Utah Horseman Concludes 6,000

Despite efforts to reduce overpopulation — including round ups and fertility control treatments — wild horse and burro populations remain about three times what federal range managers believe is an appropriate balance with rangeland resources, at about 27,000. Since 2013, herd sizes have more than doubled, though in 2020 populations dipped slightly, according to the BLM.Jake said he sees adoption as not the only solution, but an important one to the wild horse crisis.They dipped down side streets and neighborhoods wherever they could along their route to avoid the busy highway, but got help from a police escort along Main Street in Heber City, where traffic was most hectic for three horses and one cowboy.Everyday your story is being told by someone. Who is telling your story? Who are you telling your story to?Some wild horse activists advocate against round ups, saying they can be cruel and mustangs have been made scapegoats for rangeland damage most often caused by taxpayer-subsidized cattle grazing. The BLM says it doesn’t remove wild horses to simply make room for cattle grazing on public lands — but rather it does so to “ensure rangeland health” in accordance with land-use plans and to carry out the BLM’s mission to manage public land for multiple uses while also protecting the land’s resources.To those who argue wild horses should just be left alone on rangelands and their populations will naturally regulate, Warr said the BLM would be neglecting its government mandate to maintain public lands for multiple uses while balancing rangeland health. Additionally, he said overpopulation could lead horses to starve, suffer and die.The most comparable documented horse ride Jake has been able to find was one completed by Lucian Spataro in 1989. In 150 days, Spataro rode 3,000 miles coast to coast, from Los Angeles to Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, according to his website. He crossed through 15 states — the most ever done at the time with the same horses.

“It just brightened up everyone’s day to see horses walking through their neighborhood or down the middle of town, Princeton, and everything,” he said. “Everyone was super excited to meet me, like everywhere else. It was funny. Just the different experience and perception I got compared to what other people outside of New Jersey had.”Katie McKellar covers Utah government as a senior reporter for the Utah News Dispatch. She specializes in political reporting, covering the governor and the Utah Legislature, with expertise in beats including growth, housing and homelessness.To show the country how valuable mustangs are as both companions and work horses even in today’s modern world, Jake rode his steeds all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and back. He hoped to prove they’re just as capable and trustworthy as any other breed — and that they make especially tough trail horses because their survival depends on it in the wild.But hoping to finish out the ride with Bella — the seasoned trail horse that helped teach Jake when he was first learning to be a horseman — one of his friends brought her to the Wyoming-Utah state line. She joined Denver and Eddy to trek the last 115 miles or so of the trip.“I had to commit, there was no turning around,” Jake said. “If I had any shot of getting it done at all, I had to be completely confident. And that’s what I applied to everything we had to overcome.”

The homecoming

Though Jake did the riding, all three of them played a role in the “Year of the Mustang.” Daniel helped his son map his route — a trickier task than one may think. Logan edited the countless hours of video Jake sent to document his trip. And his mom, Leah, helped manage his social media accounts, which have grown from maybe a couple hundred followers last year, to now over 81,000 on Instagram alone.In 2023, the BLM reported it placed about 8,000 animals into new homes (the second-highest placement rate in more than 20 years), which it estimated saved taxpayers about 1 million.“It’s good to be back,” a grinning Jake yelled, prompting more cheers and whistles. Some of the barn’s other hoofed residents whinnied from their stalls.Jake’s efforts have indeed directly raised interest in the BLM’s adoption program, Warr said, adding that he’s been contacted by dozens of people “from all over the country” asking about it after they saw Jake on social media, in the news or in person. Jake’s journey also made dozens of local headlines throughout the year.As they drew closer to her home barn, Sage Creek Equestrian Center in Charleston, Bella’s ears perked up and she began sniffing the air. Her pace quickened. From atop her back, Jake noticed her anticipation build.For both of those reasons, he said, “We can’t turn our back on them.”“We have animals we need to find homes for,” Warr said. “And he’s been a banner for that.”“They’re wild animals. We literally cannot inoculate, capture, vaccinate all the animals we need to,” he said. “It’s overwhelming. So we’re going to continue to do gathers, which means we’re going to have excess animals we’re going to need to find homes for.”

