The home of Missouri’s wild horses is the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, a national park created in 1964 by an act of Congress to protect the current and Jack’s Fork Rivers.
It is estimated that 2 million people visit the area annually. Well-known springs, such as Alley Spring and Round Spring, feed the rivers.
One of the beloved aspects of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways is the wild horses; however, they weren’t always appreciated or protected.
In 1990, Art Sullivan, the park Superintendent at the time, decided that the horses were a non-native species and began removing them.
The National Park Service started corralling them using brutal methods and offering them to buyers for $500 a head. This started a public uprising.
Soon thereafter, Jim Smith and other locals formed the Missouri Wild Horse League. An attorney and several Missourians joined the effort. The grounds for preserving the horses were a simple and effective argument: Wild horses are cultural resources, and as such, they are protected by the National Environmental Policy Act.
Local lore suggests that the horses were left behind during the Great Depression when families abandoned the area searching for work. However, historical records from the 1700s mention these wild horses, underscoring their deep historical significance. While the true origin of these majestic animals may remain a mystery, for me—and many others—it is enough to love and appreciate them, regardless of how they came to be.
When this evidence and a petition signed by over a thousand people were presented to the court, the court ruled in favor of the Missouri Wild Horse League. Soon thereafter, the National Park Service appealed the decision, and unfortunately, that decision was overturned.
The Missouri Wild Horse League appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court, but the Court refused to hear the case.
On October 8, 1993, thousands of people gathered at the National Park Service administrative offices in Van Buren to protest the removal of the horses. Over 500 of them arrived on horseback. The Convoy was over 8 miles long in this remote area. The park superintendent, Art Sullivan, agreed to halt the removal of the horses pending a legislative solution.
Congressman Emerson introduced the Ozark Wild Horse Protection Act on January 4, 1995, and President Clinton signed it into law on November 12, 1996, as part of the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Act of 1996.
The Missouri Wild Horse League was incorporated as a non-profit in 1994. Per the Ozark Wild Horse Protection Act, the Missouri Wild Horse League works with the National Park Service to capture some horses when the herd exceeds 50. The captured horses are taken into care and evaluated before being adopted by loving families for permanent homes.
