Evolution

WHAT'S THE POINT OF TRACING WILD HORSE ORIGINS, WHEN FINDINGS ARE NOT REPORTED ACCURATELY AND OBJECTIVELY?

To the detriment of the horses, this has become a huge political issue, due only to it's having been so manufactured and so widely and deliberately misrepresented by people who see huge financial profits in the taking of all wild horses into various forms of human captivity and control, as compared with NO money to be made by simply leaving them on their own, to remain truly wild and free. And, vital parts of Planet Earth's ecosystem already have become critically damaged, as a result of this human greed driven ideology, which is shared by the supposed civilizations of other nations, that include our North American neighbors in Canada.

Notwithstanding the many preposterous statements that have been made by members of a large scientific community that is either biased against horses or just plain inept, that appears to be dominated by American cattle ranchers and government bureaucrats, wild horses ARE, indeed, a form of wildlife, more native to North America than such animals as the buffalo and bighorn sheep. As such, at this critical time in the their ongoing struggle for continuing natural evolution, they deserve all of the government protection that can be afforded to any other threatened or endangered species of wildlife! Additionally, they are deserving of having their habitats given more considerate management by agencies of the government that have been specifically assigned the responsibility to preserve and protect natural wildlife, with removal of jurisdiction from the Bureau of Land Management, which agency mainly manages leasing arrangements for commercial livestock grazing and other commercial exploitations and devastations of public lands, such as oil drilling.

Sadly and tragically, it seems ironic that the very existence of wild horses in America is being more aggressively threatened by humans, than is the case with most other forms of wildlife, precisely because of the horses' long history of kindness, love and the tolerance for humans, who have denied so many of them their freedom in the past. Few, if any, other living creatures on this earth have gone through so long a period of continual mistreatment and abuse by mankind, yet, when called upon to do so, have remained as loyal friends and companions to mankind. Now, in what may be the final battle to preserve their most vital and basic NATURAL existence as a free roaming wildlife species, there are those among us who, again motivated by personal greed and ignorance, have opted to use the word 'feral', to distort and to deny the true nature of these wild horses, and give them a kind of payback in reverse for their centuries of service to us.

(More detailed information about this recent and popular misuse of the word, feral, appears on the website's "Popular PROPAGANDA" page.)

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Some Wild and Woolly Comparisons

For all those present day cowboy wannabe's (There virtually are no real cowboys left, anymore), who say that today's North American wild horses aren't wild at all, 'cause some have been “broken” and ridden and made to pull a wagon, why not consider that pretty much the same can be said of such wild animals as the elephant? And, for those same "experts", when they say these free roaming horses are the same ones their ol' granddaddies used to kick out onto the plains during the wintertime, and therefore, having once been in human captivity or mixed in with once domesticated horses, can't be regarded as wild animals, anymore, why not consider the bighorn sheep, a seemingly uncchallenged member of the North American wild animal community, in regard to the perceived degree of its wildness (and woolliness).

According to scientific studies,North American wild sheep are related both to domestic sheep, which were imported from Europe by early settlers, and to the native sheep of Asia. And, it has been scientifically reported that, by the turn into the 20th century, the bighorn had nearly gone extinct in North America, saved only by human intervention that involved keeping them captive in national parks and a subsequent management program for their eventual reintroduction into their former types of wilderness habitats.

The argument, here, appears to be one of human intervention into what otherwise, in wild animals, would be natural breeding selection. And, this the very same argument that keeps going on over wild horses. So, how about bringing up the same debate about reintroduced wolves in various parts of North America? And, look at how fouled up that human intervention debacle has become, in U.S. states such as Idaho. Who’s feral? Who’s wild? Is ANY animal in the U.S. REALLY WILD, anymore?

As humans have continued to overpopulate the planet, just the resulting decline of available wild animal habitats, in of itself, has to have had a restrictive impact on available natural breeding selection for virtually every kind of land dwelling wild animal. Over-hunting these animals in the name of so-called "sport", of course, only exacerbates the problem. And, comparatively speaking, I think any arguments about differentiating between wild horse breeding and the breeding history of other animal species, that are more widely recognized as being "wild", is a moot point. With so much past human intrusion and intervention into what would have been the "survival of the fittest", natural breeding selection of so many different wild animal species, the only valid point for present day consideration should be present day compatibility for coexistence with the rest of a given area's natural ecology.

Taking a step back much further, from the days of America's first discovery explorers and early settlers, who were here hundreds of years ago, to the evolutions and migrations of these wild animals, that occurred thousands to millions of years ago, it becomes clear that America's wild horses deserve to be protected and preserved in the wild, if for no other reasons than their irreplaceable and priceless historic significance.

