.gif)
Mustang (horse)
Encyclopedia
A Mustang is a free-roaming horse
of the North America
n west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas
by the Spanish
. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horse
s, but there is intense debate over terminology. Because they are descended from once-domesticated horses, they can be classified as feral horse
s.
In 1971, the United States Congress
recognized Mustangs as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, which continue to contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.” Today, Mustang herds vary in the degree to which they can be traced to original Iberian horse
s. Some contain a greater genetic mixture of ranch stock and more recent breed releases, while others are relatively unchanged from the original Iberian stock, most strongly represented in the most isolated populations.
Today, the Mustang population is managed and protected by the Bureau of Land Management
. Controversy surrounds the sharing of land and resources by the free ranging Mustangs with the livestock
of the ranching industry, and also with the methods with which the federal government manages the wild population numbers. An additional debate centers on the question if Mustangs—and horses in general—are a native species or an introduced, invasive species
. Many methods of population management are used, including the adoption by private individuals of horses taken from the range.
s but, since all free-roaming horses now in the Americas descended from horses that were once domesticated, the more correct term is feral horse
s.
The English word "mustang" comes from the Mexican Spanish
word mestengo, derived from Spanish
mesteño, meaning "stray livestock animal". The Spanish word in turn may possibly originate from the Latin
expression animalia mixta (mixed beasts), referring to beasts of uncertain ownership, which were distributed in shepherd councils, known as mesta
s in medieval Spain. A mestengo was any animal distributed in those councils, and by extension any feral animal.
Today, the only true wild horse
is the Przewalski's Horse
, native to Mongolia. However, the horse family Equidae
and the genus Equus evolved in North America. Studies using ancient DNA
as well as DNA of recent individuals shows there once were two closely related horse species in North America, the "wild horse" (Equus ferus) and the "Stilt-legged Horse;" which is taxonomically assigned to various names. Thus, primitive horses
lived in North America
in prehistoric times. However, the genus Equus in North America died out at the end of the last ice age
around 10-12,000 years ago, possibly due to a changing climate or the impact of newly arrived human hunters. Thus at the beginning of the Columbian Exchange
, there were no equids in the Americas at all. Horses first returned with the conquistador
s, beginning with Columbus
, who imported horses from Spain
to the West Indies on his second voyage in 1493. Domesticated horses came to the mainland with the arrival of Cortés
in 1519.
The first Mustangs descended from Iberian horse
s brought to Mexico
and Florida
. Most of these horses were of Andalusian
, Arabian
and Barb
ancestry. Some of these horses escaped or were captured by Native Americans
, and rapidly spread throughout western North America.
Native Americans quickly adopted the horse as a primary means of transportation. Horses replaced the dog as a travois
puller and greatly improved success in battles, trade, and hunts, particularly bison
hunts.
Starting in the colonial era and continuing with the westward expansion of the 1800s, horses belonging to explorers, traders and settlers that escaped or were purposely released joined the gene pool of Spanish-descended herds. It was also common practice for western ranchers to release their horses to locate forage
for themselves in the winter and then recapture them, as well as any additional Mustangs, in the spring. Some ranchers also attempted to "improve" wild herds by shooting the dominant stallions and replacing them with pedigreed animals.
By 1900 North America had an estimated two million free-roaming horses. Since 1900, the Mustang population has been reduced drastically. Mustangs were viewed as a resource that could be captured and used or sold (especially for military
use) or slaughter
ed for food, especially pet food. The controversial practice of mustanging was dramatized in the John Huston film The Misfits
, and the abuses linked to certain capture methods, including hunting from airplanes and poisoning, led to the first federal wild free-roaming horse protection law in 1959. This statute, known as the "Wild Horse Annie Act," prohibited the use of motor vehicles for hunting wild horses and burros. Protection was increased further by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
.
The 1971 Act provided for protection of certain previously established herds of horses and burros. Today, the Bureau of Land Management
is the primary authority that oversees the protection and management of Mustang herds on public lands, while the United States Forest Service
administers additional wild horse or burro territories.
Native American people readily integrated use of the horse into their cultures. Among the most capable horse-breeding native tribes of North America were the Comanche
, the Shoshoni, and the Nez Perce. The last in particular became master horse breeders, and developed one of the first distinctly American breeds: the Appaloosa
. Most other tribes did not practice extensive amounts of selective breeding
, though they sought out desirable horses through acquisition and quickly weeded out those with undesirable traits.
