In his signing statement of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, President Richard Nixon evoked these famous words.

“Wild horses and burros merit man's protection historically — for they are a living link with the days of the conquistadors, through the heroic times of the Western Indians and the pioneers, to our own day when the tonic of wildness seems all too scarce. More than that, they merit it as a matter of ecological right — as anyone knows who has ever stood awed at the indomitable spirit and sheer energy of a mustang running free.”

Below are first-hand accounts of witnessing wild horses roaming free.

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