The Mustang~spirit of the west

[valley ranch]

The Spanish Conquistadors brought, Spanish and Portuguese horses, these were mostly Iberian. The Iberian is the Root Stock of the Mustang. While pockets of Iberian horses can be found, the Mustang can’t be said to be the Iberian as Friesian, and other lines have been bred into what is now the Mustang. The stronger hooves and easy keeper qualities of the Mustang is due to the fact that any horse with a weakness would not survive and only strong qualities remain.

The word Mustang comes from Mustengo~Ownerless or Stray ( run away). Feral means the same.

Definition of feral

1. 1: of, relating to, or suggestive of a wild beast <feral teeth> <feralinstincts>

2. 2a : not domesticated or cultivated : wildb : having escaped from domestication and become wild <feralcats>


The reason those who hate the Mustang want the Wild Horse of Western States to be deemed FERAL is:


The Wild Horse Protection ACT was meant to protect what we call the Mustang: A wild horse that is bred and living in the on the land.


Feral Horses would be according to their use of the word without protection, and could be done with, disposed of as they wish.


There are thousands of square miles of food rich land out here not being used for grazing of stock and never will be.


The referring to these Wonderful animals as not of 100% Spanish, Iberian~ not indigenous or of pure stock is~ well a description of themselves.

They are most likely from the Americas and usually not of purely one ancestral group.


There hatred of these beautiful horses is it’s self hateful, they could put that misguided drive and energy to a much better use

 

[valley ranch]

 

[valley ranch]

 

[valley ranch]

It would be nice to save this beautiful bunch!

 

[ducks4you]

I wish that it was that simple. Kenn McNabb did a great program several years ago that explained how mustangs live in pockets and would not survive if the ranchers didn't give them watering holes and forage in the winter. There IS no great American expanse anymore. Everybody owns contiguous tracts of land out West. Plus in our 8 years of Depression, many horse owners have abandoned their horses, set them loose, so registered and unregistered domestic stock is interbreeding with the wild stock.
They SHOULD be treated like we treat deer in IL, one of things that this state does RIGHT, and monitor to keep the numbers low and the stock healthy.
Instead, the BLM casually treats them as a cash cow. AND they often don't bother to round them up on horseback, but use helicopters. Many foals dies this way. IT is a REAL, HOT MESS!!!
There is no guarantee that any Mustang that you pay the Federal Government to "adopt" is any healthier than the horse you buy from a breeder or at auction.
Personally, I would like to see licensed Mustang breeders. I believe that this could help the situation.

 

[valley ranch]

They know where the rivers are, and there are great miles of open land with no one and nothing but bush.

I can see these hill from where I'm sitting.

 

[valley ranch]

I see you're in East Central, IL, You auta come west and see what your country looks like.

 

[ducks4you]

Where we live you can support 1 horse/1 acre of pasture. In the desert it's more like 1 horse/50 acres of desert pasture. We go West to CO every year. I believe McNabb bc he is WY, where I have vacationed MANY, MANY times. Please...
I also know that WY has high country desert and you live in low country desert. Not much to eat for an herbavore. I believe that too much money, $50,000/mustang, goes towards keeping feral animals for a romantic notion. They are vulnerable to predators and are often found scarred from attacks, or dead and suffer for again, somebody's romantic notion. They also compete with native animals.

 

[bobm]

Valley... My family and I have loved, owned and bred horses for generations. I am well aware of what a mustang is ... a feral horse that first escaped from the Spanish Conquistadors and later from settlers that came later., then more recently several years ago, due to the bleeding hearts getting a law passed to stop slaughter of horses in the US and the added recession many people turned their horses loose to fend for themselves. The pictures that you posted are cute, no question about it ! But what damage do the "mustangs" do ? These feral horses take up lands and consume huge quantities of food forage that takes away home and sustenance for many native animal, avian and plant species that have evolved over time to occupy these specific environments in the arid West . Many of them are now at the verge of extinction due to these feral horses causing them great harm . Then add the issue of some folks that are stuck with a romantic vision of a short period of time in this country's history and will not face reality. This has created a real financial crisis that has forced the taxpayer to pay the huge financial bill to manage the huge overpopulation of feral horses that are overgrazing the carrying capacity of the Western rangelands for our fragile native species. Are you and others of similar views personally going to step up to the plate and pay for your mustangs keep instead of forcing us taxpayers to foot the bill ?

 

[Nyboy]

Whether native or not the Mustang has a place in this countries history. Just like the wild burrows from the days of gold mining. I think the horses fit in with the First Americans history and should be protected.