My grandfather was a farmer for many years in southern Nevada, and although he was never a “mustanger” he used to tell me some very exciting stories when we would go back to the farm for a visit. I remember as a child looking out across the horizon, and thinking, if I looked hard enough, maybe, just maybe, I would catch a glimpse of the wild horses that ran through those parts. And as a child with a great imagination, I was sure that I saw them -just beyond the horizon! My grandfather has long since sold the farm, moved to town, and passed away. But the stories that he told me and the pictures that I made in my head remain as clear as day and they are what brought me to my topic. I wanted to know where the wild mustangs came from, and what has happened to them.

One of the first reported sightings of a wild horse in Nevada was by John Bidwell in the narrative he wrote as a member of the fir

Horses were continually being added to the wild herds it seemed. During economic slumps, horse ranchers turned out their stock to be gathered at a future date. Only many of those horses ran wild for the rest of their lives. When mining camps folded or small ranchers went bust, the horses that were not needed were simply turned loose. Numbers of wild horses were largest in Nevada, likely over a hundred thousand by 1900. There were enough of them to warrant legislation in the 1890s to dispose of wild horses which ranchers considered predators of diminishing grass on the range.

In that 1971 law wild horses were given the unique status of “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.” This makes them neither wildlife nor livestock, they are “considered as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands”, but only on that portion of public lands that they inhabited when the law was passed in 1971. (Young 28) Most of the lands that the horses currently run on, however, are BLM lands, which puts the federal mandate to manage, protect and control the wild horses on the shoulders of the Bureau of Land Management. And as Young said “What happens in Nevada is crucial to the effectiveness and success of programs initiated through the Wild Horse and Burro Act since 51% of the protected animals inhabit this state.” (28)

With wild horse numbers steadily climbing and the quality of the rangeland steadily diminishing, ranchers in Nevada followed the rest of the West and launched what seemed to be an all out war against the wild horses. A new form of cowboys arose for this time, a group of hard riding horsemen called mustangers who made their living capturing mustangs.

Modern horses are presumed to have their origin in several wild species, and not just the Tarpan alone. Regardless of their definite origin, and line of decent, they thrived and spread from Asia to Europe. In Europe the development of the horse is that of its incorporation into civilization. This incorporation eventually led to the return of the horse to North America.

Barnum began to look for alternative methods. He had noticed that the horses would not attempt to jump through or over anything that they could not see through. This gave him an idea. Corrals had been used before, but they took several days to set up, and the construction would often make the horses in the area nervous and drive them away. Taking these elements into consideration, Barnum came up with his canvas corrals. Not only were they safer for the animals, but they were lightweight, easy to transport and could be set up in only a few hours. He became quite successful at this business and retired at the age of thirty-eight in 1914. (Young 24)

“The western mustang of yesterday was a remarkably durable species. Through the centuries, he managed tenaciously to survive the persistent attempts to obliterate him.” (Amaral) The wild mustang has disappeared from the present day stories, as have the tales of the Wild West. But the horses that roamed the plains for centuries are still here, and will be here, hopefully for centuries to come. The wild mustang “captured the west” along with the hearts and imaginations of so many. It formed a union with Americans so intimate and profound that men still measure power by the number of horses. I hope that union will be remembered and with it, the wild mustang.

The pattern of ranching in Nevada also contributed to the wild horse population. It was the era of the open range. There was thousands of square miles of flatlands and mountains, canyons and valleys covered with a variety of grasses, and most importantly, no fences. The attitude of early ranching in Nevada looked at raising hay as “detrimental to the cattle’s initiative to range and find its feed.” (Amaral 23) For instance, in 1880, only 520 acres of hay were cut in the entire state. Horses and cattle s

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Approximate Word count = 3345
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)