Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary
With open land and herds of running mustangs, the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary gives visitors a chance to see what the western range was like 300 years ago. The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary was originally created in 1988 by Dayton O. Hyde as the Institute of Range and the American Mustang, a nonprofit organization designed to preserve the open range and the its wild mustangs. Today, the sanctuary provides and authentic and healthy home to nearly 400 wild horses.
The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary sits on 11,000 acres between Hot Springs and Edgemont, South Dakota, and survives without government subsidies. The sanctuary brings in money from four main sources of income: tourism, the gift shop, donations, and the sale of foals that are raised on the ranch. However, despite the fact that tourism is a major money maker for the sanctuary, Dayton O. Hyde limits visitation to about 10 percent of the sanctuary so that most of the land can remain free, wild, and open.
Although there is evidence that horses existed in the Americas as far back as 7,000 years ago, the horses that live on the sanctuary today are descendants of mustangs that were brought over by the Spanish in the late 1400s. For unknown reasons, the ancient horses died off or migrated away, and it wasn't until the arrival of Columbus did the Americas see horses again. The Spanish horses thrived and every one from pioneers to ranchers to explorers began to rely on them. Native Americans also integrated the horse into their way of life, changing their culture forever. The wild herds that remain today are actually descendants of horses that escaped from human captivity and survived on their own.
The sanctuary offers guided tours as well as adventure tours. Expert guides will explain the significance of the prairies, grasslands, and the history of the horses. There are many hiking trails that take you around the sanctuary as well as to the Cheyenne River which flows in all four cardinal directions. For those wanting to spend several days in this sacred land, you may stay the night in a rustic log cabin.
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