Thank you so much, Nora. I really appreciate your comments. Cloud looks great at 17! He had such a peaceful aura about him. Thanks for identifying him for me. I did some searching to try to identify the horses that I saw, but he eluded me. I can see why TRNP is one of your favorite places! Thanks for reading.

You were right in assuming the horses you encountered outside the park were not wild. They are domestic horses, frequently fed grain from the back of trucks. (Also, the national park has no buckskin horses, which was an easy clue)

I don’t particularly agree that horses can be considered wild animals, similarly to how cows, dogs and cats would never truly be wild because of the thousands of years of cohabitation and domestication that reconfigured their current presence, but the romanticism around horses on the plains is hard to shake.

The interesting backstory behind these horses is always under scrutiny though, even though there are locals in the area that recall parents and grandparents turning their domestic horses out into the park when they didn’t want them anymore or when they wanted to bypass the government and get free grazing. Regardless of the interpretation of this herd, they are interesting and a joy to experience.

Thank you for the comments. I’m so glad this spoke to you!

Thank you so much! The list never gets shorter. Thanks for joining my journeys through the blog.

Thank you so much for reading. I’m glad it’s sparked such interest!