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R.T. Fitch

R.T. Fitch’s life has been anything but ordinary. Straight out of high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force Band during the Vietnam era, and while stationed in Hawaii, he spent weekends at Sea Life Park training penguins, sea lions, and whales. His path through life has taken many unexpected turns—including more than a few lessons in love—until meeting his wife, Terry, brought a lasting partnership and a shared passion for animals.
Over the course of his adult career, R.T. worked internationally in multiple countries, gaining a broad, global perspective that colors both his worldview and his writing. Now rooted in Texas, he and Terry live on a small farm surrounded by four-legged companions with paws, claws, and hooves. Together, they have devoted years to equine rescue and wild horse protection.
An ordained volunteer chaplain and professional Santa Claus for a local historical society—with Terry by his side as Mrs. Claus—R.T. brings warmth, wisdom, and joy to every season. His work reflects a life of service, wonder, and connection to both people and animals.
He is the author of Straight from the Horse’s Heart, a moving collection of true rescue stories and spiritual reflections, and Fangs of Light, a supernatural tale steeped in symbolic and metaphorical storytelling. The first in a planned trilogy, Fangs of Light blends myth and mystery to explore themes of identity, redemption, and the power of empathy—offering readers not only suspense and intrigue but a deeper look at the light and shadow within us all.

A National Injustice: The Federal Government’s Systematic Removal and Eradication of an American Icon

Brutal captures and deaths of American wild horses are occurring on the range. This is not a fictional western gone bad but federal policy. The government tries to justify this cruelty with junk science and is sheltered in its actions by procedural barriers and judicial deference. For nearly four decades, federal contractors have been capturing wild horses and burros across the western United States under the guise of “management” pursuant to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.[1] The horses are often chased down by helicopters, sometimes for miles through rough terrain in the heat of summer, lassoed, and forced to the ground and then into trailers.

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Wild Horse Groups Win Another Round and Vow to Preserve Targeted West Douglas Herd

HOUSTON (HfHAC) – The Bureau of Land Management has officially withdrawn its 2011 plans to decimate the West Douglas Wild Horse herd, a small, isolated herd of wild horses in northwestern Colorado. Plaintiffs in two lawsuits challenging the BLM’s long-held efforts are claiming a victory, but are concerned BLM will issue another decision to eliminate the herd in the future. Therefore, plaintiffs have vowed to continue their work in the courts and through public campaigns to prevent BLM’s long-held plans to destroy this herd.

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Action Alert: Wild Horse Advocates to Rally at BLM Meeting

Houston (SFTHH) – The Obama Administrations Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will be holding a meeting in Phoenix, AR March 10-11 2011 allegedly to discuss their failed Wild Horse and Burro strategy. This is the perfect opportunity for the Wild Horse Advocacy Movement to not only be heard but to be a physical presence in representation of the rapidly disappearing great American Wild Horse.

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Honey Bandit Wild Horse Story Makes a Difference in D.C.

We have great news here in Washington DC. The U.S. House has approved an amendment on a voice vote that would cut $2 million dollars from the BLM. According to Indiana Republican Dan Burton, his amendment is to send a signal to BLM that the American public wants more humane treatment for the Mustangs across the West. This means that the additional $12 million dollars that have been requested would not be available to aid with the roundups. So that is a whopping $14 million dollar savings.

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Wild horses: BLM Backs Off Plan to Zero Out West Douglas Herd

There aren’t a lot of wild horses left in Colorado, but a small herd of mustangs fifty miles north of Grand Junction just got a reprieve. Besieged by legal challenges of its plan to relocate “excess” horses from public lands to private holding facilities and pastures, the Bureau of Land Management has abruptly withdrawn its latest proposal to remove the West Douglas herd — an isolated but hearty group of a hundred horses near Rangely that’s been targeted for decades.

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‘The Misfits’ at 50: Honoring the Horse and an Iconic Western

February 1st marks the 50th anniversary of the release of “The Misfits,” the iconic and underrated film about Nevada mustangers who brutally capture wild horses so they can sell them to the slaughterhouse. Although panned by critics, the film is a powerful and enduring deconstruction of the western, although perhaps more play-like than cinematic in its formulation. Directed by John Huston and written by Arthur Miller, it starred Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift, with Thelma Ritter in a supporting role. To commemorate the film’s release, a special screening of it was held Sunday at the University of Nevada at Reno, in conjunction with the university’s “Honoring the Horse” exhibit. “The Misfits” alerted many people to the then little-known war against wild horses playing out in Nevada, and, in my opinion, contributed to the early demise of three of its four stars—Gable, Clift and Monroe—all of whom died after the film was wrapped; in Gable’s case, 12 days later.

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