Wild horses a connection to our past Behind the Lens Tom Tingle, Phoenix 10 a.m. MST December 22, 2014(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic)
182 CONNECT 22 TWEETLINKEDIN 7 COMMENTEMAILMOREA recent assignment to photograph wild horses that roam free near Heber-Overgaard, moved me in a way I didn't expect. After traveling in a 4-wheel-drive truck for several hours, our party of 5, including horse advocate Mary Hauser, finally came upon a group of three young stallions. This is a small part of what Arizona Republic reporter Brenna Goth wrote about the experience:
"Three young chestnut, black and chocolate-colored stallions from the wild herd that roams the forest here spent a recent Friday morning lazing in a clearing, offering no clarity on where they came from.
The animals — known by their backers as the Heber wild horses — have drawn support from residents, visitors and an Arizona congressman who say they were born in the wild and should stay there as a federally protected symbol of the West.
Mary Houser uses her binoculars to look for wild mustangs on a hill in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Overgaard on Friday, November 14, 2014. Several hundred horses live wild in the area and the Forest Service is looking at plans to manage the horses, including their possible removal.(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic)
But the U.S. Forest Service says few of the horses, whose exact herd size is under survey, are actually descended from the original free-roaming creatures. Instead, the agency argues that lost and abandoned horses have proliferated on public land to the point that the population needs to be controlled.
Rumors of a roundup have swirled in these small Navajo County communities on the Mogollon Rim, where about 2,800 people live. Trucks in the forest, helicopters overhead and unanswered questions led some to fear capture of the animals was imminent.
Mary Hauser, 61, printed red, white and blue fliers, reading, "THEY NEED OUR HELP!!!!" for the restaurant bulletin boards and shop doors here. Hauser, who has been tracking the horses for years, said she has distributed 500 fliers since September.
"Our American spirit spikes up," she said."
Mary Houser drives her truck, looking for wild mustangs in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Overgaard on Friday, November 14, 2014. Several hundred horses live wild in the area and the Forest Service is looking at plans to manage the horses, including their possible removal.(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic)
I couldn't help but feel that I was looking at remnants from the Old West, from the days of wide open, unexplored lands that were inhabited by Native American tribes and their horses.
I wondered if these three young stallions were descendants of horses ridden hundreds of years ago by Indian warriors, or even, perhaps , a chief or two. It was like looking into the past.
Mary Hauser, left, and Michele Anderson, advocates for wild horses, photograph wild mustangs in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Overgaard on Friday, November 14, 2014. Several hundred horses live wild in the area and the Forest Service is looking at plans to manage the horses, including their possible removal.(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic)
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