All images and text on timlaytonfineart.com are the © of Timothy P. Layton and Tim Layton & Associates, LLC 2000-2023. Please review the copyright notice.
Discover several ways to help the Wild Horses of Shannon County, Missouri, remain free to live a good life in the wild.
Learn why awareness is a key strategy in helping protect wild horses and why I became a wild horse conservation photographer.
Wild Horses of Missouri History
Shannon County, Missouri, is home to a beautiful herd of wild horses in Southeast Missouri in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways on public land about 130 miles from Springfield and 150 miles from St. Louis.
Ozark National Scenic Riverways is the first national park area to protect a river system and the only state where wild horses still roam free. It hasn’t been an easy path for the wild horses over the last 100 years, and it would be foolish to think current conditions couldn’t change and put them back in danger again.
During the 1980s, the National Park Service announced a plan to remove Shannon Counties’ wild horses, and people were outraged.
In 1993 the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal to protect the horses and gave the National Park Service the right to remove the horses from federal land. The national park service started removing the wild horses in a profoundly upsetting way to residents and horse lovers around the country. The people of Shannon County and horse lovers around the country rallied together, and the Wild Horse League of Missouri was formed.
Luckily, by 1996 the Wild Horse League of Missouri, which was formed in 1992 to save the wild horses, received help from the people of Shannon County, congressman Bill Emerson, Senators Kit Bond, and John Ashcroft.
Their tireless efforts paid off, and President Clinton signed a bill into law on October 3, 1996, to make the wild horses of Shannon County a permanent part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, with conditions. You can read more about the law.
Reading and understanding the law referenced above is essential because these wild horses’ freedom relies on compliance with the law. The National Park Service or anyone could claim the horses are causing harm or being a nuisance, and the removal process could start again.
People worldwide visit Shannon County hoping to see these majestic wild horses; their long-term protection and survival depend on people and public policy.
Per the Ozark Wild Horse Protection Act, the Missouri Wild Horse League works with the National Park Service to capture some horses when the herd exceeds 50. The captured horses are taken into care and evaluated before being adopted by loving families for permanent homes.
Learn more about how you can help protect Missouri’s wild horses and become part of a positive legacy that is focused on trying to make the world a better place today and for future generations.
All images and text on timlaytonfineart.com are the © of Timothy P. Layton and Tim Layton & Associates, LLC 2000-2023. Please review the copyright notice.
