Spanish Mustang
Encyclopedia
The 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. They are classified within the larger grouping of the Colonial Spanish horse.
Spanish Mustangs today are primarily domesticated horses
but are sometimes confused with the feral
American Mustang
. The latter animals are descended from both Spanish horses and other feral horses escaped from various sources; they run wild in protected Herd Management Areas (HMAs) of the western United States, currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), and to a lesser degree, in Canada. DNA
studies indicate that Spanish breeding and type does still exist in some feral Mustang herds, including those on the Cerbat HMA (near Kingman, Arizona), Pryor Mountain HMA (Montana), Sulphur HMA (Utah), Kiger HMA and the Riddle Mountain HMA (Oregon). The true Spanish Mustang as a modern breed differs from the "wild" American Mustang in appearance and ancestry.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, many ranch
ers introduced Thoroughbred
s, draft horse
s, Arabians
, Morgans
and other breeds into most feral herds, seeking to improve the type. However, the breed was saved from extinction by the efforts of preservation breeders and the creation of a registry to protect and preserve the original type.
to the Caribbean within the first 30 years of Conquest of the New World. The Spanish Mustang is a descendant of the Spanish horses brought from Cuba, Hispanola, and other islands during the conquest and establishment of the Spanish colony of New Spain
in what today is Mexico. They are a direct remnant of the horses of a type that is mostly or wholly extinct now in Spain
As the conquest of Mexico progressed during the 16th century, horse herds spread north and crossed the Rio Grande
. Over the next one hundred years, horses in the Americas were stolen and traded by the Apache
, Comanche
, and later the Utes
and Shoshoni to various tribes across the Great Plains
and Rocky Mountains. Lewis and Clark received horses, later claimed to be Spanish Mustangs, from the Shoshoni, and said they owed much of the success of their expedition to the horses.
Spanish Mustang developed as a distinct type during the 17th and 18th centuries, prior to the arrival of English-speaking American settlers on the Great Plains. By the late 19th century, the advance of farming onto the Great Plains threatened the existence of the Spanish Mustang, as this horse was deemed too small to be useful for the farm work. Both farmers and ranchers introduced taller and heavier horses into wild herds to create a different type of animal more suitable to the immediate needs of settlers. Thus various draft horse breeds, Morgans, Thoroughbreds, and other animals were crossed into the mustang herds.
On the brink of extinction in the early part of this century, the salvation of the original Spanish type can be attributed primarily, but not exclusively, to Ferdinand L. Brislawn and his brother Robert E. Brislawn of Oshoto, Wyoming, who founded the Spanish Mustang Registry, Inc. in 1957. Two full brothers, Buckshot and Ute, were his first foundation stallions, sired by a buckskin stallion named Monty and out of Ute Reservation blood on the dam's side. Monty, captured in 1927 in Utah, escaped back to the wild in 1944, taking his mares with him. He was never recaptured.
Spanish Mustangs exist in many colors
, due to the wide range of colors in their Spanish ancestors. They are commonly found in bay, chestnut
, black
and gray
. Other colors seen less commonly include the Appaloosa
and paint patterns and solid colors such as grulla, buckskin
, palomino
, cremello, isabella
, roan
and perlino.
Spanish Mustangs were and still are known for their stamina and hardiness. The United States Army switched to using Spanish Mustangs while fighting Indians in the American West after discovering that their own horses were not able to match the Western-bred ponies ridden by the Indians. Lewis and Clark also noted the toughness of the Spanish Mustang, after being gifted some of the horses by the Shoshone
. Frank Hopkins
, a legendary horseman, was also among the proponents of the breed. Today, the breed is still known for its long-distance ability, and is ridden by many endurance riders
. The Spanish Mustang is also used to compete in a variety of English
and Western riding
events.
Horse breed
Horse breed is a broad term with no clear consensus as to definition, but most commonly refers to selectively bred populations of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a very broad sense to define landrace animals, or...
of historical importance. They descend from horses introduced 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...
during the early conquest of the Americas. They are a type that today is mostly or wholly now extinct in Spain. They are classified within the larger grouping of the Colonial Spanish horse.
