Spanish Mustang

Spanish Mustang

The Spanish Mustang is an American horse breed descended from horses brought from Spain during the early conquest of the Americas. They are classified within the larger grouping of the Colonial Spanish horse, a type that today is rare in Spain. By the early 20th century, most of the once-vast herds of mustangs that had descended from the Spanish horses had been greatly reduced in size. Seeing that these horses were on the brink of extinction, some horseman began making efforts to find and preserve the remaining "Spanish Mustangs" drawing stock from feral and Native American herds, as well as ranch stock. The breed was one of the first to be part of a concerted preservation effort for horses of Spanish phenotype, and a breed registry was founded in 1957.

Mustang

The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they descend from domesticated stock, they are formally classified as feral horses. The original mustangs were Colonial Spanish horses, but many other breeds and types of horses contributed to the modern mustang, now resulting in varying phenotypes. Some free-roaming horses are relatively unchanged from the original Spanish stock, most strongly represented in the most isolated populations.

spanish

Verb

1. To subject to spanishing, a printing process in which an ink is deposited on the bottoms and sides of depressions formed in a plastic material

mustang

Noun

1. A small, hardy, naturalized (feral) horse of the North American west.
2. A merchant marine who joined the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer during the American Civil War.

Verb

1. To hunt mustangs (wild horses), either for military use or for slaughter as pet food.