2025 Wild Horse Summit

Putting the “A” in Advocacy - Arming Yourself with Knowledge to Effectively Advocate in 2025 Virtual Educational Summit January 30th - February 3, 2025

Hosted by Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, Save Our Wild Horses, and the Wild Narrative Project

Chasing Horses Wild Horses Advocates, Save Our Wild Horses and Wild Narrative Project will be hosting a virtual online educational summit January 30th- February 3rd, 2025! Expert and advocate speakers will be discussing wild horses & burros, public lands, and what you can do to help. The summit is FREE to the public – the goal is to educate as many people as possible to help wild horse advocates on different topics that may come up as we continue to fight for the freedom of America's wild horses in 2025. Sign up for the Presentations below under Summit Schedule!

We are excited to announce that one of our speakers is Ashley Avis – director of Wild Beauty Mustang Spirit of the West!
Even more exciting: We will be having a Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West watch party to kick-off our summit on JANUARY 30, 2025!

**The event will start at 5pm PST/8 pm EST on January 30th and will be followed by a Q&A with Director Ashley Avis!**

You can sign up for the documentary watch party here: https://secure.everyaction.com/6d80iuPN8UG-zEgOW5dzGA2

Summit speakers & their Presentation Titles:

**All times are Eastern Standard Time / EST**

Click on the Speaker name below to sign up for each presentation - You can sign up for as many presentations as you like! You must click on the speaker's names below to sign up for their presentation even if you signed up under the general Summit link earlier. The speakers Bios are at the bottom of this page.

Thursday January 30th

3:30pm Wayne McCrory - Wildlife Biologist, Canada - Canada's Last Wild Horses: Science and Conservation

5:00pm Chris Kman - Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates - Make It An Issue: Building a Relationship With Your Legislators

6:30pm Holly Bice - Bice Policy Group - Advocating for Freedom: Driving Change Through Politics and Policy

8:00pm Screening of Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West & Q&A with Director & Filmmaker Ashley Avis

Friday January 31st

11:00am Jen Britton & Christian Hunold - Drexel University - Making the Case for Protecting Wild Horses and Burros: A Social Sciences Perspective

12:30pm Scott Beckstead - The Wild Horse Refuge - Celebrating and Protecting Colorado's Wild Mustangs

2:00pm Chad Hanson - Wyoming Mustang Institute - We're More Alike Than Different: New Tools for Talking About Wild Horse Behavior

3:30pm Cynthia Smoot - Reporter & News Journalist - Talking to Legislators: Not as Scary as You Think

5:00pm Viktoria Kirchoff - Bonrook: Wild Horse Sanctuary in Australia - Fondation Franz Weber’s Wild Horse Santuary in Australia

*Regretfully Marilyn has had to cancel her presentation due to unforeseen circumstances. 6:00pm Marilyn Nuske - Brumbies of Australia - Legal issues faced in efforts to save Brumbies from cruelty, and extinction, in Victoria and New South Wales

7:30pm Barbara Moore - Equine Collaborative International - What Did Wild Horse Annie Teach Us?

Saturday February 1st

11:00am Cecile Zahorka - Photographer & Author - Between Wilderness and Tradition: Explore Free Horses in Europe

12:30pm Janelle Ghiorso - Oregon Wild Horse Organization - Wild Horses, Federal Agencies, and Violations of the Existing Laws

2:00pm Nancy Cerroni - Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: A Half-Century of Work for the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses

3:30pm Jetara Sehart - Love Wild Horses - Rewilding Endangered Wild Horses Back to their Natural Habitats

5:00pm Carol Walker - Living Images by Carol Walker - Stories & Social Media: Caring Moves People to Act

6:30pm Laurie Ford - Wild Horse Education & Kathy Jenkins - Oatman Burro Rehab and Sanctuary - Wild Burros: On the Front Line

8:00pm - Craig Downer - Andean Tapir Fund / Ecologist - Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation of Wild Burros and Close Kin in North America

Sunday February 2nd

11:00am Jen Caudill - Wild Narrative Project - Demystifying Op-eds and Letters to the Editor: How to write and submit with confidence

12:30pm Janine Dallow - Wild Horse Advocate - Attending Roundups & Introducing the Carter Wild Horses

2:00pm Ginger Fedak - Wild Horse and Burro Advocate - Fertility Control: Pros and Cons

3:30pm Mary Koncel - Center for Animals and Public - Not the Garden of Eden: The USFS’s Management of the Devil’s Garden Wild Horses

5:00pm William Simpson & Michelle Gough - Wild Horse Fire Brigade - Ending the Range War - Nature Based WHB Management

6:30pm Linda Greaves - Saving America's Wild Horses
- 2025 Saving America's Wild Horses Conference Update

8:00pm Britta Hesla - Wild Horse Plus Legislative Coalition - A New Path for Equine Welfare Legislation

Monday February 3rd

11:00am Jon Eagle Sr - Sung Nagi Kici Okiju - Sung Nagi Ksapa: Wisdom of the Spirit of a Horse

12:30pm Chandra Rosenthal - PEER - Balancing the Scales: Understanding Livestock Grazing on BLM Lands

2:00pm Ginger Kathrens & Kerry Ferguson - The Cloud Foundation - Advocacy ABC's with the Cloud Foundation

3:30pm Michael Standaert - North Dakota News Cooperative - How to Engage with the Media

5:00pm Heather Hellyer - Save Our Wild Horses - Our Wild Herds are Disappearing: Is It Too Late To Save Them?

