The Misfits is the sixth and final offering in Judy Larson’s On the Run series, which focuses on animals in dire circumstances. “Perhaps by revisiting a few of these incidents in our country’s history, we will not be destined to repeat the events of the past, but will seek to value our wildlife,” says Larson.

“The Misfits refers specifically to tragic fate of the many thousands of wild horses in Central and Southern California that once roamed the state where I live,” Larson says. “Several times a year, I travel through the Central Valley of California, where crops are now grown and cattle and sheep graze. Since reading of the thousands of horses that ran free upon that land, I find that I cannot pass through without imagining what a sight they would have made and what an appalling tragedy it was to lose them all in violence. I’d like the viewer to engage with the eyes of The Misfits horses and to remember that there are still wild horses on public lands today that love their lives and freedom every bit as much as those wild horses of yesteryear. The horses in The Misfits represent a few of the survivors, as well as some of the ancestors, of the wild horses of today.”