https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/83157fd7fe65ea87b934352c75519b2c.pdf 1a930a2fab5acf3ce6f900e0fe068625 PDF Text Text THE SOULS OF WILD FOLK We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. —Henry Beston, The Outermost House BY CHAD HANSON I df my camera out of the backseat. Then I unfold a In 1868, a man by the name of Peres stumbled onto the s s Ikid I rode a pony with a painted coat. My family On the highway west of Casper we run into rain. Then the called her, "Daisy" She could run &ster than any of rain turns into a full-throated storm. We find ourselves press' tripod, dean the surface of my most powerful lens, and we mouth of a cavern in the hills of northern Spain. He de­ the horses within five miles of our house. She beat ing into wind driven hail. I see a patch of blue sky on my left, start to trek through the sagebrush. When we saw the horses scribed the spot to an archeologist. Marcelino Sautuola, who thoroughbreds. Arabians. Once, she outran a quarter horse. A so I ask, * Would you like to see the Red Desert/* I met Lynn from the car they were grazing but when we start to hike they returned with his daughter and a pair of oil lamps. Once they I loved that pony I loved her right up until the point when in Tucson. She likes deserts. She says,"Sure. Go left. Look. show signs of alertness. 'They don't stop eating but they lift were inside, she noticed familiar shapes on the ceiling and I discovered motocross. After that, my attention co horses There's a road." It doesn’t take long to escape the weather. their heads to check our location. We push onward, closer to waHs.'LooL Animals." They discovered the Altamira site. The waned. I developed a crush on metal and plastic. I still live in Soon, we're headed south with the sun beating through the them. We shorten the distance until thirty feet stand between cave hosts one of the oldest and most elaborate collections of a world of machines and technology, but I replaced the motor' windshield. As the dirt and vegetation dry I begin to see hors­ us. After that, they begin walking. cycle with a mountain bike. It’s quieter. Until last spring, it es. I assume that we're on piablic land. I ask, "Who’s horses/* Through my telephoto lens I see their coats. Scrapes and bison, but the scars of the exhibit are horses. Altamira repre­ had been three decades since I’d known a horse. Then I point out that we are probably on public property scars mark the terrain between their shoulders and haunches. sents an early effort co capture the majesty of the world with a Lynn says, "I don't know" Then she looks at a map. After a Manes jut in between their ears to cover up their eyes, In one two dimensional image: one of the first attempts at art. When in-the-Wall region of 'Aborning. It's a landscape of ted difEi moment she says," We're on a herd area, run by the Bureau of case, a forehead sports a cluster of burrs. They form a gnarled human groups began to explore aesthetics, they did their best and mesas. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid used to hide Land Management." She says, "Those are wild horses." hacof hair and dehydrated plants, In another instance, a dread­ to mirror the form and essence of the horse. My wife and I had pbnned a weekend trip to the Hole- in the area, among the bluffs along the Middle Fork of the Wild Horses. Wild? Wild is one of my favorite adjectives. Powder River. In the time of Butch and Sundance, Wyoming I didn’t know Lynn when she was young but she grew up enjoyed a shortage of bwmen. Plus, as far as hideouts go, this with horses, too.*Why don't we scop?" she asks. one is scenic lock hangs from one of their necks. These are nobody’s horses. 'They're scrappy. They are unkempt—and they’re beautiful rock art ever found. ’The images include examples of deer and As human beings, we’re inconsistent when it comes to our tastes. For example, historically we saw mountains as land­ scapes co avoid. We thought of them as harsh. We assumed chat they were barren and dangerous. We preferred the safety �and order of gardens and neighborhoods. Tctday, we cherish We can’t take our eyes off of the mustangs. 'Their legs war parries into Spain. Not to be outdone the Spaniards also justed." Misfits. Those who don’t wear blinders. People who mountain peaks. We paint them. We sing songs about them, churn the dry grasses. They kick up a storm of dust. 'Then began co keep horses. Ridii^ became an art. Finally, in the days refuse co follow. and when we have co leave them, we begin to look for a way chey come co a hale. Ten feec away, che hooves of the lead of Christopher Columbus, horses were loaded on ships and re­ On some level we understand what che wisest among us back. On another note, in our past, women used co wear the horse dig in the dirt and they all stop. Dust clouds our view, turned co rhe homeland of cheir ancestors. The lucive pe<^>le of have cried to teach. In some ways we acknowledge the value bodies of flamingos on their heads. I’m glad co say, today, we but when it clears, the horses emerge: chests heaving, nostrils the West have a saying, The grass remembers che horses." The of wildness. We admire those with a will strong enough to find that kind of fashion excessive. Desires change. That said, flared, and ears in fighting position. tribes of che plains found spiritual parraers in these animals, overcome che pressure co conform. The mustang serves as a whose teeth acxl hooves evolved on American soil. mascot for one of the high schools in our hometown: Casper, I have searched, and I cannot find a time when we did not see beauty in horses. The two of us turn into sculptures of ourselves. At flrsc I look ahead but even blinking feels like an act of aggres­ In spite of cheir role on farms and in militaries, anyone Wyoming. Since we lack a professional football team, most of sion. I turn my eyes coward the ground. Then I realize that I who has witnessed a band of wild mustangs running can us cheer for che Denver Broncos, and every vehicle registered am no longer breathing, so I remind myself to inhale. 