The original ancestors of wild horses we know today first came to this country in the fifteenth century with Cortez. Much of the historical mustang horse information we have today comes from the daily logs kept by the first explorers to set foot on American soil. With each expedition horses were lost in large numbers. These horses banded together in herds and lost all domesticated traits and characteristics.
Native Americans were eager to bring the horses into their lives and quickly turned them into the main source of transportation for the tribes. Tribal members used them for hunting, for waging wars and for general transport for the tribe to new hunting areas. Another use soon arose as the horses became valuable for trading with other tribes.
Some tribes bred horses to bring out their best attributes. The Comanche and the Shoshoni were the most renowned for their successes. The Appaloosa was developed by the Nez Perce and is one of the first distinctly American breeds. Most tribes did not do selective breeding of these animals but would quickly weed out the animals with undesirable traits.
With over two million wild horses and burros in the Americas by the turn of the nineteenth century the military viewed them as a natural resource to be used for war and troop movement. They rounded them up by the thousands for this purpose. Later in the century they would be slaughtered and used for their meat and for the pet food markets.
In the 1950s the Wild Horse Annie Act was passed and gave some protection to the animals. They could no longer be hunted by motor vehicles. They received very little protection from that point until in the 1970s when the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed. This new legislation was designed to protect any remaining herds from being hunted or harassed by all people.
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros act also turned them over to the Bureau of Land Management for protection of all herds on public land. The United States Forest Service administers any additional territories needed for the animals. The herds range in Montana, Wyoming, and Oregon as well as Nevada where the largest numbers are located.
Most people refer to these animals as wild horses but there is controversy about that designation. Some groups feel that they should be called feral horses because they are descended from domesticated animals that escaped and became wild. Still others point out that the very first horses millions of years ago were found in the Americas and as descendants of them these horses should be called wild instead of being classed as an exotic species that endangers the resources of native species.
The mustang horse information gathered by our Bureau of Land Management must be reported to their Washington agencies. To control the number of horses they have arranged adoptions for over three hundred thousand of them. That is, to some, a good start.
Native Americans were eager to bring the horses into their lives and quickly turned them into the main source of transportation for the tribes. Tribal members used them for hunting, for waging wars and for general transport for the tribe to new hunting areas. Another use soon arose as the horses became valuable for trading with other tribes.
Some tribes bred horses to bring out their best attributes. The Comanche and the Shoshoni were the most renowned for their successes. The Appaloosa was developed by the Nez Perce and is one of the first distinctly American breeds. Most tribes did not do selective breeding of these animals but would quickly weed out the animals with undesirable traits.
With over two million wild horses and burros in the Americas by the turn of the nineteenth century the military viewed them as a natural resource to be used for war and troop movement. They rounded them up by the thousands for this purpose. Later in the century they would be slaughtered and used for their meat and for the pet food markets.
In the 1950s the Wild Horse Annie Act was passed and gave some protection to the animals. They could no longer be hunted by motor vehicles. They received very little protection from that point until in the 1970s when the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed. This new legislation was designed to protect any remaining herds from being hunted or harassed by all people.
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros act also turned them over to the Bureau of Land Management for protection of all herds on public land. The United States Forest Service administers any additional territories needed for the animals. The herds range in Montana, Wyoming, and Oregon as well as Nevada where the largest numbers are located.
Most people refer to these animals as wild horses but there is controversy about that designation. Some groups feel that they should be called feral horses because they are descended from domesticated animals that escaped and became wild. Still others point out that the very first horses millions of years ago were found in the Americas and as descendants of them these horses should be called wild instead of being classed as an exotic species that endangers the resources of native species.
The mustang horse information gathered by our Bureau of Land Management must be reported to their Washington agencies. To control the number of horses they have arranged adoptions for over three hundred thousand of them. That is, to some, a good start.
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