Hyde's Solution
Hyde's solution? He put together enough money for a down payment on 11,000 acres of land where the Black Hills meet the prairie near Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Then he convinced the Bureau of Land Management to send him the mustangs nobody else wanted.
"When they came here they were in poor shape. They'd been fed the best of feed given every conceivable shot. They'd been wormed but they were still in terrible condition. And within three weeks of running free again those horses were starting to get fat. They were getting sleek and the hurt look was gone from their eyes. Fortunately for us they love this land. They have a sense of home and you could leave the gates open now and those horses wouldn't leave," said Dayton Hyde.
Tourists -a compromised freedom for the horse
The rejected feedlot horses are now the top tourist attraction on the Black Hills wild horse sanctuary.The sanctuary was a sacred place long before Dayton Hyde came here. The tour bus makes a stop at ancient petroglyphs carved in rocks during a time when humans were hunters and horses their prey.
Dayton Hyde works without a salary doing whatever it takes to keep the bills paid the horses healthy and the donations coming.
Dayton Hyde shares his philosophy: "The horses are my confederates in protecting a piece of land that would otherwise by now have been subdivided and lost forever. Those horses are my partners in saving this land. And long after the horses are a part of the coyotes and the eagles this land will be here with petroglyphs that are 7, 8, 10, 14,000 years old. You've got to save this land now and the horses were the means to do it.
"Now I'm paying those horses back for the joys they gave me by taking care of them in their old age. And I wonder whether they're not taking care of me in my old age bringing back memories Giving me a way of life that -- I think very few Americans are lucky enough to lead the life that I lead here with these horses.
"They lead a great life and I think we envy 'em quite a bit."
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