Michelle Deden
Mustang Heritage Foundation
Youth Employment Program
History Research Paper
4 May 2012
Through the days of lore and celebration and joy, and through the dark
days of mourning-the faithful horse has been with us always.
Wild horses have been an important part of America’s
history since the Spanish Conquistadors came to America. It all started with Christopher Columbus on
his second voyage in 1493. Columbus
brought around twenty horses including the Spanish Barb, Andalusian, and the
now extinct Spanish Jennet breeds with him.
These breeds were the foundation stock for the Paso Finos, a horse breed
well-known for their fine step and graceful head carriage. The Spanish Conquistador’s called them “Los
Caballos de Paso Fino” meaning the horse with a fine step. The Spanish Barb, Andalusian, and Spanish Jennet
were also the start of wild horses in America and and were later called the
Spanish Mustangs.
These Spanish horses that were
freed or escaped from early explorers soon became of use the Native Americans. The Native Americans soon learned how to make
use of these powerful creatures to hunt buffalo. The Appaloosa, a brown and white horse with a
Rosetta pattern, and Pinto horses were prized by the tribes because of their
beautiful coats. High chieftain owned
Pinto and Appaloosa horses and rode them during celebrations. After a couple decades horses that strayed
became known as mestenos by the Spanish.
In 1620, the Pilgrims arrived
on the Mayflower, it is believed that the Pilgrims re-domesticated some of the wild horses for farm use. Nine years after the Pilgrims arrived in
America, New England brought horses to the New World. They brought larger, huskier horses meant for
pulling heavy equipment. They also brought
with them tall, graceful Thoroughbreds from England and Ireland. All these horses added diversity to the
mustang population. As each set of
immigrants arrived in America, their horses added diversity to the wild horse
population. Although these horses are no
longer the pure Spanish Mustangs, people still used the term Spanish Mustangs when
referring to the wild horses.
Years later many Native
Americans lost or released their prizes mounts because they were forced onto
unfertile reservations, leaving their horses to join the wild herds. The Mustangs, being an invasive species to
America flourished and by the end of the 19th century, there were
between two to four million horses running free throughout the West. Ranchers,
cowboys, and ever fur traders put them to good use. During the Civil War, the Northern Army
needed 200,000 horses anually, so they were rounded up for military
service. Mustangs appeared to be an
inexhaustible source for the people of the 19th century.
But by the beginning of the 20th
century, los mestenos became a
problem. One rancher in Nevada reflects
his father complaints “They ate twice as much as cattle, and their sharp hooves
cut into the land and uprooted the grass.
To a rancher, grazing land is a precious as gold, and the horses were
ruining it.” Ranchers sought different ways to take care of this dilemma,
driving horses from their newly claimed lands, and then building sturdier
fences to keep them out. Other ranchers
reverted to killing as many mustangs as possible. Through poisoning the water-holes. In Utah, ranchers killed thousands of wild
horses by driving them off cliffs. By
the 1940’s wild horse slaughter had hit an all-time high with the opening of
the pet food companies. Pet food
companies paid ranchers ten to twenty dollars for each horse brought in. Pet food companies giving rise to the
Mustangers, people who used low-flying planes and other methods to chase the
horses many miles until they could no longer run or entered a trap then forced
into trucks to be shipped off to pet-food factories. Another method of capturing them is roping
the horses by having the other end of the lariat tied to two large tired which
tightens around the horses neck pulling them backward and affecting their
breathing. The wild mustangs almost
disappeared from America altogether because of the Mustangers.
If it was not for one Velma
Johnson, otherwise known as “Wild Horse Annie” one of Americas last symbols of
Wild West would be long gone. Velma
Johnson grew up riding a mustang by the name of Hobo, who captured her heart
and was Mrs. Johnsons inspiration to stand up against what was happening to
these horses after she saw a stock trailer over-filled with wild horses who
looked starving and dehydrated and wondered what was the cause of this. Soon after she witnessed the capturing of the
wild horses and realized how oblivious she was to what was going on. Several times she to lawmakers suggesting it be
illegal to use airplanes and vehicles to herd and trap horses, but every time
the lawmakers ignored her. But finally
she gained the attention of the congress by showing them snapshots she had
attained from witnessing these horrific scenes, going all the way to Washington
D.C to have a court case. Finally in
1971, the Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act passed, requiring the
protection, management and control of the mustangs. Thanks to Velma Johnson, the wild horses of
the American West were saved.
Because the Mustangers are no
longer a threat to wild horses, the population has increased from the less than
10,000 mustangs in 1970 to 50,000 horses in the year 2000. These growing herds created new problems, such
as over-grazing. This time the solution
was from the Bureau of Lang Management (BLM), a government agency in charge of
tending for public lands. It was decided
that the best thing to do would be to thin out the herds by capturing the
horses and offering the to the public.
This program became known as the Adopt-A-Horse program. Tthe horses are
branded on their neck for identification.
This ID specifies: area of capture, ownership, holding facility, and tag
number. Many horses are not sold and BLM
has to keap them in holding pens and corrals.
This is expensive and some say cruel so in 1988 landowners offered to
rent their land to the BLM for the horses.
The BLM and the public both like this idea and made these lands into
long-term holding facilities for unadoptable horses.
Mustangs helped us develop the
land, transformed Native Americans hunting and fighting techniques, provided us
with mounts for our wars, and captured the hearts of people everywhere with
their strong will and big hearts. They
are truly a magnificent breed and have been an integral part of American
History.
 |
| Youth Competitors from Previous Makeover |
 |
| Found this on that handy-dandy internet website called Facebook! Didn't know there was a picture of us here too! It seems Pictures of Pilgrim and me were pretty popular that weekend! |
 |
| Since I never shared what else happened in Tennessee, this is Cohn Livingston and Teddy Bear. The won the Legends division in Tennessee this past year. In their performance, you heard the phantom of the opera play all the while Cohn had removed Teddy Bear's bridle then jumping through these rings of fire! Pretty cool if I do say so myself. |
Up above was my History Research Paper for the Mustang Heritage Foundation. It turns out quite wonderfully and my friends helped me tremendously, fixing most of my grammatical and punctuation errors. But even after that nobody is absolutely perfect at those kinds of things!
As for the new mustangs, we pick the up in less than three days! Excitement is starting to kick-in! I wonder what they will be like? Will they like to jump like Magic did? Or will they like to climb like Pilgrim? Will they like attention? You never can tell what horse you're getting yourself in to until see for yourselves sometimes! I know whatever they turn out to be, I'll be content with anything. For if there's a will, there's a way!
.JPG)
.JPG)
