Horses have important roles in shaping societies and cultures worldwide. However, horses have been particularly important in American history, integral to tribal cultures and lifestyles.
Ancient Beginnings and Reintroduction
Horses originated in North America four million years ago. However, they vanished from the fossil record around 10,000 years ago, possibly due to a combination of human activity and climate change. During the late 15th and 16th centuries, horses were reintroduced by European explorers and settlers. This reintroduction played a significant role in the development of Native American societies and the expansion of European colonies.
The Transformation of Native American Cultures
Horses revolutionized travel and hunting, significantly changing social structures and economic practices. Two North American native Indian tribes, Comanche and Sioux, were particularly known for their bond with horses. They regarded the horses in their lives as fellow creatures with whom they shared a common destiny, signifying their powerful bond with horses. This bond was reflected in their traditional celebrations and parades.
Feral Mustangs
Some horses brought into America during the 16th century by the Spanish managed to escape from the domestic population. They bred in the wild, creating populations of mustangs. The word ‘mustangs’ derives from the Spanish words ‘mestengo’ and ‘mostrenco’, which means ‘wild or masterless cattle’. These horses are not truly wild but rather feral since they come from a domestic population.
Management of America’s Feral Horses
Feral horses living in America usually live in groups called herds. These herds consist of one stallion and around eight males and their young. One female horse, the mare, leads the herd. According to the American Mustang Program, there are currently 70,000 feral horses in America. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management oversees the ‘wild’ horse population, allowing them to run free on 26.9 million acres of public land.
Modern Times: Conservation and Cultural Legacy
As the 20th century progressed, the role of horses shifted from work and transportation to recreation and companionship. Despite this shift, the legacy of horses in American history remains potent. Efforts to conserve wild mustang populations and protect the heritage of horse cultures underscore the enduring bond between humans and horses.
Invasive species
While horses are mostly celebrated for their role in American culture, some, specifically those in the wildlife society, consider them invasive, with the potential to harm native wildlife. Wild mustangs have few predators to control their population size, so conservationists have expressed concerns about overgrazing and trampling vegetation.
Conclusion
Horses have had a profound impact on the American continent’s development. They symbolize freedom, power, and resilience as they continue to run wild through the fields of America. However, as recognized by the Wildlife Society, feral horse populations in America should be managed to avoid negatively impacting native wildlife.
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Ruth Karcher
Sunday 29th of September 2024
I appreciate some aspects of this article, especially beginning with acknowledging the truth that the first, oldest remains of equus have been uncovered here in North America. They are icons of the USA.
But the continual use of the word *feral* is WRONG. Through science, not all equus died in the Ice Age. Many lived on here, per archeologists, and lived among the American indigenous peoples. Petroglyphs substantiate this along with oral histories and archeologists' datings.
Wild horses were captured and used in our wars, millions dying for our country and world peace. They built this country along with the industrial age, clearing forestation and plowing homesteads across the land and labored for the spread of railroads.
To disrespect their massive service to humankind is wrong and painful.
The horses became a source of human entertainment, sadly, and are still used & misused in disrespectful ways. We all know of these abuses, so I will leave this part of my comments.
Today, the wild horses are descendents of surviving war horses and original we ild horses. The government came in to kill all of them in 1920-22, to clear the land for commerce and livestock grazing, especially of the Crow Reservation lands, which was a huge area. After the mass murder of over 100,000 wild horses across the west, the Crow had their res greatly diminished, bought back by the gov't at a pittance. After the carnage laud for 5 years, those horse skeletons were gathered as nd trailered to the Billings MT fertilizer plsnt, crushed and ground into fertilizer.
But not all horses were murdered. The remnants who survived make up the dna of the wild herds of today. They live well, resiliant on their native lands. They roam for miles every day, trimming down dry brush, naturally mitigating the spread of wildfires while re-seeding the lands with their simple, unique digestive systems that do not destroy seeds as invasive livestock's do. They keep the water sources clean, do not stand and deficate in waters as livestock do. They briefly drink and walk off at sunrise and sunset. They live well on the dry and low nutrition forages and sages they have lived on for eons. They are sure footed, elegant, tough and resiliant to all weather disasters. They are built for the craggy, dangerous cliffs and caverned lands of their birth.
It is atrocious of our gov't to capture and remove them to stand prisoner in filthy cattle corrals, given how clean and healthy they live in the wild - at NO COST, ONLY BENEFITS, to us and to them in their native rangelands.
The gov't is responsible by law to protect and preserve these wild horses on their designated rangelands, where they were living at the time of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. But the gov't has since passed amendments to allow for their destruction so commercial interests can take over their lands - mainly for extraction mining, oil, rancher grazing and hunting. Of the original protected ranges, more than half have been totally cleared of wild horses, and 63,000+ horses are now abused and dying in federal holding.
Never again write the word FERAL when speaking of America's true icons, our magnificent, inspiring, majestic and beloved wild horses!