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Show Capturing Mustangs Is Still Paying Business Capturing wild horses on the western west-ern plains is still a profitable business busi-ness but the romantic wild sal on "f the mesa is another vanishing American. The cowboys and Indians once pursued pur-sued the hardy, fiery little mustangs .replenish their remudas (string of remounts), and to improve the domesticated breed. They now go out and round up scrawny, half-3 half-3 arved "crowbaits" and ship them ft to the East. The destination Is the slaughter house. Their hides are tanned Into leather, their hoofs boiled into glue, and their flesh canned for dog and chicken food. There's no romance about It now. Recently 142 head were shipped East after their purchase from Indians and range riders. Thousands are rounded up each year and Jammed into freight cars. Cheap leather, glue, and dog food Is an inglorious end for the horses of Arabian blood that the Spanish introduced Into North America four centuries ago. After Columbus discovered dis-covered the new world Cortez brought the first horses, 16 lu all, to Mexico In 1519, and Narvaez followed with 9S0. De Soto landed in Florida In 1539 with 115. Many of the horses died of starvation. De Soto abandoned aban-doned his on the west bank of the Mississippi. Others were turned out to graze and strayed (which is "mustang" "mus-tang" In Spanish). Despite attacks from wolves, mountain lions, and bears, the mustang herds multiplied and spread through the West rapidly. Indians regarded them with amazement amaze-ment before they learned that horses could be lassoed and broken to saddle. sad-dle. For the first time the Co-manches Co-manches and Apaches had an equivalent equiv-alent of "Why walk when you can ride?" This enabled the tribes to expand their hunting grounds, and soon they were encroaching upon rival domains. Warfare then became incessant among the Indians and continued con-tinued until the white settlers arrived ar-rived and conquered everybody. The mustang became the source of the rancher's cow ponies, nnd later the army's cavalry troops were mounted almost entirely from horses whose ancestry was alternately wild and tame. No horse could duplicate the little mustang pound-for-pound In strength and grit. Some of them were hammer-headed and as homely as sin. Others were sleek and beautiful. beau-tiful. But no true westerner ever underestimated his dependence upon them. Cross-breeding with the English thoroughbreds imported from the East has brought about great changes in the western horse herds. The wild herds led by fleet stnlllons (which, like the biggest fish, "always got away") were gradually depleted by horse hunters and. In search of safety, safe-ty, driven from the better grazing lands. There was less and less need of taming wild horses. The bronco (Spanish for "wild and rough") still carries on the wild stallion's untamable untama-ble tradition. While the modern horse did not appear here until the Sixteenth century, cen-tury, It is in America that the most complete fossil story of the prehistoric prehis-toric horse is found. Bones representing repre-senting all geologic ages were found in the asphalt beds at Rancho La Brea In California. The horse traces from the-Eohippus, a four toed animal ani-mal 11 inches high. In the next age it reached the size of a collie dog. Gradually the multiple toes gave-way to the single horn covered toe of the fourth prehistoric horse, a type almost al-most as large as the horse of today. |