Wild Mustang Adoption-Pros/Cons, and opinions of others who've adopted

[ShrekDawg]

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I agree several are straight shouldered, short necked and short hipped, but certainly not all of them. There are some pretty darn nice typed horses in the lot with good slope on the shoulder and hip. Guess you didn't see those? There is one that good grief reminds me of a war horse from the paintings. She's the black mare in the curley section. Good gosh is she course!

high roost, you're welcome, no problem

also, oh, I thought that was him, which one is he? sorry...

and yes those horses are all very pretty, are there any bigger ones or are they mostly smaller?, cause i think i saw some like 15 hh but theyre mostly high 13 to low 14ish range, i assume cause theyre wild and havent had a great diet/life?...

thanks

 

[ShrekDawg]

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yeah, I know what you mean, some of them approach though but yeah i guess they are/were wild so theyre not used to us yet and/or some dont wanna be, itd be a big challenge although there are some that are very pretty... but i know what you mean. I think the stallion shes considering is under sale horse, its the only older black stallion i could find here, a few black horses though but i looked through them and im pretty sure this is him, he's pretty.

https://www.blm.gov/adoptahorse/horse.php?horse_id=3833

He'll have one heck of a bumpy ride on him.....ouch.

ETA: All of them are so steep shouldered, so "shallow" hipped. No good trapezoids.

Pretty is as pretty does, but they look like they'd ride like a jackhammer.

ohhh, well maybe with good food it would/may improve some, or not? you can tell i dont know much about horses...

LOL

, i love em and know a good bit of stuff and have books on them and stuff (including a pretty good care book with breeds and stuff) just dont know not tons of stuff as i dont have one but would like to, i love horses (and animals)...

lol,

 

[High Roost Ranch]

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Oh man, that's horrible! I knew an arabian that was like that. He was just plain mean as a stud, but they kept him using him for 14 yrs. After being gelded, he was still all stud except he could no longer produce, and even meaner if that was possible. Every horse they put him out with ended up injured. They finally had to put him back in his stud pen and moved his replacement to a new pen they had to build. Of course, the only time this horse ever got out of his pen was to breed so I think he was mentally conditioned for only that and when it didn't happen, it was a bad deal.

 

[High Roost Ranch]

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I agree several are straight shouldered, short necked and short hipped, but certainly not all of them. There are some pretty darn nice typed horses in the lot with good slope on the shoulder and hip. Guess you didn't see those? There is one that good grief reminds me of a war horse from the paintings. She's the black mare in the curley section. Good gosh is she course!

high roost, you're welcome, no problem

also, oh, I thought that was him, which one is he? sorry...

and yes those horses are all very pretty, are there any bigger ones or are they mostly smaller?, cause i think i saw some like 15 hh but theyre mostly high 13 to low 14ish range, i assume cause theyre wild and havent had a great diet/life?...

thanks

Pretty is only the icing on the cake for me. I'm going off of confirmation first. The stud just happens to be a pretty color to boot, he's the palomino overo. The yearlings are all 13-14 hh, which for the mustang is about right. And while they aren't grain fed fat I think that most of them for being range sufficient are in very good shape. If there's a legitimate controversy over cattle verses mustangs, so far the mustangs are holding their own in the grocery department. And I say that without discounting the possibility that there may be true concern, especially for those ranchers in the mustang range areas. I'm not out there in the middle of it so I can't comment one way or the other, only go off what I observe. Of course, this is July, it's hard telling just how rough of shape the mustangs may have looked mid winter when they were rounded up. But I've viewed some videos and photos of mid winter roundups and they don't seem to be in too bad of shape. They obviously are able to maintain themselves at an acceptable level, otherwise the mares wouldn't conceive or carry to term thereby increasing the population. They've developed natural resistance to parasites and a natural hoof. As for the aged mares/studs, I'm amazed at how good they look health wise. And with constant feed in a higher protein level the yearlings should be able to almost make their maximum height, close to 15 hh.

 

[High Roost Ranch]

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He'll have one heck of a bumpy ride on him.....ouch.

