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Cool Facts About Mustangs
- The wild Mustangs belong to Americans. That’s right! They’re ours. Yours and mine. That’s why we should work together to make sure to keep them safe on their land.
- 100 years ago, 2 million mustangs roamed free. Today, that number is estimated to be around 20,000. They are on the verge of extinction. If something goes extinct, it means there will be a steady loss until there is no more left at all.
- Horses travel in bands. A band is a family of horses that live together on the land. They have similar markings and coloring on their bodies. They usually stay together throughout their entire lifetime.
- Mustangs are often referred to as Equines. Equines are hoofed mammals that have slender legs and a flat coat, with a narrow mane along the back of their necks.
- A baby horse is called a foal. New foals are usually born in the late spring to early summer.
- Mustangs are usually pregnant with their babies for 11 months, 11 days.
- An adult female mustang is called a mare.
- An adult male mustang is called a stallion.
- A young female horse is called a filly, whereas a young male horse is called a colt.
- The American mustangs are known for their endurance and surviving perfectly fine on sparse forage (food on the land). They don’t eat hay like most horses, but graze on the shrubs and plants found in the desert.
- The American mustangs are very athletic in nature and need a lot of room to run on the land.
- Colors of the Mustangs vary, but are typically the following:
- Bay: Dark red to deep brown with black markings
- Black: A fading black or jet black. Fading black has dark brown in areas
- Buckskin: A bay horse that is yellow, cream, or gold with black markings
- Chestnut: Reddish/yellow horse with no black
- Cremello: An albino horse, but do not have pink eyes
- Dun: Yellowish/brown with a stripe on the back and occasionally striping on the legs
- Gray: A horse that is any color with a mixture of white. With age, this horse will turn all white
- Grullo: A Dun horse with a black face
- Palomino: A Chestnut horse that has a white mane and tail and no more than 10% black
- Perlino: Similar to a Cremello, but it is a Bay horse
- Pinto: Multi-colored horse with large patches of black or brown with white
- Roan: Mixture of a lot of colors and markings
- White: All white, very rare. They are not albino
- Mustangs that are removed from the wild need expert handlers to tame them. They aren’t used to being confined, but with proper training can make a great family horse to ride. They will still need a lot of land and will be happiest not living in stables or small corrals.
- Wild Mustangs are indigenous (native) to North America. Horse fossils have been found to date back to prehistoric days.
- Q: Where do horses live?
A: In neigh-borhoods!
- Q: Why did the pony have to gargle?
A: Because it was a little horse!
- Q: What did the horse say when it fell?
A: I’ve fallen and I can’t giddyup!
- Q: When does a horse talk?