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Nobody's Horses:
The Dramatic Rescue of the Wild Herd of White Sands
By Don Höglund

Hardcover: 272 pages (Sept 2006)
Language: English
Free Press ISBN: 0743290887

Recommended! I blew through this book in two days, it was hard to put down. There's such a strange dynamic between the wild horses and the history of the White Sands Missile Range. The site of the first atomic bomb detonation, the land was "temporarily" appropriated from ranchers in the 1940's during the war effort. It was never returned, and many of the free-ranging ranch horses simply had to be left on the land. There isn't a "happy" ending in the sense that nothing feels resolved - the issues surrounding wild horses and how to manage them are very much a hot topic these days.

From the book:

Descended from the greatest horses of the American West, the wild horses living on the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico – one of the most dangerous places on Earth – were a national treasure and a living legend. Big, strong, beautiful, and fierce, they were descended from the mounts of lawmen, cowboys, and notorious outlaws who had once ruled the land. Over the years, these far-flung herds of the Land of Enchantment had inspired many myths, and were said to be guarded by an implacable band of enormous, ghostly stallions that kept them from harm.

But after decades of suffering through droughts, food shortages, and all the dangers that go with living on a military weapons testing site, scores of horses suddenly died. And the survival of the almost two thousand that were left was threatened. In a race to prevent more tragic deaths, large animal veterinarian Don Hoglund was called in to organize and lead a team of dedicated professionals, cowboys, and soldiers in removing the surviving horses and their babies to safety. Then would come the challenge of rehabilitating them, and eventually placing them in loving homes with people who could meet the needs of the highly spirited wild animals.

For the first time in book form, Nobody's Horses tells the dramatic story of these noble horses' celebrated rescue, their defiant survival, and their incredible rescue.

About the author:

Don Hoglund, DVM, is a doctor of veterinary medicine who has provided consultation and equine training services for the Pentagon, the Walt Disney Company, the Department of the Interior, USDA, and many others. He lives in Willow Spring, North Carolina and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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