Ongoing controversy around wild horses in Australia encompasses debate about their impact and their cultural meaning, argues Michael Adams. Marcella Cheng/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-NC-ND

While Australia debates how to reduce our wild horse numbers, other countries are working to re-establish wild horse herds in Europe and Asia. Could Australia’s attempts to “manage” brumbies be an act of hubris?

That’s the question asked in the latest episode of Essays On Air, where we read to you the best essays penned by Australian researchers.

Today’s moving and deeply personal essay, titled The cultural meanings of wild horses, is by Michael Adams, a geographer and writer who researches human-nature relationships.

He explores how cultures across the world have represented and related to horses and asks whether attempts to manage wild horse populations mean we need to rethink the concept of “wildness”.

Join us as we read to you here at Essays On Air, a podcast from The Conversation.

Find us and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, in Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Additional audio

A.B. (Banjo) Paterson The Man from Snowy River Poem

Stranger Eight - Ambient Acoustic

Vonora - Cuckoo & The Nightingale Duet

Oymaldonado - Movie Score Classical Theme - Sad Moody Strings

Funky Films - Walking Through Leaves

Captain Vince - Helicopter Distant Los Angeles

Canukfa - Crowd at the fence during a race

Inspector J - Stream, Water, C.

Steph 64 - Cows’ Bells

Cosmician - Meadow, fly, horse, crickets

Vincentmalstaf - Horses

Dobroide - 20070918. Galloping Horse

Inchadney - Distant motorcycle from a forest

Trianglex - Emotional Piano

Kubuzz - Horse’s whinny GoodListener - Horse Snort 2

Trollarch - Nature/Rain/Animals

Snow by David Szesztay

Banjo Patterson’s The Man from Snow River television theme song

This episode was edited by Sarah Matthews. Illustration by Marcella Cheng.