About the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary

Imagine a place where, as far as your eyes can see—miles and miles to the horizon, you can view America as it was 300 years ago. Imagine a place long revered by Native Americans, where the Cheyenne River flows in all four directions and eagles’ shadows sweep rocky canyon walls. Imagine a place where wild horses run free across endless plains, their hooves striking thunder, their manes and tails flying in the wind.

Dayton Hyde had just such an imagination. His imagination, dedication to the environment, and compassion for the plight of the wild mustang led him to establish the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary (www.wildmustangs.com) for mustangs.

Because there are no natural predators to keep the mustang population down, mustangs compete with local cattle and with each other for grazing land. To address this problem, the Federal Bureau of Land Management instituted both an adoption program and birth control measures for wild mustangs. While these methods have worked, un-adoptable animals were kept in feedlots and became listless and ill.

In 1988, Dayton Hyde persuaded the Bureau of Land Management to let him care for the horses that no one would take. By forming the nonprofit The Institute of Range and American Mustang (IRAM), he raised money to found the Sanctuary—now 11,000 acres of excellent horse range near Hot Springs, South Dakota—where these native horses once again enjoy the freedom that was their birthright. “It’s like adding rhythm to music, to add horses to this land,” states Mr. Hyde.

For more information and information about adopting a mustang please contact:

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary (www.wildmustangs.com)
800-252-6652
Box 998
Hot Springs, SD 57747