Jake coined the journey the “Year of the Mustang.” His mission? Raise awareness of the power and plight of the wild horse. How grazing, population growth and development pressures have made life increasingly difficult for these animals, even though they’re idolized as a patriotic symbol for their role in helping settle the West.ESG University republishes their articles, features and stories online and/or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.Some nights Jake said he’d even have to knock on doors to ask for a place to stay, which he said was rarely rejected. In all, he guessed several hundred people helped him along the way. While he estimated he spent about a quarter of the 437-day trip camping on public land, the rest of the time he said he relied on “people’s private situations, whether that was camping on their land or staying in a barn.”

A shattered record?

Utah News Dispatch, like the Idaho Capital Sun, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com.Jake estimated he’d ride about four to six days a week with week-long breaks in Arkansas and New Jersey. He said they averaged about 20 miles a day for the entire trip, though some days were shorter or longer.“It’s still sort of hard to believe that it ever happened and that now it’s over,” she said. “I’m both thrilled that it’s done and he was successful and safe, and that everybody got home in one piece. But it’s also a matter of processing what this looks like now for all of us going forward.”“My heart sank,” he said, since it was the only way he could get to his destination in New Jersey, where he planned to conclude his trek east at the coastline in Middletown. Otherwise, he’d have to trailer, which wasn’t consistent with his goal.Jake had planned for years to do this ride, so he didn’t intentionally plan it for a presidential election year — a time when American polarization is on full display — but it happened to work out that way. Especially as November came around, Jake said that reality was “definitely” noticeable because “it was on everyone’s mind.” He said political differences never really became an issue, though he recognized he was mostly dealing with people from similar backgrounds: farmers, ranchers and other horse people.Eddy, 13, was previously trained but he was the newest to Jake’s herd, so the two were still learning to trust each other as their ride began. And Denver, now 7, was the youngest and a rookie. Even in the days leading up to their trip, Denver still had a lot to learn about being a pack horse, and Jake was still training him.

An ‘ambassador’ for the wild horse crisis

His horses changed, too. When they first embarked on their trip last year, the youngest, Denver, was still learning the ins and outs of packing. And Eddy, while he was a more experienced trail horse, was still getting to know and trust Jake. Now they’ve both got 6,000 miles of experience in the backcountry through all types of terrain — desert, mountains, snow, rivers, and busy city streets.“When you really get down to it and you’re meeting people, it’s like, you know, they’re just people,” he said. “They’re good people.”“Maybe that’s a lot to say, but it definitely felt that way when I was speaking to the masses about wild horses,” he said. “I’m glad I got to share with everyone and to see how many people wanted to be a part of it as we went along — whether they were helping us or wanted to help me spread the word.”Jake said it’s been a “remarkable experience, being able to help loads of people start the adoption process to adopt their first wild horses. And also just to be some people’s first experience with horses.”

