Wild horse advocates meet, rally and educate

By Lourie Ziph
North Forty News

A small group of people rallied near a busy intersection recently, carrying not only signs, but a strong and ardent drive to protect a respected and valued symbol – America's wild horse.

Mustang Meetup consists of approximately 45 members and is a local grassroots organization designed to educate the public about the preservation of the mustang. The group's founder, Lyn McCormick of Fort Collins, started Mustang Meetup a little over a year ago.

"I learned through the Cloud Foundation that 35,000 wild horses were going to be euthanized, and that's when I jumped on the bandwagon," said McCormick.

McCormick said she later learned about the wild horse population in Colorado while adopting a mustang from the Sand Wash Basin near Craig. "Even as a Colorado resident, I didn't know that we had wild herds over on the Western Slope, so the whole idea about starting Mustang Meetup was to raise public awareness about the wild horses here in Colorado," she said.

McCormick soon took on a legislative role by going to Washington, D.C. There, she and other group members, as well as equine advocates from all over the country, met with senators and representatives. They even held a rally in front of the White House.

"It was probably the largest gathering of horse advocates from all over the country, so it was a very good and cohesive way to unite all of us," McCormick said.

Their purpose, McCormick said, was to get a moratorium on the wild horse roundups by the Bureau of Land Management, which were happening then and are still going on today.

The group is also heavily involved in local advocacy campaigns and stages a number of protests and rallies in cities and towns throughout Colorado. Their most recent rally, which took place in Boulder, was to protest the current wild horse roundups by the BLM.

However, member Linda Hanick of Estes Park, a former eighth grade teacher, said she believes that the group's primary focus is to educate the public about the wild horses and the efforts to preserve them. Hanick and other members would like to bring the wild horse issue into the schools.

"The wild horse issue could be a basis for a whole educational study, not just horses," Hanick said. "It could be something that could be very interesting to kids, but it would have to be included as a core curriculum, which could include creative writing, natural history or art. There are all kinds of opportunities there."

Group members also encourage people to visit the areas in which wild horses are roaming the public lands in Colorado. Some of those areas include the Sand Wash Basin west of Craig, Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range near Grand Junction, and the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area southwest of Meeker.

"The most important thing that one can do for the mustangs is to go out to the public lands to see them," said Mustang Meetup member Gabriele Moritz of Livermore.

Moritz went on to explain that people can take an active role through "Herd Watch," a program that allows the public to monitor wild horse herds in an organized manner for the purpose of creating a database, which includes range information prior to a roundup. "Herd Watch" also allows citizens to monitor the roundup and to collect post-roundup data of the ranges and the remaining herds.

"In a way, we are claiming these horses as part of our recreational life. That's why herd watch is so important," said Moritz.

The Mustang Meetup group also works in conjunction with larger organizations such as the Cloud Foundation, a nonprofit corporation headed by Ginger Kathrens.

Kathrens, an award-winning producer and cinematographer, is known for "Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies" and "Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns" for WNET's Nature series on PBS. Kathrens will speak at Colorado State University on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. "The True Nature of Wild Horses: An Evening with Ginger Kathrens" is free and open to the public.

To join or to learn more about the Mustang Meetup group, visit the web site www.meetup.com/Mustang-Meetup-Group. Those who would like more information about wild horses may also contact Moritz at 224-5035 or e-mail moritz4@q.com.

Mustang Meetup will be meeting Nov. 3. Nonmembers are welcome to attend and can get more information through the group's web site.