History of America's Wild Horses

The Przewalski's horse.

Some hold Przewalski's to be a separate species from the domestic horse

(Equus Caballus), the last remnant of the wild horse Equus ferus, 

others hold it is a subspecies of Equus caballus.

The horse first appeared on the North American continent about 55 million years ago, along with it's ancestor the Eohippus.The Eohippus is a four-toed small animal about the size of a small dog. Eohippus means "Dawn Horse". The Eohippus then evolved into a larger, hoofed animal that adapted and survived on the prairies and became what is the Equus caballus. About 10 million years ago, for reasons not known, horses left and disappeared from North America. They made their journey across the Bering Straits and into Asia, and across to the Middle East and Europe and Africa until no horses remained in North America. Horses were reintroduced to the Americas around 1519 when settlers from Spain arrived and brought horses with them.

Horses were domesticated about 5,000 years ago in Asia. Horses were then used to carry armies into battle and to work the fields and travel farther then man could ever go on foot. As time went on, horses escaped from captivity and adapted to living free on the range. They began to create "bands" or "herds" of horses that would be made up of a lead stallion and a band of mares and their offspring.

Over 100 years ago, ranchers would have their ranch horses live out winters on the open range and then recapture them in the spring, along with some stray Mustangs. Some would often evade capture and go on to live free-roaming on the land and join with wild herds.

One hundred years ago there were two million free-roaming horses in North America. It was then that ranchers and the government began rounding up and capturing the wild horses for slaughter to be made into dog food or used for bi-products, and to be sold to the Military for use. By 1930's most of the West had been broken up into private ranches, except the land that was considered not suitable for their livestock. The ranchers chose to not pay taxes on that land, and the unproductive land became public domain. It was there that the wild horses were pushed out to live in these arid areas where their grazing pastures and water sources they used for hundreds of years, were now fenced off by cattle ranchers. But they have adapted and endured

The practice of capturing or "rounding up" the wild horses began in a very cruel way and the horses were abused, injured and tortured to make them unable to escape while being transported on their way to slaughter. Methods also included, poisoning, hunting them by airplane to run them into corrals at a high speed and trap them into corals where they suffered traumatic injuries and abuse. People began to become aware of these atrocities happening to our wild horses. In the 1950's - Movies like "The Misfits" brought public awareness to the horrors of what was termed "mustanging" of these beautiful wild horses. "Wild Horse Annie" (Velma Bronn Johnston) is known to arouse the public to stop the cruel round-ups and was a leader in the movement to protect the wild horses. Wild Horse Annie was responsible for the first Federal Wild Free-Roaming Horse Protection Law in 1959 (Public Law 86-234, the "Wild Horse Annie Act")

Later the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 was adopted. Bureau of Land Management is the department responsible for Herd Management of America's wild horse herds.There is a large sector of the public that is angry at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) handling of the gathers and the HMA's (Herd Management Areas) and the handling of the round-ups in which helicopters chase the horses for many miles over hard ground and rocky hills, often to their death. The BLM continued to rush through this years round-ups in early July of 2010, very soon after foaling season when newborn foals and pregnant mares risked certain death or miscarriages. The BLM show little regard to the fact they are also causing disbandment of the small number of herds left in North America and destruction of the original bands and bloodlines of this American icon, the wild horse or "Mustang". The BLM currently is scheduled to round-up 6000 more horses in 2010 and appear to be denying and limiting public access to view the round-ups and the trapping sites to view the treatment of the horses upon capture.

Today there are less then 25,000 wild horses left on our public lands. The BLM currently is holding 36,000 wild horses from the gathers, and many are reported to be facing euthanasia in the hands of the BLM.

~ Mustang is Spanish for Mestengo, derived from Spanish "mesteno"
meaning " stray livestock animal ~

Sources ~  http://www.mustangs4us.com & Wikipedia
Photo ~  Tamara Gooch

Allyson Holmgren - 2010