Horses

                The Wild West Horses of America



    Strength and power. Mustangs, the free-roaming horse of the North American West. The free, wild, heart-beating horse. The descendants from the first horses and the horses still to come. The top of the list for wildest horses is the mustang.
    When people think of the Wild West, they usually think of cowboys, Indians, saloons, poker, war, and death. But, really the Wild West is not made up of that, it was made and founded by the horse. Mustangs are the wild horses. They founded the West more than just cowboys riding them but founded it as the ground we walk on. Their hoof prints left the newly ground. They marked their territory with their hoof prints. They made the mountains beautiful. Their breath created the wind that flows throughout the mountains and plains. As they run and make a sound, they make the world to be perfect.
    The history of the Mustangs is very interesting too. Mustangs are the free-roaming horses of America. They are called wild horses but the proper name is “feral horses”. The English word “mustang” comes from the Mexican Spanish word mestengo, meaning stray livestock. Mustangs were brought to America by the Spanish. The first Mustangs descended from Iberian horses brought from Mexico and Florida.
    They were spread very quickly throughout Northwestern America. Native Americans quickly took the wild horses to train them for using them for finding their food and for easier wars. The Native Americans said that horses replaced dogs and what they use for them. Dogs were still used but horses improved everything a lot. In the United States, Congress recognized the mustang as “living symbols” of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, and which continue to be the spirit of the West and of the American people.
    Wild horses or mustangs can live anywhere in the United States really. Mostly though, they live in the mountains or down in Arizona or Texas. They mostly live up in the mountains in Montana or Wyoming.
    But really the history of the West were all lies. The history of the West was written by the horse. Wherever there was a foot print there was a hoof print right beside it. There was one strength that could not be tamed in the West: wild horses. The settlers there could not keep them because the settlers needed them so their herds wouldn’t starve. So they destroyed them, almost wiping them off of the face of the earth. Lucky for us some still survived though, living deep in the mountains, starving. We need to protect them, they give us hope for the future, for the promise of what America used to be and could be again. Starting to come back, they could bloom like wildflowers.
    They have a destiny just like all of us do. They have courage to do what man could never do, live. They want to be free just like we do. They have the strength and power to live, so, let us help them live their destiny and feel free.




                                Lillie Hankel