Most people who visit the American West never see one of its most iconic symbols. They never get to experience the thrill of watching a herd of wild horses running free. Although wild horses roam the West in numerous places, they are generally in open country miles from anywhere and not easy to find or access. There is a relatively unknown exception to this and that is the wild horse herd in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range on the border of Wyoming and Montana, near the town of Lovell, Wyoming.
The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was established in 1968 to protect perhaps the most significant herd of wild horses in the country and was the first public area set aside to protect wild horses. The Range is 38,000 plus acres and is home to approximately 120-150 horses split into numerous small bands. They inhabit a diverse landscape from sub-alpine forests to high desert shrub land. Most of them can be found in the higher and mid elevations of the Pryor Mountains, but winter forces those in the higher elevations down to lower elevations.
Access to the upper and mid elevations is by primitive roads requiring four-wheel drive vehicles and careful attention to road and weather conditions. However, the lower elevations of the Range can be accessed by Highway 37, known as the Bad Pass Road, in Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The Wild Horse Range lies on both sides of this paved road through most of its length providing easy access and opportunities to view wild horses. While working at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, I frequently observed them near this road. Seeing them always gave me a feeling of experiencing a remnant of the old West.
Generations of these horses have been running wild on the border of Montana and Wyoming since at least the late 1800s and probably longer. They are not just any wild horses as genetic testing has shown that although they are mixed breeds many of them carry a high level of genes linking them to horses brought to the New World by the Spanish in the 1500s. The genetics of the herd is what makes them so special. Exhibiting a variety of colors, many of them have dark dorsal stripes down the back and tiger striping on their legs. They stand about 13-14 hands high. These physical characteristics consistent with Spanish mustangs were the clues that first led to efforts to provide protection for these horses.
A typical band might consist of a stallion with his harem of two to four mares and perhaps some young ones. It is also common to see bands of bachelor males who have not acquired a harem of their own yet. Fights often take place between stallions as they compete for dominance and the mares.
A logical question would be, how did they get here? It is believed that they were originally taken from, traded for, or escaped from the Spanish speaking people of Mexico and were acquired by Native American people. Over time, the horse population expanded and some escaped and became truly wild. They intermingled with other horse breeds that had gone wild and these mixed breed horses were the result. The remoteness of this out of the way area in and bordering the Pryor Mountains allowed them to survive and thrive for generations.
If you plan to look for these horses, it would be best to seek current information about their locations and road conditions from the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center or Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Visitor Center, both just outside of Lovell, Wyoming.
Interesting article, I’ve only heard of the mustangs.Are there other wild horses in the US?
Thank you for your comment. The terms “wild horses” and “mustangs” are commonly used interchangeably. I use the term wild horses in this post because that is how they are referred to by the land management agencies responsible for managing them. Most wild horses in the U.S. are in the 10 states west of the Rockies on public lands. The latest estimates are 58,000 on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and about 7,000 on U.S. Forest Service managed lands.