Feral horses do present some issues for society to deal with.
Overgrazing
Overgrazing is concern for ranchers and environmental conservationists. Grasslands, particularly sensitive grasslands are in danger of overgrazing. An argument also made is that cattle have negative impacts on the grazing of grassland. The Alberta government makes the argument that domestic cattle are able to be controlled in a way that provides the grasslands with recovery time (Alberta Government, 2020). If the grasslands are fragile there is a risk of severe damage.
Population
Populations of wild horses have been growing. There are many suggested reasons for this such as high reproduction rates, mild winters and the illegal release of domestic horses (Rieger, 2018). Depending on the geographical location, there is a threat of predators, but in some areas there are limited predators. For example, the feral horses in Saskatchewan can fall prey to wolves (Briere, 2009). Wild horse populations can grow quickly (Pierce, 2020). With this growth, they can outgrow their habitat (Pierce, 2020).
Impact on Wildlife Populations
Some plan wild horses for the declining wildlife populations in certain areas. For example, the wild horses of the the Chilcotin area in BC are blamed by some for the decline moose populations (Dickson, 2019). Horses and some grazing wildlife share food sources.
Impact on Ecosystems
Some argue that wild horses have been adapted into the ecosystem. Wayne McCrory has been working on a study of the positive impact and role of wild horses in ecosystems (Dickson, 2019). When wild horses are in desert like eco-systems, there grazing can have severe impacts (Pierce, 2020).
Location to Cities and Human Settlements
Like with wild animals, feral horses populations have been moving closer to human settlements and this creates problems. In Pentiction, the population of feral horses have increase to 600 horses (Radio West, 2015). While horses are not predators who would attack humans, they wandering around roads could cause traffic accidents. Some the complaints are not as related to health and safety and have more to do with wild horses ruining gardens and yards.
Government Jurisdiction
In BC, there is sometimes conflicts over which level of government should be handling the issues raised by feral or free-roaming horses. The three levels of governments that are involved in BC are the provincial, the municipal and the Indigenous communities (Radio West, 2015). Some of the wild horse populations in BC are free-roaming horses owned by indigenous communities adding another dimensions to the issues. Governments are not clear on who is responsible for managing the wild horses populations, so there is a lack of clear response.
Hunting
There have been instances of people hunting wild horses. In Saskatchewan, the hunting of wild horses prompted the Saskatchewan government to enforce new protective legislation (Briere, 2009). Before 1974, there was horse hunting permits available in Canada before being phased out (Notzke, 2013, p.395).