“or were released in this area prior to 1900”
Nah, the Apache were there for centuries and they had horses in the 19th century. Whether there were a bunch of them around Hannagan’s meadow or down the Blue is maybe less obvious, but they were definitely around.
Horses came up with the Spanish in the 1640’s, local tribal terrorists had their own within minutes of Spanish arrival.
Like I said, I would be for reducing and holding their population probably. Cattle and elk are harvested in a somewhat regular manner. There are very few animals in the forest that can kill a horse. There are no grizzlies in this area.
It is interesting to note that horses belong in the steppe, not the Ponderosa pine forests. They are built for grasslands but there is no check on them currently in the Alpine area.