Tag Archives: EQUUS Film & Arts Festival

*Featured/Spotlights, Horse Care/Protection, Publications/Media, Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Documentary Film Horse of Nature Officially Selected by Prestigious EQUUS Film & Arts Festival

YREKA, CA, UNITED STATES, September 7, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Based on a true story and actual events, Horse of Nature is set in the middle of the remote Cascade Siskiyou Mountains near the Oregon/California border, where the tiny town of 400 people called Henley Hornbrook exists.

In 2018, a deadly wind driven wildfire tore through the town, the lives of its people, and surrounding countryside.

The documentary film Horse of Nature offers a glimpse into the lives of some of the survivors of that wildfire and the local herd of cultural heritage wild horses that played a role in the battle to control what became known as the Klamathon Fire.

“Horses have been integral in building and progressing societies around the world, and so it’s been healing to explore in this film how horses can help save our modern relationship with nature and the aid in the wildfire epidemic,” said the film’s producer director Autie Carlisle.

Of great historical importance is that, in the year 1580, British officer and serving Knight Sir Francis Drake was on a military exploration mission of the west coast of what is today America, when he discovered horses living among the local indigenous peoples of the area that is today the Oregon/California border. This documented observation was included in the doctoral dissertation of Dr. Yvette ‘Running Horse’ Collin, PhD:

This is the excerpt from Dr. Collin’s doctoral dissertation:

“The Spanish conquistadors were not the only European explorers to have noticed and recorded early sightings of horses in the Americas. In 1579, the Queen of England sent Sir Francis Drake to ‘The New World.’ Drake also recorded having seen herds of horses in the Americas during his voyage off the coasts of what are now known as California and Oregon. An account given of Drake’s landing in the geographic areas now known as Northern California and Southern Oregon includes the English explorer’s description of the homes of the Native Peoples, as well as the animals that he encountered. It related his wonder at seeing so many wild horses, because he had heard that the Spaniards had found no native horses in America, save those of the Arab breed which they had introduced.”

The relevance of Drake’s discovery is that it came just 88 years after Christopher Columbus first landed on the east coast of the North American continent with just a few horses from Europe, which were critical assets and closely guarded. During the 1500s, there was no manner or method for the importation and subsequent accidental release of tens of thousands of horses that would be required for some of them to somehow reach the far northwestern opposite side of the North American continent in just 88 years. This historical fact provides evidence that splinter populations of native North American horses did in fact survive the Ice Age contrary to now obsolete science and belief that they went extinct. And some of the descendants and genetic blood lines of the Drake horses remain on the landscape in the mountains of the Oregon/California border area near Henley Hornbrook, California.

Deb Ferns, president of the all-volunteer nonprofit Wild Horse Fire Brigade (‘WHFB’) said: “We are very pleased and excited that the EQUUS Film Festival has ‘Officially Selected’ Horse of Nature to be screened at the festival. That is such an honor! Autie Carlisle has done a splendid job producing this documentary along with her team. This heartfelt documentary drama takes an honest look into some of the lives of wildfire survivors and the cultural heritage herd of horses that our organization (WHFB) is working hard to study and preserve. There is no doubt that this herd of horses should be protected under the Antiquities Act.”

About the EQUUS Film & Arts Festival (http://www.equusfilmfestival.net):

The EQUUS Film & Arts Fest is the world’s premier showcase for domestic and International Equestrian Content feature films, documentaries, shorts, music videos, commercials, training and educational materials, art, and literature, in addition to film programming, interesting guest speakers and presenters, informative panels, industry workshops, hosting exhibits, and interactive experiences with horses and trainers.

EQUUS Strives to bring a greater awareness and understanding of the unique relationship between horses and the humans who love them.

More about Autie Carlisle here: https://www.autiecarlisle.com/documentaries

Horse of Nature: The Trailer — https://vimeo.com/998882803/001b27d9c1?share=copy

Deb Ferns
Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org for more information.

Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Updates from Wild Horse Fire Brigade

We have some exciting news from our participation at the 10th Annual EQUUS Film & Arts Festival that was held in Sacramento, CA from Dec. 2-4.

