Did you know there are wild horses in America? There are, but the government in the form of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rounding them up and destroying them. Ginger Kathrens, among others, saw this happening and made efforts to stop it.
GINGER KATHRENS is an Emmy Award-winning producer, cinematographer, writer and editor as well as an award-winning author. Her documentary filmmaking trips have taken her to Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America and all over the U.S. She filmed and produced the acclaimed Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies and Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns for WNET’s Nature series on PBS. Cloud will return to PBS in November with Cloud: Challenge of The Stallions. Five years in the making, it is Kathrens’ next chapter in the life of the charismatic wild stallion she has documented since his birth in May of 1995. Ginger’s revealing journey with wild horses has been compared to Jane Goodall’s experiences with Chimpanzees. Her documentation of Cloud represents the only continuing chronicle of a wild animal from birth in our hemisphere.
Kathrens was the co-producer and cinematographer of the two-hour Discovery Channel special, Spirits of the Rainforest, which won two Emmy Awards including one for Best Documentary. Additional projects for Discovery included The Ultimate Guide: Horses and The Ultimate Guide: Dogs. Kathrens also wrote, edited, and produced over two dozen segments of the Wild America series for PBS, and has filmed for National Geographic, Animal Planet and the BBC.
In 2008, Kathrens completed the cinema verité one-hour program, They Crossed the Mountains, The History of the Western States Trail for the Western States Trail Foundation in Auburn, California. For twenty years, she was a political media consultant and producer, working with Presidents Reagan, Ford, and George H. Walker Bush. Her highly regarded political productions include the award-winning short subject, Steady Under Fire, the story of former Colorado U.S. Senator Hank Brown.
Ginger is the founder and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to the preservation of wild horses on our public lands with special attention on isolated, historically significant and genetically unique herds like Cloud’s. She is an informed, impassioned and entertaining speaker on behalf of wild horses from coast to coast. She is an expert on Spanish wild horses and has served as a consultant for the television documentary, Horses of the Conquistadors.
The Cloud Foundation, is a Colorado 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, that grew out of Ginger Kathrens’ knowledge and fear for not only Cloud’s herd but other wild horses in the West. “I began to realize that we were losing America’s wild horses,” Ginger says. “They are rounded up by the thousand, losing in an instant what they value most–freedom and family. I realized that even Cloud and his family were in danger.”
“In Cloud’s remote mountain wilderness we have a perfect opportunity to step back and watch nature call the shots. Predators and daunting weather are limiting the herd size—naturally,” she states. “Yet, human over management is jeopardizing their future survival. We could lose Cloud and his herd forever, unless we’re willing to stand up for them now.”
The non- profit Cloud Foundation is dedicated to preventing the extinction of Cloud’s herd through education, media events and programming, and public involvement. The Foundation is also determined to protect other wild horse herds on public lands, especially isolated herds with unique characteristics and historical significance.
Cloud was rounded up for the third time in September of 2009 despite a huge public effort to try and stop this unnecessary roundup. Cloud and his band were released two days after they were captured but Cloud’s grandchildren and his daughter were removed along with more than 50 others, leaving the Pryors herd at only 125 horses. Cloud is now back in the wild & we continue our work to preserve what wild horses value most- their freedom and their families.
How can you help? Visit http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/. Write letters, make phone calls, give a donation, support existing petitions and start new ones. It is up to US. Let’s stop this.