Wild Horses as a Metaphor For Freedom?

I've had the displeasure of meeting a whole bunch of "wild horse advocates" lately, and I'm still scratching my head over what trauma they suffered in their life, to care so much about these animals.

First, I thought it might just be that girl/pony routine we all know and love. But that type of relationship doesn't explain the paranoia and hostility so often expressed by wild horse advocates.

In fact, it's more reminiscent of one of last summer's healthcare tea parties.

I understand advocacy. I think it's a great American tradition. And usually it's a great thing.

But over wild horses?

They're not even really wild. These creatures shouldn't be here: native North American horse type animals went extinct thousands of years ago. These "wild" animals, are basically the glorified lost pets of ranchers and miners.

The Bureau of Land Management is faced with the double pronged mission of protecting the land while maintaining costs. The "wild" horses are destroying the natural desert because a lack of predation guarantees overpopulation. The BLM is literally feeding these animals, at great taxpayer expense, to keep them alive so that they can continue to destroy the fragile desert ecosystem.

Why, do you ask?

Because every time they try to round up these animals, wild horse advocates start ranting and raving about how the Evil Government is out to get them. Well, technically the BLM is supposed to be doing that. As pretty as the horses are, they have no business being in the Northern Nevada desert. (Neither do cattle, but that's another story for another day)

I am starting to think that the irrational and emotional overreaction of the wild horse advocates, is really a parallel between the Tea Parties from last summer. The Tea Party Activists, who are really just loyal Republicans, acted very irrationally and overly emotionally not because of facts, but because they felt powerless against the Democrats. They used lots of catch phrases and talking points, but had a very difficult time explaining their position with facts  figures in the meetings, preferring to yell and scream.

Being an adult often means accepting the fact that sometime you are not going to get your way, and that sometimes certain problems have no "good" solution, only a "less worse" one. The real question is, will wild horse advocates prefer to have these animals starve to death in remote mountain canyons, or die from disease  from malnutrition this winter or next summer when the advocates are wake boarding up at Tahoe? I seriously wonder who has the horses best interest in mind.

And for the record, I do think ponies are cute, too.