The wild horses that are found, within the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, straddling the Montana and Wyoming border, have been there for several hundred years. The horses generally range about 13-15 hands high and include a wide variety of colors; including bays, blacks, duns, grullas, roans, buckskins and palominos. Many of these horses show dorsal stripes down their back, and many have bi-colored manes and tails, as well as tiger-striped legs (some also have cobwebbing on their faces). Adults typically range in size, from 13 to 14 hands high.
Modern genetic tests have concluded, that the Pryor horses include a higher than average level of ancestry, with “Spanish” breeds. Other genetic analyses suggested, that the single closest breed to Pryor horses, was the Quarter Horse. Some of the Pryor wild horses carry a rare allele variant Qac, that has been traced back to the original New World “Spanish” type horses, such as Spanish and Portuguese (Iberian) horses, which were brought to North and South America. All this information can be accessed at the BLM website.
The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is one of only four designated wild horse and burro ranges in the country, which means the area is managed principally, but not exclusively, for wild horses. The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was created by order of the Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall on September 9, 1968, which makes it one of the first federally designated wild horse areas in the United States. At that time, the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was over 33,600 acres, between Bureau of land Management and National Park Service managed lands in Montana. In the years since, additional land was added to the range, including land across the Wyoming state line. Today, the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range comprises more than 38,000 acres.
The horses are a priority of a non-profit group, called the The Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center, located in Lovell, Wyoming, just south of the range. This group informs the public about the wild horses and is dedicated to preserving the future of these beautiful animals. They also work in collaboration, with the federal organizations (NPS and the BLM) tasked to oversee the horses, making sure these equines have a genetically viable and healthy herd to continue into the future. Visitors can stop by the mustang center on the way to the range, to get information on where to see the wild horses, see displays and information regarding the history of the animals and see some of the horses taken off the range, in their fenced pasture. Also, you can take one of their offered tours, which accesses areas of the range, where the majority of the wild horses can be seen grazing in mountain meadows, where non high clearance vehicles can't go. The elevation range in the Pryor Mountains is from 3,850 feet to 8,750 feet, above sea level and the majority is pure natural wilderness. One of your best bets to see wild horses, is to start your adventure driving into the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. About 40-60 or more Pryor Mountain wild horses make this area, called the Dryhead, their home. You might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a herd of horses along the road (Route 37). the Dryhead is an area of badlands and meadows, along the road into the National Park Service managed land. A stop at the Mustang Center, when it is open, can inform you more about what horses and where they have been seen, and the best place to look.
NOTE: All horses seen within this video, were taken in the Montana portion of the wild horse range. The signage and displays, were taken within the Wyoming portion of the range, or at the Mustang Center, in Lovell.