6:00pm Erik Molvar - Western Watersheds Project
Federal approaches to lands and wildlife: What's going wrong, and how can we fix it?

7:30pm Amelia Perrin - AWHC - Protecting America's Wild Horses: Unveiling the Flaws in the BLM's Adoption Programs and the Promise of In-the-Wild Conservation

*We have invited a wide range of speakers to give our participants a broad view of advocacy and who is involved in wild horse issues. We do not necessarily agree with the views of all the speakers. We expect all participants, speakers and those watching the presentations, to remain respectful and polite at all times.

Summit Topics include:

Wild horses and burros on Public Lands
Wild horses and burros on Forest Lands
Public lands and livestock grazing
Roundups and the FY25 schedule
How to talk to members of Congress
Storytelling and social media
How to make your voice heard effectively
Media, letters to the editor, and more

Meetings will all be held via Zoom. Scroll up to Summit Schedule to sign up for the
Presentations you are interested in participating in!
Once the Summit is completed, all of the speaker presentations will be made available on the
Save Our Wild Horses YouTube channel and
Chasing Wild Horses Wild Horse Advocates YouTube channel!

Virtual Summit Speaker Bios

Executive Director, Western Watersheds Project
Erik cut his teeth in conservation fighting oil and gas projects in Wyoming during the Bush administration, and his signature accomplishment is defeating the 1,240-well Seminoe Road Coalbed Methane Project during that time. He is a wildlife biologist with published research in the behavior, ecology, and population dynamics of Alaskan moose as well as large-scale conservation planning. He spent 13 years as a conservation advocate and later Executive Director of Wyoming-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, and led WildEarth Guardians' Sagebrush Sea Campaign for three years. Over this period, he became of the conservation community's leaders in sage grouse conservation and recovery. He now heads Western Waterdsheds Project, the nation's leading organization in advocating for land health and livestock reform in the West. He is the author of 16 hiking guidebooks and backpacking techniques manuals for national parks and wilderness areas spanning the West from Alaska to Arizona.

Chad Hanson serves as a member of the faculty in Sociology and Religion at Casper College. He is also a co-founder and the Director of the Wyoming Mustang Institute. In addition, he is the author of several books, including In a Land of Awe, and the forthcoming title, The Wild Horse Effect: Awe, Well-Being, and the Transformative Power of Nature. For more information, visit chadhanson.org or wyomustangs.org

Janelle Ghiorso - The Oregon Wild Horse Organization is a national nonprofit devoted to preserving native wild horses and their habitats, ensuring that these magnificent creatures remain part of our living heritage. Through our advocacy for legislation and engagement in litigation on wild horse conservation and public land management issues, we strive to create a better future. Moreover, we empower the public with the knowledge and tools needed to champion the welfare of wild horses, burros, and their environments.
Janelle Ghiorso, Vice President & Financial Manager, holds the position of Vice President and assumes the responsibilities of the President should the need arise. Her role encompasses oversight of financial transactions, preparation of annual reports and taxes, as well as serving as a research assistant within the organization.

With a career spanning from 1996 to the present, my experience in accounting began as a self-employed professional and continued with my employment at a major grocery chain in 2008, where I currently serve as the Head Bookkeeper. My expertise in accounting, coupled with a fervor for research, will greatly benefit this organization, and I am deeply honored to contribute.

In addition to her professional commitments, Janelle dedicates her time to volunteering for OWHO and is the proprietor of National Treasure Wild Horse Rescue and Sanctuary, a facility that provides a permanent sanctuary for 6 formerly wild horses and 3 burros. Janelle has been an advocate for wild horses for 20 years.

Janelle is an alumna of Oregon State University, having graduated with a BS Degree in Sociology in 1996, including coursework in Environmental Sociology and a Certificate in Women's Studies.

Janine Dallow is a wild horse advocate who experienced wild horse round-ups for the first time in 2024. She went to four: North Landers (2 days), Twin Peaks (2 days) , Devils Garden (4 days) and Buffalo Hills (1 day). She will share her experiences with us and talk about the Carter Reservoir HMA in CA/NV.

Heather Hellyer, founder of Save Our Wild Horses, has visited over 50 wild horse herd areas across the country since 2020. A photographer and advocate, she documents the wild horses and the western range they inhabit. Heather also helped to create and co-host the 2022 and 2023 Save Our Wild Horses DC Conferences, bringing together wild horse advocates and expert speakers. She also created the Save Our Wild Horses Postcard Campaign encouraging advocates and children to get involved in sending thousands of postcards to U.S. legislators and worked with CHWHA to organize a postcard campaign in 2024 that involved 80,000 postcards sent to the Congressional Appropriations Committee. She has helped to raise over $20,000 for wild horse advocacy organizations and a wild horse sanctuary in Colorado via photography auctions. She loves to take wild horse advocates out to the range to see wild horses for their first time. Heather will be discussing effective ways to contact your legislators and the BLM's systematic elimination of our wild horse and burro herds at the 2025 WHB Summit.

