Big Red: A Wild Stallion (Caxton Classics)

There was a time when there were many wild horses on our western ranges. They had their beginnings mostly from horses shipped into this country by the Spanish explorers. Bands of horses were allowed to run loose so that they could forage for grass. Many of them simply deserted the camp and trail herds and became wild. Later on, economic changes added to these wild bands. When a railroad was built into the Comstock Lode country in Nevada, the Wells' Fargo freight and passenger stages had to give up the log trail routes. This left them with a lot of fine horses which they could not sell. Many were just turned loose to become wild horses.

Trouble came to the wild herds when meat hunters found they could get good prices for wild horses from processors of dog and cat food. All the horses cost the meat hunters was the trouble of catching them. With trucks and planes available, the slaughter began. Today wild stallions like Big Red are faced with a desperate problem: how to save the small bands of mares they still have in their harems. This is the story of one wild stallion and his mares. Like the bison which were exterminated on the wild range, Big Red faces extermination finally given to a few herds of buffalo.