Dead Horse State Park - Oops, it was Canyonlands..!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Unfortunately, I suspect that that legend is based on facts. In those days, for the early settlers the wild horses were more a nuisance and a renewable resource, so pushing them off the cliff seemed like a normal thing to do...

Sorry, Les, but the linked article describes the present day problem. I would like to see any reference, perhaps in literature, about such practice in the times of the Wild West.

[LesPalenik]

Slobodan, I don't have the exact reference, but perhaps the following story by Jack London about the horses on the White Pass Trail will make the point.
It is estimated that at least 3,000 horses died just on the White Pass Trail in the days of the Klondike Gold Rush.

The horses died like mosquitoes in the first frost and from Skagway to Bennett they rotted in heaps; they died at the rocks, they were poisoned at the summit, and they starved at the lakes; they fell off the trail, what there was of it, and they went through it, in the river they drowned under their loads or were smashed to pieces against the boulders; they snapped their legs in the crevices and broke their backs falling backwards with their packs; in the sloughs they sank from sight and were smothered in the slime; and they were disemboweled in the bogs where corduroy logs turned end up in the mud—men shot them, worked them to death and when they were gone went back to the beach and bought more. Some did not bother to shoot them, stripping the saddles off and the shoes and leaving them where they fell. Their hearts turned to stone—those that did not break—and they became beasts, the men on the Dead Horse Trail.

https://www.yukon-news.com/letters-opinions/dead-horse-gulch/

[OmerV]

I thought I made it clear what made them "sacred" at the time. Today is different. We do not need horses the same way people in the Wild West did (which, of course, does not justify the mistreatment).

Horses have been used for many things, including as food. Horses were invaluable to the progress of humans, but notwithstanding some poetic venerations, they were mostly a commodity. If a commodity is “sacred,” then I guess you’re correct.

[Alan Klein]

There now 500,000 bison back on the plains again in part due to restocking done by the Bronx Zoo in NYC a hundred years ago.  They shipped 6 bison on display at the zoo back to Wyoming.
https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/11/26/marking-the-100-year-anniversary-of-historic-transfer-of-bison-from-the-bronx-zoo-to-wind-cave-national-park/

[LesPalenik]

There now 500,000 bison back on the plains again in part due to restocking done by the Bronx Zoo in NYC a hundred years ago.  They shipped 6 bison on display at the zoo back to Wyoming.
https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/11/26/marking-the-100-year-anniversary-of-historic-transfer-of-bison-from-the-bronx-zoo-to-wind-cave-national-park/

Impressive growth. Almost like the number of tourists in the parks. Visitations in Horseshoe Band grew from a few thousand annual visitors historically to 100,000 in 2010, 750,000 by 2015, and 2 million in 2018. According to recent statistics, over 300 million tourists visited US national parks last year. Substantially more than 100 years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/20/national-parks-america-overcrowding-crisis-tourism-visitation-solutions

[Alan Klein]

Impressive growth. Almost like the number of tourists in the parks. Visitations in Horseshoe Band grew from a few thousand annual visitors historically to 100,000 in 2010, 750,000 by 2015, and 2 million in 2018. According to recent statistics, over 300 million tourists visited US national parks last year. Substantially more than 100 years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/20/national-parks-america-overcrowding-crisis-tourism-visitation-solutions

We'll have to start shooting tourists. 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Slobodan, I don't have the exact reference, but perhaps the following story by Jack London about the horses on the White Pass Trail will make the point...

Les, thanks for the story. But it was in the Pacific Northwest, not the Wild West, where the Dead Horse State Park is. The Wikipedia source that quoted the legend talked about cowboys. I am well aware that horses have been used and abused throughout the history. I expressed my doubts that at that place, and at that time, cowboys would deliberately and maliciously harm horses. I certainly might be wrong, of course.

Stealing a man’s horse was a serious offense in a land where being left afoot could be fatal. Anti-horse theft associations worked through the legal system to prosecute horse thieves. But when the law did not bring a thief to justice, vigilantes often took charge and hanged thieves

Source: https://truewestmagazine.com/was-horse-theft-a-capital-offense-during-the-old-west-era/

[James Clark]

Just to get a picture on this second page.. When I was at the location in question I was lucky enough to get a great sunrise.  Made getting up in the dark in Moab worth it.

[Alan Klein]

Nice shot, Slobo. I see they complied with the rule of thirds. 

[Alan Klein]

Nice shot Jim.  I just couldn't get myself (and wife) up that early.  The lighting is great.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Nice shot Jim... The lighting is great.

+1

[MattBurt]

The original photo does seem a bit constrained but I have an emotional attachment to the subject so the flaws aren't as obvious to me.

I'm late to the party here but I know and love that area too. I always wondered about the name and always figured it was a single horse used as a landmark somewhere. It sounds like the truth is quite a bit more grisly.

That road down on the canyon rim is the White Rim Trail which was build by uranium prospectors in the 1950's. It can be traveled as a 105 Mile loop and I've done it by mountain bike a number of times. The most fun is to do it as a three day trip, camping along the way but some of my more hardcore cyclist friends prefer to do it in a single day which requires a 4am start and a very long day on the trail for me!

I think this first shot of Keyhole Arch may be in the OP's photo.

[PeterAit]

Horses have been used for many things, including as food. Horses were invaluable to the progress of humans, but notwithstanding some poetic venerations, they were mostly a commodity. If a commodity is “sacred,” then I guess you’re correct.

When we were in Iceland, we saw horse on the menu in several places. It's pretty similar to lean beef.

[Jeremy Roussak]

When we were in Iceland, we saw horse on the menu in several places. It's pretty similar to lean beef.

I've had cheval (and cheval burgers) in France, where it's commonly available. I found it unpleasantly sweet, but tastes vary.

Jeremy

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

There was a long tradition of horse meat on the menu at the Harvard Club of Boston. I believe the tradition ended sometime in the 1970s, after public outcry.

I never had horse meat, but I did have some excellent whale steak back before whaling was essentially banned.