In some modern mustang herds there is clear evidence of other domesticated horse breeds having become intermixed with feral herds. Some herds show the signs of the introduction of Thoroughbred
or other light racehorse-types into herds, a process that also led in part to the creation of the American Quarter Horse
. Other herds show signs of the intermixing of heavy draft horse
breeds turned loose in an attempt to create work horses. Other, more isolated herds, retain a strong influence of original Spanish stock.
Some breeders of domestic horses consider the Mustang herds of the west to be inbred
and of inferior quality. However, supporters of the Mustang argue that the animals are merely small due to their harsh living conditions and that natural selection has eliminated many traits that lead to weakness or inferiority. Some mustang supporters also maintain that some "inbreeding" actually concentrates the traits of hardiness and durability, making the mustang a valuable genetic resource. Regardless of these debates, the Mustang of the modern west has several different breeding populations today which are genetically isolated from one another and thus have distinct traits traceable to particular herds. These herds vary in the degree to which they can be traced to original Iberian horse
s. Some contain a greater genetic mixture of ranch stock and more recent breed releases, others are relatively unchanged from the original Iberian stock.
Two researchers have advanced an argument that Mustangs should be legally classified as "wild" rather than "feral." They argue that, due to the presence of Equus ferus ferus
on the North American continent till the end of the Pleistocene
era, horses were once native animals and should still be considered as native animals, and therefore defined as "wild," and not viewed as an exotic species that draws resources and attention away from true native species.
Today, free-roaming horses are protected under United States law, but have disappeared from several states where there were once established populations. A few hundred free-roaming horses survive in Alberta
and British Columbia
. The BLM considers roughly 26,000 individuals a manageable number, but the feral Mustang population in February 2010 was 33,700 horses and 4,700 burros. More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada
(which features the horses on its State Quarter
in commemoration of this), with other significant populations in Montana
, Wyoming
and Oregon
. Another 34,000 horses are in holding facilities.
Controversy surrounds the presence of feral Mustang herds. Supporters argue that Mustangs are part of the natural heritage of the American West, whose history predates modern land use practices, and thus the animals have an inherent right of inhabitation. However, other people remain vehemently opposed to their presence, arguing that the animals degrade rangeland
and compete with livestock and wild species for forage.
The debate as to what degree Mustangs and cattle compete for forage is multifaceted. One group of opponents, primarily cattle and sheep ranchers and those who depend on the livestock industry, argue essentially that feral horses degrade rangeland and compete with private livestock for public land forage. The environmentalist community is split over the position of the Mustang within the North American ecosystem
. This debate centers on the potential classification of Mustangs as either an introduced species
such as cattle, or as a reintroduced native species due to the prehistoric presence of horses in North America, albeit with a gap of thousands of years between their extinction and reintroduction from European stock.
Researchers note that most current Mustang herds live in arid areas which cattle cannot fully utilize due to the lack of water sources. Horses are better adapted by evolution
to such climates; they may range nine times as far from water sources as cattle, traveling as much as 50 miles a day. This allows them to utilize areas not grazed by cattle. In addition, horses are "hindgut fermenters," meaning that they digest nutrients by means of the cecum
rather than by a multi-chambered stomach. In practical effect, horses can obtain adequate nutrition
from poorer forage than can cattle, surviving in areas where cattle will starve.
The Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) is tasked with protecting, managing, and controlling wild horses and burros under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands and as multiple-use mission under the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act
. Under the 1971 Act, shooting or poisoning Mustangs in the wild is illegal, and doing so can be prosecuted as a criminal felony.
Healthy adult Mustangs have few natural predators aside from mountain lions, and to a lesser extent, grizzly bear
s and wolves. The mountain lion is well known for predation on feral horses, and the larger members of the species may hunt both horses and moose
. They are very effective predators that kill by either leaping onto an animal or chasing it down in a sprint, then grabbing the prey with their front claws and biting the neck, either at the windpipe or the spine.
