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Len Johnson Productions Last of the Spanish Mustangs

TENSE MOMENTS

Len Johnson

If you pull into the parking lot of Pacific Livestock with a camera, an angry man will immediately threaten you and tell you to leave.   Once we did that and retreated to the public dirt road in front of the Chandler, AZ auction house, I was threatened again.  When I refused to give up my camera, I was thrown to the ground and choked.  Pacific Livestock auctions off wild and domestic horses to slaughter, and many are former wild horses from the Gila tribe, which leases the auction house out to help rid the tribe of their wild horses.  By the way, the tribe has just built a new casino and resort in honor of those horses they’re killing—called “Wild Horse Pass.”
wild mustang documentary

Richard Sichling is a white man who works for the Gila tribe.  He said to me, and I quote-“you are trespassing any time you are in a desert area.”

When attempting to talk to people who drop off their horses to auction and subsequent slaughter, Sichling threatened me with everything but the law, which is tricky to enforce when standing on the boundary road between the city of Chandler and the reservation. 

When I wouldn’t give him my gear, he tried to wrestle me to the ground.  I didn’t resist, but didn’t fall either.  Suddenly a passing cowboy jumped out of his truck and helped Sichling throw me down and choke me.  They took my gear and vehicle.  They thought they took my tape, too.  Fortunately, we had sneaked a blank tape into the camera just before they got nasty.
Last of the Spanish Mustangs

Baxter Black is a cowboy poet.  He is heard on National Public Radio. He is also a veterinarian.  He wants wild horses to be slaughtered for food. 

Baxter is also a ham, and when I went to get pictures of him as Tucson rodeo chairman so I could expose his true views, he was kind enough to walk up to the camera and put his eyeball in the lens.  I don’t think he knew it was me.   Fine with me.  I’d heard about all from him I could handle.

He had once berated me for a half hour to support his cause for wild horse slaughter.  He says there are too many on the land.  When I told him their numbers are way down, he admitted to not having any idea to how many were actually on the range.  He also admitted to not having been around wild horses for over 30 years.  But he sure sounds good when he rhymes words about them.  I consider Black to be a classic wild horse hypocrite.   Let’s kill them, but say nice things about them if it helps me sell an audio cassette or two.
Len Johnson documentary

It took my dog Scout to finally get close to the Cerbats, Arizona’s last remaining herd of wild Spanish mustangs.  I had spent hours and days trying to get within 20 feet, for an intimate shot.  Finally, with Scout holding his breath, a young, brave mustang walked to within a few feet of us to check him out.  They seemed to mutually respect each other.  I don’t worry about getting these horses used to humans, because they are naturally inquisitive of people and I feel getting the general public close to these animals is all that’s left to save them.  It’s keeping the government—with their helicopters and nets and sometimes illegal roundups—away that counts.

Len Johnson Productions This man allowed an Albuquerque news crew to park in the parking lot of a Forest Service building to tape a wild horse protest.  I parked farther away and was told to stop my camera.  I asked why and kept taping.  My heart pounded, but knowing the laws helps.