Along Jalama Road

The road to Jalama Beach is a scenic drive winding through farms, ranches and vineyards.  If you are really lucky  (like we were last week) you will see a herd of wild horses grazing on the hillside above.  These rescued horses now live at the Return to Freedom Sanctuary.  This is a non-profit organization whose goal is to protect and preserve the wild horses of America.  In 1971 Congress passed the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, setting aside 53 million acres of public land for these magnificent animals.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was designated to manage them but over the years they have taken the land away from  the horses and given it to cattle.  Needless to say, the horses have not fared well in the resulting roundups.    Many have died of starvation and neglect.   Return to Freedom offers educational tours of their plight. To see these horses up close, especially the Choctaw Ponies, is a fun experience.
  
Wouldn't it be wonderful if someday, tourists from all over the world would come to America to see the mass migration of horses like they do the wildebeests and zebras in Africa?  Progress is being made, but it's definitely an uphill battle.

Mimi is silhouetted against the ocean and the railroad tracks at the road's end.

Save the Wild Horses!