Where there is natural balance of predators and prey, Mustang numbers tend to stay in balance. However, in many areas, natural predators have been eliminated from the ecosystem. Without some form of population control, Mustang herd sizes
can multiply rapidly, doubling as fast as every four years. To maintain population balance, (or, some argue, to make room for cattle) one of the BLM’s key responsibilities under the 1971 law is to determine an appropriate management level (AML) of wild horses and burros in areas of public rangeland
s dedicated specifically for them.
Control of the population to within AML is achieved through a capture program. There are strict guidelines for techniques used to round up Mustangs. One method uses a tamed horse, called a "Judas horse," which has been trained to lead wild horses into a pen or corral. Once the Mustangs are herded into an area near the holding pen, the Judas horse is released. Its job is then to move to the head of the herd and lead them into a confined area.
Most horses that are captured are offered for adoption to individuals or groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care after payment of an adoption fee of at least $125. In order to prevent the later sale of mustangs as horse meat, adopted mustangs are still protected under the Act, and cannot be sold in the first year except when certain very specific criteria are met. As of 2010, nearly 225,000 Mustangs have been adopted.
Because there is a much larger pool of captured horses than of prospective adoptive owners, a number of efforts have been made to reduce the number of horses in holding facilities. At present, there are about 34,000 Mustangs in holding facilities and long-term grassland pastures. The BLM has publicly considered euthanasia
as a possible solution to overpopulation. In January 2005, a controversial amendment was attached to an appropriation bill
before the United States Congress
by former Senator Conrad Burns
, dubbed the "Burns rider." This modified the adoption program to allow the sale (with the result usually being slaughter) of captured horses that are "more than 10 years of age", or that were "offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least three times." In 2009, Secretary of the Interior
Ken Salazar
proposed the creation of federal wild horse preserves in the midwest, where non-reproducing animals would be kept. Another approach to placing excess animals has been advanced by Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil magnate T. Boone Pickens, who seeks to create a private sanctuary in northern Nevada. There are also increased efforts to assist with finding appropriate adoption homes. One example is a promotional competition, The Extreme Mustang Makeover, that gives trainers 100 days to gentle and train 100 mustangs, which are then adopted through an auction.
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
of the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
by the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horse
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
s, but there is intense debate over terminology. Because they are descended from once-domesticated horses, they can be classified as feral horse
Feral horse
A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated ancestry. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses...
s.
In 1971, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
recognized Mustangs as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, which continue to contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people.” Today, Mustang herds vary in the degree to which they can be traced to original Iberian horse
Iberian horse
The Iberian horse is a title given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian peninsula. At present, 17 horse breeds are recognized by FAO as characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula....
s. Some contain a greater genetic mixture of ranch stock and more recent breed releases, while others are relatively unchanged from the original Iberian stock, most strongly represented in the most isolated populations.
Today, the Mustang population is managed and protected by the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
. Controversy surrounds the sharing of land and resources by the free ranging Mustangs with the livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
of the ranching industry, and also with the methods with which the federal government manages the wild population numbers. An additional debate centers on the question if Mustangs—and horses in general—are a native species or an introduced, invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
. Many methods of population management are used, including the adoption by private individuals of horses taken from the range.
Etymology and usage
Mustangs are often referred to as wild horseWild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
s but, since all free-roaming horses now in the Americas descended from horses that were once domesticated, the more correct term is feral horse
Feral horse
A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated ancestry. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses...
s.
The English word "mustang" comes from the Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish is a version of the Spanish language, as spoken in Mexico and in various places of Canada and the United States of America, where there are communities of Mexican origin....
word mestengo, derived from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
mesteño, meaning "stray livestock animal". The Spanish word in turn may possibly originate from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
expression animalia mixta (mixed beasts), referring to beasts of uncertain ownership, which were distributed in shepherd councils, known as mesta
Mesta
The Mesta was a powerful association of sheep holders in the medieval Kingdom of Castile....
s in medieval Spain. A mestengo was any animal distributed in those councils, and by extension any feral animal.