Barbara Moore is a founding member of Equine Collaborative International, Inc, a 501-c-3 non-profit organization, and currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors. The stated mission of ECI is to empower the equine community through cooperation and education. Turning to the Zoom platform, using the quarterly publication, ‘Groundwork’, and the frequent Members and Friends Update e-mails help keep ECI on track for education. Diverse individuals and groups brought together for meaningful, thoughtful conversation promote cooperation. Crossing borders, oceans and the equator, ECI is working to create a global community of equine conscious people, with the shared purpose of protecting and preserving the animals to whom we owe so much.

Carol Walker started her business photographing horses, Living Images by Carol Walker, in 2000. In 2004 she visited a wild horse herd in Adobe Town, Wyoming and became an advocate for wild horses after viewing her first helicopter roundup. She has three coffee table books about wild horses, an educational blog Wild Hoofbeats and Podcast, Freedom for Wild Horses.
2024 has been one of the most devastating years for our wild horses, with almost 17,000 removed and shipped to holding facilities, and 200 died during helicopter roundups. I attended two roundups this year, both in Wyoming: North Lander Complex in July where they removed 2577 horses and 16 died, and White Mountain in August, where they removed 586 horses, almost the entire herd, and 11 died. In fiscal year 2025 the BLM plans to remove almost 11,000 wild horses, including zeroing out two wild horse herds in Wyoming, Salt Wells Creek, Great Divide Basin, and removing half of Adobe Town. I am a plaintiff in the lawsuit to stop the zeroing out of these herds. AWHC, AWI, Western Watersheds, Kimerlee Curyl and Chad Hanson are also fellow plaintiffs. After the Oral Argument, the judge ruled against us and so we have an appeal to the 10th Circuit Court. We are hopeful that we will win and that the horses will not be rounded up before the judges rule. This lawsuit is critically important, because if we lose and the BLM goes through with zeroing out these herds, they will be able to justify zeroing out many more.
Through my blog and podcast as well as through social media, I keep people informed about what is happening to our wild horses as well as tell stories about the horses and their families so people can see how well suited they are to the lands they live on, our public lands, which belong to every American and should not be exterminated to appease the livestock ranchers and grazing associations who want every last blade of grass for themselves. The rangelands are facing significant degradation from the grazing of livestock, but the horses are scapegoated.

Mary A. Koncel is a longtime lover of equines – both domestic and wild. She received her M.S. in Animals and Public Policy from the Tufts/Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine where she is now an adjunct instructor at the Center for Animals and Public. She has researched and written extensively on various equine topics, including wild horse adoption and the United States Forest Service and its management of wild horses with a special focus on Devil’s Garden. Mary lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and a small menagerie of animals, including Rain, a BLM mustang mare, and Huck and Puck, two BLM burros.

Marilyn Nuske is an Australian Litigation Lawyer, in sole practice in Victoria, and also works in animal rights law predominantly for brumbies and dingoes. As a horse lover she feels despair at the cruelty to which brumbies are being exposed, and draws a similarity with the international position for wild living equine. Her first ever pony was a brumby. She is also involved in the fight to protect Australia’s native apex land predator the dingo. She is a practicing artist and presently painting for a joint exhibition mid 2025, with another brumby advocate.

Michael Standaert is a correspondent with the North Dakota News Cooperative, a nonprofit media outlet serving newspapers across the state with in-depth feature coverage. Prior to moving to North Dakota in mid-2022, he worked as a freelance foreign correspondent in China for 16 years, mostly with Bloomberg Industry Group.

Ginger Kathrens
Producer / Cinematographer, Founder and Board President of The Cloud Foundation. Ginger is an Emmy Award-winning producer, cinematographer, writer, and editor as well as an award-winning author. Her documentary filmmaking trips have taken her to Africa, Asia, Europe, Central, and South America and all over the U.S.
On a beautiful spring day in an isolated corner of the Rocky Mountains, a palomino colt tottered out of the trees in front of Ginger’s camera. She named the newborn foal, Cloud because of his striking pale coat. That was
the beginning of a decades-long journey that brought the private lives of wild horses to a worldwide audience.
Ginger’s Cloud films include the acclaimed Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies, Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns, and Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions produced for WNET’s Nature Series on PBS. The series documents Cloud from that day of his birth in May of 1995 through his life. Her documentation of Cloud represents the only continuing chronicle of a wild animal from birth in our
hemisphere. Ginger is the founder and Board President of The Cloud Foundation, a 501(c) (3) dedicated to preventing the extinction of Cloud’s herd through education,
media events, programming, and public involvement. TCF is also determined to protect the hundreds of other wild horse and burro herds on public lands celebrating their unique characteristics and historical significance. As an
organization TCF works to preserve all wildlife as well as our public lands. Without public lands, Cloud's story of wild freedom couldn't be reality.

Kerry Ferguson joined The Cloud Foundation in 2022, bringing a rich background in education, nonprofit leadership, and a lifelong passion for animals. Originally from San Diego, she has embraced Colorado's beauty since 2012, often exploring it from the back of her friend, Toby (The Wonder Horse).
With a career rooted in education, the arts, and as a Regional Manager in the nonprofit sector, Kerry combines her professional expertise with her deep connection to horses and wildlife. As a self-proclaimed "horse geek," she is thrilled to channel her experience and enthusiasm into The Cloud Foundation's mission of protecting wild horses and burros.

