Artist rallies around Nevada’s wild horses

Martin Griffith

Sunday, Jan. 31, 1999 | 9:20 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - One of Nevada's premier wildlife painters is hoping good comes out of the slaughter of 34 wild horses in Nevada.

Fred Boyce, 77, of Reno is donating 1,500 numbered prints of his oil painting "Mustangs" to help ensure other free-roaming horses in the state lead better lives.

"The public outrage after the killings has shown there's a tremendous interest in these animals," Boyce said Saturday while autographing prints at Meadowood Mall.

"They're an icon of the West and people love them. I'm doing this because of my close relationship with the horses and love of nature. I hope it makes life a little safer for the other horses."

Three young men who attended the same high school in Reno - two of them Marines stationed in California - have been arrested in the Dec. 27 shootings of the 34 horses in the Virginia Range east of Reno.

All proceeds from the sale of Boyce's prints will go to the Virginia Range Wildlife Protection Association, which is working to protect the range's 300 to 500 other wild horses.

Association president Lydia Hammack said she hopes to raise $150,000 through the sale of the color prints. More than a third of the prints had been sold - for $100 each - as of Saturday afternoon, she said.

The money will be used to help horses with safety fences, feeding stations, watering holes and emergency medical care.

"Fred is so wonderful," Hammack said. "He's helping to raise awareness about the horses and the need to protect them. Like us, he wants to make sure we have a survivable herd."

Also appearing with Boyce on Saturday at Eagle Valley Frames was country singer Lacy J. Dalton, who plans to donate proceeds from the sale of an upcoming compact disc to the association.

Dalton said she moved to a home in the range's Virginia Highlands subdivision last year partly because of her love of wild horses.

"They're in my yard every day and I love them," she said. "This grieves me. But I'm optimistic some good can come out of it."

Dalton's CD, a tribute to wild horses that also will feature some local singers, is due out later this year.

Boyce's dozens of landscape and wildlife paintings, including his "Mustangs" work done three years ago, are based on Nevada subjects. They hang in museums and homes across the West, and have appeared on state duck stamps.

Boyce said the slaughter of the 34 wild horses hit him even harder because he became acquainted with the animals on hikes in the range.

"I felt such a terrible loss. It was like losing your own pet or son to a vicious person," he said.

"We have to protect these animals. They're as much a part of Nevada as the beautiful sunsets, the wind and the sage, and the shadows on the mountains in the morning and evening."