Want to learn more about your favourite animal? Here’s my suggestion: learn from the masters themselves. The Cloud series, aired on PBS’ Nature program, is a detailed and breathtaking account of the Wild Ones, those iconic and still-free Spanish Mustangs of the American wilderness. Watch the first episode on PBS.
Preview from Cloud’s Legacy: the Wild Stallion Returns
Central to the story is Cloud, a uniquely coloured young stallion from the mountains in Montana. Together, he and Emmy-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens bring us along on his journey for several years, from his first day to his first hard-won family, through births, illnesses and deaths, BLM round-ups, storms, fires, shrinking habitats, and all manner of challenges that seem to threaten the very existence of his species.
Miraculously, Cloud survives it all, and Kathrens finds him year after year on his hereditary range in the Arrowhead mountains, ready for new adventures. Through it all, viewers are witness to the most intimate and complete study of natural equine behaviour ever televised. The complexity of social structure and interaction, the tenderness a stallion shows an orphaned foal, the dynamism their joyful movement, the sheer power of an explosive battle, the devotion between particular individuals – we are no longer watching a strange and mysterious animal, we are plunged into the inner workings of an indigenous culture. An absolute must-see for anyone seeking to understand why horses do what they do!
You can get the whole three-part series, the Adventures of Cloud, on DVD.
You can also visit the Cloud Foundation‘s website to learn more about wild horses, and what is being done to help save them.
A barefoot hoof trimmer, a singer/songwriter, an amateur farmer – these are some of the hats Kesia Nagata wears when she’s not full to bursting with wondrous equine co-creation.
One DVD that I will be getting… Thanks
I just watched this again with my partner and mom, since we’ve all moved to the farm and it’s their first time living with horses. I loved it again and learned from it again! Probably one of the most important documents for learning about horses in the wild and seeing their rich and complex culture. It’s only one version, though; different populations of feral horses have different cultures around the world! These horses show a lot more lateral violence than other groups, probably due to environmental stressors.