Jen Caudill
Raised in a military family, Jen lived in several places across the country as a child before settling down in northern California over a decade ago. She holds a degree in Journalism and feels fortunate to have made a career by elevating important stories through her writing. When she began researching wild horses, she couldn't get the information she uncovered out of her mind, so she founded the Wild Narrative Project, an independent, nonprofit newsroom and media organization. To equip people with the underreported truths — not just about what's happening to wild horses, but about what's happening to entire ecosystems at the hands of systematic corruption.

Michelle Gough, M.S. is the Treasurer of Wild Horse Fire Brigade ('WHFB') and part of the research team (Gough-Simpson) that lives-among & studies naturally-living free-roaming wild horses in a wilderness habitat. Along with William, she’s an instructor for the wilderness Wild Horse Ecology-Ethology course offered through CALSTATE. Recently, Michelle and William worked with students from CALSTATE and UC California Irvine to initiate and complete two new studies; a wild horse grazing study and wild horse dung germinability study. Michelle’s M.S. degree included a minor in behavioral ecology. Michelle has spent the last 4+ years living at Wild Horse Ranch, the research site the nonprofit Wild Horse Fire Brigade in the wilderness, and studying the herd of 200 free-roaming wild horses that live in that remote mountain habitat. According to the doctoral dissertation of Yvette 'Running Horse' Collin, Ph.D, the ancestors of the local herd of wild horses were documented by Sir Francis Drake in 1580, making the herd one of the oldest documented herds in North America. In 2023, Wild Horse Fire Brigade signed a 5-year contract with California State University - Sacramento to provide a wilderness study program to teach wild horse ecology-ethology by allowing university students the unique opportunity of living-with and studying wild horses using the 'Goodall Method', a term originally coined by WHFB's founder in honor of Dr. Jane Goodall who pioneered close observational wildlife study with the Apes in Africa. Interestingly, the Goodall Method of study has revealed new insights into the lives of naturally-living wild horses. The research by Gough & Simpson and resulting new insights into wild horse behavioral ecology will be invaluable in the successful implementation of any wild horse re-wilding project.

Victoria Kirchoff
Based in Sydney, Australia, Viktoria serves as Fondation Franz Weber’s (FFW) Representative in Australia and Project Manager for two exceptional
sanctuaries: the Wild Horse Sanctuary Bonrook in Australia and the Abused
Horse Sanctuary Equidad in Argentina. In addition to her work in Australia and Argentina, Viktoria is in charge of the German edition of FFW’s quarterly magazine, Journal Franz Weber, and collaborates with the team in Bern, Switzerland, on campaigns and social media activities.
Driven by a lifelong passion for animal protection, Viktoria initially built a strong foundation in business through roles at a major healthcare company in Basel, Switzerland, and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in
Rome, Italy, where she gained invaluable and diverse experience. Her commitment to animal welfare deepened after volunteering for projects in Thailand and Japan, eventually leading her to transition to FFW—5rst at its
headquarters in Bern and later in Sydney. Viktoria holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Economics from the
University of Basel and a Certi5cate in Film Production and Digital Media from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jon Eagle Sr. - with Sung Nagi Kici Okiju: Becoming one with the Spirit of the Horse, LLC. Jon Eagle Sr is a nationally known consultant with over 36 years of experience working with children, families and communities. He has 26 years of experience consulting with federal, state and tribal agencies, and is considered an expert on Systems of Care, the Wraparound Process, Equine Assisted Wraparound, Therapeutic Horsemanship, Cultural Competence, Leadership, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection Repatriation Act. Jon is the former Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and has done numerous trainings at tribal, state and national conferences across the United States and Canada. He has served on numerous tribal, state and national advisory boards during his career. You can learn more about Jon and his work on his website: www.becomingonewiththespiritofthehorse.com

Amelia Perrin, Sr. Communications Manager, has been an avid horsewoman since the age of five and is a passionate wild horse advocate. She is an International Baccalaureate diploma recipient and is currently pursuing a degree in journalism at the University of Oregon. Amelia brought her passion for horses to the advocacy world in 2018 when she joined AWHC's team. She spearheaded AWHC's investigation into the BLM's Adoption Incentive Program, which led to national outcry and a front-page New York Times exposé. She looks forward to expanding AWHC's investigations program to uncover abuse and mistreatment of America's wild horses and burros. Amelia currently lives in Oregon and is a proud dog mom to her rescued dog, Mac.

Laurie Ford, Wild Horse Education
Before moving to New Mexico in 2003 I had a small farm in New Jersey with horses, a few burros, goats and even a zeedonk. I worked closely with the Standardbred Retirement Foundation for years retraining standardbreds off the racetrack so that they could find their forever home with the perfect adopter.

It wasn’t until I moved west that I discovered the plight of our wild horses and burros. I began to educate myself on the subject and visited the few remaining wild herds in New Mexico – eventually writing a series of articles covering the issues surrounding them for a southern New Mexico publication. Desert Exposure.

Since 2012 I have been lucky enough to spend time with other herds throughout the west who allowed me a glimpse into their arduous lives. I observed and photographed them as they went about their daily routine – the onset of one more day they were able to retain the freedom that was quickly slipping away. With my photography I tried to bring their spirit and perseverance to the surface in hopes that the viewer would look closer at the story living within the image. It is a story that needs to be told, and heard, if there is to be any future beyond a picture.
But that just didn’t seem to be enough.
So, in 2022 I started documenting roundups and joined Wild Horse Education to focus primarily on the wild burros who had captured my heart over the years and seemed to get little attention in the fight to save our wild ones.

