It is completely desolate and quiet and flying over this vast dish of brown expanse, one is taken at full surprise as a thousand horses come pounding, thundering across the prairie, nostrils flared and snorting, manes and tails flying in the wind.
Instantly, you feel transported to another world. In front of you, is one of the most iconic living images of the Old West: wild mustangs running free across the prairie.
These mustangs descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish more than six centuries ago. And by the 19th century, the horses were just as much a part of Kansas wildlife as bison and wolves, mountain lions and bears. But with Euro-American settlement, the horses quickly disappeared from Kansas, along with other forms of wildlife.
But a decade ago, a handful of ranchers in the Flint Hills began contracting with the Bureau of Land Management to bring the horses back home to Kansas. And with the contracts, the wild horses have begun to make their presence in Kansas known.
All told, more than 7,000 horses now run free over 60,000 acres.
Instantly, you get a real glimpse into the way it used to be, more than you would through photographs or old Western films. This snorting, stomping mix of bays and sorrels, blacks and palominos, pintos and whites transport you to the once was -- when, the buffalo roamed out here, and you couldn't get to the next town without a three day's ride.
You see these wild horses roaming and you realize... They are truly free...
