It’s like a scene from a movie—a band of wild horses runs free, set against the backdrop of hills that roll into mountains, the sun’s rays bouncing last light off the ridgelines. Hollywood has spent millions capturing a moment like this one, selling it as mountain-living lore. But in Idaho, wild horses aren’t fiction. In fact, they run free in six different bands that roam throughout the state, and catching a real-life glimpse of the silver screen version of this story isn’t impossible.
While Idaho isn’t alone—there are thousands of wild horses and burros that roam free across public lands throughout the West—Idaho does boast six unique bands of these majestic animals. The Bureau of Land Management has long worked to protect wild horses and burros in the U.S.
The history of the wild horse goes way back, roughly 2.5 to 4 million years. Paleontologists have found fossils that tell us these wild animals roamed North America that long ago, however, archaeological evidence of them disappears about 10,000 years ago. It wasn’t until Spanish explorers, specifically Hernán Cortés, landed on the shores of North America, bringing 16 horses with him. Additional explorers brought even larger herds, depending on the size of the ship.
As explorers moved west and met Native Americans, they began to barter and trade for the animals. The Comanche Tribe are thought to be one of the first tribes to barter for Spanish horses. Some of the horses that were not traded or kept were released or escaped, co-breeding to create some of the modern-day breeds of wild horses and burros. Today, the country’s wild horses and burros are protected and managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
In the early twentieth century, wild horses were hunted, captured, and sent to slaughterhouses. However, these brutal practices reversed in the 1950s, when the public became more aware of how the animals were being treated. Given the symbolism of the wild horse as it relates to American freedom, beauty, and strength, Americans worked to protect them. On December 15, 1971, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, giving these wild animals special protections. Today, the BLM works to ensure the safety of the animals as well as the health of the rangelands they graze.
Today, Idaho’s rugged wilderness and boundless beauty offer the perfect environment for wild horses where they can roam the mountains and hillsides as well as the canyons and expansive valley floors.
There are six remaining wild horse herds in Idaho, including:
Black Mountain HMA – population 62
Historians guess this band of horses is descendent of thoroughbred and quarter horses as well as the horses bred for calvary re-mounts. These horses are typically bay, brown, and black, and the breed can include chestnuts, pintos, paints, roans, grays, duns, grullos, and some Appaloosas.
Challis HMA – population 280
These hardy horses are generally quite large, larger than most wild horses that live in such rugged terrain. The herd genetics contain traces of New World Spanish breeds, North American Gaited breeds, and Heavy Draft and True Pony breeds. They are predominantly gray, black, and bay. These horses live on the East Fork of the Salmon River; the herd is bordered by the Salmon River on the North, the East Fork of the Salmon on the west, the ridgeline between Herd Creek and Road Creek on the south, and the U.S. Highway on the east.
Four Mile HMA – population 178
This prestigious herd is known to be a sturdy size with good conformation and color, the result of released Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse studs to the herd from time to time up until 1978. You’ll find these powerful beauties about 15 miles north of Emmet, Idaho on 18,800 acres of rolling hills and sagebrush steppe.
Hardtrigger HMA – population 66
Much like their wild horse brethren, these horses are also notable in their size and beautiful colors. They run free in Owyhee County, south of the Snake River between Murphy and U.S. Highway 95 to the west.
Saylor Creek HMA – population 50
It’s believed this herd originated from mares captured near Challis, Idaho by a group of horse runners from the Wendell area. Local lore tells that several mares were transported into the Saylor Creek area in the 1960s and then a registered stud was purchased and turned out with the mares. This herd runs along 101,876 acres approximately 15 miles south of Glenns Ferry, Idaho in Owyhee County and Elmore County.
Idaho’s wild horses are a reflection of the state itself—forged from the sage lands and Snake River Plain, the hidden valleys and wide-open spaces. They run free in Idaho because they can; because unbridled wildness defines these equines in the same way it defines the place that doesn’t fence their spirit or stake boundaries of barbed wire. Call them paints, pintos, Appaloosas, calvary re-mounts, or quarter horse descendants—whatever their look or label, they have a common thread, a wild strand that runs from one band to the next; they are all Idaho-Forged.