My photography no longer reveals beautiful images of horses and burros in the wild but the ugly side no one really wants to see – the roundups, the holding facilities the cruelty and even death. This was now the story I wanted to tell but is a story that doesn’t end after capture – it is only just beginning.

While I still have a little farm, or ranch I should say, in New Mexico it is now full of burros – rescues from roundups and kill pens and others who were simply abandoned.

Britta Hesla - Wild Horse Plus Legislative Coalition - Britta Hesla has been a licensed psychotherapist since 2007 and a licensed addictions
therapist since 2006. She has been a certified family systems therapist since 2013. She began her training in Equine assisted psychotherapy in 2015. Her first therapy horse was an off the track thoroughbred. It was love at first sight. It wasn’t for several years later that she learned he was pulled off a slaughter truck as a 4 yro. Our first client was a young girl who had suffered sexual abuse and exploitation. Talk therapy had been unsuccessful, so she was sent to Debut and Britta. She opened up to Debut in the first hour.

Her experience as a certified neuropsychotherapist and trained equine assisted psychotherapist, has given her extensive knowledge in the neurobiology of humans and horses. This knowledge has become a tool for her in congressional office meetings as does her experience of the lifesaving capability of horses. Horses have been integral in her own self care for many years.  Britta was introduced to the horse slaughter/kill buyer and corruption of the Bureau of Land Management in 2016 and has been involved in lobbying and advocacy since that time.  She became a congressional district captain for ASPCA in 2016 after being asked to join. The lobbying training was a wonderful foundation from which to build upon. She left ASPCA after they signed on to the Adoption Incentive Plan. She has been the legislative liaison for Advocates for Wild Equines National Lobbying Coalition since its’ formation in 2021. She has been traveling to Washington DC to lobby for the SAFE Act, Wild Horse Protection legislation, and the Ejiao Bill 4-7 times per year, with a goal to increase that significantly in 2025. In 2024, she completed 74 meetings. The consistent message received in 2024 meetings was that advocates, organizations, companies, etc must unite and become a worthy adversary of the Agriculture industry. We were told that this is the only way to succeed going froward. This is why Horse Plus Humane Society, the largest equine welfare organization in the world, has created “Horse Plus Legislative Coalition,” a 501c4. Britta will be the legislative liaison for this 501c4 and has been charged with rallying the equine advocacy world and is asking for partnership and collaboration. Her own horses are from kill pens and considers them a gift to her life in so many ways. 

Cécile Zahorka, known as The Pixel Nomad, is a renowned equine photographer and author based in Germany. Through her projects "Forgotten Horses" and "Free Horses," she travels across Europe and beyond to uncover rare and endangered horse breeds, shedding light on disappearing equine heritage and preserving diversity. Her work highlights the unique tradition of keeping horses extensively, seasonally free, or in semi-wild conditions. In addition, several feral populations thrive across Europe, facing challenges in some areas while being embraced in others. This journey into Europe's wilder side reveals the free-roaming horses, their struggles, their benefits, and the remarkable efforts to ensure their survival. Europe is far wilder than it seems.

Ashley Avis is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and passionate advocate for the wild world. Professionally, she is best known for writing and directing Disney’s Black Beauty starring Oscar winner Kate Winslet and Mackenzie Foy; along with the critically acclaimed, Critics Choice nominated documentary Wild Beauty Mustang Spirit of the West.
Ashley founded WBF in 2020 alongside her husband and producing partner, Edward Winters to lend a new voice to wildlife protection – using their unique platform to help. In 2023, she received a Special Congressional Commendation for her work on behalf of America’s equids.
In addition to filmmaking, her passions include creating new programs for WBF, documenting injustices, rescuing horses in need, and introducing children to the beauty of the wild world. She is next writing and directing City of Angels for Warner Bros. for Oscar-winning producer Charles Roven; and American Wolf for Apple and Appian Way with Leonardo DiCaprio producing.

Christine Kman, Co-Founder and President of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates (CHWHA)
Christine is a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in journalism. In December of 2022, when Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) announced their plans to eliminate the entire herd of horses from the park, Christine went to work sounding the alarm with their followers and alerting the media. She also began working with state and federal legislators asking them to advocate with CHWHA for the state’s only wild horse herd. CHWHA’s efforts paid off! In April of 2024, TRNP announced that they would be abandoning their Environmental Assessment process. Christine’s hard work and efforts have caught the attention of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Times in London. Bis-man Magazine featured Christine in their August 2024 issue as a “Woman You Should Know”. Christine has also been chosen for inclusion in the Marquis Who’s Who in America for 2024-2025. Knowing it will just be a matter of time before the park makes a similar attempt again, CHWHA has continued pursuing state and federal protections for the TRNP herd. In October of 2024, the wild horses of TRNP faced another threat from the park. CHWHA once again led the fight to save this historic wild horse herd. CHWHA is working with North Dakota’s state legislators on legislation in the 2025 session. They also are working with North Dakota Senator John Hoeven’s office on federal protection for this herd. You can learn more on their website at www.chwha.org

Craig Downer is the Founder and President of nonprofit 501c3 Andean Tapir Fund and it's branch Wild Horse and Burro Fund. He continues to work as a wildlife ecologist and has conducted several field studies including the Sulpher Spanish mustang herd in western Utah and several other herds in AZ, NV, CA, and Utah, all of which resulted in professional results. Craig wrote the scholarly and well rounded & illustrated book The Wild Horse Conspiracy available on Amazon.