Spanish Mustangs today are primarily domesticated horses
Domestication of the horse
There are a number of hypotheses on many of the key issues regarding the domestication of the horse. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were truly wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. How and when horses became domesticated is disputed...
but are sometimes confused with the feral
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...
American Mustang
Mustang (horse)
A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...
. The latter animals are descended from both Spanish horses and other feral horses escaped from various sources; they run wild in protected Herd Management Areas (HMAs) of the western United States, currently managed 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...
(BLM), and to a lesser degree, in Canada. DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
studies indicate that Spanish breeding and type does still exist in some feral Mustang herds, including those on the Cerbat HMA (near Kingman, Arizona), Pryor Mountain HMA (Montana), Sulphur HMA (Utah), Kiger HMA and the Riddle Mountain HMA (Oregon). The true Spanish Mustang as a modern breed differs from the "wild" American Mustang in appearance and ancestry.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, many ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
ers introduced 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...
s, 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...
s, Arabians
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...
, Morgans
Morgan horse
The Morgan is one of the earliest horse breeds developed in the United States. Tracing back to the stallion Figure, later named Justin Morgan after his best-known owner, the breed excels in many disciplines, and is known for its versatility....
and other breeds into most feral herds, seeking to improve the type. However, the breed was saved from extinction by the efforts of preservation breeders and the creation of a registry to protect and preserve the original type.
History
The Colonial Spanish Horse developed from animals of various breeds and types first brought from the Iberian peninsulaIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
to the Caribbean within the first 30 years of Conquest of the New World. The Spanish Mustang is a descendant of the Spanish horses brought from Cuba, Hispanola, and other islands during the conquest and establishment of the Spanish colony of New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
in what today is Mexico. They are a direct remnant of the horses of a type that is mostly or wholly extinct now in Spain
As the conquest of Mexico progressed during the 16th century, horse herds spread north and crossed the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
. Over the next one hundred years, horses in the Americas were stolen and traded by the Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
, Comanche
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...
, and later the Utes
Ute Tribe
The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...
and Shoshoni to various tribes across the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
and Rocky Mountains. Lewis and Clark received horses, later claimed to be Spanish Mustangs, from the Shoshoni, and said they owed much of the success of their expedition to the horses.
Spanish Mustang developed as a distinct type during the 17th and 18th centuries, prior to the arrival of English-speaking American settlers on the Great Plains. By the late 19th century, the advance of farming onto the Great Plains threatened the existence of the Spanish Mustang, as this horse was deemed too small to be useful for the farm work. Both farmers and ranchers introduced taller and heavier horses into wild herds to create a different type of animal more suitable to the immediate needs of settlers. Thus various draft horse breeds, Morgans, Thoroughbreds, and other animals were crossed into the mustang herds.
On the brink of extinction in the early part of this century, the salvation of the original Spanish type can be attributed primarily, but not exclusively, to Ferdinand L. Brislawn and his brother Robert E. Brislawn of Oshoto, Wyoming, who founded the Spanish Mustang Registry, Inc. in 1957. Two full brothers, Buckshot and Ute, were his first foundation stallions, sired by a buckskin stallion named Monty and out of Ute Reservation blood on the dam's side. Monty, captured in 1927 in Utah, escaped back to the wild in 1944, taking his mares with him. He was never recaptured.
