TOKYO-2017 Nature / -

Onaqui Wild Stallions of the Great Basin Desert

  • Prize
    Gold in Nature/Wildlife, 2nd Place winner in Nature
  • Photographer
    Bev Pettit

The Onaqui wild horses live in Northwest Utah on the Great Basin Desert (40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City). This herd of wild horses are referred to as the Onaquis because their habitat covers the Onaqui Mountain range. They have been here since the late 1800s. The herd is large, approximately 400 horses in all but generally consisting of many smaller bands (or families) that graze and travel together. The original historic Pony Express Road runs through their rangelands. These horses remain healthy and in good physical condition with 43,000 acres of grasslands to graze on and ample water supplied by well stocked reservoirs and streams, fed by snow runoff and rain. They are currently under protection by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) but risk removal from their homeland in 2018.