Mustangs and Snow
In October 2019, after being surprised by a snowstorm in Yellowstone National Park, we found ourselves in the small town of Cody two days earlier than expected.
We had only planed to stay over night and take our plane to New York the next morning. Now we had too much time at our hands and, despite the weather, we did not want to waist it!
I immediately checked the internet for bad weather-activities in the area for wich we would not need our rental car too much - no one had expected the sudden change in weather and we only had highway tires. On the internet I learned that there was a museum, a shooting range and the Red Canyon Mustang tour (1). Red Canyon also organises and guides other tours, like rafting trips for example, but those where not an option during this weather.
We had come to Wyoming to see animals in the wild, therefore the Mustang tour sounded like the perfect fit, and on the next day a friendly local guide and his wife drove us out into the prairie to see the feral horses at sunset.
Free roaming horses that have come from domesticated populations are not called wild, they are feral. Mustangs are not the only feral horses one can meet in the wild. There are also the Australian Brumbies, the Danube Delta horses in Europe, the Przewalski’s horses in Mongolia and many more. Sadly, there is not one population of wild horses to be found in the world.
For the longest time it was thought that the Przewalski’s horses were the last truly wild horses, but new studies have shown, that even they are feral descendants of the earliest-known domesticated horses ever (2).
And Mustangs, as you may know, are the descendants of escaped, domestic horses that were brought to America by Spanish explorers in the 16th century (3).
But back to our tour to the prairie of Wyoming. We did not get disappointed!
We encountered a herd of the free roaming animals right during the golden hour, just as our guides had promised us. Cautiously we approached, so they would not deem us as a threat.
It's amazing to me how close we were able to get to them! Their leader - the stallion with the yellow mane in the picture above - always kept his eyes on us. But still he did not neglect his other duties as the herds first stallion. When two of his horses started to fight, he immediately went there to check whether he needed to intervene, or if it was just a minor dispute that they were best left to fight out amongst themselves. No one got hurt, and we got to observe other dynamics within the herd.
According to happy-horse-taining.com, the homepage I have learned most from about the importance and structures of herds, horses are not just intelligent individuals, but also have complex relationships with each other. They form smaller family bands, friendships and other social structures within the big family that is the herd. Just like us humans, some horses can choose to have lifelong romances, and others may have many different relationships.
Typically horses within a herd have a “best friend”. It is the horse they can often be seen eating next to, or their favourite grooming companion. They spend their time with each other throughout the day, a lot like we humans do (4).
I think it would be great if all people could find a way to allow their domestic horses this experience too, instead of often keeping them on their own in stables and on separate fields.
Of course, I am not an expert on this, and I haven’t even spoken to one in person, so I don’t know how or if this could be made possible for every horse. But after more than a year of isolation, I believe everyone can agree that we do not want to press this unnatural way of living on anyone we care about - be it human or animal. Not if we can find another solution that is safe for everyone.
After spending some time with them on the prairie, we left the horses alone again so they could enjoy the rest of their evening in peace. Watching the moon rise over the still snowy land we walked back to the car, and returned to the small town of Cody.
It was an amazing experience. I am almost glad that the storm made us leave the National Park early.
Sure, we will have to return to Wyoming one day to see all the things we have not been able to see in Yellowstone, but without the snow storm we would not even have known what we would have missed in Cody.
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