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According to research by wildlife ecologist Craig Downer, who lives in Minden, Nevada, "the horse can stake the claim to being one of the very most ancient and long-standing members of the North American life community, more so than either the bighorn sheep or the bison, species whose origin was in Eurasia before they occupied North America after crossing the Bering Strait land bridge, when oceans receded with the tie up of global moisture during the Ice Ages (Benton, M. J. 1991. The Rise of the Mammals, Quatro Publishing, London). The latter two species are, indeed, relative newcomers upon the North American scene, when compared with members of the horse family: Equidae, and the horse species itself, Equus caballus, which evolved to its present basic form here in North America, as most abundant fossil evidence most cogently proves." (See footnote ** below)

The above mentioned "fossil evidence" includes fossil material discovered in North America, which recently has been subjected to testing for DNA matches. The results have been exact matches in comparisons of fossil material from before the time of the ice age and the DNA of America's modern day wild horses. This further confirms the conclusion that the family of mammals, known as Equidae (which Craig says includes such animals as zebras and wild jackasses, as well as wild horses) and the horse species, known as Equus caballus, each evolved in North America before the time when wild horses are said to have apparently disappeared from North America and migrated to Eurasia, at around the time of the ice age.

But, we don't know for certain that ALL of the wild horses actually DID leave North America behind.

Despite an apparently considerable amount of evidence, which indicates that most, if not all of these horses "disappeared" totally from their original home in North America, there remains a distinct possibility that some of them actually may have managed to find some small, very remote and secluded places where, in small groups, they managed to stay behind and survive. This theory is brought out in the TV/video documentary program El Caballo, produced by The Fund for Animals, broadcast on public television stations and elsewhere, and available for purchase on VHS and DVD videos, which program deals extensively with Wild Horse evolution. (See footnote *** below)

There also has been a theory that the original wild horses somehow had been hunted to what even has been referred to as their apparent "extinction" in North America. But, the wild horse hunting victim theory doesn't even seem to be mentioned, anymore, in most published material on this subject.

One thing that is known pretty much for certain, about these horses, is that they have always appeared to be very resourceful and clever at using a variety of methods to overcome even the most seemingly insurmountable odds against their survival. Left to their own devices, they have a proven ability to do such things as find special places for food and water, when seemingly there is none, as well as find sheltered places, when seemingly there are no such accessible places. So, while it may seem unlikely, it may be very much incorrect to write off the theory that at least a small percentage of these horses remained behind and somehow managed to survive here, while maybe the bulk of them migrated to Eurasia. Much later generations of such remained behind horses, then, could have already been in place to mix with those horses who were reintroduced to North America by the spaniards.

All of this comes down to an argument over mere theories that are based on a supposed lack of evidence to the contrary. And, there is a big difference between theories and proof. Furthermore, a mere lack of evidence that something did happen, does not constitute proof that it actually DIDN’T occur. All that it really proves about the theorized extinction of North America’s original wild horses is that the theory hasn’t been proved, so far.

The WILD MUSTANG Breed (?)

What we appear to be left with, at this point, comes down to a matter of BREED, at least in many scientifically based openions. And, for some obvious reasons, there are lots of arguments and misunderstandings about this, as well. A dedicated friend of wild horses, who lives in Arizona, recently suggested to me that, to help put a stop to all the stupid bickering, we forthwith should stop using the term "wild horses" and, instead, call them " wild mustangs. And, I think there's no doubt that mustang is a legitimate name for a legitimate breed of horses that still exist in the wild, albeit in disturbingly small numbers. Many free roaming horses in the American west have certain physical characteristics that distinguish them from members of most domesticated breeds. For example, many wild horses tend to be somewhat smaller and more rugged than most domesticated horses (ponies excepted). And, a number of wild have distinctively recognizable colorings (so called grullo and dun greys, for example) and certain distinctive markings, such as stripes. But, even the wild horses that do not have these easily recognizable colorings and markings characteristics, still tend to be amaller and more rugged than most domenticated horses. Are THEY mustangs?

The name, mustang, is said to have originated to describe at least some of America's present day wild horses’ ancestors, those horses that were reintroduced into North America by the Spanish conquistadores in Mexico. But, what of those horses who may have more directly evolved from groups of ice age survivors who may never have migrated to Eurasia, at all? What breed name should we give to them, if their existence ever is proven? And, how much actually is known, today, about either of these?

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To my observation, all sorts of arguments about various scientific and technical aspects of different horse breeds are quite commonplace, with many owners and breeders sometimes becoming very volatile, depending upon their individual passions for a particular breed. I have been the owner of two, registered purebred Polish Arabian horses, during the period since the mid 1970s, both acquired by me when they were colts who still had a lot of growing taller to do.. And, these two Polish Arabians seem to have shared far fewer characteristics with each other than the first of them did with many Egyptian Arabians, that I got to know over the years, or that the second one did with what I think I have learned about the traits of wild horses, including those formerly wild horses who become adopted. My point is that, whatever science there actually may be, when it comes to the traits of particular breeds, sometimes seems to have been so manipulated and distorted by various controlled breeding situations, as to be inconsistent and unreliable in a substantially large number of cases.