The sun’s out in The City of El Paso Texas!“That’s something I think the horse world needs to acknowledge,” Jake said. “That there are qualities these horses have that are absolutely very desirable for many horsemen, and for that reason they should be counted as something worthwhile for horse owners.”Traffic, as it turns out, would be among the biggest challenges Jake said he confronted along his ride, and it was representative of the entire issue he wanted to highlight — how wild horses “feel constricted and out of place in a human world.” That’s fitting, given the automobile has replaced the horse as a practical use in today’s reality.“These horses have suffered, bled, worked, and sweat to no end to get us here to the end, through storms, rivers, over hundreds and hundreds of mountains,” Jake told his supporters. “They’ve proven their worth again and again. I owe my very life to them.”“One of the things that surprised me most about the Year of the Mustang journey,” Jake told his supporters, “was the people who wanted to help us. Everywhere I went.”“Six thousand miles!” someone shouted, as Jake and his mother embraced, and the crowd cheered again.Motorists roared by in the comfort of their modern modes of transport, but the trio clip-clopped along unphased, not even by the loudest semitrailers. They were on their last leg of what’s been a 14-month, 6,000-mile journey across the country. Just three more miles along a highway was nothing compared to what they’d already overcome.Jake was grinning before he, Eddy and Denver took the plunge. Then the video cut to him emerging from the river soaking and breathless. He praised his horses, laughed with relief, and poured water out of his boots before telling the camera: “That was not easy. I wish I could have filmed that for you guys but that was not a time to be holding a phone.”Recalling the swim months later, Jake said it was an “incredible story that everyone loved,” but he added it was an “extremely risky and scary experience.” The rocks were slippery and the current was strong, threatening to sweep them down the river. Eddy and Denver were hesitant at first, but he said he steered them straight until their hooves lifted off and they were both swimming.

Jake said some would wrinkle their noses when he’d explain he’d be riding to New Jersey and back, asking why he chose that state. It was a matter of logistics, he said, because he’d be able to cross one more state off his list with just three days of riding time to the ocean.Jake brought Bella to a halt and dismounted. He patted her on the neck, and she nestled her head into his chest, sharing a brief moment together before turning their attention to the welcome party.Jake’s mom and dad, Leah and Daniel, and his brother Logan anxiously awaited his arrival.That training and trust was put to the ultimate test in Pennsylvania, when Jake’s plans to cross the Delaware River by riding his horses across the Washington Crossing bridge fell through. He said New Jersey bridge commission officials would not give him permission to bring his horses on the pedestrian path.She exuded pride — saying she witnessed her son “flourish” over the past year — but also a sense of sadness for the journey coming to an end.

The journey

After passing through 25 states — from Utah to the coastline in New Jersey and back — braving busy roads, navigating remote backcountry trails, trudging through blizzards, even taking a harrowing swim across the Delaware River, and at times knocking on doors to ask for safe places to sleep and eat, Jake and his horses’ ride was almost at an end.It’s gunna be GRRRRRRRRRRREAT!Now, though, after 6,000 miles, they’re all experts.“I’m one of the personalities that I can make friends with anybody, and that helped me throughout this entire trip,” he said. “So I’m very much able to sit down and talk with complete strangers, wherever they’re coming from, and find ways to get along with anybody. So I never really saw that as a challenge.”“He came back a mountain man,” one of his supporters remarked with a laugh at his welcome home party.As of the BLM’s last monthly report issued in September, nearly 63,000 horses were in “off range” holding facilities, cared for in either corrals or pastures. The BLM is tasked with the “management and protection” of both wild horses and the health of public lands.The matchup for the 2024 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl is set. Catch University of Louisville going against University of Washington on Tuesday, December 31. Coverage starts at 2PM ET!

“She smells home,” he said.During his welcome home party, when speaking to his supporters, Jake said even though he’d get asked all the time whether one state was better than another, “I didn’t meet a bad person.”“And I really do genuinely believe it’s a narrative that gets fed to us,” he said. “I’ve come to find that there’s good people everywhere.”While doling out more hugs, Jake and his dad led his three horses to Sage Creek’s indoor arena, where Jake waited for the crowd to quiet down before giving a heartfelt speech, thanking them for their support and sharing his gratitude.Still, it’s an expensive problem. Of the 8 million the BLM spent last year alone, 9 million was to care for the animals in off-range holding facilities. While fertility treatments are also expensive and difficult to administer, the agency relies on rehoming horses to save taxpayer money and reduce herd sizes.

