American Mustang Debate

[SilentButDeadly]

The news lately concerning wild mustang adoption/slaughter/euthanasia has me wondering if they are worth taking in to use as riding/pack animals??? know anyone whose tried? owns one? They seem small for a larger rider; but they are supposed to be tough and strong.

 

 

I'm not weighing in on the leave um vs git rid of um debate; just wondering if they worth using for anything other than dog/french food.

 

[scoutm]

My old neighbor adopted a mustang colt one year and they rode him in endurance trail rides with great success.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

I've seen success stories and horror stories, my father in law does alot of horse trading and decided to give the wild horses a try, did real well with the first one he got and then could not get the next one he got to do a thing.

My guess is it might be the luck of the draw and how much you are willing to put in to one of the critters, cause that is what they are, wild.......

[Kilimanjaro]

If you saw the damage they do to the ecosystem first hand (I did in Nevada), you'd agree that the only thing they're good for is either target practice or a one way trip to the glue factory with a short stop by the French butcher shop. I hate those things.

[billrquimby]

During World War II, beef and pork required ration stamps and we didn't get many each month, so my mother, brother and I ate a lot of non-rationed horse meat. Every butcher shop in Yuma sold it.

 

It was so long ago I had forgotten what horse tasted like until I shot a zebra in Zambia and ate its backstrap. Zebra has a good, sweet flavor and it tasted just like I remembered what horse tasted like. Zebra fat is bright yellow, though, even after cooking, but I don't remember that with the horse meat we ate.

 

Point is, we don't have to ship wild horses to France. I'd buy horse meat again if it were priced right.

 

Bill Quimby

[NRS]

Mustangs are just like any other horse, there is a certain percentage of them that are great once they are trained, and there is a certain percentage that will kill you any chance they get. the trick is having the knowledge to select the right kind when they are yearlings. It is also important to know where they come from. the ones from Wyoming, Oregon and northern California are the better ones. the ones from Nevada seem to be a collection of all the weird genetics in the horse world.

[Mr. Jonathan]

Scottyboy has it right. Coming from Nevada, I know all to well the negative impact they have on the ecosystem, especially watering holes. The way the government has and continues to deal with them just puts a bad taste in my mouth. But that could be remedied if they opened a tag system on them and allowed a certain harvest quota! Is the price of a tag the right price for horse Mr. Quimby?

[billrquimby]

Scottyboy has it right. Coming from Nevada, I know all to well the negative impact they have on the ecosystem, especially watering holes. The way the government has and continues to deal with them just puts a bad taste in my mouth. But that could be remedied if they opened a tag system on them and allowed a certain harvest quota! Is the price of a tag the right price for horse Mr. Quimby?

 

Depends on what Nevada might charge us non-residents. Ten dollars sounds about right, considering that we have to get up there and then find a legal horse, shoot it, pack it out, and butcher it. If horses had antlers or horns they could charge a lot more.

 

We don't have to worry about sport hunters being used to manage out-of-whack feral horse populations, though. The squawk that would rise around the world from horse lovers would be deafening, and any politician or bureaucrat who suggested hunting horses would be drawn and quartered.

 

Bill Quimby

[curmudgen]

Scottyboy has it right. Coming from Nevada, I know all to well the negative impact they have on the ecosystem, especially watering holes. The way the government has and continues to deal with them just puts a bad taste in my mouth. But that could be remedied if they opened a tag system on them and allowed a certain harvest quota! Is the price of a tag the right price for horse Mr. Quimby?

 

Depends on what Nevada might charge us non-residents. Ten dollars sounds about right, considering that we have to get up there and then find a legal horse, shoot it, pack it out, and butcher it. If horses had antlers or horns they could charge a lot more.

 

We don't have to worry about sport hunters being used to manage out-of-whack feral horse populations, though. The squawk that would rise around the world from horse lovers would be deafening, and any politician or bureaucrat who suggested hunting horses would be drawn and quartered.

 

Bill Quimby

Bill's got it right, although it shld be the excess horses that are eating up our ranges that shld be drawn and quartered, humanely, of course. (But don't let my wife or grandkids see this.) Jack

[Coues Sniper]

If you saw the damage they do to the ecosystem first hand (I did in Nevada), you'd agree that the only thing they're good for is either target practice or a one way trip to the glue factory with a short stop by the French butcher shop. I hate those things.

+1, unfortunately. The damage they do up here in NV is unbelievable.