Mustang
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Names: Mustang. From Spanish mestengo (or mesteño), meaning stranger (or wild, or stray). I'm really not absolutely positive of these words but I will check the spelling and definitions sometime. I believe there is a Spanish Mustang and an American Mustang. For now I will cover them both on this page.
Origin: Descended
from horses brought by the Spanish when they discovered the New World.
Inevitably some of those early horses escaped or were abandoned, and thriving
unbelievably well in their new environment, they spread eventually from Mexico
up to the Canadian
border, founding huge herds of the "wild horses" of Western
legend.
This is the so-called "wild" horse of the western United
States. The first Mustangs were horses (mostly Andalusian) that had
escaped either from the Spanish conquistadores or from the corrals of
later-established ranchers in the southwest and had become feral. In 1970
about 17,000 Mustangs, distributed over nine Western states, were left of the
estimated million that had roamed the country about fifty years
earlier.
Breeding: Many of these feral Mustangs were taken for Indian ponies or for the settler's old-type cow-pony which, bred up with other breeds, has become the range horse of today. The majority of American breeds own traces of Mustang blood, but it was unfortunate for those tough, worthwhile Mustangs that their name became almost synonymous with Cayuse. The remaining herds, by then mostly of mixed heritage, were further decimated toward the end of World War II to provide food for European populations. In 1957, a Registry of 25 or 30 Spanish Mustang stallions and mares was formed.
Description: If not cross-bred, the Mustang may range in height from about 52-58 inches, and in weight from 600 to 850 pounds, thus being about the size of the Highland ponies of Scotland. In coloration, they are bay, sorrel, brown, grullo (dark grey), roan, dun, grey, black, white and paint -- in short, about every color that a horse can exhibit.
Temperament:
Features: Although some of the grace and size of their Spanish predecessors vanished, these feral Mustangs acquired exceptional stamina, intelligence and alertness.
Uses:
Accomplishments:
Curiosities:
Profiles:
Conclusion: