GREENWICH, N.Y. — The mustang is an animal most people will recognize. Its long muscular frame, sleek body, and flowing mane have made them a symbol of the American West along with other animals like the bison and bald eagle. The wild horses that exist in the U.S. today are likely descendants of Spanish horses that were brought to the western hemisphere in the 15th and 16th centuries. But how they got to where they are today is a long story.
It is believed an early version of the horse once roamed in what is present-day North America, however this species went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Horses continued to live in the grassy steppes of Europe and Asia. Horses were first domesticated around 3500 B.C. possibly in the steppes of what today is southern Russia and Kazakhstan. From here they spread into the Ancient Near East, and later on spread further in both directions into western Europe and eastern Asia as well as Africa. Horses were used for all kinds of purposes including transportation, hunting, and war.
The horse would not reappear in North America until the late 1400s and early 1500s with the establishment of Spanish colonies. Christopher Columbus’ expedition in 1492-1493 brought horses from Europe and North Africa to the Caribbean. As the conquistadors made their way into Mexico and eventually into the American Southwest in the 16th and 17th centuries, they brought horses with them. The formation of Spanish settlements and missions solidified the horse in the region.
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was an uprising of the Pueblo and other Native American tribes against Spanish rule in the colony of New Mexico (which at the time included present-day Mexico and the American southwest). The revolt led to the removal of the Spanish for a time and in the wake of their evacuation they left behind livestock, including horses. While herds of wild horses had been forming prior to this revolt, the event is often recognized as a key factor in the formation of America’s wild horse herds.
The Pueblo Revolt has also been referred to as the start of horse cultures within many western Native American tribes. After the reintroduction of horses Native American tribes in the West and on the Great Plains adopted them into their practices. By the 1800s tribes like the Navajo, Ute, Apache, Comanche, Lakota, Crow, and Cheyenne had grown to incorporate and depend on horses. They were renowned for their horse-riding skills. (The Ute even bred racehorses and had a horse racing and gambling tradition like Thoroughbred racing).
For tribes on the Plains whose lives revolved around the hunting of bison, horses improved their hunting practices bringing an abundance of resources and easier transportation. The horse was also integral in these tribes’ warfare whether fighting against one another or against the U.S. Army. Recent research published earlier this year that drew from Native American oral histories and recent archaeological findings suggests that Native American tribes incorporated horses earlier than has typically been thought, so the subject is still open to debate.
Horses became an important part of life in the American west in the 19th century. From American settlers moving west to miners hauling rocks and their findings to cowboys herding cattle, horses all played a role in the development of the American west. As settlers from the east moved west they introduced new breeds to the area such as Arabians, Thoroughbreds, and Clydesdales which led to the development of new breeds like the American Quarter Horse. Donkeys, mules and burros were also necessary working animals in the west.
With greater activity and an increase in the use of horses in the west, wild horse herds began to grow. Through intentional release, escape, trading, or other means wild horse populations grew. The horses were well adapted to the dry, grassy, and open lands of the American west. They were given the name mustang by cowboys and settlers which is derived from the Spanish word mesteño which means “stray.” If cowboys were in need of horses, round-ups were held to attain wild horse herds and attempt to domesticate them in a process called “mustanging.”
Wild horse populations increased dramatically in the early 20th century as an increase in mechanization led to a decrease in the need for horses leading to more releases. By the 1920s millions of mustangs roamed the West, however their numbers decreased sharply between the 1920s and 1950s for several reasons.
The first was the organization of the U.S. Grazing Service (later the Bureau of Land Management) in the 1930s which limited the number of ranchers and grazing livestock on public lands. Horses were often viewed as a pest to ranchers that grazed the same lands as their cattle. With less access to public lands, hunting and the rounding up of wild horses became more frequent to ensure less competition for cattle.
Another factor in the decrease in wild horse populations was the emergence of a pet food industry. Horse meat was viewed as a cheap, low-quality meat to use in pet food, and the wild horses provided an abundant supply to attain it. The use of automobiles and even airplanes made rounding-up horses that would go to slaughter easier.
By 1950s concerns about wild horses and what was happening to them reached the general public. A good deal of this awareness came from a Nevada woman named Velma Bronn Johnston. Johnston grew up on a ranch and operated a dude ranch for children outside of Reno, Nevada. Upon seeing a troubling scene of wild horses being brought to a slaughterhouse one morning in 1950, Velma made it her mission to end the practice.
Throughout the 1950s she raised public awareness of the practice and organized a letter-writing campaign to politicians asking them to protect the wild horses. The campaign employed a wide range of people from school children and their teachers to ranchers and businessmen to socialites. Her passion for the animals earned her the nickname “Wild Horse Annie.” Johnston’s efforts paid off in 1959 when Congress passed the Wild Horse Protection Act in 1959 which banned the hunting of wild horses with airplanes and motorized vehicles on federal lands. In 1971 the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was implemented giving wild horses federal protection.
Other protections have given wild horses a special status. Wild horses along with bald eagles are the only animals protected from hunting and commercial slaughter of any kind. With protections implemented in the 1970s mustang populations rebounded. Herds started to be monitored and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). To maintain and control wild horse populations the BLM began employing round-ups, often with the use of helicopters which were deemed okay to use in 1976. In 1978 The Public Rangelands Improvement Act began an adoption and auction program that allows private citizens to purchase horses that were removed from the range. This program continues to the present day.
Today there are around 225,000 wild horses in the United States. Most are found on the BLM’s 177 herd management areas found in the U.S. While most are found in places in the west there are also populations along the east coast in places like Outerbanks, North Carolina and Assateague Island in Virginia and Maryland.
In the west, wild horses are a contentious issue as landowners, ranchers, scientists and government officials determine how best to manage wild horse populations. Horses consume vegetation on lands that are shared by other wildlife and used for ranching. Some fear that an overpopulation could be harmful to the environment and the enterprises that use the land. The BLM’s round-ups and auctions have courted controversy because the horses that are not purchased are kept on off-range pastures managed by the BLM. Since more horses are usually retained than sold the ranges are becoming more crowded. Also, animal rights and advocacy groups deem the practice inhumane and lobby for the end of round-ups.
While they inspire different feelings depending on the individual, wild horses remain a symbol of the American West’s past and continue to play a role in its present and future.
Chandler Hansen grew up and lives in Easton, NY. He is a graduate of Gordon College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in History. He serves as a writer and editor for Morning Ag Clips.
