Legendary Tough Spanish Mustangs

Legendary Tough Spanish Mustangs Spanish Mustangs, one of America’s oldest horse breeds, are facing a brighter future thanks to conservation efforts by the National Spanish Mustang Registry. “Our horses are special to us,” says Registry President Stephen Huffman. “Like most horse lovers, we feel ours are some of the very best.” The breed’s reputation is the stuff of legend. “Noted for its near-mythical stamina and toughness, the Spanish Mustang can survive and multiply in conditions when many would perish,” Huffman says. “This breed helped shape USA history. They were brought to the New World by the Spanish Conquistadors and spread throughout missions and settlements, becoming more numerous from breeding programs and trade imports.” He notes that Spanish Mustangs were prized by Indian tribes and often obtained through trade and raids, eventually becoming an essential part of Native culture. “The wealth of the tribes was often measured by horses. These mustangs were used as war ponies, for travel, and for buffalo hunting.” The Spanish Mustang is a smooth-muscled horse with a short back, rounded hips, and a low-set tail. The girth is deep, with laid-back shoulders and well-defined withers. They stand approximately 13.2 to 15 hands and weigh between 650 and 1,100 lbs. “Their build varies from lighter types to heavier types without extremes,” Huffman says. “They carry an appearance of natural collection and balance.” Better yet, the hardy breed can tolerate forage that would be unsuitable for domesticated horses, including poison ivy, greenbrier vines and acorns.  Even so, Spanish Mustangs were on the brink of extinction in the early twentieth century. Their fate shifted in the mid-1950s, when a group formed to preserve the last survivors, eventually establishing the Spanish Mustang Registry in 1957, the first and original registry for the horses. “Robert E. Brislawn and his son, Emmett Brislawn, collected individual animals considered the best examples of the breed,” says Huffman. “They chose stock carefully, only keeping the most ideal types available. Today’s horses still retain the qualities that allowed the Spaniards to conquer a new world.” Still, the breed remains at risk. “Fewer than 3,000 Spanish Mustangs remain,” Huffman says. “Without focused efforts to retain a broad spectrum of the foundation bloodlines, the breed could become extinct. It’s critical to save this visual example of our history of the founding of America.” Huffman and other registry members are working hard to do exactly that. “We strive to preserve the horses of the Conquistadors, the Indian war ponies, the buffalo runners, and the cow ponies of early America. This means continuing to educate the general public and maintaining genetic diversity across the surviving Spanish Mustangs for the owners and breeders of these amazing animals.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stephen Huffman, Spanish Mustang Registry President (cbhuff@yahoo.com; www.spanishmustang.org).

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