For decades I was told, by various Arabian horse owners that all of the different kinds of pure Arabians, including the Polish and Egyptian Arabians, are the only truly purebred horses, having never had their Arabian foal producing bloodlines mixed in with that of any other breed and being physically distinguishable by having one fewer vertebrae than any other domesticated horse. This is hearsay information, which I personally couldn’t care about less and never have bothered to research.. Meanwhile, I more recently have heard that this same kind of shorter spinal column condition also is a characteristic of many North American wild horses (some reportedly having one fewer and some others having a fusion of the last two, most rearward, vertebrae). Again, I see no reason for any actual concern about this, so long as the individual horse is happy with whatever length spine he has.

And, I wonder, what’s a really important measure of purity that’s significant with any breed? How pure are today’s fastest racing thoroughbreds and quarter horses? And, how pure are the Morgans, the Appaloosas, the Pacifinos, indeed, even the Arabians and any other animals that any humans had the chance to manipulate and document with oft times falsified records (done all the time)? Who really knows, for sure? Nature has proved, with scientifically verifiable results, to be the most consistent and reliable breeder of all the healthiest, fittest and adaptable horses. Given time, with natural breeding selection in an environment where only the strongest and healthiest survive to reproduce, free from mankind's bumbles and deceptions, nature has continued to produce a wild horse breed that characteristically is more consistent and fit for producing future generations, than any domesticated breed on the face of our planet. And, nature has been able to continue to do this, even if and when some not so wild horses had gotten dumped into the mix when somebody's granddaddy tossed them out onto the range for the winter.

Meanwhile, the Verdict's Still Out on the Extinction THEORY!

This is one of those "HOW DO YOU PRESENT THIS INFORMATION" dilemmas, due to the appearance that its supporting evidence seems, somehow to have "conveniently" disappeared. This editor's best recollection is that it was very early in the year of 2007, when he happened to come across a website, published in Canada. On this website there appeared an article which included the following statement:

"Preliminary evidence indicates ancestral horses inexplicably went extinct in North America about 8,000 years ago (Naylor,pers.comm.), and the most recent fossil Equus from Canada dates to about 12,000 years ago (Harrington, pers. comm.). However, the compete extirpation of ancestral horse stock in Canada has yet to be completely confirmed and a bone found near Sutherland, Saskatchewan, at the Riddell archaeological site suggests some horses might have survived much later. The bone (Canadian Museum of Nature I-8581), has been tentatively dated at about 2900 years ago. Another Equus sp. Bone, found at Hemlock Park Farm, Frontenac County, Ontario, dates to about 900 years ago."

Unfortunately, this editor copied only the text portion of this above mentioned article, at the time of his discovery of it (rather than making a copy of the complete, website page on which it appeared).

It probably was a week or so later when an attempt was made to access this website, once again, to check for other, related information, only to discover that both the article and the entire website had been removed from the internet. It might be relevant to bear in mind that there are related corporate and government special interests in Canada which actively are connected with commercial horse slaughter operations in that country, which interest might be financially benefited by a "convenient disappearance" of these fossils and a denial of their ever having existed. And, as of 02/26/08, this editor has not been able to determine what, if any, further verifications may have been made on the accuracy of this report and the preliminary dating of the above mentioned fossils which, if correctly described above, would provide solid evidence that wild horses DID NOT, in fact, go extinct in North America. Such evidence would, in the U.S., much further and more seriously raise the issue of their legal entitlement to federal protection as an endangered species of wildlife, which species presently continues to be "rounded up" for immorally barbaric destruction, by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

I most highly recommend the purchase of a video, called El Caballo, to anyone who can afford its approximately twenty dollar price, who has access to a DVD player and who seriously wishes to learn and really understand more about this issue. The video was produced by The Fund for Animals and High Plains Films. It was released in the US in 2002, so the information, basically, is right up to date, except for details of the recent legislative crises, which occurred mainly in 2004.

This program is 54 minutes long, during which time it puts into a proper perspective, all of the major, related issues that come into play, throughout the very heated, emotional and largely misunderstood debates about the american wild horses.

Spending the less than an hour, that it takes to watch this video, will provide an accurate overview of these issues, that would require days of searching through and reading from the information that is found on the internet (including the presentation on this web site). And, perhaps most importantly, it will provide the basis for individuals to comprehend and sort through the information on the various web sites, recognizing where conflicts exist and making far better informed decisions on needed actions to be taken.

John Brian

CLICK on the El Caballo image, to the right,

for ordering information from High Plains Films.

FOOTNOTES:
**	This information, quoting wildlife ecologist Craig Downer, is excerpted (by permission) from an article, by Craig, appearing in Natural Horse Magazine - www.naturalhorse.com - 2005 Volume 7, Issue 3.
*******	Comment and purchase information, regarding the El Caballo video edition of this documentary appear directly above.

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