Jen Britton and Christian Hunold
Jen Britton is a wild horse photographer and advocate who visits and documents wild and free-roaming horses and burros across the US (@jenbrittonphotography). Jen has been involved with horses in one way or another since having been born as a horse-loving kid, learning in Pony Club and competing in dressage and eventing before shifting to wild horse photography and advocacy. Jen's scholarly research is situated in the fields of science, technology & society (STS) and human-animal studies; she also publishes about anti-racism in higher education community engagement in spaces like Metropolitan Universities. Her research interests include 20th century American urban and suburban development and, with Christian Hunold, the politics of wild horses and burros. Jen is Drexel University's Executive Director for Sustainable Development Strategy, designing the institution's climate strategy in alignment with a local economic development mission, and her teaching interests focus on multispecies art and ethnography, climate change, and the social studies of space.

Christian Hunold, PhD, is a professor of political science at Drexel University in Philadelphia. With a background in social movement studies and democratic theory, he asks how we can better include nonhuman animals in political decision-making. Making governance more responsive to the needs of both human and nonhuman communities requires a multispecies approach to politics and justice that emphasizes mutual entanglements and dependencies among all life. In this vein, Hunold’s collaboration with Jen Britton has produced a series of papers on the contentious politics of wild horses and burros in the American West. Hunold is a passionate wildlife photographer and avid cyclist.

Ginger Fedak has spent decades teaching about and advocating for domestic and wild horses. Her work has appeared in The Observatory, AlterNet, Countercurrents, CounterPunch, LA Progressive, and NationofChange.
A lifelong animal advocate and “horse person,” Ginger began her professional career at age 14 mentoring under a natural horsemanship trainer (before the term “natural horsemanship” was coined) and teaching horsemanship and riding lesson classes. She continued with these endeavors and eventually began her own business, Sun Pony Ranch, with two partners. The exceptional horses she trained taught children and adults natural horsemanship and the horse/rider partnership with emphasis on consideration and understanding of, and for, the horse partner, with communication as key.
In her adult life, Ginger has had dual careers as a horse professional and a research scientist. In her research scientist capacity she worked for a major medical university and later at a medical diagnostics company, developing testing and performing clinical trials for FDA clearance. With this background, she has the understanding of the science behind equine fertility control, and she has also completed the intensive 3-day PZP training from the Science and Conservation Center.
Ginger earned her B.S. in Range Animal Science and Range Management from Sul Ross State University in west Texas. This has helped her in her career as a horse ranch owner, and in understanding of range conditions and issues for both wild equines and livestock in her long-time wild horse and burro advocacy work.
She retired on October 31, 2023 as the Wild Horse and Burro Senior Campaigner for the non-profit group In Defense of Animals and continues to teach natural horsemanship classes on weekends.

Holly Bice, President and Founder of the Bice Policy Group, is a seasoned government relations and strategic advocacy professional with a proven track record of success, having achieved numerous wins in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures during her career. She has in-depth expertise in Appropriations and the Farm Bill and over a decade of experience lobbying on animal welfare, agriculture, judiciary, and natural resources issues. One of the few truly bipartisan lobbyists in Washington DC, Holly has a reputation for bipartisanship and collaboration, bringing together Republicans, Democrats, and diverse stakeholders to reach meaningful results, even on the most difficult issues. As a trailblazer who enjoys a challenge, she succeeds where others say it is impossible.
Holly has the expertise and connections needed to navigate the complex landscape of the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and advocacy to protect her client’s interests and advance their priorities. She also develops and executes winning strategies on messaging, media and public relations, grassroots engagement, coalition-building, grasstops mobilization, and legislation to achieve results for clients. With a background leading the government relations departments at non-profit organizations, she particularly understands the challenges that nonprofits face and knows how to make their voice heard. Her work ethic, persistence, and passion for her clients’ issues is unmatched in the arena of DC lobbying and advocacy.

Cynthia Smoot is a veteran broadcast journalist who has spoken up for our wild horses on the air, in public forums and on Capitol Hill. She's also a media coach/host/public speaker for the Tampa, Florida-based Bronzite Media Group

A lifelong student and admirer of horses and all equines, Scott Beckstead grew up with horses on his family’s farm and spent much of his childhood and youth on horseback in the mountains of Idaho. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Utah State University and his JD from the University of Utah, Beckstead worked as an attorney in private practice for 17 years on the central Oregon coast before going to work full-time in the animal protection sector as a legislative lobbyist, agriculture policy director, and equine welfare specialist. During his time on the coast he also served as the mayor of Waldport, Oregon from 2002 to 2007. Beckstead became known for his special expertise in the field of animal law, and has taught that subject as well as classes on wildlife, animal agriculture, cannabis, and polar law at Willamette University College of Law as an adjunct professor of law since 2010. In 2000, he co-authored Animal Law, the first casebook on the subject. Because of his familiarity with horses, livestock, and farm animals, Beckstead provides training to law enforcement agencies on how to handle and work with those animals, and how to investigate equine and livestock cruelty and neglect. He currently serves as Chief Equine Programs Director for The Wild Animal Sanctuary, overseeing the organization’s work to save and protect equines both wild and domestic. Beckstead is married to Jackie and has four children, two grandchildren, and an assortment of pets.

