Not everyone is wild about wild horses

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Support Outside/In before February 5th, and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar! Donate $8 per month, and we’ll send you a pair of NH-made Merino wool socks from Minus33. For many, wild horses are a symbol of freedom, strength, and the American West. But to some they’re a symbol of colonialism and an ecological nuisance. Host Nate Hegyi visits a rancher on the Blackfeet Reservation, where free-ranging horses have become more plentiful than deer. They’re outcompeting cattle for forage and putting livelihoods at risk. One potential solution? Slaughter. In this episode, we dive deep into the history of eating horses – or not eating horses – and find out why this symbol of the American West is more divisive than you probably realized. Featuring: Craig Iron Pipe, Tolani Francisco, Susanna Forrest LINKS Susanna Forrest has written all about the relationship between humans and horses – from riding them to eating them. The Virginia Range wild horse herd has seen a substantial drop in population because of a fertility control campaign financed by a wild horse advocacy group. There’s some great research from the University of New Mexico that shows how the domesticated horse made its way north from tribe to tribe in the 1500s. You can learn all about how folks can adopt wild horses from the federal government here. SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!). Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). CREDITS Host: Nate Hegyi Reported, produced, and mixed by Nate Hegyi Edited by Taylor Quimby The Outside/In team includes Felix Poon and Justine Paradise. Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, this is Outside In. I'm Nate Hedgy. I want to make an argument for a new emblem for the United States.
0:09.0	The bald eagle just isn't cutting it. It's too cool, too perfect. Everybody loves an eagle.
0:16.0	For these divisive times, we need an animal that is badass, sure, but also polarizing, destructive. This is why I humbly
0:28.1	nominate the wild Horse. Horses are symbols of freedom, strength, and the American West.
0:38.0	There are rock songs about them.
0:40.0	Wild, wild horses. them. rip down a desert highway at 120 miles an hour? You do it in a Ford Mustang.
0:55.6	When you see a man with horses, a mustangs what he picks. But Outwhere Wild Horses But out where wild horses actually roam, you'll hear a very different story.
1:08.0	Some folks in the West, especially ranchers, say that horses are pests,
1:13.0	an invasive species whose population is way out of control.
1:17.0	There have even been stories in the news of people taking the issue
1:20.3	into their own hands.
1:21.4	Advocates now say that they have found more horses shot to death in Northern Arizona.
1:27.0	Horses, all babies, one of them dead, two in very bad shape.
1:31.3	A lion county man is accused of shooting and killing a wild horse with a crossbow.
1:36.2	These are extreme cases, but as a reporter with more than a decade of experience, I can tell you
1:41.8	that wild horses are by far the most controversial issue that I have ever covered.
1:47.0	I mean, what's more American than that. Again, this is outside in. I'm new hedgy, and today on the show, what happens when a
2:04.5	symbol of the American spirit is allowed to run wild? Stay tuned. You like hot sauce? Yeah, a few weeks ago I met Craig Iron Pipe on his cattle ranch on the Blackfeet
2:25.6	Reservation in Montana. He was cooking up some ramen noodles. My cousin, she makes this hot sauce.
2:32.1	Yeah.
2:33.0	I can't eat these noodles without it, man.
2:35.0	But I wasn't there for lunch.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NHPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NHPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.