1 hear see chat their bodies were carved by the elements of west­ in the state bears a license plate emblazoned wich an image of Lynn trying to keep herself from crying. We stay this way for ern states: prairie wind and wide open spaces. Compared to a bucking horse. In some sense we know che value and appeal Lynn and I spend the morning trying to move in closer to the fifteen minutes. Maybe more. We’re stuck in a standoff, with che other animals that we turned into pets or commodities, of a rebel. We identify wich the spirit of che mustang. Vfe herd. I'm hoping to make a photo of their faces. We know fear and curiosity as ^ue, binding us to che horses. horses wear their domestication lightly. After a single genera­ made the wild horse into a symbol of unbrokeness. better than to march up to them, however. We move ten feet 1 whisper.'I’m going to make a picture." tion bom in fteedom, chey return co che patterns of behavior toward them every few minutes. We talk in hushed tones, so Lynn says.'Yeah. Slowly Don’t make any noises." that served them since the Cenozoic. Like the offspring of from over two million to less than 56.000 in two genera­ they know that we are not two-legged cats trying to stalk up The camera makes a subtle beep as it brings che lens into hatchery raised salmon, bom into rivers, they only know one tions. The state of Wyoming recently sued the Bureau of on them in silence. We do not walk in straight lines. We tack focus. The sound attracts the horses’ attention. Their ears lock state. The wild. Land Management, If che state wins the lawsuit, the ruling left and right co convince them chat we're just two friendly onto the black box at che top of the tripod. They look both­ In a well-known passage. Henry David Thoreau sug­ bipeds, out meandering on the prairie. It does not work ered, but then after a moment, they start to relax. 'The quiet gested, "In wildness is che preservation of che world." It is one within our borders. In addition, state representatives have Each time we step closer the horses look up from the ground. clicks and chirps actually seem co put them at ease. I suspect of the most enigmatic sentences in American letters. Specula­ proposed kgislacion that would lift our current ban on horse 'They spot us. Then they readjust cheir position. After a long che sounds make us seem safe—a pair of birds—mote like tions about what he meant abound in diflerenr directions, slaughter. John Fire Lame Deer, a member of che Lakota pursuit-in-slow-motion we are a half a mile from our car. I’m chubby cranes than grizzlies. buc most scholars agree that the hermit of Walden used these Sioux tribe, once told an interviewer," When a people start killing off cheir own symbols they are in a bad way* We also decreased the number of mustangs in the West will force che BLM to further cut che number of wild horses starting co gee hungry and it's been too long since we drank After I’ve made enough pictures, I look up from my words co remind us that societies can take a coll on our better any water. We decide to head back to the road. I untie the viewfinder. I stand for several minutes, staring eye-to-eye at nature. In towns and cities our culture goes to work on us. We flannel shirt chat I've been wearing on my waist, but before the "other." The Sioux and che Cheyenne called chem,"The become domesticated. Our thoughts cum into reflections of I put my arms into rhe sleeves I flap it co shake off the dust. Horse People." This band’s leader is a male char we’ve seen popular, buc often dubious beliefe. I flick it down and then back up. When I do that, it makes a often in che time since our first encounter. We guess chat loud crack of a sound. he’s an old stallion, spending his golden years roamit^ with a set of blinders, much like those chat we would place onto the one another. They start to nuzzle each other’s feces and necks. Stampede. group of bachelors. His body is charcoal A dark coat covers eyes of a draft horse. Blinders curb what you see. They make One of them looks like he is sleeping. Over time, in a land­ One moment the horses are grazing and the next they're Our culture limits our vision. Societies ask us to wear a After an hour, che horses in front of us turn cheir attention to his back and shoulders but it breaks up along his neck. Under it possible for us to look at human beings as if they are one scape without any shelter, horses learned co lean on members flying through the sage. No transition. When the sound of my his throat, che color changes co a marbled spread of black dimensional. We tend co see ourselves as workers. In the past, of their families. shirt reaches cheir ears—the landscape shifts. The calm swells and white. On his face, he wears a set of marks that give him our culture drove us co view others as slaves. When we look and troughs of che prairie roil into a storm of motion. 