I am stating up front that there is no pretense of objectivity in this review. The Chilcotin is my favourite area of British Columbia, and I had the good fortune to see a herd of the wild horses that are the subject of this book. They were magnificent.
This book addresses several topics. One of them is, where did the wild horses come from? The genetic studies show that the horses in the Brittany Triangle, an area that includes Nunsti Provincial Park, are descendants of horses brought to Mexico by Spanish colonists during the 16th century. They were traded to First Nations further north, and this trade eventually extended to western Canada. The key point here is that they were already present when European explorers and settlers arrived in the British Columbia interior. (Mackenzie’s expedition was 1792-93, and Simon Fraser’s expedition was in 1808.) The wild horses east of the Brittany Triangle have a more diverse lineage; there was deliberate breeding with horses brought from Eastern Canada.
This is significant because the horses were regarded by several interests, including the Government of British Columbia, as an invasive species. Several attempts were made to eradicate them, including paying bounties for killing them. The author of this book, Wayne McCrory, made several trips to the Chilcotin, originally at the request of the Xeni Gwet’in nation (one of the six Tsilhqot’in nations), to evaluate the situation. He debunked the “invasive species” claim on several counts. One of them was the long-standing cultural and practical connections of the Xeni Gwet’in to the horses. Another was the balance of the horse population with predators such as wolves and cougars. And as for the effect of grazing, McCrory pointed out that it’s hard to argue that grazing by 2,800 wild horses has any significance compared to 24,000 cattle.
The book has a lot to say about the history and culture of the Xeni Gwet’in. There’s also another interesting idea about the history of horses, that they actually originated in North America, migrated through the Beringian land bridge to Asia and Europe, but then became instinct in North America. Some First Nations have ancient horses as part of their oral history.
The book contains a lot of photographs, some of them in colour. It closes with these words: “It is my hope that my book will stimulate many, many Canadians to speak up to ensure adequate protection of the last two wild horse populations remaining in western Canada; we must save them for the enjoyment and benefit of all present and future generations. The Tsilhqot’in have shown us the way.”