Characteristics
The Spanish Mustang Registry, founded in 1957, describes the breed standard as follows:
- "The Spanish Mustang is a medium sized horse
HorseThe 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...
ranging from 13.1 to 15 hands with an average size of approximately 14.2 hands with proportional weight. They are smooth muscled with short backs, rounded rumps and low set tails. Coupling is smooth and the overall appearance is of a well balanced, smoothly built horse. The girth is deep, with well laid back shoulder and fairly pronounced withers. They possess the classic Spanish type head with a straight or concave forehead and a convex nose which is in contrast to the straight forehead and nose of most breeds. Ears are medium to short and usually notched or curved towards each other. Necks are fairly well crested in mares and geldings and heavily crested in mature stallions. Chests are narrow but deep with the front legs joining the chest in an "A" shape rather than straight across. Chestnuts are small or missing altogether, particularly on the rear legs. Ergots are small or absent. Feet are extremely sound with thick walls, many having what is typically known as a "mule foot" which resists bruising due to the concave sole. Cannons are short, upper foreleg is long with the canon bone having a larger circumference than other breeds of comparable size and weight. Long strided, many are gaitedAmblingThe term amble or ambling is used to describe a number of four-beat intermediate gaits of horses. All are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter or gallop...
, with a comfortable gait such as the amble, running walk or single foot. Some individuals are laterally gaited and do a very credible "paso" gait though without extreme knee action. They are remarkably hardy animals and tend to be less prone to injury, particularly of the legs and feet, than other breeds. These magnificent horses were brought to America on Columbus's second voyage to the new world."
Spanish Mustangs exist in many colors
Equine coat color
Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.While most horses remain the same color throughout life, a few, over the course of several years, will develop a different coat color from that with which they were born...
, due to the wide range of colors in their Spanish ancestors. They are commonly found in bay, chestnut
Chestnut (coat)
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...
, black
Black (horse)
Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...
and gray
Gray (horse)
Gray or grey is a coat color of horses characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike many depigmentation genes, gray does not affect skin or eye color Their adult hair coat is white, dappled, or white intermingled...
. Other colors seen less commonly include 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...
and paint patterns and solid colors such as grulla, buckskin
Buckskin
Buckskin may refer to:*Buckskin , leather made of buck hide*Buckskins, an outfit of buckskin leather*Buckskin , a color of horses similar to buckskin leather...
, palomino
Palomino
Palomino is a coat color in horses, consisting of a gold coat and white mane and tail. Genetically, the palomino color is created by a single allele of a dilution gene called the cream gene working on a "red" base coat...
, cremello, isabella
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:* 210 Isabella, an asteroid* Isabella , an American hybrid grape variety* Isabelline or Isabella, a greyish-yellow or light buff colour* Isabella piercing, a female genital piercing- United States :...
, roan
Roan
Roan may refer to:*a roan, a valley that curves upward.*Battle of Roan's Tan Yard, an action during the American Civil War*John Roan school, a comprehensive secondary school in Blackheath, South-East London...
and perlino.
Spanish Mustangs were and still are known for their stamina and hardiness. The United States Army switched to using Spanish Mustangs while fighting Indians in the American West after discovering that their own horses were not able to match the Western-bred ponies ridden by the Indians. Lewis and Clark also noted the toughness of the Spanish Mustang, after being gifted some of the horses by the Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
. Frank Hopkins
Frank Hopkins
Frank Hopkins was an American professional horseman who at one time performed with the Ringling Brothers Circus. He was known as a legendary distance rider, claimed to have won 400 races, and was recognized by his contemporaries as supporting the preservation of the mustang.-Early life and...
, a legendary horseman, was also among the proponents of the breed. Today, the breed is still known for its long-distance ability, and is ridden by many endurance riders
Endurance riding
Endurance riding is an equestrian sport based on controlled long-distance races. It is one of the international competitions recognized by the FEI. There are endurance rides worldwide....
. The Spanish Mustang is also used to compete in a variety of English
English riding
English riding is a term used to describe a form of horse riding that is seen throughout the world. There are many variations in English riding, but all feature a flat English saddle without the deep seat, high cantle or saddle horn seen on a Western saddle nor the knee pads seen on an Australian...
and Western riding
Western riding
Western riding is a style of horseback riding which evolved from the ranching and warfare traditions brought to the Americas by the Spanish Conquistadors, and both equipment and riding style evolved to meet the working needs of the cowboy in the American West...
events.