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"El Caballo: The Wild Horses of North
America"
Library Journal, September 1, 2002
by Patsy Gray
The controversy over the plight of wild horses, descendants of
horses released in this country by the Spanish in the 1500s is
little known to most of us. Though some consider these horses
to be natives of this country, others believe them to be domestic
animals allowed to become feral and destroy pastureland better
used for cattle and sheep. El Caballo is an award-winning
beautifully videotaped documentary. Using the testimony of experts
- wildlife biologists, national park Service personnel, conservation
biologists, range ecologists and paleontolgists - El Caballo
presents a bias in favor of the horses being native to this country
and therefore worthy of more protection. It implies that the government
agency created to protect the wild horse, the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management, actually favors cattlemen. Fences that protect the
cattle do not allow the horses freedom to roam in order to prevent
inbreeding and overuse of resources. Those who believe the horse
to be a domesticated animal that should not be allowed to roam
free are given little voice here. Allowing for this bias, the
history of the horse in America that this film presents is quite
valuable. There are many books on the subject, but few videos.
National Geographic's The Noble Horse (1995) and Eyewitness -
Horse (1995) touch only briefly on the animal's pre-history. Highly
recommended for libraries whose patrons have an interest in American
prehistory, history of the West, wildlife and horses.
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