The Controversy and The Compromise
Exploring the plight of America's wild horses and what is being done to find sustainable solutions.
By Arianna Melissas
and Noah Krause
December 2025
The stale silence of the Nevada high desert is broken only by the soft pounding of hoofbeats on damp dirt, plastic ID tags clanging on steel fencing, and the whoosh of air under a crow’s wings.
In the presence of a person, tens of horses gingerly approach the fence line, snorting and kicking up dust at the slightest hint of a quick movement or noise louder than their anxious, huffing breath. They are just a few of around 20,000 wild horses rounded up across the United States every year, destined either to adoption or long-term pasture holding.
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Though few know much about wild horses and burros, those that do tend to hold on strongly to their perspectives, making their grazing habits, population growth, and the United States government’s management of them subject to extreme controversy.
An Oregon State University instructor has decided to become a part of the solution.
Horses at the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley gather curiously at the fence line. November 2025.
A herd of horses at the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley, 20 miles outside of Sparks, Nevada. November 2025.