More than 70,000 wild horses live on Western rangelands that can only supposedly support 27,000 animals. Can the government, ecologists, and advocates find a humane solution for managing them?

Wild Horses: The Consequences of Doing Nothing. Failing to manage wild herds in Western states, experts say, could have devastating effects on rangelands—and all of the animals that depend on them.

Tens of thousands of wild horses roam the American West, and the ecological consequences of their increasing numbers could be dire. Here are some solutions for keeping herds and rangelands healthy.

In summer 2013, Ben Masters led a team of four cowboys, 13 wild horses, and one burro on a 3,000-mile journey from the Mexican to the Canadian border.

Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the only agency authorized to manage wild horses on federal land, and according to Farlow they spend roughly $40 million annually caring for them.

Tough Choices. To keep wild horse numbers in check, federal and state agencies mostly round them up and encourage people to adopt them. But such guardians are harder to find these days, leading ...

The U.S. government’s solution is rounding up a certain number of horses each year and taking them into holding centers permanently. Last week, they took 350 out of the 500-strong Onaqui ...

Holmes, who grew up around horses, first visited southwestern Colorado’s Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area in 2002. When she saw the horses at Spring Creek Basin, they inspired a love for ...

How DNA Proved Wild Horses No Longer Exist. Once thought to be the world's only remaining wild horses, a new study shows Przewalski's horses have domestic ancestors.

Wild horses walk through dry brush in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada, near where the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts come together. New research shows wild horses and burros in both deserts ...

The last surviving subspecies of undomesticated horse, extinct in the wild for nearly 50 years, is making a slow recovery in Mongolia. The comeback of the Przewalski—regarded as the last of the ...

Wild horses run through Spain's Doñana National Park. In the U.S., wild horses are technically considered feral. Photograph By Francisco Marquez, Nature Picture Library ...