When The Last of the Wild Horses was first published in 1984, there were 400 Przewalski horses in the world's zoos. Currently, the numbers are substantially increased, with the population having reached upwards of 1,200 horses worldwide. Not so very long ago, wild horses ran free throughout the world. Now, banished by civilization to a few remote and desolate outposts, they make a final stand against the continuing incursions of so-called progress. Their days, like their ranks, are plainly numbered. If nothing changes, they may be in danger of vanishing forever. For centuries, we have exhibited a profoundly ambivalent attitude toward the horse-envying its freedom while seeking to harness its power, admiring its passion for survival while methodically sealing its fate. This attitude, as we shall see, remains in force today. But today, more than ever before, wild horses require our assistance. We have rendered it impossible for them to live in splendid isolation, maintaining a romanticized and somehow independent existence far apart. They have become, through our deprivations, our responsibility.

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