The skies opened up and deluged many outdoor events. The snow that hit the mountains to the east of Sacramento (Tahoe, etc.) was heavy, so Festival attendance by some folks who planned on attending the live Festival by driving was limited due to hazardous travel conditions.

We still saw many people who drove in from southern California and from up north, as well as many attendees who made early reservations and flew in. The Murieta Hotel and Spa was fully booked for the weekend due to the two horse related events: a hunter/jumper show and the EQUUS Film Festival.

On Saturday Dec. 3rd at 10:00 AM, William Simpson gave a TED-like talk (live presentation) at the Guild Theater about the Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan (a.k.a. ‘Wild Horse Fire Brigade’). That talk had the largest audience attendance at the Festival and lasted 30 minutes. The talk was followed by a 30 min. panel discussion (Q&A) with the audience.

The following Board members were in attendance:

Deb Ferns – President
Kelsey Stangebye – Vice President
Michelle Gough – Treasurer
William Simpson – Founder/Exec. Director

The audience provided many good questions that addressed various aspects of how and why Wild Horse Fire Brigade benefits wild horses and ecosystems.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sent three representatives to the Wild Horse Fire Brigade talk. Their team leader was Amy Ruhs who was from the BLM’s Idaho state office.

One of the three ladies from the BLM, from the Sacramento BLM office, had a good question:

“How would you amend the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act to allow rewilding?”

The answer:

Section 1339 of the Act currently prohibits the BLM from relocating wild horses from any Herd Management Area (HMA) into another non-HMA area, such as designated critical wilderness (115 million acres available).

By amending just Section 1339 to state that:

The BLM is authorized to humanely relocate wild horses as family bands from areas where they are deemed to be in conflict with commercial enterprises and subject to roundups, and relocate them into designated critical wilderness areas that are both economically and ecologically appropriate.

A further discussion outlined how wild horses can currently be rewilded using existing law (Humane Transfer of Excess Animals Act: H.R. 1625).

Other questions from the audience included those involving evolution of wild horses and native species status, depredation by north American apex predators, and the current dire situation for wild horses created by the failed Adoption Incentive Programs (‘AIP’).

This talk and Q&A session was filmed, and we hope to have that presentation online for viewing sometime next week. It’s a massive video file (~40 Gigabytes).

The music video (“We Are the Wild Horses”) produced by a diverse collective of all volunteers around saving wild horses and presented by Wild Horse Fire Brigade WON the Winnie Award (top honor) in the category of “wild horse music videos.” “We Are the Wild Horses” premiered at the 10th Annual EQUUS Film Fest in Sacramento, CA and was very well received by the audience and is now online, full length, for everyone to enjoy and share:

NOTE: You don’t need any account or signup – just watch!

  1. On Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialWHFB/status/1600280004083990528
  2. On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWHFB/posts/pfbid0ErJTsCvRPCrvq3CXpiZC51KjvZfanMpojiQZ6qN3e5X6sSQsZsfsHts3oXtDQzCHl
  3. On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWINUpdiomc

The diverse team at Wild Horse Fire Horse Fire Brigade believes that music is an important way to educate others in a way that opens hearts and minds about the importance of American wild horses. We have more good stuff in the pipeline that we’ll be reporting later in the month.

The entire team at Wild Horse Fire Brigade wishes everyone a great holiday season!

Please visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org.

*Featured/Spotlights

EQUUS Film & Arts Festival Presents a TED-like Talk about How Wild Horses Manage Wildfire Fuels

A family band of wild horses naturally maintains a firebreak that protects an old-growth forest and the wildlife that live there.

On Saturday Dec. 3rd at 10:00 AM, EQUUS Film & Arts Festival will present a TED-like talk about Wild Horse Fire Brigade at the historical Guild Theater in Sacramento California.

Wild horse ethologist and researcher William E. Simpson II will speak about how wild horses cost effectively manage wildfire fuels, make trees more fire resilient, and how forest ecosystems, watersheds, and wildlife benefit from the presence of these native keystone herbivores.

William has lived among and studied free roaming wild horses in the wilderness mountains on the California-Oregon border for the past 8 years continuously.