William E. Simpson II is the Founder & Executive Director of Wild Horse Fire Brigade ('WHFB') an all-volunteer 501-c-3 nonprofit public benefit corporation. WHFB is dedicated to the sustainable genetic conservation of American Wild Horses using a proven nature-based solution, titled 'Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan, also known as the 'Wild Horse Fire Brigade'. That proven plan allows wild horses to live naturally, wild and free as a part of the American landscape as intended by the preamble to the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act. William spent his formative years on the family ranch, and attended Oregon State University and Lane Community College where he worked as a scientist in several doctoral projects ranging from marine biology to agricultural production. William, together with his partner Michelle Gough and the nonprofit WHFB, own and manage one of the largest herds of free-roaming wild horses living in the western wilderness today, numbering 200 horses. The ownership of the herd came about due to William's unique approach to using existing law. In 2018, William served CALFIRE as the technical advisor for 9-days on the fire-line of the deadly Klamathon Fire. During that wind-driven wildfire, William documented the beneficial effect of wildfire grazing by wild horses during the fire, as well as wild horse behavior during the fire, thereby advancing that science with empirical, first-hand data. That wildfire and the impacts of the wild horses is now the subject of an award-winning documentary, HORSE of NATURE. William's research into the environmental benefits of wild horses as ecosystem engineers and wildfire mitigators has been the subject of dozens of feature articles in publications such as; The Atlantic, NPR National Science, GrazeLIFE, The Guardian, National Institute of Health ('NIH') and many others. William was the keynote speaker at the Guild Theater in Sacramento CA during the EQUUS 2022 Mustang Summit. William's most recent speaking engagement was a presentation to the faculty and students at California State University's Environmental Science Department. Over the past decade, William has been a guest on dozens of TV & Radio shows, including CBS, ABC & NBC, and is recognized as an expert in wild horse ecology and management by horse advocates, government officials and university professors. In 2019, William was nominated to serve on the National BLM Wild Horse and Advisory Board by a sitting U.S. Congressman (Greg Walden) and numerous other elected officials. In November 2024, William was nominated at the Robert Kennedy MAHA People's Nominations, a collaborative with President-elect Trump to fill an expected 4,000 government agency appointments, to serve at the Bureau of Land Management ('BLM'), possibly as the head of the national Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Chandra Rosenthal, is the PEER Public Lands Director and Director of the Rocky Mountain office in Denver, Colorado. Formerly a staff attorney with Defenders of Wildlife specializing in endangered species and public lands issues, she has also worked for the U.S. Department of Justice and, under a legal fellowship, worked on a Superfund site with the Department of Energy. “I view my job as helping the region’s public service professionals do their jobs of protecting the diverse and abundant natural resources of the Rockies,” states Rosenthal. Chandra earned her BA at the University of Colorado Boulder and her law degree in 1993 at the Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law, where she focused her studies on environmental law.

Nancy Cerroni - Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center has been watching the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses since 2004.
During this 20-year span, Nancy has been on the mountain countless times photographing and observing the beautiful horses of the Pryor Mountains. In 2021, Nancy finished up a 32-year career in education. She served as an elementary school teacher and the curriculum director for Big Horn County School District #2 in Lovell, WY. In fact, it was her work as curriculum director that brought Nancy into the Pryor world. She was asked to develop curriculum materials for the soon-to-be-built Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center. As any good educator knows, the best
teaching comes from a solid knowledge base. So…off she went on the quest to learn about the wild horses that lived just north of Lovell. Nancy became the student, learning from those people who had worked diligently for the preservation of the Pryor horses for the years since the establishment of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in 1968. Since then, Nancy has served on the Board of Directors and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center. In addition, she and her husband, Steve, provide tours to take people to the summer ranges of the horses. Nancy has documented and photographed the horses year after year. This has resulted in a comprehensive set of data regarding demographics of the individual horses as well as a complete record of treatment/reproduction of each mare to determine the efficacy of PZP at the individual and herd level. It was a committed group from the Lovell community that worked to save the Pryor horses in the 1960s. Nancy, and the other people working with the Mustang Center, carry on the work for this herd of horses roaming free in the Pryor Mountains.

Kathy Jenkins, founder of the Oatman Burro Rehab and Recovery Sanctuary in Arizona. My love for these kiddos started in 1984 when my grandparents opened the Sugar and Spice gift store in Oatman, Arizona – a tourist ghost town famous for the wild burros roaming the streets. My career was in fire and EMS but when I retired wild horses and burros became my focus. I wanted to provide a safe place and care for injured and sick wild horses and burros who might otherwise be euthanized – especially the local wild burros who
needed to be removed from the range and rehabilitated due to numerous types of events
including vehicle collisions.

While we do take in both horses and burros, the main goal of the sanctuary is to save and preserve at-risk wild burros in Oatman and the surrounding areas. Every burro who is injured, sick, unwanted, deemed a nuisance or is under the threat of destruction deserves to be loved and know they will never be hurt again.

We also provide a variety of community outreach programs – an opportunity for our burros to
“pass it on”

Jetara Sehart - Love Wild Horses - is a visionary leader and passionate advocate dedicated to harnessing the incredible power of wild horses in the fight against climate change, promoting carbon sequestration, and mitigating wildfires. For over 14 years, she has founded and spearheaded a transformative movement through the nonprofit Love Wild Horses Foundation (LWHF), building an influential educational platform that has attracted more than 700,000 followers across social media. Under Jetara’s leadership, and since their inception LWHF has been instrumental in generating mass awareness, inspiring over 5 million signatures and calls to action in support of saving wild lands and rescuing wild horses from unnecessary removal, slaughter, and extinction.

