| It is natural to believe that wild horses have "always" | | | | combination of factors including the capture of horses |
| roamed America's Western States, but that simply is | | | | for use in the military, and more revoltingly, by |
| not the case. Horses were native to North America | | | | companies who killed the horses to make dog food. |
| until the end of the last ice age, 10-12,000 years ago, | | | | By the 1970's, the plight of wild horses in the United |
| and then they died out. It took the joint actions of | | | | States had attracted the attention of the U.S. Federal |
| Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortez, to bring | | | | Government. This newly focused attention eventually |
| horses back to North America. In 1493, Christopher | | | | led to the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses |
| Columbus brought horses from Spain to the West | | | | and Burros Act of 1971. In recent years, it has been |
| Indies, during his second voyage to the Americas. In | | | | estimated by the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of |
| 1519, the Spanish conquistador Cortez brought horses | | | | Land Management that there are as many as 29,000 |
| to the mainland, as the captain of the third Spanish | | | | feral horses and burros on BLM-managed lands in ten |
| expedition. Horses arrived in North America, by way of | | | | western states. The ten Western U.S. states that |
| Mexico and Florida, as a tool of the Spanish | | | | have feral horses running wild includes: Arizona, |
| conquistadors and were used to great effect by | | | | California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New |
| Cortez in the defeat of the Aztec empire. Many | | | | Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. It is estimated |
| horses went wild after their riders were killed. Other | | | | that more than half of the wild horse population resides |
| horses escaped from their corrals, and many more | | | | in Nevada, and Montana and Oregon are the other |
| horses were integrated into Native American societies. | | | | states with significant wild horse population numbers. |
| Within just a few decades, horses had migrated from | | | | There is another few hundred head of wild horses |
| Mexico and Florida and entered into the North | | | | free-roaming in Alberta and British Columbia, in Canada. |
| American interior. The History of American Horse | | | | Through the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros |
| Breeds Nearly all of the horses currently running wild in | | | | Act of 1971, the Bureau of Land Management has the |
| the ranges of the Western United States hailed from | | | | responsibility of managing the numbers of wild horses |
| the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, in a | | | | and burros, to ensure that healthy herds thrive on |
| region defined by modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra | | | | healthy rangelands. Within the mandate of the BLM, |
| and Gibraltar. The Food and Agriculture Organization | | | | they are responsible to manage the herd numbers of |
| of the United Nations suggests that there are 17 | | | | wild horses and burros that roam the American West. |
| individual horse breeds that can be defined as "Iberian | | | | The BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption and Sale |
| horses". Three of the breeds hail from Portugal and | | | | Program Wild horses left to their own wits can literally |
| the remaining 14 originated in Spain. Most of the Iberian | | | | double their population within four short years, provided |
| horse breeds are considered to be Baroque horses, | | | | that drought and wildfires do not diminish their numbers |
| comprised mostly of horses of Andalusian, Arabian | | | | naturally. Horses do not have natural predators within |
| and Barb ancestry. Many of the Native American | | | | the rangelands of North America, so their numbers will |
| tribes became master horse breeders, most | | | | generally run unchecked without BLM intervention. The |
| importantly, the Comanche, the Shoshoni, and the Nez | | | | beauty of the 1971 law is that as the BLM culls horses |
| Perce nations. Through selective breeding by the | | | | and burros from the wild population, those horses and |
| Native American tribes, the first truly American horse | | | | burros will become available for adoption and sale |
| breed was the Appaloosa. The wild horses of the | | | | through the BLM program to individuals and groups |
| Western United States are actually more accurately | | | | willing and able to provide humane, long-term care to |
| referred to as horses that have gone "feral", or horses | | | | these beautiful animals. To learn more about the |
| that were once domesticated and now are wild. Just | | | | adoption of purchase of horses or burros, you can visit |
| as there is a huge population of feral dogs near the big | | | | the Bureau of Land Management website at: or give |
| cities of America, most notably near Miami, Florida, | | | | them a call at: (866) 4MUSTANGS. You can actually |
| there is also a substantial population of feral horses in | | | | adopt and purchase feral horses through the BLM |
| America. Free-Roaming Horses Eventually Required | | | | program in states on both sides of the Mississippi |
| Protection From Congress In 1900, it was estimated | | | | River. Sales are held yearly throughout the South, the |
| that there were as many as two million free-roaming | | | | West and even in Illinois. |
| horses in the United States. During the early years of | | | | Phil Wiskell is a writer for HorseClicks.com, popular |
| the twentieth century, the free-roaming horse | | | | classifieds of horses for sale, horse trailers, farms for |
| population was severely diminished through a | | | | sale. |