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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Crow won’t be reined in

Crow (Evan Agostini / Micpi)
Martin Griffith Associated Press

Sheryl Crow has spoken out against the war in Iraq and in support of embryonic stem-cell research and efforts to combat global warming.

Now, she’s trying to ride to the rescue of thousands of wild horses that roam the West.

After campaigning for President Barack Obama, the Grammy-winning singer has become a leading critic of administration plans to remove as many as 25,000 mustangs from the range and ship them to pastures in the Midwest and East.

Crow has lobbied Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, dropped off books and DVDs about wild horses for Obama at the White House and appeared in a video produced by equine activists.

She disputes the government’s position that booming mustang numbers are threatening the horses with starvation, and harming arid rangelands and native wildlife.

“I think there has to be a better way than taking them away from their native lands,” Crow says. “I feel so passionate about the issue because wild horses are one of the last remaining ties to the land as it was and our history in America.”

The 47-year-old rocker became acquainted with the issue when she rode an adopted wild horse named Smokey in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains in July 2006.

Since then, she has adopted a wild mustang named Colorado and has 20 other horses on her ranch near Nashville, Tenn.

“I was the kid who asked for a horse every year, but we didn’t have the backyard for one,” Crow says.

“Now, I ride every day I’m at the ranch. It’s a very spiritual connection riding a horse.”

The birthday bunch

Actress Patricia Neal is 84. Comedian Arte Johnson is 81. Director David Lynch is 64. Guitarist Paul Stanley (Kiss) is 58. TV host Bill Maher is 54. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 52. Actor Rainn Wilson is 44.