The Mustang

The Mustang is known for being one of the most popular horse breeds out in the world, with Ford immortalizing the horse with its Mustang line of muscle cars.

Found in the North American west, the horse’s ancestors were initially brought by the Spanish to America’s shores, where it eventually grew as a wild, free range breed of horses.

The 2004 film starring Viggo Mortensen and Omar Sharif entitled Hidalgo, shared the story of legendary distance rider Frank Hopkins and his mustang Hidalgo, recounting an adventure involving a race in the Arabian desserts in 1891. Based on a true story, the movie revisited the exotic and exciting allure of the wild frontier, as well as brought viewers to the mysteries of the Arabian desserts.

As horses, the mustang was once considered to be wild horses, though their “wild” status is no longer one which holds true to the breed. Today, it is the Przewalski’s Horse found in Mongolia that is considered to be truly wild, in the sense that they still roam free without the intervention of human populations.

Different Native Americans are known to have utilized horses as domesticated “beasts of burden”, with a number of those horse breeds known to be part-mustang. With the mustang’s “feral” attribute, not all mustangs are known to have been kept or integrated into communities or households, but they can still be found free roaming in certain parts of the United States.

As a horse breed, Mustangs are among the more well known, a status which had been propelled by Ford’s ascription of the “mustang” name. Though wild horses, a number of them are known to have been domesticated, with Hidalgo being one example.

 Mustang Video