For Kate and anyone else, it's a jolting three-hour drive up canyon slopes and through the woods to reach the plateau. This rugged terrain has enabled the horses to evade capture, and to live as wild creatures for at least a hundred years. One would think the horses would be safe and unchanged by events in the human communities down below.

"We're kind of lucky with this population of horses, that they will behave, and do a lot of their normal, natural social behaviors while we're here and while we can get pretty close to them."

But it's not that simple. Things have changed in the wilderness. The natural predators of the horse have been reduced. Wolves and grizzly bears have been almost eliminated from all but one National Park. Natural fires have been reduced. The parks have been fenced, so when the herds grow too big individual animals can't move away to other parts of the west.

So, Schoenecker and her colleagues at the Midcontinent Ecological Science Center have several studies going to help determine how best to manage the population. In one, they are using CD-ROMs and a Web site to consolidate photographic identifications they've made of horses at both Pryor and at the Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range in Colorado. In another, they are using the identification system and computer modeling to evaluate all the factors that impact the viability of the herds and suggest the best ways to manage their population. Yet, these projects raise the question, How do you manage something that is supposed to be wild?