How ‘Year of the Mustang’ brought people together — even in an election year

So, Jake said he decided to use satellite imagery of the Delaware River to find a place to cross like “real cowboys,” as he said in a video from that day posted on his YouTube channel — by swimming. “I think we’re going to go for it. Like the old days, folks.”CLICK HERE FOR SPECIAL PARAMOUNT + DISCOUNT LINK

Though some states were more scenic than others (Colorado, he said, had the best views), Jake said he doesn’t have a favorite state.Not wanting to risk her health, Jake arranged a trailer in Arkansas to take her back home to Sage Creek Equestrian Center so she could rest. She returned in March and quickly recovered, Jake said.But by proving their mettle with a modern-day cross-country ride, Jake hoped to inspire others to consider adopting a Bureau of Land Management mustang as one of the many needed solutions to the complex wild horse crisis. Last year, the BLM spent nearly 9 million on efforts to manage wild horse and burro populations across the U.S. — and yet, at more than 73,000 as of March of this year, their numbers continue to be triple what the federal government has deemed as sustainable.So while he may be home in Utah for now, don’t expect it to last long.“I always thought this out in my mind as a very solo experience, but it became a very national effort, in a way,” Jake said, adding that he found himself talking to groups about the wild mustang crisis and advocating for their adoption.“I’m shaking,” he said. “I can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel real.”Email your sustainable story ideas, professional press releases or podcast submissions to thecontentcreationstudios(AT)gmail(DOT)com.Stream College Football on CBS live and so much more with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan. Get started today or let your friends know about the BIG GAME!“Him bringing exposure to it is going to help find homes for probably thousands of animals,” Warr said.“It was hitting the beach,” he said, in Middletown. “When I rode those horses up to the ocean and rode them in the water, New York City in the back … it felt great.”“It’s definitely part of the equation,” Warr said. “People aren’t using equines like they used to, and it’s getting to be a challenge.”Jake said he plans to submit an application to The Long Riders Guild, as well as one to Guinness World Records to set an official record. It remains to be seen if they’ll accept it. But to Jake, while the record would be a cherry on top, it wasn’t the point.Warr told Utah News Dispatch that Jake was the best “ambassador” for the BLM’s wild horse and burro adoption program the government could ask for, at no taxpayer expense.Tears rolled down Leah’s face as she hugged her son. His father then threw his arms around Jake, his face contorting with emotion. Jake rested his head on his dad’s shoulder for a long moment while his three horses stood by.Along with adoption and other methods, Jake said “that will be what it takes to overcome” the issue. Though he acknowledged adoption isn’t the best solution for a majority of horses, he said it’s how more Americans can be part of the solution. While mustangs may be perceived as dangerous or uncontrollable, he wants to encourage existing and perhaps future horse owners against disregarding them in favor of other breeds.Jake said his trip could not have been possible without the help he received along the way — the farmers, ranchers and other “horse people” who let him camp overnight on their property, in their barns or stay in their homes. With each state he passed through, Jake said he relied on a network of support that grew thanks to social media and word of mouth. His GoFundMe page also pulled in donations to fund the trip, topping ,000.So what’s next for Jake now that he’s home?Remarkably, Denver and Eddy completed the entire ride, switching between carrying Jake and his belongings, and Jake said he never used a trailer to move his horses forward for any portion of their journey. Bella, however, at 18 years old, worried Jake several months into their ride when he saw she was losing weight.Though he ran into more obstacles, like the Delaware River crossing, Jake said he enjoyed his time there, in a state where it truly was an unusual sight to see a cowboy with two horses walking down the street.All three of Jake’s mustangs were adopted from the BLM — Bella and Denver from Nevada, and Eddy from New Mexico. Their ages and training levels varied, though, at the start of their journey. Bella, now 18, was the oldest and most experienced. She helped teach Jake when he first started learning how to be a horseman at the age of 14, and they formed a tight bond, leading her previous owner to eventually gift Bella to Jake.

All three of Jake’s mustangs were adopted from the BLM — Bella and Denver from Nevada, and Eddy from New Mexico. Their ages and training levels varied, though, at the start of their journey. Bella, now 18, was the oldest and most experienced. She helped teach Jake when he first started learning how to be a horseman at the age of 14, and they formed a tight bond, leading her previous owner to eventually gift Bella to Jake.