History
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
is the Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse
Przewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
, native to Mongolia. However, the horse family Equidae
Equidae
Equidae is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus Equus...
and the genus Equus evolved in North America. Studies using ancient DNA
Ancient DNA
Ancient DNA is DNA isolated from ancient specimens. It can be also loosely described as any DNA recovered from biological samples that have not been preserved specifically for later DNA analyses...
as well as DNA of recent individuals shows there once were two closely related horse species in North America, the "wild horse" (Equus ferus) and the "Stilt-legged Horse;" which is taxonomically assigned to various names. Thus, primitive horses
Equus (genus)
Equus is a genus of animals in the family Equidae that includes horses, donkeys, and zebras. Within Equidae, Equus is the only extant genus. Like Equidae more broadly, Equus has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. This article deals primarily with the extant species.The term equine...
lived in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in prehistoric times. However, the genus Equus in North America died out at the end of the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
around 10-12,000 years ago, possibly due to a changing climate or the impact of newly arrived human hunters. Thus at the beginning of the Columbian Exchange
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations , communicable disease, and ideas between the Eastern and Western hemispheres . It was one of the most significant events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in all of human history...
, there were no equids in the Americas at all. Horses first returned with the conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
s, beginning with Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, who imported horses from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
to the West Indies on his second voyage in 1493. Domesticated horses came to the mainland with the arrival of Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
in 1519.
The first Mustangs descended from Iberian horse
Iberian horse
The Iberian horse is a title given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian peninsula. At present, 17 horse breeds are recognized by FAO as characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula....
s brought to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Most of these horses were of Andalusian
Andalusian horse
The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE , is a horse breed developed in the Iberian Peninsula. Its ancestors have been present on the Iberian Peninsula for thousands of years. The Andalusian has been recognized as an individual breed since the 15th century, and its conformation...
, Arabian
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
and Barb
Barb (horse)
Developed on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, the Barb horse is a desert breed with great hardiness and stamina. The Barb generally possesses a fiery temperament and an atypical sport-horse conformation, but nevertheless has influenced modern breeds....
ancestry. Some of these horses escaped or were captured by Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, and rapidly spread throughout western North America.
Native Americans quickly adopted the horse as a primary means of transportation. Horses replaced the dog as a travois
Travois
A travois is a frame used by indigenous peoples, notably the Plains Indians of North America, to drag loads over land...
puller and greatly improved success in battles, trade, and hunts, particularly bison
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
hunts.
Starting in the colonial era and continuing with the westward expansion of the 1800s, horses belonging to explorers, traders and settlers that escaped or were purposely released joined the gene pool of Spanish-descended herds. It was also common practice for western ranchers to release their horses to locate forage
Forage
Forage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
for themselves in the winter and then recapture them, as well as any additional Mustangs, in the spring. Some ranchers also attempted to "improve" wild herds by shooting the dominant stallions and replacing them with pedigreed animals.
By 1900 North America had an estimated two million free-roaming horses. Since 1900, the Mustang population has been reduced drastically. Mustangs were viewed as a resource that could be captured and used or sold (especially for military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
use) or slaughter
Animal slaughter
Slaughter is the term used to describe the killing and butchering of animals, usually for food. Commonly it refers to killing and butchering of domestic livestock ....
ed for food, especially pet food. The controversial practice of mustanging was dramatized in the John Huston film The Misfits
The Misfits (film)
The Misfits is a 1961 American drama film written by Arthur Miller, directed by John Huston, and starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter, and Eli Wallach. It was the final film appearance for both Gable and Monroe...
, and the abuses linked to certain capture methods, including hunting from airplanes and poisoning, led to the first federal wild free-roaming horse protection law in 1959. This statute, known as the "Wild Horse Annie Act," prohibited the use of motor vehicles for hunting wild horses and burros. Protection was increased further by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 , is an Act of Congress , signed into law President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971...
.
The 1971 Act provided for protection of certain previously established herds of horses and burros. Today, the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
is the primary authority that oversees the protection and management of Mustang herds on public lands, while the United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
administers additional wild horse or burro territories.
Ancestry
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
, the Shoshoni, and the Nez Perce. The last in particular became master horse breeders, and developed one of the first distinctly American breeds: the Appaloosa
Appaloosa
The Appaloosa is a horse breed best known for its colorful leopard-spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting...
. Most other tribes did not practice extensive amounts of selective breeding
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
, though they sought out desirable horses through acquisition and quickly weeded out those with undesirable traits.
In some modern mustang herds there is clear evidence of other domesticated horse breeds having become intermixed with feral herds. Some herds show the signs of the introduction of Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
or other light racehorse-types into herds, a process that also led in part to the creation of the American Quarter Horse
American Quarter Horse
The American Quarter Horse is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name came from its ability to outdistance other breeds of horses in races of a quarter mile or less; some individuals have been clocked at speeds up to 55 mph...
