1. Mustang Horse
By Noah Merkel

2. Classification Kingdom – Animalia Phylum – Chordata Class – Mammalia
Order – Perissodactyla
Family – Equidae
Genus – Equus
Species - caballus

3. Shape
Oval shaped body with a long neck and a small head and long snout

4. Dimensions Height 14.2 to 15.2 hands Weight 700-800 pounds

5. Horse Training

6. Colors and Markings
Reddish-brown
Bay
Sorrel
Black
Brown

7. Other Feral horse – wild Good Race Horses Warm-Blooded Horse

8. Habitat
Nevada, Montana, Wyoming

9. Diet
Prairie Grasses

10. Offspring 1 baby, sometimes twins Gestation – 11 months
Born in May through July

11. Care of Offspring Foal should nurse 4 to 6 hours after birth
Stays with herd 1 year or more

12. Shelter Trees, caves Barns if domesticated

13. Other Mating Mating season April to July
Males can reproduce at 3 years
Females can reproduce at 2 years

14. Social Behavior Live and wander in small herds
Stallions struggle for herd dominance (age 6) and gather breeding mares into herd
Fight other stallions to keep mares---the winner gets to mate, the loser joins bachelor bands

15. Temperament
Hardiness---they thrive on their own in nature

16. Behavior Intelligent Independent
If trained ideal for horse racing and equine shows

17. Defenses
Kicking
Small herds are a defense against predators

18. Acquiring Food
Used to harsh conditions can go without food and water several days
Learned to break open frozen springs for water

19. Life Span
25 to 30 years

20. History Evolved over past 45 to 55 million years
Mustangs changed the lives of Native Americans on the Great Plains
Names came from Spanish word Mesteno meaning stray horse

21. History of Cruelty
Mid-1800s – Farmers were cruel to Mustangs. They did such things as:
Poison their water
Shot their eyes out
Ran them to death
Sewed their nostrils shut with rawhide

22. Present Status Protected by Bureau of Land Management
There were once 2 million wild Mustangs; now there are only 27,000

23. Relationship to Humans
1897 – Nevada legislature allowed any citizen to shoot a wild horse on sight
Many Mustangs were killed when the railroads were built
1928 – 40,000 Mustangs were slaughtered for pet food

24. Mustang Protectors
Velma B. Johnston “Wild Horse Annie” and thousands of school children lobbied the government for 18 years to stop cruelty to Mustangs
1971 a federal law banned capturing, harming, or killing Mustangs on public land
Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act

25. Sources http://www.ansi.okstate.edu http://www.horseshowcentral.com

26. Sources Continued Additional Photos