To some, America’s free-roaming Mustangs and burros symbolize liberty and beauty. To others, these equines are feral at best, invasive at worst. They have a reputation for being useless, destructive, and untrainable. Yet my childhood horse—gifted to my family when I was three—was a gentled Mustang, W.D. Through W.D., I first encountered these horses’ kind dispositions, composure, and hardiness. After my younger sister died in a riding accident with another horse, my parents rehomed W.D. The devastating loss of both my sister and horse sparked my lifelong interest in Mustangs’ lives in the wild and journey into domestication, especially via the federal Wild Horse & Burro Program (WHBP). While visiting Mustang handling facilities with my mom and sister, interviewing dozens of adopters and trainers, and conducting supplemental research, I explored questions such as, can “useless” horses be redeemed? Can overused land be renewed? Can my family’s trauma be healed? And how long should it take free-roaming horses and burros to be considered wild (instead of feral) or for the bereaved to “move on” from our grief, as we’re often told to do? This thesis follows the trajectory of long-term grief and of American Mustangs and burros from wild to domestic, doing its best to answer these questions, to inform readers of the inherent value of America’s free-roaming equines, and to provide a case study of how long-term efforts to heal from trauma benefit the bereaved and those around them.
","abstract_html":"<p>To some, America’s free-roaming Mustangs and burros symbolize liberty and beauty. To others, these equines are feral at best, invasive at worst. They have a reputation for being useless, destructive, and untrainable. Yet my childhood horse—gifted to my family when I was three—was a gentled Mustang, W.D. Through W.D., I first encountered these horses’ kind dispositions, composure, and hardiness. After my younger sister died in a riding accident with another horse, my parents rehomed W.D. The devastating loss of both my sister and horse sparked my lifelong interest in Mustangs’ lives in the wild and journey into domestication, especially via the federal Wild Horse & Burro Program (WHBP). While visiting Mustang handling facilities with my mom and sister, interviewing dozens of adopters and trainers, and conducting supplemental research, I explored questions such as, can “useless” horses be redeemed? Can overused land be renewed? Can my family’s trauma be healed? And how long should it take free-roaming horses and burros to be considered wild (instead of feral) or for the bereaved to “move on” from our grief, as we’re often told to do? This thesis follows the trajectory of long-term grief and of American Mustangs and burros from wild to domestic, doing its best to answer these questions, to inform readers of the inherent value of America’s free-roaming equines, and to provide a case study of how long-term efforts to heal from trauma benefit the bereaved and those around them.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Emily, Megan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Monica McFawn"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:17Z","subjects":["Mustang","wild horse","burro","sisters","grief","healing","America","Bureau of Land Management","Wild Horse and Burro Program","West","Environmental Studies","Nonfiction","Other Animal Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/613","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Monica McFawn"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Emily, Megan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-03-22T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Mustang","wild horse","burro","sisters","grief","healing","America","Bureau of Land Management","Wild Horse and Burro Program","West","Environmental Studies","Nonfiction","Other Animal Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/613"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["To some, America’s free-roaming Mustangs and burros symbolize liberty and beauty. To others, these equines are feral at best, invasive at worst. They have a reputation for being useless, destructive, and untrainable. Yet my childhood horse—gifted to my family when I was three—was a gentled Mustang, W.D. Through W.D., I first encountered these horses’ kind dispositions, composure, and hardiness. After my younger sister died in a riding accident with another horse, my parents rehomed W.D. The devastating loss of both my sister and horse sparked my lifelong interest in Mustangs’ lives in the wild and journey into domestication, especially via the federal Wild Horse & Burro Program (WHBP). While visiting Mustang handling facilities with my mom and sister, interviewing dozens of adopters and trainers, and conducting supplemental research, I explored questions such as, can “useless” horses be redeemed? Can overused land be renewed? Can my family’s trauma be healed? And how long should it take free-roaming horses and burros to be considered wild (instead of feral) or for the bereaved to “move on” from our grief, as we’re often told to do? This thesis follows the trajectory of long-term grief and of American Mustangs and burros from wild to domestic, doing its best to answer these questions, to inform readers of the inherent value of America’s free-roaming equines, and to provide a case study of how long-term efforts to heal from trauma benefit the bereaved and those around them.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Wild Diamond Diaries: Healing Alongside America's Wild Horses"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Monica McFawn"],"dc:creator":["Emily, Megan"],"dc:date.available":["2025-03-22T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["To some, America’s free-roaming Mustangs and burros symbolize liberty and beauty. To others, these equines are feral at best, invasive at worst. They have a reputation for being useless, destructive, and untrainable. Yet my childhood horse—gifted to my family when I was three—was a gentled Mustang, W.D. Through W.D., I first encountered these horses’ kind dispositions, composure, and hardiness. After my younger sister died in a riding accident with another horse, my parents rehomed W.D. The devastating loss of both my sister and horse sparked my lifelong interest in Mustangs’ lives in the wild and journey into domestication, especially via the federal Wild Horse & Burro Program (WHBP). While visiting Mustang handling facilities with my mom and sister, interviewing dozens of adopters and trainers, and conducting supplemental research, I explored questions such as, can “useless” horses be redeemed? Can overused land be renewed? Can my family’s trauma be healed? And how long should it take free-roaming horses and burros to be considered wild (instead of feral) or for the bereaved to “move on” from our grief, as we’re often told to do? This thesis follows the trajectory of long-term grief and of American Mustangs and burros from wild to domestic, doing its best to answer these questions, to inform readers of the inherent value of America’s free-roaming equines, and to provide a case study of how long-term efforts to heal from trauma benefit the bereaved and those around them.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/613"],"dc:subject":["Mustang","wild horse","burro","sisters","grief","healing","America","Bureau of Land Management","Wild Horse and Burro Program","West","Environmental Studies","Nonfiction","Other Animal Sciences"],"dc:title":["The Wild Diamond Diaries: Healing Alongside America's Wild Horses"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:17Z"}