'The luminosity. As I look into his eyes I am struck by che sense at che dry grasses of our prairies and deserts, coo often, we toward the car. We haven’t even taken time co pick a place to horses run away from us in the beginning. Then a band that I'm looking throu^ time. It feels like I am looking into dwindle what we see co that of a forage factory, a pasture for camp. Our original pbns would have puc us on a creek a hun­ four breaks to the right. 'They make a wide turn. We watch as the eye of the Earth. sheep and cattle or an economic entity, chou^t of in terms of dred miles to che north. After we walk several paces, 1 cannot they bend cheir route. They circle around until it appears chat animal-units-per-monch. Thoreau would not have pictured help myself, I turn around. The horses have begun co follow chey are running back toward us. the prairie that way. f ie saw a rich pallet of boch humanity us. They do not walk us all che way back co the road, buc they and nature, stretching from his feec coward che West. follow us for fifty yards, and then they watch us leave. 'Then it becomes clear that chey are runnii^ coward us. I 1 fold che tripod and we begin co make our way hear Lynn say.'Oh.'It's not a word, however. It’s more like a Horses evolved on the North American continent. 'They sound. Tm speechless, too. I mutter.'Uuugh?" Then I grab my evolved here, and nowhere else. They grazed alongside woolly thoughts on land, people, and animals down to the level mountain bike and start the usual commute co work. I begin wife and pull her beside me. We stand together behind the mammoths. They ran from rhe threat of dire wolves and of economics. For example, when we crafted legisbcion to on a well-worn path: two lefts and then on a right on che camera, which is perched on top ofa tripod. It's not a bunker, saber-cooched cats. Paleontologists suggest that horses went protect wild horses, we stood up for aesthetic values and the paved grid of our nei^borhood. Before I reach che office I but it’s all we have. extinct in this hemisphere during che last ice age. At lease, moral case for conserving their habitat. Richard Nixon signed notice I am running early, so I jump the curb. Then I cake off that’s one story. 'The fossil record demonstrates that horses the Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act in 1971. into the empty grassland at che edge of town. are educated when it comes to safety in che wilderness. We outlasted other species in the Pleistocene, and some evidence Today, I hear the American mustang discussed as a tuiisance. know what to do if we’re attacked by a black bear, or a grizzly, suggests that small bands may have even survived into che era People describe them as pests or misfits. I do not cake issue or a mountain lion. We've taken time to practice, so we can act of European conquesc. Even so, it’s safe co assume chat most with che notion chac chey are misfits. 'They belong to another without having to think about what to do in the case of emer­ of them migrated over the Bering land bridge into Asia. age—a time when che grasslands of this continent were still gency. None of our training prepared us co protect ourselves Mongolians were the first to climb onto a horse’s back. untamed. For that reason alone, we ought to appreciate wild from a scampede of wild horses, so we stand together, making From the steppes of the Himalayas, the animals travelled to Af­ horses. During a speech on civil r^ts, Martin Luther King sounds from behind an aluminum tripod. It is sad, but in a rica and Europe. Some took on stripes and turned iruo zebras. junior joined Thoreau by placing faith in wildness. King said, way, a little romantic. The herdsmen of che Mediterranean used others to launch "Human salvation lies in che hands of the creatively malad­ We’ve spent long parts of our lives in rugged places. We 20 thewayfarer.horrveboundpubllcatlons.com At times, we rise above the tendency co shrink our Back home, Monday morning, I throw a leg over my PbotB SWd Hotxa and Burra* tn © BuJtw of Land Manapnoi thewayfarer.homeboundpublicatfons.coin 21 � Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Print Magazine Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Souls of Wild Folk Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div id="dublin-core-rights" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> <div class="element-text"><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2024-07-29 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chad Hanson Language A language of the resource ENG Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. Chad Hanson Journal Publications, CCA 04.ii.e.2025.01 WyCaC US. Casper College Archives and Special Collections. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CCA 04.ii.e.2025.01_ChadHansonPapers_64 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Searchable PDF Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Wayfarer Magazine</em> is published by Wayfarer Publishing