. Other herds show signs of the intermixing of heavy draft horse
Draft horse
A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...
breeds turned loose in an attempt to create work horses. Other, more isolated herds, retain a strong influence of original Spanish stock.
Some breeders of domestic horses consider the Mustang herds of the west to be inbred
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
and of inferior quality. However, supporters of the Mustang argue that the animals are merely small due to their harsh living conditions and that natural selection has eliminated many traits that lead to weakness or inferiority. Some mustang supporters also maintain that some "inbreeding" actually concentrates the traits of hardiness and durability, making the mustang a valuable genetic resource. Regardless of these debates, the Mustang of the modern west has several different breeding populations today which are genetically isolated from one another and thus have distinct traits traceable to particular herds. These herds vary in the degree to which they can be traced to original Iberian horse
Iberian horse
The Iberian horse is a title given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian peninsula. At present, 17 horse breeds are recognized by FAO as characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula....
s. Some contain a greater genetic mixture of ranch stock and more recent breed releases, others are relatively unchanged from the original Iberian stock.
Two researchers have advanced an argument that Mustangs should be legally classified as "wild" rather than "feral." They argue that, due to the presence of Equus ferus ferus
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
on the North American continent till the end of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
era, horses were once native animals and should still be considered as native animals, and therefore defined as "wild," and not viewed as an exotic species that draws resources and attention away from true native species.
Mustangs today
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The BLM considers roughly 26,000 individuals a manageable number, but the feral Mustang population in February 2010 was 33,700 horses and 4,700 burros. More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
(which features the horses on its State Quarter
50 State Quarters
The 50 State Quarters program is the release of a series of circulating commemorative coins by the United States Mint. Between 1999 and 2008, it featured each of the 50 U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter....
in commemoration of this), with other significant populations in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Another 34,000 horses are in holding facilities.
Land use controversies
Rangeland
Rangelands are vast natural landscapes in the form of grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras...
and compete with livestock and wild species for forage.
The debate as to what degree Mustangs and cattle compete for forage is multifaceted. One group of opponents, primarily cattle and sheep ranchers and those who depend on the livestock industry, argue essentially that feral horses degrade rangeland and compete with private livestock for public land forage. The environmentalist community is split over the position of the Mustang within the North American ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
. This debate centers on the potential classification of Mustangs as either an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
such as cattle, or as a reintroduced native species due to the prehistoric presence of horses in North America, albeit with a gap of thousands of years between their extinction and reintroduction from European stock.
Researchers note that most current Mustang herds live in arid areas which cattle cannot fully utilize due to the lack of water sources. Horses are better adapted by evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
to such climates; they may range nine times as far from water sources as cattle, traveling as much as 50 miles a day. This allows them to utilize areas not grazed by cattle. In addition, horses are "hindgut fermenters," meaning that they digest nutrients by means of the cecum
Cecum
The cecum or caecum is a pouch, connecting the ileum with the ascending colon of the large intestine. It is separated from the ileum by the ileocecal valve or Bauhin's valve, and is considered to be the beginning of the large intestine. It is also separated from the colon by the cecocolic...
rather than by a multi-chambered stomach. In practical effect, horses can obtain adequate nutrition
Equine nutrition
Equine nutrition is the feeding of horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, and other equines. Correct and balanced nutrition is a critical component of proper horse care....
from poorer forage than can cattle, surviving in areas where cattle will starve.
Management and adoption
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
(BLM) is tasked with protecting, managing, and controlling wild horses and burros under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands and as multiple-use mission under the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Federal Land Policy Management Act, or FLPMA , is a United States federal law that governs the way in which the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are managed. The law was enacted in 1976 by the 94th Congress. Congress recognized the value of the public lands, declaring...
. Under the 1971 Act, shooting or poisoning Mustangs in the wild is illegal, and doing so can be prosecuted as a criminal felony.
Healthy adult Mustangs have few natural predators aside from mountain lions, and to a lesser extent, grizzly bear
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
s and wolves. The mountain lion is well known for predation on feral horses, and the larger members of the species may hunt both horses and moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
. They are very effective predators that kill by either leaping onto an animal or chasing it down in a sprint, then grabbing the prey with their front claws and biting the neck, either at the windpipe or the spine.
