Mustang horse description
On the territory of America and Eurasia, you can find an animal, at just one glance at which associations are born on the topic of freedom, savagery and unbridledness. We think about all this when we have a Mustang horse in front of us. Wild horses Mustangs combine beauty and power. It is believed that such a horse is a descendant of a thoroughbred horse from France and Spain.
Mustang
Difference from domestic horses
Mustangs are wild horses. They are strikingly different from domestic ones, although outwardly they have common features with their predecessors. French and Spanish blood mixed during the migration process, there were meetings with both ponies and draft horses. This suggests that the horses have gone through a tough natural selection, as a result of which, today, wild Mustangs have far more than one advantage of the breed. One of the main ones is that they are much faster than domestic equids. Due to this quality, Mustang horses are able to easily and quickly escape from predators, which are abundant in the wild, as well as from hunters that kill them. The ancestors of heavy draft horses gave another clear advantage: these horses are very hardy and strong.
If we list the qualities of Mustang horses that make them different from domestic horses, then it will be as follows:
- force;
- endurance;
- speed;
- pickiness;
- strong immunity.
All these features were able to manifest themselves only as a result of natural selection.
But every phenomenon has two sides: this horse also has obvious shortcomings, including unbridledness and love of freedom, rebelliousness. The Mustang, unlike the domestic horse, will not take on any rider. He will submit only to those who win his respect. But if the rider managed to arouse love for himself, the handsome prairie man will serve him faithfully to the grave. Fidelity and devotion to this breed are legendary.
External characteristics
Despite their power and speed, Mutangi horses are not too large in size. Wild horses are more likely to belong to the middle weight category: up to 400 kg or even less. Height at the withers is also not very high: only 1.5 m. The bone is not heavy. Just because of such a graceful physique, wild American horses are capable of developing tremendous speed.
If we talk about color, then it is most often piebald, red or bay. A black Mustang horse can be found a little less often. The quality of these beautiful horses is conveyed even by a photo. In the wild, a pair of black and white mustangs is found, which looks very beautiful.
This breed lives in herds. The family cell of the Mustang horses necessarily has an alpha male and a main female. The main male performs protective functions in the flock, he protects the herd from enemy attacks as much as necessary, costs to die. He is strong, and he has to prove this in every fight. An alpha male is not the youngest male in the herd. As a rule, he is at least 6 years old. By this age, the horse already has enough skills and life experience, which makes it possible to qualitatively protect the herd.All other horses in the pack obey the older male.
If the main male is absent, then the main female takes over the reins. Its purpose is to divert young horses from a dangerous situation. Interestingly, the alpha female is not necessarily the strongest in the herd. There is no competition among the horses in the herd. Much more than strength, the alpha female values life experience and fertility.
If the herd is going through a dangerous situation, then the herd can line up in the shape of a "square": it forms a circle, in the center of which there is a female with foals. The perimeter of such a defensive position is maintained by the horses, they turn to the enemies with their croup. Thus, they have the opportunity to use their hind hooves, which, with the right blows, bring guaranteed death to the enemy.
What Mustangs Eat
The wild horses menu of the Mustangs consists mainly of grasses and shrubs. It must be said that this breed is not picky in the diet. The places where they live are usually not distinguished by a variety of vegetation; there are also very few sources of water there.
Any member of the Mustang breed of wild horse can walk a decent amount of time to get to a source of water and food. Such horses are accustomed to do without food for several days.
How do they reproduce
The mating period for mustangs is spring and the very beginning of summer. Males by this time look after the best females for themselves. In order for the horse to mate exactly the horse that he looked after himself, he has to fight with other males. This kind of competition can be very fierce. As a result, only the strongest horses gain access to fertilization of the largest number of females. This reproduction is dictated by natural selection in the wild prairies of the west, which leads to the fact that the genes of horses only get better.
Pregnancy in horses lasts 11 months. After this period of time, usually one foal is born. It also happens that two are born, but this is a rare exception. In addition, if there are two babies, their immunity, as a rule, is weaker, which means that the chances of survival are less. When a horse begins to give birth, it leaves the herd, specifically looking for a safe place.
The foal is born in the wild, defenseless and weak, in this it is similar to domestic foals. But as soon as he was born, he faces an important task: to reach the udder, that is, to the source of milk, and for this he needs to gather strength and stand on his feet. The mother feeds the foal for 6 months.
Keeping at home is problematic, since, by nature, these wild horses cannot withstand bondage, they are accustomed to living in nature. May attempt to return to wild conditions.
So, the Mustang breed is a kind of beautiful, freedom-loving and strong horses that live in the wild, and therefore require isolation.