Unbranded

Modern adventurers: Four Texas A&M grads set out to ride wild mustangs 3,000 miles to Canada

To hear Ben Thamer tell of it, there's nothing more natural than a twentysomething saddling up and heading out for ride through the backcountry of the American West.

"A seed was planted when I was a kid. It probably stems from the show that taught me how to talk, Lonesome Dove," says the Amarillo native of his itch for adventure. He talks of riding in the shadows of cinematic heroes and living off the land as a lifelong dream.

That dream will be fulfilled when Thamer and college buddies Ben Masters, Thomas Glover and Jonny Fitzsimons embark on a 3,000-mile horseback trek along a nearly uninterrupted stretch of federal land that crosses the United States between Mexico and Canada.

Out of the 18 total horses going on the trip, 11 will be unbroken, untrained mustangs that the young men adopt from the Bureau of Land Management.

Staging stations along the way will serve to stock the four recent Texas A&M University graduates with food, provisions and, most importantly, horses. Out of the 18 total horses going on the trip, 11 will be unbroken, untrained mustangs that the young men will adopt from the Bureau of Land Management.

"We'll start the journey with them still being a little green," laughs Masters, the mastermind of the trip. He's confident that the wild horses will adapt quickly to their task.

Though the gesture seems a symbolic one — returning the mustangs to the land from whence they came — Masters assures that it serves a practical purpose as well. The horses are cheap and their bodies well-adjusted to the terrain. "They're really sure-footed and they don't lose weight," he adds.

If a current Kickstarter campaign goes as planned, the trip will be professionally filmed and turned into Unbranded, a documentary about "conservation, exploration and wild mustangs" that would follow all six months of the journey, from breaking the horses to crossing the Canadian border.

And if a five-minute teaser released in conjunction with the Kickstarter is any indication, it would make for a rugged and breathtaking tale.

"All four of us have had the experience of our lives being shaped and changed by the outdoors," says Thamer, who received his bachelors in agricultural economics from A&M. "Part of the message we're trying to get across with this film is that without doing something about it now, those public lands may not be there in the future."

"Part of the message we're trying to get across with this film is that without doing something about it now, those public lands may not be there in the future."

"I see two polarizing forces in land uses," says Masters, who grew up in Amarillo and San Angelo before studying wildlife biology and conservation in college — when he wasn't taking semesters off to guide elk hunts or spending summers on fly fishing excursions.

Like Thamer, he sees a place for compromise between those who want to drain the land of its natural resources, and those who want to leave it alone altogether.

At just 24 years old, and despite an upbringing without horses, Masters is no stranger to this sort of lifestyle: He rode a similar 2,000-mile route along the Continental Divide in the summer of 2010, during which he learned a lot about the land and more about himself — knowledge that will help the four on this longer journey.

Masters and Thamer aren't the only one with an affinity for the lifestyle. Glover, a Houston native who graduated with a degree in construction science last December, has worked as a wrangler and for an elk hunting outfitter. Fitzsimons, a history grad who grew up on a working cattle ranch in Carizo Springs, adds an element of urgency to the trip — he is scheduled to report for a Marine Corps commission on Nov. 1.

The four young men are set to leave, weather depending, on March 16, whether or not they have the funding to make a documentary out of their travels. But with just over two weeks to go on their Kickstarter, the guys are nearly halfway to their $150,000 goal.

Watch the trailer below, and see out how you can help by checking out the Kickstarter page for Unbranded here.

Four recent Texas A&M University graduates are getting ready to embark on a horseback adventure through the untouched lands of the American West.

Unbranded documentary, horses, mountains, January 2013

Unbranded Facebook

Four recent Texas A&M University graduates are getting ready to embark on a horseback adventure through the untouched lands of the American West.

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Preservation efforts

South Texas mission makes list of America’s most endangered historic places

Facebook/Friends of the Ruidosa Church

El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus in Ruidosa, Texas is considered an endangered place.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A historic South Texas mission joins the Stonewall National Monument, the President's House Site, and the Women's Rights National Historic Park among 11 sites on this year's annual list of the most endangered historic places in the United States compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The 2026 list, announced Wednesday, May 20, marks America's 250th anniversary with the foundational principle that everyone is created equal as the theme, said Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization. The 11 sites offer examples of how, over time, Americans have fought against injustice and for equality, she said.

“We wanted to think about those ideas, especially this notion that all human beings are created equal and find places, sometimes unsung places ... that not all Americans routinely think about," Quillen told The Associated Press.

The sites are spread across the United States — from New York and California on the East and West Coasts, to Alabama and Texas in the South, to Michigan in the Midwest and the Four Corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah in the Rocky Mountain West.

