A grey gelding with a beautiful face and wide dark eyes stared at me through the bars of the pen where he was held with four other horses. Dirt and a long winter coat couldn't hide the fine features of his face—features that clearly linked him back to the horses once brought to the United States by the Spanish Conquistadores. I desperately hoped he would be one of the lucky horses who got adopted that day—not one of over 8,000 wild horses that could be slaughtered and exported as horsemeat to Belgium, France, and Japan in the next few months.

Early on the morning of February 26, 2005 I found myself at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Roseburg, Oregon clutching a coffee, listening to the surprisingly quiet sounds of 44 wild horses milling in pens and munching hay. I was there to see the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) wild horse adoption, and this little grey horse had stolen my heart. This was the first time I had seen untamed wild horses up close, and I was surprised at how calm and reasonable they were.

According to Greg Schultz of Cottage Grove, Oregon, a member of the Pacific Wild Horse club who regularly adopts and gentles wild horses, these horses are not only intelligent, but—once gentled—are almost indistinguishable from their domestic counterparts in terms of their behavior under saddle. The real difference, he feels, is that the wild ones remain more alert to their surroundings. They are praised by their owners and riders for their sure-footedness and endurance, as well as for their affectionate natures. Greg was not there to adopt that day—like so many people he has too many horses already—but nothing would make him happier than if he could afford to do nothing but adopt wild horses, gentle them, and send them on to good homes.

Oregon has 2,300 to 2,500 of the approximately 32,000 wild, free roaming horses in the United States. They want to get that number down to 26,000. (A number many fear would be too low to support genetic diversity). Every year, about 500 of the Oregon horses are "gathered" (the term the BLM prefers over "round-up") and about 7,000 other wild horses are gathered every year from the 10 Western states that support wild horse populations. Currently, the BLM has 24,000 wild horses it has gathered that are being kept in holding pens and may be sold for slaughter under a new law, known as the "Burns Rider" (Division E, Section 142), snuck into the 3,000 page Consolidated Appropriations Act by Senator Conrad Burns of Montana. In December, President Bush signed the Act into law and it became mandatory for the BLM to begin to get rid of the so-called excess horses.

Because the act calls for the sale, without limitation, of any horse over the age of 10 or that has been offered up for adoption unsuccessfully three times, this means a yearling, pregnant mare, or any other horse, if passed over enough times can be sold to a "killer buyer" and slaughtered. The 10 or so horses I saw left behind, unadopted, in the pens in Roseburg were young, sound geldings; their only sin was that there simply were not enough people there that day to adopt all the horses. Thanks to the Burns Rider, this is a sin now punishable by death.

Ironically, the day before adopting Senator Burns' amendment, the Senate voted unanimously to resolve December 13, 2004 "National Day of the Horse" which recognizes that horses are "a vital part of the collective experience of the United States and deserve protection and compassion." Rather than protection and compassion, the Burns Rider says that "excess" wild horses can be sold without any limits or restrictions on who may buy them. This means wild horses can be sold to killer buyers and shipped to slaughterhouses where they will be killed and sold as horsemeat. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the U.S. slaughters about 50,000 horses a year, yielding 10,000 tons of horsemeat for export. We are the fifth largest exporter of horsemeat in the world. Most of the slaughtered horses are ex-racehorses, unwanted pet and sport horses, and foals that are the by-product of the PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) farms used to make products such as Premarin. With horse steaks selling at premium prices due to fears of Mad Cow disease, putting wild horses back into the slaughterhouses is a profitable proposition for many.

Horse slaughter itself is an issue that came to public attention when Ferdinand, the long-shot racehorse with whom jockey Bill Shoemaker won the 1986 Kentucky Derby, was slaughtered in Japan for human consumption in 2002. Another major stakes winner, Exceller, met a similar fate in Sweden, when his owner chose to slaughter the horse instead of selling him when he went bankrupt. The old horse's caretaker tried—and failed—to save him. As she told the Daily Racing Form, "I made an appointment [at the slaughterhouse] because I wanted to get it over with quick, but they were very busy when we got there and we had to wait. Exceller knew what was going on; he didn't want to be there. Standing with him like that...it made me feel like Judas." Exceller, like horses brought to slaughterhouses in the U.S. could hear the screams of the dying horses and smell the blood.

The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), H.R. 857, has been reintroduced in the U.S. House by Congressmen John Sweeney and John Spratt, Jr. The AHSPA, if passed, will ban the slaughter of all horses, wild or otherwise, for human consumption, and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption. The bill was introduced last session, but never voted on. This bill does not prevent horses from being put down if needed; it simply takes the profit-making sale of the animals for meat out of the equation.

Wild horses have a long history of being brutalized and slaughtered. For years they were rounded up and exported for use in war. Mustangs fought in the South African Boer War, as well as World War I. Most never returned, the thanks for their service was usually death. In the 1950s and 1960s they were pursued by "mustangers'' who chased them down mercilessly and sold them as pet food. A nationwide movement to save the wild horses began after Velma Johnston, known as "Wild Horse Annie" drew attention to the issue and inspired schoolchildren to write thousands of letters to Congress. Johnston was horrified when one day she followed a truck that was dripping a trail of blood and discovered the truck was packed with dying and suffering mustangs being taken to a packing plant. The blood was from horrors such as a colt who had fallen down and been trampled, a stallion with his eyes shot out, and horses who had bloody stumps, instead of feet, from being galloped over rocks.

The story of the fight to save mustangs brings us briefly back to Roseburg, Oregon—one group of children that was inspired by Wild Horse Annie was the fourth grade class of Joan Bolsinger of Roseburg. The children researched, lobbied, and introduced a bill into the Oregon State legislature to save the wild horses. The bill was defeated but the children were undaunted and turned to lobbying the federal government instead. Bolsinger accompanied one of the children, who testified in the Congressional hearings and, in 1971, thanks to the work of Wild Horse Annie and thousands of schoolchildren, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act which proclaimed wild horses as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" and "protected from harassment or death."

