Mustang (horse)
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- This article is about a feral horse of western US. For other meanings of the word, see Mustang.
Image:Mustang Utah 2005 2.jpg Image:Mustangs palomino valley center.jpg
A mustang is a small, hardy, naturalized (feral) horse of the North American west. Because of their hardiness, grace, speed, and independence, the name "Mustang" is popular for high-performance products and for sports mascots. For additional information on these derivations, see Mustang.
The English word mustang comes from the Mexican Spanish word mestengo, itself derived from the Spanish mesteño, meaning cattle raised under the extensive system of the Mesta and strayed.
The earliest mustangs descended from Spanish horses brought to Mexico in the 1500s. Some of these horses escaped or were stolen by Native Americans, so they rapidly spread throughout western North America. Native Americans quickly adopted the horse as a primary means of transportation. It replaced the dog as a travois puller and greatly improved success in battles, trade, and hunts, particularly buffalo hunts. Native Americans, particularly the Nez Perce, developed the first truly American breeds of horse from the escaped or abandoned Spanish stock: the Appaloosa and the Paint.
Starting in the mid-1800s, horses belonging to white settlers that escaped or were purposely released joined the gene pool. Many ranchers would release their horses to forage for themselves in the winter and then recapture them, or other mustangs, in the spring. Some ranchers arguably improved the local herds by shooting the dominant stallions and replacing them with imported stock. These improvements were especially useful in arid areas where the herds would become isolated and inbred during periods of drought.
By 1900 North America had an estimated one million wild horses. Mustangs were a resource in that they could be captured and used or sold (especially for military use) or slaughtered for food, especially pet food in later years. They were, and are, also viewed as a nuisance in that they compete with livestock for forage. Since 1900 the mustang population has been reduced drastically. Today, estimates of the feral mustang population range from 40,000 to 100,000, with about half of them in Nevada. A few hundred feral mustangs survive in Alberta and British Columbia.
Mustangs have benefited dramatically from the romance surrounding the horse in the American West. While technically an invasive foreign species, a movement of Mustang supporters argues, often successfully, for their protection on the grounds that the Mustangs pre-date ranchers, are part of the ecology and history of the Western United States, and have more right to be on public lands than do ranchers. Today, Mustangs are officially considered to be a national treasure and are protected by law in the United States. Shooting or poisoning them is illegal, and the penalties for doing so are severe. Of course, it is questionable how strictly these laws are followed in the more remote areas.
The Bureau of Land Management controls the mustang population through a capture program, ostensibly to control competition with beef cattle. Most horses that are captured are offered for adoption. As of January 2005, however, Congress has modified this program to allow the sale for slaughter of captured horses that are "more than 10 years of age" or have been "offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least 3 times".de:Mustang (Pferd) es:Mustang (caballo) fr:Mustang (cheval) it:Mustang hu:Musztáng pl:Mustang (koń) sv:Mustang (häst)