The debate rages anytime anyone makes a move to protect, round up or otherwise discuss the fate of the horses and burros that roam free across parts of 10 states in the West. Protection advocates say the horses are wild, many the descendants of the ones the Spanish conquistadors brought to America in the early 1500s. Ranchers and other backers of government roundups say the horses are formerly domesticated animals that were turned out by farmers and ranchers, especially during the Great Depression.
Government officials say the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
One of the biggest contributors to the wild horse herds currently roaming the West was probably the U.S. Calvary and people who raised them for the Calvary, said Maxine Shane, chief spokeswoman for the BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Center in Reno. The Spanish horses spread across the plains from 1540 to 1770, Shane said. Since then she said there's been a ''melting pot'' of various horse herds. But most of our horses are not direct descendants of the Spanish horses,'' Shane said. A significant number historically were used by ranchers and farmers and miners during the spring and summer, and then returned to the range in the winter, she said.