It's been a few weeks, but out breed of the week today is the powerful Mustang.
Mustangs are known for being wild, unteachable, and unreliable. I would like to challenge that. In addition to to being beautiful and hope-inspiring, with a little extra training, the Mustang can be extremely loyal and can be trained for almost any discipline (including dressage, show jumping, roping, barrel racing, etc). But as in any breed, all of this not only depends on the horse but the trainer and rider. The average height of a Mustang is about 14hh. but can surpass 15hh. Short necks and long cannons are sometimes common in the breed. The name "Mustang" is thought to be derived from the Spanish name "Mesteno", which means owner less or stray horse, and they are descendants of animals turned loose or escaped from the Spanish explores. Over time domestic horses have escaped or been released in order to better the breed. They have served as faithful mouts for Native Americans, being called "Indian ponys", for generations.
In the midd-1800s, ranchers began to see this breathtaking animal as a nuisance and competition for their herd's grazing land. From then on they began to shoot them, poison their water holes and preform other cruel acts in order to kill them. Also as a break from boredom of cross-country travel Transcontinental Railway encouraged it's passengers to shoot mustangs within range of their trains. All of this led to over 40,000 Mustangs being killed between the years 1828 and 1830.
In 1924 the pet food industry began killing 500 Mustangs a day, in that year alone 41,000 Mustangs were killed. Processing for wild horse meat topped out in the 1930s, when 30 million pounds of horse meat were canned. By 1950, a bill was passed in Nevada that banned aircraft from shooting and capturing wild horses, except on public land.
Many experts agree that, that at the present rate of decline, and without intervention the Mustang could become extinct by the end of the century.
These animals are so beautiful, they are so strong, they have triumphed over so much.
That is why I have chosen them to be breed of of the week; in the hope that you, dear reader, would feel the responsibility to do something for these amazing horses.
For more info on wild Mustangs please go to http://www.wildheartshorsefund.com/
Thanks ;o)