Simpson has logged over 15,000 hours of close observational study, a method pioneered by Dr. Jane Goodall during her 1960s study of the Apes in Gombe, Africa, which Simpson calls the ‘Goodall Method‘ in honor of Dr. Goodall.

Some of Simpson’s research has been published in print and in online journals, such as ReWilding Europe’s wildfire focused journal GrazeLIFE: https://grazelife.com/blog/wild-horse-fire-brigade-lessons-in-rebalancing-north-american-ecosystems-by-rewilding-equids/.

Recently, NPR national featured a story by reporter Stephanie O’Neill, about Simpson’s research on air (and podcast) and in print to its audience of 46 million: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/30/1131042723/preventing-wildfire-with-the-wild-horse-fire-brigade.

The talk begins at 10:00 AM at the Guild Theater in Sacramento California and will last about 45 minutes, followed by a panel Q&A discussion session with board members from Wild Horse Fire Brigade, a California-based 501(c)3 all-volunteer nonprofit organization.

The team from Wild Horse Fire Brigade hopes to see you there!

William Simpson was the local advisor to CALFIRE during the deadly 38,000-acre 2018 Klamathon Fire. Simpson was on the fire line for 9 days assisting CALFIRE and also studying the effects of the wildfire grazing by the local wild horses on the behavior of wildfire and its progression, as well as the benefits provided to firefighters via the natural firebreaks created and maintained by the wild horses.

Please visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org.

*Featured/Spotlights, Publications/Media

EQUUS Film & Arts Festival Officially Selects New Music Video ‘We Are the Wild Horses’

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California wild horse and burro nonprofit Wild Horse Fire Brigade has produced a new music video for wild horses featuring award-winning singer/songwriter Ginalina

YREKA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, October 26, 2022 /EINPresswire.com — An emotionally powerful music video about wild horses has just been honored by the 2022 EQUUS Film & Arts Festival. This new music video, titled ‘We Are the Wild Horses’, produced by California nonprofit Wild Horse Fire Brigade, has been officially selected by the 2022 EQUUS Film & Arts Festival and will be premiered during the 10th annual EQUUS Film & Arts Festival in Sacramento California.

The EQUUS Film & Arts Festival will be held in Sacramento California and will run from December 2 through December 4th, 2022. Tickets for this event are available online at the Festival website.

The music video ‘We Are the Wild Horses’ is based upon actual events. It tells the story of a young poet-musician (Ginalina) who, upon learning about wild horses, their lives, and their plight after visiting the website of Wild Horse Fire Brigade, was compelled to compose a song about wild horses.

This was the beginning of her odyssey of discovery, which led her to travel over 2,000 miles and into the rugged wilderness of the Cascade Siskiyou mountains on the Oregon-California border in search of wild horses and the truth of their existence.

Upon reaching the wilderness and the wild horse observation station known as Wild Horse Ranch, Ginalina met wild horse ethologists William E. Simpson II and Michelle Gough, who are engaged in a continuous ongoing study of the behavioral ecology of free-roaming wild horses that was started in 2014 by Simpson.

“Uniquely in the study of any wildlife, Simpson has lived among the free-roaming wild horses as an embedded observer for the past 8 years. Simpson has coined the study method he uses as the ‘Goodall Method’ in honor of Dr. Jane Goodall, who pioneered the method of being an embedded observer during her study of the apes in Gombe Africa in the early 1960s,” said Deb Ferns, President of Wild Horse Fire Brigade.

Filming on location in the wilderness with Simpson and Gough presented many interesting challenges. “When some of the talent are wildlife, in this case wild horses, capturing the desired imagery is a tough assignment,” said Gough.

Interview: The making of the new music video ‘We Are the Wild Horses’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMVfBBhj6SA.

For more information, visit: https://www.WildHorseFireBrigade.org.

For more information about Ginalina Music, visit: https://www.ginalinamusic.com.

Information about 2022 EQUUS Film & Arts Festival can be found at these websites:
1) https://filmfreeway.com/EQUUSFilmFestival
2) https://www.equusfilmfestival.net/