# Wild Horses



## huntfishnride (Jan 25, 2012)

Ran into this heard of Wild Horses(Mustangs) while scouting deer southwest of Vernon on Monday. Saw another herd as well but didn't get any pictures. This heard was interesting because all of the horses were almost the same exact color. The pictures were taken with my phone so the quality is poor.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

WOW THOSE ARE GORGEOUS!!! An entire herd of black "stallions"!! Breathtaking country! 
Thanks for sharing!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I've run into a herd that was almost all buckskins. fun how the genetics stick so close in the family groups.


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## Thunderspark (Oct 17, 2012)

Beautiful! The only wild horses around here are when mine escape and go around the neighborhood LOL


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## Wallee (Mar 7, 2012)

What I would do to be able to ride/hunt/fish in such beautiful country. You guys are blessed I hope you know it!


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## Smokum (May 4, 2012)

beautiful!!


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## Fulford15 (Oct 17, 2012)

Wow, great pictures!! What a great experience.


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## Herdof2 (Nov 24, 2012)

What I wouldn't give to sit there with my binoculars and just watch... How majestic!


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

We also get a lot of wild donkeys.


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## justicehorse (Oct 17, 2012)

What a beautiful herd!!! We horse camp out at Simpson Springs quite a bit and always see wild horses... but never black. Here are a couple pics from our last trip.


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## Reno Bay (Jul 8, 2012)

Very pretty. Makes me wish I lived in an area that had wild horses.
Well...there's Assateague, but I can't travel there a lot.


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## goneriding (Jun 6, 2011)

How cool!


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## huntfishnride (Jan 25, 2012)

We took those pictures in the Simpson Springs area.

A question for Painted Horse and Justice Horse:

Both of you mention that you have camped and rode quite a bit around Wild Horses. 
A buddy of mine was out in the Swell and had to run off a couple of young mustang studs(multiple times) that wanted to bother a couple of his mares.

Have they ever caused you and your horses any problems?


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## justicehorse (Oct 17, 2012)

As we have our 3 dogs with us, the horses keep their distance. The only reason we were able to get close to the horses in the pics when leaving Simpson Springs was because we had the dogs locked in the car. However, I know a guy in Idaho that had a young stud link up to his horses once when camping. When the guy went to leave after a few days, the stud literally chased behind the trailer down the road. He wound up having friend drive his trailer, and he roped the stud and ponied it all the way home on his horse. He said that wild mustang was one of the best horses he ever owned.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

I know a gal who had her mare stolen by a mustang from her campsite. Took her a week to find and catch her horse. The mustang stallion kept her moving and out of reach.

So yes, It can be a problem. Especially if your mare is in season.


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## thenrie (Sep 10, 2012)

I was out on a ride with my daughter a number of years back, in the Carson National Forest northeast of Farmington, NM. We came upon a fairly large herd of wild horses, maybe 20 in the bunch. There was a yearling among them that really caught my eye. It was sort of the opposite of a buckskin. Don't know what you'd call it. It was fairly dark bodied with a lighter mane and tail and it's legs got lighter just above the knees and faded to almost a blonde color. Absolutely striking!

When I got home I called BLM and asked about the herd. They said they are familiar with the herd. They are not mustangs, but are the progeny of horses that have escaped from the Jicarilla Apache reservation over the years. He said the Apache rancher that has the adjacent range allotment on the reservation has a prize stallion that often escapes and covers some of the mares in the herd, which is why they are such nice stock. Then he let me know they consider them to be "feral" horses. He encouraged me to head back up there and catch as many as I could. Never got around to it. Wish I had. Every so many years, the BLM rounds them up and auctions them off to keep them from overgrazing the range.


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## dashygirl (Nov 21, 2006)

I worked on a trail riding ranch in Arizona throughout high school. It was on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation and there were several different herds of mustangs on that reservation. We'd see them all the time. A few times the studs would come up to the various turn out pastures we had, but the owner of the ranch specifically had built the fences around the turn outs to be large enough so they couldn't jump over it. 

Here's a pic that a friend sent me recently (I have since moved from AZ and miss it very much). Her house backs up right against the same reservation I worked at during high school. Very cool!


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## thenrie (Sep 10, 2012)

There is actually a difference between a real "mustang" and what we commonly call a mustang (including me). Mustangs are wild horses that have been wild for many generations and are not owned by anybody but the government. I believe they enjoy some protection and regulation from the federal government, on particular state and federal lands. On the other hand, there are wild horses on many range leases out west that are owned by the owner of the range lease. Many times these horses are well-bred horses that have been hand-picked and let loose to create a herd of nice stock from which the rancher can select his stock horses. While these horses are wild...as in not handled, broke, or trained, they are not true mustangs. Most will have a brand or mark of some kind...at least the mature ones. Many ranchers pull the chosen stock from the range at around 4-5 years of age to be broke and trained.

Back in the old days, and maybe even today, some ranchers would release a nice stallion with a herd of mustangs and use that as a stock herd, so the lines have been pretty blurred over the years. Many of the "mustangs" we see on Indian Reservations out west, are not mustangs at all. Most of them are owned by the family who has been allotted that particular range by the tribe, and many of them are very nice stock, although maybe a bit thin. Many of them are the progeny of mustangs from years past that have been cross-bred with modern stock. Again, wild, but not necessarily mustangs.

Then there are feral horses, as I mentioned above, which are domestic horses that have escaped the bounds of their range leases and/or reservations, are located on state or federal lands, and are unclaimed, therefore have no ownership. These enjoy no protections, legal or otherwise, and can be claimed by anyone. In fact, the USFS and BLM often encourage folks to go out and catch them. Ranchers often hate them, because they eat up range meant for cattle. Particularly important on range that can support few cattle and where the BLM has restricted animal numbers to almost nothing.

I guess the point is that you have to be careful just going out and catching the first "mustang" you see. He might just be some rancher's prize brood mare!


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