Field and Stream columnist Thomas McIntyre is free in this country to say what he pleases, but methinks he’s gone too far. While he rambles around quite a bit in his column, taking pokes and jabs at all equids and their owners along the way, his final paragraph is something that horse owners should read and ponder. If you have any thoughts on this column, please feel free to reply to the editors of Field & Stream; e-mail: webmaster@fieldandstream.com. Make sure to copy me, kherbert@TheHorse.com. I’d be interested in what you have to say.

While we cannot reprint the entire column because of copyright restrictions, please click here and click on “print article” to view the entire text. I will take the liberty of quoting McIntyre’s closing to his column:

“Some would have you believe that horses and donkeys are part of our Western heritage. Far from it–these feral animals are serious competitors with native wildlife and represent an unconscionable drain on the management resources of agencies such as the BLM. Therefore, the use of firearms (not adoption or preposterous schemes revolving around contraception) represents a sane method of reducing feral herds in key habitats.

“Nor would those equines have to go to waste. Back in Wild Horse Annie’s day, tiny Bullhead City, Arizona, hosted thousands of visitors at an annual event in which a luau pit was dug in a vacant lot and 35 dressed feral donkeys were slapped onto the barbecue. It’s an idea whose time may have come again. Maybe the best way of honoring the true spirit of wildness would be with a slab of grilled horse or donkey ribs and a side of baked beans