It's not news that America is a cowboy nation, but it may surprise many that we are destroying the horse we rode in on.

he very concept of establishing and maintaining a thriving natural ecological balance between wild horses and cattle on public lands shows the folly of this approach. Cattle ranchers wish to extract all possible use from the areas that they lease on the public lands, and wish their cattle to get to the heaviest slaughter weight as quickly as possible. This approach and process contradict and manipulate the natural processes by which a biotic community sustains itself in any environment. The presence of commercially exploited cattle on public lands prevents, by definition, the establishment or maintenance of a thriving natural ecological balance. It is clear that when an agency chooses to "manage" land according to a grazing model, its determinations will be very different from those of an agency following a wildlife model.

"These horses are descended from the pioneers who settled Nevada," Butler said. "These are the horses who made it possible for people to come out here in the first place."

"We at Let 'em Run are in the process of creating a sanctuary where visitors can come view the horses in their natural habitat

The "wild" horses on Assateague are actually feral animals,

Those pushing for a reduced herd size include Doug Busselman of the Nevada Farm Bureau Federation, who says studies have shown the Virginia Range can handle only about 400

What's the difference between a wild horse and estray?

"Actually nothing," said Hank Curry, horse trainer for the program. "It's just where they're caught. Most of the estray horses are caught on Nevada state land. It just depends on what side of the river they're on the day they caught them."

The starting bid for horses is $150, and prices have reached $4,000 for popular horses. All of the money returns to Silver State Prison Industries. In the past year, the program, which includes the manufacturing of draperies, mattresses, jeans and denim jackets, the restoration of cars and other vehicles, and a printshop and bindery, has returned more than $400,000 to the state.