Ra'mona Marie ... Psychic  Intuitive         Life Coach - Advanced Certified Hypnotist

Wild Horses Run Free - Missouri                                                                      In March of 1991, My husband and I decided we needed a retreat from the fast lane of city life. We set off for a canoe float and to spend a cozy romantic weekend together. The river we chose was the Jack's Fork and the Current River, in the Missouri Ozarks. Near Eminence, Missouri.

We found some nice cabin facilities very close to the rivers edge to spend our weekend. Right across the river were bluffs flanking the river. Quite the scenic setting for a romantic getaway. At that moment, I had no idea at just how scenic our little weekend would turn out to be.

While we were floating down the river we kept seeing people horseback riding and I thought to myself how fun! Further down river, a small band of horses forged across the river in front of us at a shallow crossing. How fortunate for us to see, how fabulous is that!

I was stunned by the beauty of this moment, as this band of horses was guiding and protecting a newborn foal maybe a week old. The stallion was a light gray color with about five or six white or gray mares. The foal was a jet black with four high white stockings and an appaloosa speckling on it's rump. Such magnificence! I still can't believe I actually had this experience.

We were mesmerized by this instant flash of speed, color and beauty crossing the river in front of us! This was one of those instances in life never matched again in magnitude. I wished at the time I had a camera in hand, but no such luck. As we continued to peacefully float down the river all I could think about was how fortunate we were to have witnessed or experienced that moment. For those types of events are few and far between in city life with busy schedules and hectic lives. Not to mention miles and miles of concrete.

We floated another hour downstream and then came across this same herd of horses near the side of the river, on a small rise. We stopped so I could get a closer look at the new foal. I have always loved horses. They were so beautiful! I watched them from below, my head just above the rise. The stallion made eye to eye contact with me for a few moments, but did not pay me any attention. So I decided to try and get closer.

With him watching me I climbed up to the same ground level as the horses and very slowly walked right into their midst. I was thinking I might even get close enough to pet one of the mares. As I thought this band of horses belonged to someone who was letting them winter graze or free roam their land. I never had dreamed it was a wild band of horses. They were all so beautiful and very healthy.

The stallion accepted my presence - my slowly walking in and about his mares. I was now in the center of his band of mares until I reached out to pet one of his mares, then, in a flash of flying hoofs they were gone . They left me standing awed by their beauty.

I hadn't realized how close we were to the place we were to check in our canoe and I was surprised upon our arrival there to learn that my excursion with the horses had been watchedor witnessed by several people. They had been watching the horses from the canoe store with binoculars when I had shown up. They told me just how lucky I was that the stallion hadn't charged me, as those horses were wild horses.

They told us that there were many local people who had been actively looking and watching for months to get a glimpse of one of the small wild bands of horses that lived in the area. That it was so exceptional that we had seen them twice and that I had been allowed to walk right into the midst of one of those wild bands of horses. How incredible it was for us to have seen the new foal all the local folks had been talking about... up so close at hand to the new foal!

As people had especially been on the outlook to catch a glimpse of that new foal with loud coloring! The foal was black with an apaloosa speckling of white on his rump. A white star on his forehead and had four white stocking feet, truly a beautiful foal.

I in the moment recognized the honor and grace I had been given by this wild, free stallion to walk amidst his band - his family, my presence not being a threat until I reached out to touch.

What an experience! In an age of automobile confusion and concrete reaching toward both sky and horizon, this was a spiritual experience and a moment to remember. Spiritual in the sense that people yearn for that ultimate freedom, the freedom that this stallion so easily and gallantly portrayed. Is it totally gone from our reality? Wild horses running free and easy with the wind!

We as a society have gone so far to pursue a sense of freedom, we have tamed the wilderness, we have tamed the beast, but have we mastered freedom? Have we mastered our selves?

When I experience moments such as these I connect with that spirit called freedom or God.

The photographs you are viewing of these wild horses were taken by Barb Lynn, of Lynn Photo Services whom has given us permission to use them in this article. I want to thank her for the use of them, I am also thankful she did have camera in hand.

On another trip to make a canoe float, I stayed at a motel who had these photos in their lobby. It made my day to remember and once again see the little foal in the photo above. I immediately went and purchased photos of the wild band of horses we were lucky enough to witness.

Her address:

PO Box 114, Eminence, Missouri 65466, for those of you whom would like copies of these photos

I was terribly saddened when I heard that many of these wild bands of horses were being caught and destroyed or auctioned off for slaughter. It just made me sick in heart to hear this. Hopefully the wild band of horses I saw still runs free.

Wildlife is a natural part of our world, and should be protected just as our National State Parks are protected. The natural beauty of our world is our legacy, our heritage, our inheritance!

                                             1997 Update - Running Free

The Missouri Wild Horse League had filed and lost an appeal to the United States Supreme Court which gave the NPS the legal right to remove the horses. The horses remained untouched by the NPS even after this court decision was made. On May 24, 1994 several members of the MWHL and their attorney, Douglas Kennedy, met with the NPS. A proposal was presented to Superintendent Sullivan, who has since retired, which included a maintenance plan, to be initiated by the MWHL, so that these horses could remain wild.

The proposal would be beneficial to the NPS, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the MWHL as it provided for the cleaning up of several fields which currently are overgrown with multi-flora rose bush, thorn trees, and weeds so they are of no use to any wildlife. The proposal also provided that while cleaning up these fields certain areas would be left for wild game cover. In August 1994 we received word from Art Sullivan, then Superintendent of Ozark National Scenic Riverways, that our proposal had been turned down and that the NPS would not consider any other proposals that allowed for the freedom of the wild horses. We were very disappointed with this decision, but did not  give up.

In October 1994, Congressman Bill Emerson presented a bill to Congress which would make the wild horses a permanent part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The bill, along with several others of the same  type, was passed through Congress in 1996 after much deliberation. The bill was signed into law by President Clinton on October 3, 1996 and the horses are now a permanent part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and cannot be  removed. Congressman Emerson as well as Senators Bond and Ashcroft were all driving forces in the passing of this bill and we appreciate their efforts very much.

In 1997 we began cleaning up the fields specified in the  bill and are working successfully with the National Park Service on other issues as well.

The Missouri Wild Hose League is still accepting memberships, since the maintenance of these horses is going to take quite a bit of money. An annual membership is only $5.00 per person and we would be glad to have anyone join in our efforts to care for these wild  horses. Or if you would like to make donations to maintain these wild horses in good health, please send them to the Missouri Wild Horse League,  address below.

Please Donate!  Maybe you can have the experience of a lifetime on your canoe float.

Missouri Wild Horse League 

P. O.  Box  301     Eminence, Missouri      65466-030                                           ©ra'mona marie 2002