Unfortunately, the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act did not fully protect the wild horses. In the 1970s it was discovered that the BLM's "Adopt-A-Horse" Program was a fiasco. The Humane Society of the U.S. estimated that of the 10,000 horses "gathered" in 1977 and 1978, 35% of them went to "lot adopters" and ended up slaughtered. One BLM official estimated the number that went to slaughter was more likely 50%. This situation continued well into the 1980 until a federal court ruling prevented any more mass horse "adoptions."

Since then, it appears the BLM has made a strong effort to improve their adoption program, as well as to place horses in sanctuaries, use fertility control, and even pay ranchers to let the horses graze on private land. At the horse adoption event in Roseburg, it was clear the BLM employees, many of them from Burns, Oregon where the horses are held awaiting adoption, cared deeply for the animals. Even the Roseburg BLM, who do not often deal with these animals were engaged by them. One rather intimidating-looking officer with a pistol on his belt was transformed by their presence—each time an animal was adopted his stern demeanor gave way to smiles and applause. Each of the BLM employees I have spoken to, both in Oregon and in the national office in Washington, D.C. has made clear they have no desire to slaughter these animals. But they have also made clear that the Burns Rider is the law, and they are forced to implement it.

The BLM plans to reduce the current wild free-roaming 32,000 or so wild horses and 5,000 wild burros on public land to a total of 26,000 by 2006. This, in addition to the 20,000 wild horses already held, and the over 8,000 already deemed "excess" means potentially over 10,000 once wild and free horses will be rounded up by helicopter and sold for slaughter in the next two years. The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act would prevent this, as would a reversal of Burns Rider. Representatives Nick Rahall and Ed Whitfield have introduced a bill H.R. 297, that would repeal the Burns Rider, and restore the wild horses to their protection from slaughter.

If the Burns Rider is not reversed, horses like the grey gelding with the lovely face, will be rounded up by helicopter and motor vehicles, then kept in pens where the animals, including pregnant mares and young foals will wait to be adopted. If they are deemed excess and sold to a killer buyer, the terror-stricken animals will be shipped hundreds, even thousands, of miles, often in double-decker tractor trailers with low ceilings designed for cattle and hogs, to slaughterhouses in Texas and Illinois. At the slaughterhouse the horse is first stunned with a blow (or blows if the stunner misses the first time) to the head from a four-inch nail in a deadbolt gun. But he is not killed yet. Still alive, and sometimes even conscious, he is then shackled by the hind leg, hoisted in the air and his throat is slit so he can bleed to death before being cut into steaks. The three slaughtering facilities in the U.S. that kill horses are foreign-owned, and export the butchered horses for human consumption in Europe—a gruesome end for one of America's last living symbols of freedom.

Supporters of the Burns Rider claim that this slaughter is warranted because wild horses damage rangelands through overgrazing. However, a General Accounting Office study has shown that privately owned cattle are the main culprits of overgrazing on public lands, and the BLM in fact removes wild horses from public lands and replaces them with cattle, which are far more damaging. Where wild horses drink from streams and move on, cattle camp out around streams and destroy the area. Where wild horses climb high and forage far afield, cattle stay in low areas and eat the grass down. There are only 32,0000 wild horses on public lands. There are 4 million cattle. These 4 million cattle account for only about 3 percent of the beef consumed in the U.S. Moreover, the cattle range program costs taxpayers in excess of $140,000 a year; more than twice the cost of the wild horse and burro program! So, horses take the blame for damaging rangelands when, instead, cattle are far more damaging and taxpayers pick up the tab.

When surveyed, three quarters of Americans overwhelmingly responded "No" when asked if they believe horses should be slaughtered. Most Americans remain unaware that George W. Bush, by signing the Appropriations Act into law with the Burns Rider intact, has signed the death warrant for thousands of wild horses.

Not many people at the Roseburg wild horse auction were even aware that the horses that went unclaimed that day might go for slaughter. Most people were there to get a good, inexpensive horse. The majority of the animals sold for about $200; indeed it is more than possible to get a nice animal for a very low price. The BLM holds the title of the horse for one year, and then the animal becomes privately owned. Each herd is slightly different in its genetic make-up. Some herds have more cavalry remount blood and are taller and leggier; others are more Spanish-type horses; still others feature Appaloosa and pinto characteristics.

Most adopted horses are used for pleasure and trail riding. I spoke with a woman who rides endurance on her mustang, and another who has competed with hers in dressage. I, myself rode, a mustang in Florida that did Pony Club eventing, as well as therapeutic riding with children with physical and mental disabilities. Greg's daughter, Beth, rides her almost 16 hand black mustang in events for her high school equestrian team. Greg hopes that letting people witness what his young daughter can do with a wild horse will persuade people that these beautiful animals should either be running free or living happy useful lives.

After the auction ended, I wandered out into the bright sunlight of the parking lot. In a trailer stood the grey gelding, quietly waiting to see what would happen next. He is one of the lucky ones. His new owner plans to gentle him and ride him. Several of the other horses in his pen were not adopted, and have two more chances before they fall into the "excess" category of the Burns Rider. I can only hope the law will be repealed by a massive outcry from the American public before slaughter becomes the reality for these animals.

For more information on the wild horse issue, or to get addresses of your government officials to write to, please go to one of these websites:
The Cascadia Wildlands Project http://www.cascwild.org
The Pacific Wild Horse Club http://www.pacificwildhorseclub.org
The Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates http://www.aowha.org