Fishing provides ample opportunity to catch a glimpse of wildlife you may not have slowed down for, or had access to in day-to-day life. But have you ever been fishing and seen wild horses?
Check out this video of Pryor Mountain wild horses crossing the Bighorn River in Montana. Local fly fishing guide “Montana Matt” captured this video while fishing the Bighorn. His fishing adventures can be found here.
The wild horses have been roaming free in the Pryor Mountiains, one-quarter of which is within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, for over a century. They are descended from Spanish, Arabian, and English stock. Many horses escape into the wild country, or were released along Bighorn Canyon by Native Americans, ranchers and homesteaders. The range, which was established by grass roots efforts in 1968, is the first of its kind in the nation and spans across the Montana and Wyoming borders.
The horses are protected as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which requires management to achieve and maintain a “thriving natural ecological balance” on public lands used by the horses. The population is considered a unique genetic resource since horses of this type are no longer present in Spain. The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Refuge is managed by an interagency group led by the Bureau of Land Management.
feature photo courtesy: protect mustangs.org
