In 1971 Congress passed a law requiring the Secretary of the Interior to preserve, protect, and manage wild, free-roaming horses and burros on public lands in the West. Subsequently the BLM established herd management areas in all but one western state. Throughout the state of Utah there are 24 designated areas managed for wild herds. Those herds are mostly comprised of descendants of animals that strayed from Native Americans, explorers, pioneers and ranchers over time. However, the ancestry of some Utah animals can be traced to stock brought to the Americas by Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. Some Utah populations are believed have the purest bloodlines tracing back to those early Iberian animals.
For the last four years my daughter and I have traveled to Utah’s west desert in early spring to look for the wild herds that roam there. This started when I discovered that there were several herd management areas not far from our home. The next year, with great anticipation, we traveled to the Cedar Mountains of Utah. Unfortunately over two full days we saw only five horses in total, all at a distance. Needless to say it was a big disappointment. We realized that finding wild horses in such an expansive landscape was going to require some homework.
Not willing to give up, we did some research over the next year. We learned that the BLM office in Salt Lake City is happy to provide the most updated information they have regarding the herds’ whereabouts. That helped us find the Onaqui herd on our second trip. Later I made an acquaintance with a gentleman whose family owns a large cattle ranch near Simpson Springs. Besides cattle ranching, his family works in partnership with the BLM to provide grazing and water for wild horses in the area. He was able to help us narrow down our search. I also discovered that a coworker happened to know a significant amount about the ancestry and breeds of some of the herds in Utah. Thanks to those good people my daughter and I have learned a lot since that first disappointing excursion.
Over the next few years, we came to know the Onaqui herd, which ranges in the mountains and valleys southeast of the town of Dugway, Utah. The word Onaqui originates from the Native American Goshute (Gosiute) word meaning a place of salt. During the 1800s miners looking for gold gave the name to a remote mountain range southwest of Salt Lake City. Today those mountains are part of the herd’s range, and eventually the name came to be associated with the mustangs themselves.
In the spring of 2015 our persistence paid off. We made several excursions to the area, and each time we found a sizable herd. The population of the Onaqui herd varies from year to year, but in spring of 2015 it arguably exceeded 200 individuals. They live a hard life enduring intense heat in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. Their range is inhospitable, rugged and arid. While many show the scars of struggle and survival, without exception they are stately, majestic and wild. Spending time among them expands the soul.
#shafferadventurejournal #onaquimustangs #wildhorses #utahwestdesert #roomtoroam
