This is a non-commercial, independent website, owned and written by Nancy Kerson, for the benefit of actual and potential adopters of BLM Mustangs and Burros and similar animals.
DVD or VHS (2-DVD or 2-VHS set) almost 3 hours of instruction!
$39.95 plus $5 shipping/handling = $44.95 total
Lesley Neuman: The First Touch Gentling Your Mustang $45.00
Lesley works with 3 wild horses at a BLM adoption, and very clearly explains what is happening, what she is doing, & what she sees in each horse as it progresses. Study this video and you can learn "pressure and release" gentling techniques to gentle your own new mustang!
Help for Burro adopters! Crystal Ward Donkey Training
All the basics of gentling, handling, and training. A MUST for new burro adopters! Good for domestic donkeys, too!
"Although the basis of legends, escaped horses from the early Spanish expeditions were not the seed stock of the wild horse herds of the American West. Only after the mission system in New Spain was established did horses begin to populate North America. Native groups, like the Apache, raided the missions for horses, and undoubtedly a few horses would have escaped. " - Dr. Philip Sponenberg
Although the Spanish brought horses to the "New World", it was only after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 that large numbers of wild horses spread across the Great Plains. (from "The Horse in the New World" exhibit at the Buffalo Bill Museum) Early maps sometimes simply wrote the word "Wild Horses" over large sections of the lower Great Plains, into the Rio Grande area of Southwest Texas. We are familiar with the "seas" of bison herds. At one time wild horses were similarly numerous. The horses are believed to have spread out like a fan, upwards from the Southwest into the Great plains, and from there, to the Great basin and Rocky Mountains areas. Later on, horses were brought up by Spanish traders from breeding farms in Mexico.
For an eye-witness account of the 1680 Pueblo Uprising, told by a missionary click HERE; For historical analysis of the Great Pueblo Uprising, click here
"The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was the single most successful act of resistance by Native Americans against a European invader. It established Indian independence in the pueblos for more than a decade, and even after Spanish domination was re-imposed, it forced the imperial authorities to observe religious tolerance." - http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-009b/summary/index.asp
The Revolt, in addition to driving the Spaniards from the Santa Fe-Albuquerque region for more than a decade, also provided the Pueblo Indians with several thousand horses. Almost immediately, they started breeding larger herds, with the intention of selling horses to the Apache and Comanche Indians.
The widespread use of the horse revolutionized Indian life. While mounted Indians found that buffalo were much easier to kill, some tribes – such as the Comanche – met with great success when they used the horse for warfare. http://www.latinola.com/story.php?story=2093
Wikipedia reports the prevailing view that one result of the Revolt was that "The Pueblo Indians acquired horses from the Spanish, thus allowing the further spread of horses to the Plains tribes.[2]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Revolt
(Note that The Louis-Joseph LaVerendrie account differs with this prevailing viewpoint for the date for Native American possession of horses)
From 1680 to 1740, horses spread across the West and by the mid-1740's the Native American Horsemen cultures were in full bloom.
Historical records indicate that some of today's most prominent wild horse areas (such as much of Nevada's Great Basin) were not established until the mid-1800's.
The American West at that time was somewhat less a desert than it is now. It was ideal for horses, with its huge stretches of grassland. The horse's predators were limited to the mountain lion, the grizzly bear, and well organized packs of wolves were capable of taking down a horse. In the early days of the United States, these predators did exist throughout the West, and they performed the important role of keeping the horse herds strong and vigorous, by preying on the weak and infirm.
Gradual climatic change, combined with severe overgrazing by cattle and sheep throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, have permanently altered the arid Western ecosystems.
Much of the land that is now desert was originally a short grass prairie, supporting large bison and pronghorn herds, and the horses found it most easy and natural to join them on their ancestral grounds.
For the next 700 years, the wild horse herds became the haven for horses escaped from or abandoned by trappers, explorers, pioneers, miners, and ranchers.
When Europeans came to the West with their cattle and sheep herds, or to homestead, they made use of the open range to feed their stock, allowing them to roam freely until needed. Domestic horses oftan ran with wild herds, and ranchers often woudl introduce their own "desireable" stallion into a wild herd, with the intention of capturing the offspring for ranch work or for sale to the military as "cavalry re-mounts."
When the Native Americans were subjugated and forced into reservations, thousands of their wonderful "Indian Ponies" were released into the wilderness.
Domestic horses and sheep running free on the open range - photo: Yakima Library
copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Nancy Kerson, all rights reserved - I'm happy to share, just need to be asked and have credit given where due.
Disclaimer: Horses are inherently dangerous. Use the information contained within this website at your own risk.