Jetara's dynamic leadership has guided the Love Wild Horses Foundation in developing and implementing innovative programs that not only restore wild grassland ecosystems but also actively rewild at-risk wild horses. Under her stewardship, LWHF has rescued over 1,065 wild horses from slaughter and raised substantial funds to ensure that countless more can live free and fulfilling lives.

Her diverse experiences encompass hands-on research in wild horse habitats, studying their behaviors, and appearing in radio and television shows and documentaries. Jetara has produced impactful short films, mentored partners and adopters, organized therapeutic events, and facilitated equine healing trauma sessions for both horses and individuals. She has hosted and conducted Lakota horse medicine ceremonies, directly rescued horses, and successfully released them onto protected lands where they can roam freely.

As a true changemaker, Jetara embodies a profound love for spirit, nature, animals, and Mother Earth. She has forged meaningful partnerships and inspired a vast network of volunteers nationwide, united under her vision of healing human hearts through a reconnection with the sacredness of horses and the rewilding of landscapes, guided by both contemporary scientific research and traditional ecological wisdom.

Central to her mission is the reintegration of wild horses, complemented by efforts to empower traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous resilience in the wild West. Currently, Jetara has launched two groundbreaking five-year projects in Northern Nevada and Wyoming, solidifying her commitment to transformative change.

Her educational background includes therapeutic horse healing, indigenous ceremony training, and studies in design, psychology, and cross-cultural religion at the College of Marin. In her personal time, Jetara treasures moments with LWH's beloved ambassadors, including "Mystic," a wild horse rescued in 2019, and "Star," rescued in 2024. Her passions extend to equine education, spiritual guidance, organic cooking, gardening, and hiking with her cherished four-legged family. She is also a Certified Yoga Instructor (RYT), Asian Dance Teacher, and Fine Artist.

Wayne McCrory RPBio - Wildlife Biologist - Registered professional wildlife biologist (RPBio) is a long-standing (translation i.e. = now

“elder”) independent consulting research scientist and conservation biology activist who resides on a small farm near the tiny mountain lake village of New Denver, British Columbia in the remote heartland of BC’s Inland Temperate Rainforest. An honours Zoology graduate from the University of British Columbia in 1965, his main research has involved grizzly bears and the white coastal spirit bears for which, working with the Valhalla Wilderness Society, has led to protection of about one million acres of new parks in British Columbia. He also has a wide range of research experience in ungulates (deer, caribou, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, Roosevelt
elk), pine marten, Western toads and many other species. Over the past 20 years he has
conducted research on wild horses in the BC Chilcotin grassland ecosystems in conjunction with
the Xeni Gwet’in Tsilhqot’in/First Nation and several conservation groups. This includes a major
genetic study of the Chilcotin wild horses with Dr. Gus Cothran of Texas A & M University. He
recently completed his second review of Alberta free-roaming horse management for Zoocheck
that for a second time, proved there is no scientific basis for the Alberta provincial government’s
past and current plans to cull their wild horse population. In total, he has produced three
technical reports on Chilcotin wild horses and two on Alberta wild horse management. He is a
co-author of two peer-reviewed scientific papers related to wild horses, one on the diet of
Chilcotin wolves (that includes wild horses) and the other on the spread of the domestic horse across the Americas, which won the prestigious 2024 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize for an outstanding contribution to science. His wild horse research with the Xeni Gwet’in/Tsilhqot’in First Nation led to their creation of the 770,000 hectares (1.9 million acres) ?Elegesi Qiyus Wild Horse Preserve (Eagle Lake Henry Cayuse Wild Horse Preserve). It is North America’s largest wild horse preserve with the complete guild of North America’s top carnivores. There have been no bounty hunts since 1988,which was the last enacted by the BC Forest Service, range management branch. His wild horse research and activism led to his recent book The Chilcotin Wild Horses: Their History and Future, which won the 2024 Basil Stuart-Stubbs Prize for the best scholarly book by a Canadian author on a BC subject. It was given a starred review by the US Booklist for a work judged to be outstanding in its genre. The book builds an airtight case the need for federal and provincial legislation that includes Indigenous governance for the last BC and Alberta wild horse herds as a heritage icon and returned native species. He is currently a scientific advisor to Zoocheck’s Stop the Alberta Wild Horse Cull campaign and a science-activist working with the Valhalla Wilderness Society for protection of three major park proposals of ancient rainforests in the interior of BC with redcedar trees up to 1,800 years old. The proposals total some 500,000 hectares (1 million+ acres). He has no plans to retire.

For more information please visit:

Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates
www.chwha.org
www.facebook.com/ChasingHorsesWHA
https://www.instagram.com/chasinghorseswha/
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyTpwa2Y1yUsTaJ4TU-eNw

Save Our Wild Horses
www.saveourwildhorses.net
www.facebook.com/saveourwildhorses
www.instagram.com/saveourwildhorses/
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@saveourwildhorses7261

The Wild Narrative Project
https://wildnarrativeproject.org/
www.instagram.com/wildnarrativeproject/