PHOTOS: Get up close with wild horses in their Utah desert home

(KUTV) — Nearly 2,000 wild horses roam 2.5 million acres of land in Utah's deserts.

One of those herds, in the desert southwest of Salt Lake City, is made up of at least 220 horses.

Photographer Robin Pendergrast got what he called a "once in a lifetime adventure" this week as he ventured into the desert to spend a day among wild horses.

He visited the Onaqui Herd Management Area, where wild horses are "frequently seen in the vicinity of the Pony Express Trail in Skull Valley," according to BLM.

Utah's wild horses are a point of historic, sharp conflict between ranchers and preservationists, and debates about how BLM manages the herds remain a point of contention in the west. The animals are protected under the 1971 Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

The Onaqui herd has a more-than-150-year history in western Utah, descending from animals that escaped pioneer wagon trains and cavalry regiments.