Where there is natural balance of predators and prey, Mustang numbers tend to stay in balance. However, in many areas, natural predators have been eliminated from the ecosystem. Without some form of population control, Mustang herd sizes
Group size measures
Many animals, including humans, tend to live in groups, herds, flocks, bands, packs, shoals, or colonies of conspecific individuals. The size of these groups, as expressed by the number of participant individuals, is an important aspect of their social environment...
can multiply rapidly, doubling as fast as every four years. To maintain population balance, (or, some argue, to make room for cattle) one of the BLM’s key responsibilities under the 1971 law is to determine an appropriate management level (AML) of wild horses and burros in areas of public rangeland
Rangeland
Rangelands are vast natural landscapes in the form of grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras...
s dedicated specifically for them.
Control of the population to within AML is achieved through a capture program. There are strict guidelines for techniques used to round up Mustangs. One method uses a tamed horse, called a "Judas horse," which has been trained to lead wild horses into a pen or corral. Once the Mustangs are herded into an area near the holding pen, the Judas horse is released. Its job is then to move to the head of the herd and lead them into a confined area.
Most horses that are captured are offered for adoption to individuals or groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care after payment of an adoption fee of at least $125. In order to prevent the later sale of mustangs as horse meat, adopted mustangs are still protected under the Act, and cannot be sold in the first year except when certain very specific criteria are met. As of 2010, nearly 225,000 Mustangs have been adopted.
Because there is a much larger pool of captured horses than of prospective adoptive owners, a number of efforts have been made to reduce the number of horses in holding facilities. At present, there are about 34,000 Mustangs in holding facilities and long-term grassland pastures. The BLM has publicly considered euthanasia
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...
as a possible solution to overpopulation. In January 2005, a controversial amendment was attached to an appropriation bill
Appropriation bill
An appropriation bill or running bill is a legislative motion which authorizes the government to spend money. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending...
before the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
by former Senator Conrad Burns
Conrad Burns
Conrad Ray Burns is a former United States Senator from Montana. He is only the second Republican to represent Montana in the Senate since the passage in 1913 of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and is the longest-serving Republican senator in Montana history.While in...
, dubbed the "Burns rider." This modified the adoption program to allow the sale (with the result usually being slaughter) of captured horses that are "more than 10 years of age", or that were "offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least three times." In 2009, Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Ken Salazar
Ken Salazar
Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez were the first Hispanic U.S...
proposed the creation of federal wild horse preserves in the midwest, where non-reproducing animals would be kept. Another approach to placing excess animals has been advanced by Madeleine Pickens, wife of oil magnate T. Boone Pickens, who seeks to create a private sanctuary in northern Nevada. There are also increased efforts to assist with finding appropriate adoption homes. One example is a promotional competition, The Extreme Mustang Makeover, that gives trainers 100 days to gentle and train 100 mustangs, which are then adopted through an auction.
See also
- Colonial Spanish Horse
- Feral horseFeral horseA feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated ancestry. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses...
- Kiger MustangKiger MustangKiger Mustang is substrain of Mustang horse located in the southeastern part of U.S. state of Oregon. Originally feral horses with specific conformation traits discovered in 1977, the name also applies to their bred-in-captivity progeny....
- Kleppe v. New MexicoKleppe v. New MexicoKleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529 , was a United States Supreme Court decision, which unanimously held that the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 , passed in 1971 by the United States Congress to protect these animals from “capture, branding, harassment, or death,” was a...
- Spanish MustangSpanish MustangThe Spanish Mustang is a horse breed of historical importance. They descend from horses introduced from Spain during the early conquest of the Americas. They are a type that today is mostly or wholly now extinct in Spain...
- Wild horseWild HorseThe wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
, including- Przewalski's horsePrzewalski's HorsePrzewalski's Horse or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse native to the steppes of central Asia, specifically China and Mongolia.At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu...
- TarpanTarpanTarpan is an extinct subspecies of wild horse. The last individual of this subspecies died in captivity in Russia in 1909....
- Przewalski's horse
Further reading
- Nimmo, D. G., & Miller, K. K. (2007) Ecological and human dimensions of management of feral horses in Australia: A review. Wildlife Research, 34, 408-417
- Text of Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971