At least three of the sites — Stonewall, the El Corazon church in Texas, and President's House in Philadelphia — have been endangered by Trump administration actions.

“We want to save these places," Quillen said, “not just because the bricks and mortar is important but because the stories these places hold are important."

For the first time since the list debuted in 1988, each site on the 2026 list will receive a one-time $25,000 grant to help highlight their connections to the principle that all people are created equal and address the threats they face.

The 11 sites are:

Ruidosa, Texas: El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus
The more than century-old adobe church served as a refuge and place of worship for Mexican and Mexican American farming communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande River. Vacant since the 1950s, the structure has benefited from continued restoration provided by the nonprofit Friends of the Ruidosa Church but remains threatened by proposed construction of a U.S. border wall that could come within a few hundred yards of the property. (The nonprofit has posted an official statement and more information about the border wall here.) Ruidosa is in far west Texas, roughly 35 miles northwest of Presidio and 46 miles southwest of Marfa, near the rugged Chinati Mountains.

A historic photograph of El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus.Facebook/Friends of the Ruidosa Church

Montgomery, Alabama: Ben Moore Hotel
The hotel was a refuge for Black people living under laws that enforced racial separation in the South. Prolonged vacancy has caused structural deterioration and the historic Centennial Hill neighborhood surrounding it faces pressure from development. The hotel housed key players from the Civil Rights Movement, including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy. The Conservation Fund announced in November that it would help preserve the hotel.

Modoc County, California: Tule Lake Segregation Center
Initially known as the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, it was set up as a camp but later became a segregation center where Japanese Americans who were thought to be disloyal to the United States were imprisoned. The site is now a national monument managed by the National Park Service. Only 37 acres of the 1,100-acre site is protected. Most of it is at risk of permanent alteration from a proposed nearby construction project.

California: Angel Island Immigration Station
It was the largest immigration port on the West Coast between 1910 and 1940, particularly for immigrants from Asia and the Pacific. Hundreds of thousands were processed, detained and/or interrogated there because of their race. The station currently is threatened by physical, environmental, political and economic factors. Additional funding is needed for structural repairs and programming to increase awareness.

Somerset, Massachusetts: Swansea Friends Meeting House
Recognized as the oldest surviving Quaker meeting house in the state, it was built in 1701 to serve as a refuge by a congregation fleeing religious persecution and looking for a safe place to worship. The building has been closed for years and needs significant rehabilitation.

Michigan: Detroit Association of Women's Clubs
Founded in 1921, the association was one of the first Black organizations in Detroit to own their headquarters building, which was purchased in 1941. But the building has been closed since 2024, when water pipes burst and damaged the interior. Money is needed to help the association reopen the building.

New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah: Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape
The landscape is an ancestral homeland sustained for over a millennium by the Pueblo and Hopi people, but is threatened by changes to federal land policy that could open up significant portions to oil and gas development. Permanent protections and tribal consultation are needed to protect its cultural integrity.

Seneca Falls, New York: Women's Rights National Historical Park
The park tells the story of the first Women's Rights Convention, held in Seneca Falls, in July 1848. It faces a deferred maintenance backlog of over $10 million. Additional funding and support are needed to help preserve the park as a place to teach visitors about the history of women's rights.

New York: Stonewall National Monument
The first and only U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history was the subject of administration actions that saw the rainbow Pride flag removed from its flagpole earlier this year before it was restored. The National Park Service had removed the flag in February, citing federal guidance that limited the agency to displaying only the American, Interior Department and POW/MIA flags. But the administration reversed course in April as it agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by advocacy and historic preservation groups that sought to block the flag's removal at the Manhattan site.

After Trump returned to office, he ended diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and many references to transgender people were excised from the Stonewall monument’s website and materials. The Republican administration similarly has put national parks, museums and landmarks under a messaging microscope, aiming to remove or alter materials that it says are “divisive or partisan” or “inappropriately disparage Americans.”

Philadelphia: The President's House Site
The administration abruptly removed exhibits on the lives of nine people enslaved at the site in the 1790s under George Washington, the first U.S. president, who lived there when Philadelphia served as the nation's capital. The exhibits were taken down as part of a broad effort by the administration to remove from federal properties information it deems “disparaging” to Americans. The issue is currently the subject of litigation between the city and federal government.

Heath Springs, South Carolina: Hanging Rock Revolutionary War Battlefield
The Battle of Hanging Rock was a key battle in the Southern Campaigns of the Revolutionary War and is considered a Patriot victory that helped boost morale and ultimately weaken British control in South Carolina. Only portions of the core battlefield are protected and open to the public, with the area anticipating population growth and increasing development pressures.