ETA: All of them are so steep shouldered, so "shallow" hipped. No good trapezoids.

Pretty is as pretty does, but they look like they'd ride like a jackhammer.

Actually my mare rides pretty well............ she's no TWH, but neither is my Quarb, hehe. My mare has more of a rolling side to side sashay kind of trot, which I like, but often find myself giggling as I picture I'm riding a hippo because she's so... ummmmm... stout.

I once was trail riding with some friends through the woods, we were going down to the river on our usual route. It had steep sides and rocky ground. We had had bad storms all that week and it exposed some wet clay like rock near the river. My mare planted her feet and refused to go that way, she wanted to go a different way, I asked again and unlike her she refused again, my friends past me and tried to go through. The first horse lost it's footing, fell and slid down a steep slope, scraping up it's side and legs. Luckly nothing serious. My mare knew it was unsafe, before any of the others. She is also good at finding her way home or to the parked trailer if we get turned around in the woods.

Chalk one up for the mustang! How long have you had her?

 

[booker81]

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This is a good link with junky drawing on conformation:
http://www.nwhorsesource.com/horse-...m/1595-trainers-corner-trapezoid-conformation

How horses are built tells a lot about how they will move, how sound they will be, and according to some folks, how nice they will act. A steep shoulder will shorten the stride meaning to cover distance they take a lot more steps, a sharp hip will not let them reach their hinds under them to give a smooth motor. Now, there are always exceptions - I know an FEI dressage horse that has the nastiest club foot I've ever seen, but with special shoeing, he is sound and capable of performing.

They are strong little critters, but I would take a correctly conformed QH any day for anything from racing (speed), reining (agility), jumping (power), or dressage (finesse).

What they do have going is the nostalgia factor. The guys in the pics look like they've got a good weight on them so that's not an issue. I'm sure they will make someone a great project, but based on the experiences I've had with BLMs, no thank you

High Roost - No, I didn't hit up all of them

I do have to say, some of them have some fabulous heads on them - if I were to be tempted by one, it would be one of those. I like nice heads

 

[booker81]

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#1431?

Now HE is a dandy!

 

[Crazyland]

https://www.blm.gov/adoptahorse/horse.php?horse_id=3828
This guy is gorgeous to me. So stocky!

 

[High Roost Ranch]

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#1431?

Now HE is a dandy!

You got it! And yes, I did get swayed CONSIDERABLY by how pretty he is, but the final decision came based on he's built correctly, too.

I agree with the pretty heads, especially on a refined and balanced neck. To me the front half of the horse is it's ability to maneuver. Without correct neck length, they don't achieve proper flexion or balance IMO. When we were searching through the adoptees, my daughter would say, oh that one's pretty. I said yup, it's a pretty color but that's all it's got going for it. Those cremellos are intriguing color wise, but type wise, *cringes*.

 

[High Roost Ranch]

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That's the one my daughter likes. She wanted me to get him and geld him for her for a riding horse. Ain't gonna happen, because as one person mentioned with their aged gelded late horse, there's that desire and potential to act studish, and I wouldn't put her to the test. I love my daughter (of course), and want to save her from some of the hard knocks I got growing up around rank horses. I told her to pick a nice young filly out instead. And he's pretty but he's so small. The smallest horse I had for my own personal use was a 14.1 hand QH, he was a rope and barrel horse. Extremely talented and OMG so catty. If only he'd have been another hand taller, he would have been untouchable. He was amazing once I got his mind fixed. He'd be at a dead run, and where ever you put your hand on the rein is where he'd go, and go now he would. Even with his size, we still got in the money, and he was a small pattern horse best. And there wasn't a calf anywhere that could outrun him. Quickest on his feet horse I ever owned. You had to sit deep on him when he went because if you didn't, you'd wonder just where the heck he went TO.

So, on this particular horse, since I'm 5'9, I couldn't be of good to the horse because I wouldn't fit the horse comfortably enough to sit him correctly. And I don't send my horses out to anybody for training, with the exception of the reiners I owned and that was basically because the barn I preferred was far enough away that I couldn't get there every day. Everything else, I do myself.