maintain a stable population of wild horses on public lands.
“Here we are in the third decade of the 21st century, and the federal agency charged with protecting wild horses is still working to eliminate them from their habitat. We still find our public lands perennially damaged by livestock and the effects of overgrazing. In some ways, very little has changed since the 1970s” says Hanson.
Chad’s full article can be found here. We thank him for prompting the officials of Wyoming to look into BLM’s management within their state and for educating locals on how they can stand with these beautiful creatures.
Photograph by Sandy Sharkey
“In a Land of Awe” Review
Additionally, Chad Hanson has recently published an inspiring book titled “In a Land of Awe: Finding Reverence in the Search for Wild Horses” which is set to be released on September 13th, 2022.
WBF had the pleasure of reading Hanson’s book before the official release and we encourage everyone who is passionate about the wild horse fight to pick up their own copy.
“Hanson’s elegantly crafted tales of his own discovery of wild horses will strike the hearts of those who have been lucky to experience the force of a wild horse as well as those who dream to do so. With a background in Sociology, Hanson dives deep into the purpose of wild horses, both in their ecosystem and the realm of human imagination. We cannot bear to lose these magnificent symbols of wildness.
There is something for everyone in this book; lessons learned from the ways of wild horses, stunning imagery of hoofbeats pounding the arid landscape, and a journey through the life of a symbol of America’s freedom.
Hanson’s delicate, yet informative approach to the plight of our nation’s mustangs will never be forgotten. His words resonate with you long after you set down the book. Hanson proves that we can learn much about ourselves and how to break the cycle of inhumanity by simply watching the ways of a wild horse.”
– The Wild Beauty Foundation
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“Free-roaming bands of mustangs remind us that this country of ours is still wild, and thus, we are at least a little wild too. A band of wild horses on a stretch of our grasslands act like a stained-glass window, bending and giving color to the light of creation’. ~ Chad Hanson, ‘In a Land of Awe: Finding Reverence in the Search for Wild Horses’.
Why does the sight of wild horses resonate so deeply into our souls? What is it about these free spirits that give us pause to reflect on our own lives, and re-ignite the free spirit that exists in all of us? In his beautifully written book ‘In a Land of Awe’, sociologist Chad Hanson details his life-changing encounter with wild horses and delves into the importance of their purpose not only on the landscape, but as rugged symbols of what we stand to lose if we abandon our connection to wild spaces.
I loved this book. Running across desert flats and mountain ridges, wild horses belong to no one and to everyone. Despite mankind’s efforts, they fit no category. Hanson bridges the complicated history of the wild horses’ rightful place on public lands, and the commercial industries that want them eradicated.
In his search for wild horses, Hanson found his sense of awe. His book not only examines our feelings towards wild animals, it examines the way we feel about ourselves when we are immersed in their world. ‘In a Land of Awe’ is a compelling, important read that will not only reinforce our need to protect America’s last wild mustangs, it will remind us that in doing so, we will restore our faith in decency, compassion, humanity, and the intrinsic value of wild spaces and wild animals for future generations.”
-Sandy Sharkey
Chad Hanson’s “In a Land of Awe: Finding Reverence in the Search for Wild Horses” officially releases Sept 13th, but you can pre-order now on Amazon.
Photograph by Carol Walker
Glimpse of Wild Beauty
Carol Walker’s gorgeous image from the Adobe Town HMA represents the wildness and freedom of our wild horses perfectly.
Wild horses under a molten sunset from our upcoming WILD BEAUTY documentary
A Quote to Graze On
“I stand with the greater wild world,
with the inhabitants of our Earth that have basked in the growth of a thousand sunsets.”
-WBF Youth Advocate, Josselyn Wolf
This moving excerpt from a poem by our lovely Youth Advocate, Josselyn Wolf, gracefully portrays the beauty of our wild horses.
We thank Josselyn for being a powerhouse in the wild horse fight and for using her eloquent voice to stand with them.
Thank you for being a supporter of wild horses, and protecting the wild beauty of our world.
– The WBF Team
#istandwithwildhorses #wildbeautyspirit
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