Film fest showcases wild horses, and organizer hopes to raise awareness about their plight

Jackie Fleming can envision a day when wild horses no longer roam the mountains, plateaus and plains of the West – and she very dearly wants to stave off that potential disappearance. “In 1900, there were about 2 million horses running free,” she said. “Now there are 25,000 in the entire country. That’s a drastic drop.” To do her part, she has given shelter to 34 mustangs that have been rounded up on public lands. They wander 1,100 acres at Cimarron Sky-Dog Reserve, near Watrous north of Las Vegas, N.M. And to raise public awareness, she has put together the Wild Horse Film Showcase, with five films that will be screened today and Saturday in Santa Fe. The show doesn’t feature new releases. Fleming said she put together the offerings from films she has seen and liked, or from others that friends recommended. She contacted people for permission to show them and – voila! – the showcase was born. “They highlight different aspects of wild horse issues, particularly roundups and competition for public land,” Fleming said, adding that “Wild Horses and Renegades” and “El Caballo” focus on those issues. “She Had Some Horses” takes a sentimental look at the idea of wild horses disappearing from the range, and includes footage of Fleming’s own sanctuary, as well as Monero Mustangs, run by Sandi Claypool at Yellow Hills Ranch’s almost 5,000 acres near Tierra Amarilla. “Wild Horse Wild Ride” follows a competition in which some mustangs from round-ups are taken in by people, trained for 100 days, then compete in a show after which they are auctioned to new owners, Fleming said. “It’s bittersweet – the horses are all trained, but they (the trainers) have to give them up at the end.” And “Running Wild” profiles Dayton O. Hyde, who was one of the first people to open a sanctuary for mustangs when he set one up on some 13,000 acres in South Dakota, Fleming said. “He’s nearly 90, but he’s done so many things,” she said. While the event could help raise funds for her mustangs, Fleming said she doesn’t even know if she will break even. More important, she said, is that she wants to get people thinking about issues concerning wild horses. “I hope people will be educated about it and care about it and want to be involved,” she said...more