This wild stallion is known as Washakie, who I seem to always meet when I spend time with the wild horses of McCullough Peaks. Feral horses have been around this area of the country since the 1600's and are descendants of horses from early Spanish explorers, rather than a unique species which survived here from prehistoric times. Some horses however, are newly-released horses from locals who can no longer care for a horse. Even though they are absolutely beautiful, these wild horses have to be managed because they aren't native. Yes... they've been here for hundreds of years, but we (humans) brought them here. They eat a lot, and that causes direct competition with native wildlife such as deer and antelope. For this reason, every now and then the feds come and round up some of these horses and take them to live elsewhere in large sanctuaries. The hard facts are that with no natural predators, herd sizes can double every 4 years, so the BLM removes wild horses every year in order to protect the native wildlife. These horses can also be privately adopted or sold, but the BLM will not sell to "kill" buyers or slaughterhouses.