Wild Horses of the American West

Interesting and Informative Facts About the Mustang

Sep 20, 2009

The American Mustang has a rich and colorful history. Moreover, the breed provided the foundation for many other breeds, including the popular Quarter Horse.

The English word “mustang” has its roots in the Spanish “mestengo,” meaning stray or feral animal, and “mesteria,” meaning a herd of horses (Webster’s). Regardless of the Spanish origins of the breed’s name, however, many Americans see the mustang as symbolic of the spirit of the Old West. Not many people, though, know much, if anything, about the history of the animal they associate with the zeitgeist of this era.

Origins of the Mustang

In 1867, scientists discovered a complete skeleton of Eohippus, the first horse, in the Southern United States and later proved horses had roamed the American continent for millions of years. Slowly evolving into the modern horse, Equus Caballus, the animal eventually migrated across land bridges into Europe and Asia, so that by the time Hernando Cortez and the Spanish conquistadors landed in Mexico in 1519, the horse had completely disappeared from the American Continent. (Edwards)

Bringing with them cattle that would become the foundation stock for ranches of the American West, the Spanish also reintroduced the horse to its native soil. Some of the horses escaped, however, and others were set loose to fend for themselves after the Spanish defeated the Aztecs. These horses formed the nuclei of herds that gradually spread upward into the plains of the territory that would someday become the United States and were the progenitors of the American mustang. (Edwards)

Ancestors of the Mustang

According to J. Frank Dobie, author of The Mustangs, the best Spanish horses were Andalusians (descendents of Arabians and Barbs), and these were the chief source of horse exportation to the New World. While somewhat larger than the Arabian and a bit coarser in confirmation, Andalusians, however, were “swift and exceedingly hardy and enduring” (p. 6).

The Kiger Mustang

The Kiger Mustang is the most similar to the original Spanish stock brought to Mexico, at least in terms of coloring. Jim Johnson of the Bureau of Land Management calls it “the dun factor,” which means that hide colors range from buckskin to reddish dun to mousy gray (grulla); moreover, the horses have dorsal stripes down their backs, zebra stripes on knees and hocks, ears outlined in black, and bicolored manes. (Bingham)

Characteristics of the Mustang

Granted the Kiger is most reflective of original Spanish stock in terms of coloring, and other mustangs can be almost any color, including pinto, but all mustangs share certain characteristics:

The Vanishing Mustang

Although great herds of mustangs once roamed the American West, their numbers were drastically reduced beginning in the late 1700s and early 1800s when traders realized there was money to be made and began capturing and transporting mustangs to markets in cities like New Orleans, Natchitoches, St. Louis, and Natchez. (Flores)

By the turn of the twentieth century, however, the market for mustangs had declined and herds once again began to multiply. As a result, because the horses had virtually no natural predators and herd size doubled approximately every four years, ranchers and “mustangers” (bounty hunters) began slaughtering the horses “as nuisances and threats to grass and water needed for livestock.” (Flores)

Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act

Fearing these symbols of the American West would vanish, in 1971 the Federal government passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act; and under its authority, as well as the later 1976 Federal Land Policy and Land Management Act, the Bureau of Land Management began working to ensure that mustangs would endure.

As a result, nearly 37,000 wild horses and burros now roam federally managed lands in ten Western states. However, the population “exceeds by some 10,350 the number that can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.” (Department of the Interior)

Mustang Adoption Program

In order to restore balance between mustang population and rangeland, the Bureau of Land Management gathers thousands of wild horses and burros each year and offers them for adoption at sites throughout the country. If people are approved as “willing and able to provide humane, long-term care,” they can adopt a mustang for a nominal fee that covers transportation to the site, vaccinations, worming, and testing for disease. (Department of the Interior)

Strict guidelines apply, however; for example, prospective owners must have the proper facilities:

Yes, this magnificent horse is an integral part of American history, and thanks to the efforts of the Bureau of Land Management, it will continue to endure so that future generations of Americans can know and appreciate the beauty and majesty of the mustang.

Bingham, L., Out of the Wild; The Oregonian, Sunday, November 18, 2007, p. O8.

Flores, D. (2008) Bringing Home All the Pretty Horses; Montana the Magazine of Western History, Summer 2008, Volume 58, Number 2, pages 3-21

U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, National Wild Horse and Burro Program, retrieved September 20, 2009 from blm.gov

The copyright of the article Wild Horses of the American West in Horses is owned by Carol Rzadkiewicz. Permission to republish Wild Horses of the American West in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.