Wild Horses in North America

The modern day wild horse that we know to roam various regions of the United States was initially introduced to the land by Spanish explorers. While most horses today are used for recreation, for many years ago most horses had jobs. They were used to draw carriages, plow fields, and conquer lands which is why they were brought from Europe to discover and settle in America (Mala, 2020).

The horses that were brought over were bred mostly in Spain and Northern Africa and are breeds that are still known today as the Barb, Andalusian, and Sorraia (Biggs, 2020). What these breeds in general are known for are their smooth gaits so they're easier to ride for longer periods of time and over longer distances without tiring the rider. These breeds are known for their calm demeanor as well and reliability on new terrain. The Andalusian is known as a "war horse" because of it's dependability to never back down. Most modern horses I know have a natural "spook" as they are flight animals and that is their defense but that is not useful for a creature that you want to explore new areas if it can run away from new noises or sights. This trait may have been passed down to modern day wild horses because tourists have to be warned to stay away from them and they are not scared of wandering down streets and alongside traffic.

How wild horses came to be is because of the herding practices of the settlers around that time. Ranchers and farmers would set their horses loose on the land to freely graze the grass and breed and only catch them to be ridden and plow fields when they needed the work done (Horse Background and History - Theodore Roosevelt National Park (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.). Because of this, some horses wandered further off and even when in certain areas such as the Theodore Roosevelt State Park, they decided to round up all of the horses there, a few still escaped and formed the herds that are still seen in the National Park today (Horse Background and History - Theodore Roosevelt National Park (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.).

When looking at the National Park websites, they never go into details about what a "low-stress" method so I had to research other places. I found a paper on it and the first thing they said was that most ranchers report that these methods are useless so this could just be a new brand name for continuing to use helicopters. The most popular low-stress method I could find was called the Bud Williams method, named after its creator. Stressing the animals during round ups can have adverse affects such as having them lose their babies, or being too stressed to eat (Low Stress Methods for Moving and Herding Cattle on Pastures, Paddocks, and Large Feedlot Pens (April 2008 Update on Loose Bunching), n.d.). Williams's method actually relies on the animals natural body language. The human needs to silently and slowly walk outside of the herd much like a predator would to stalk its prey. This speaks to the horses on a natural level and as long as you make no noises or sudden movements, you increase anxiety and cause the horses to start moving away from you in the direction of your choosing (Low Stress Methods for Moving and Herding Cattle on Pastures, Paddocks, and Large Feedlot Pens (April 2008 Update on Loose Bunching), n.d.). I personally use similar methods when approaching a baby horse to be ridden for the first time in its life. I use the body language that the "boss mare" or "matriarch" of the herd would use to establish its dominance over foals and yearlings. I convey confident body language and march towards their shoulder with my shoulders square to them and do not stop until they turn towards me, put their head down, and chew their teeth together. This takes longer for some than others but when it does they get immediate praise and love. It means that they trust you until you do something dumb to break that trust and have to start over.

Once the wild horses are wrangled, they are sent to a "handling facility" where they are tested for their DNA and a majority of them are put back in the wild after giving them some form of contraceptives but a handful are then sent to livestock auctions where the public can buy them. For male horses, they geld them because it is not an invasive procedure and typically easy to recover from but a more recent development is that they created birth control for the female horses. They inject them with a drug that supposedly makes them unable to get pregnant for 3 years (Horse Background and History - Theodore Roosevelt National Park (U.S. National Park Service), n.d.).

My favorite auction I'd like to mention though is the Assateague Pony Swim. Once every summer, just like in the west, horses are wrangled in the Assateague Island National Park but instead of by helicopters, they use the "Saltwater Cowboys" and swim a whole herd of ponies across the river and then parade them through the town into corrals downtown with a fair around it. The Assateague Island National Park also offers an option where you can "adopt" a wild pony and it is returned to the wild and the money is used to sterilize and support the wild pony population on the islands. The Chincoteague Ponies' other claim to fame is that a Spanish ship sank off the coast of Maryland and Virginia and the ponies that swam to shore became the breed that we know today.

References

Biggs, S. (2020, February 25). Native American Horse Breeds. Horse Illustrated Magazine. https://www.horseillustrated.com/horse-breeds-native-american-horse-breeds

Horse Background and History - Theodore Roosevelt National Park (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/nature/horse-history.html

Low Stress Methods for Moving and Herding Cattle on Pastures, Paddocks, and large Feedlot Pens (April 2008 Update on Loose Bunching). (n.d.). http://grandin.com/B.Williams.html

Mala, A. (2020, August 11). When Were Horses Introduced Into North America? WorldAtlas. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/when-were-horses-introduced-into-north-america.html