The Wild Ones!
Beginning the week between Christmas and New Year’s in 2014, and resuming from March 19th through June 26th of 2015, I lived and breathed the lives of the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND.
Spending three months tracking the wild ones over 46,000 acres and capturing their compelling stories in all types of challenging weather, over rugged badlands terrain from sunup to sundown, culminated in a body of work called Fly Without Wings. I witnessed stallions battling over mares, mares gathering around a newborn foal to protect her from a rogue bachelor stallion, to the tender love between a stallion and his lead mare. Birth and death in the wild are simultaneous, at times, and being a part of the wild ones daily encounters and struggles was a life changing experience.
The greatest discovery of this journey was the number of people who are moved by the spirit of these amazing wild animals. There is something that connects people to what WAS in the hope that it will always remain wild and free. The wild ones serve as the last thread tying us to a time in our history that was filled with guts, glory, hard work, sweat, danger, and the ability to rely on ourselves in an equal partnership with the prairie and forest. The wild ones live their lives unencumbered by the rules and restrictions their domestic brethren must endure, living only by the expectations of the herd, the changing seasons, and the rugged and carved Badlands.
Finally, the silence—the indelible silence of the wide open spaces, the silence of the natural realm, the loud and noisy silence of the wild ones, the order of life in the wild, the freedom of being unfettered except where to find the next drink of water or watching for a rogue stallion to steal a mare, or where to lie down to give birth to new life. The silence, it is hard to find in the cacophony of civilization.
Moving forward I am currently working on a body of work called Stallions: Wild and Untethered that will be exhibited in October of 2019! This journey has become far more personal than I had ever anticipated. In search of answers and truth surrounding America's living legacy, our wild horses, the western range is filled with those for and those against our wild horses! Many range in areas not fit for any wildlife, and some range in areas lush and rich with forage, but the biggest hurdle is the water and finding adoptive homes for those who come off the range! Join the journey and follow along at debleecarson.com.
Thank you to each of you who help make a difference in the life of a wild horse!
