Wild Horses on the Yakama Reservation
The Yakama Wild Horses are unique. They live mainly within the borders of the Yakama Reservation and, consequently, are governed by Yakama Tribal laws and managed by Tribal Wildlife regulations. Except for a narrow strip of land along US highway 97 where wild horses can sometimes be seen grazing on the hillsides, the land on which the horses live is both remote and inaccessible to non-tribal people. As a result, most wild horses and their way of life are invisible to the outside world. This site provides a brief look into that world at a time when the horse population increased dramatically, and the environmental impacts were greatest.
About the Wild Horses
Horses have been part of the culture of indigenous tribes of the Pacific Northwest ever since they were first introduced in the mid-1700s. The indigenous peoples revered these new arrivals for their strength, endurance and independence. Horses quickly became the primary means of transportation throughout the region. By the mid-1800s, there were tens of thousands of horses in what is now central Washington.
During the westward expansion of the United States in the 1800s and the establishment of Washington as a US territory, indigenous tribes and bands living along much of the upper Columbia River were resettled to a 1.4 -million-acre reservation along the Yakima River in 1855 under the banner of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Despite their confinement, the Yakama people became known for the quality of the horses they raised and for their horsemanship. Yakama people sold horses to the early explorers, the incoming settlers and the US Army, some of which were shipped as far away as South Africa. Throughout this period many horses escaped and found refuge in remote portions of the Yakama Reservation.
There, the horses did not just survive, they flourished. Over time, the wild horse has become the symbol of the spirit and tenacity of the Yakama people.
As the 20th century began, motor vehicles began to replace horses as the primary means of transportation for both tribal and non-tribal people. Large numbers of horses were abandoned by their owners and roamed in herds throughout much of central Washington where they became a nuisance for ranchers and farmers. Most of these feral horses were eventually eliminated from all public lands. However, those that found sanctuary in the remote portions of the Reservation were protected and revered.
Today, herds of wild horses still roam the Reservation where they are considered crucial to the identity and culture of the Yakama people. These free-roaming herds also represent the last of a unique natural resource which, for three centuries, was found throughout much of the region. Current estimates put the number of wild horses on the Reservation at roughly 5,000, a number significantly below the more than 16,000 that were counted just a few years ago.
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