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In many parts of the country the wild mustangs are
kept in preserves as part of the 1971 federal
protection law, but they can be found in the
southwest roaming free on open plains. The term wild
may not be completely accurate, however as all
horses in North America are descended from animals
which were originally domesticated and trained by
humans. The correct term for this type animal would
be feral as they are wild with domesticated
ancestors. Until the early 16th century horses
were extinct in North America, brought to this
country by the Spanish Conquistadors in the early
1500’s. When the Pueblo Indians learned to tame and
ride horses, they passed this lesson to other
Indians and when they revolted against Spanish rule
in 1680, the Spanish left thousands of horses behind
as they fled.
While the Indians could have rounded up the wild
horses and trained them, they found it easier to
raid the Spanish fort and steal their horses. To
combat this, Spain shipped thousands of the animals
to North America, flooding the country with new
rides in hopes the Indians would then go after the
wild ones and leave their horses alone.
Wild Spanish horses were herded to the Rio Grande
area and turned loose over 200 years so that by
1900, there was an estimated two million roaming
free throughout the plains. Cattle farmers began to
kill them off as a threat to their grazing land
until only about 17,000 remained as recently as
1970. The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act,
passed in 1971 gave the Mustangs, which means free
roaming or ownerless in Spanish, freedom to roam as
they please. It is estimated that 41,000 mustangs
are alive today, although it is doubtful many remain
with their original Spanish blood.
In 1977, a Mustang called Tang was born and
raised in Texas has become a national celebrity
representing the Mustang Horse in the Big D Charity
Horse Show in Texas and in 1992 was featured in Car
and Driver Magazine when they compared the Mustang
Horse with Mustang Car. In 1997 Tang was featured on
its own trading card.
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