Spanish Mustang Research Facility

What?

The question arises...

Is my horse a Spanish Mustang? Or how do I know a Spanish Mustang by its conformation or breed traits? This site is dedicated to answering these questions and making it simpler to identify true Spanish Mustang type and traits.

Who?

About us...

We are members of the Spanish Mustang Registry who dedicate much of our time to researching the origins, conformation and Iberian connections of the Spanish Mustang breed. Neil Ui'Breaslain (son of Bob "Mr. Mustang" Brislawn) is our consultant on type, individual horses and strains that encompass the Spanish Mustang breed.

Why?

Straight to the core...

Cutting through the quagmire of registeries, strains, off shoots or manipulated herd managements can be daunting at best. Add a breed name like Spanish Mustang and then things get even more confusing. If a horse looks to untrained eyes like an image of what is considered in modern times as spanish, i.e. long thick manes and tails, arched thick necks, high movement, etc., then it must be eligble or fit into the Spanish ideal of the Spanish Mustang breed. If the horse is a mustang from any number of herd managements then it too must fit. If it appears to characterise both terms then one may get bruisd feelings when their horse does not make the inspection or worse yet doesnt even get accepted for an inspection. This is the very element that sets our registry apart. Here we will seek to help people identify the old type Iberian characteristics that drive the spanish look of the Spanish Mustang and to discover what other factors may have been contributors to the current phenotypes and why specific inspections decision are made.

Current Projects

Public Spanish Mustang Researchers Blog

We invite you to become part of our researchers team by participating our blog. If you are not a researcher but are interested in learning about the Spanish Mustang please feel free to join us in discussions and ask questions you may have. As researchers we will help you find answers if they exist.

Baroque Spanish Mustangs
Spanish Mustang Saddle Tree Fitting
Gaited Spanish Mustangs

Above is a sampling of interests within the Spanish Mustang (SMR) community. We invite you to visit each topics page to learn more about what is going on in various corners of the SM kingdom. The Spanish Mustang has a wide appeal and can be found as a predominant player in the following communities as well.

-American Sorraia Project
-Spanish Mustang LP Project
-American Indian Horse Association - shows
-Horses of the Americas
-Kentucky Horse Park Parade of Breeds
-Some SM's are beginning to emerge into the Sport Pony venue
-the breed is well established in ranch life and endurance.

History

For the purpose of this Educational Facility we will identify Spanish Mustangs, as a breed whose ancestors trace soley to foundation stock registered with the Spanish Mustang Registry. Regardless of fact or myth regarding the origins of these horses, they are the foundation stock of which the breed was built. Horses from these foundations have made their way into other registries and some lineages in those registeries have been built on these origins. These horses who also trace solely to the SMR foundations are Spanish Mustangs by breed and name. In no way does this discredit other Colonial Spanish Strains or Breeds.

The Spanish Mustang was founded by Robert E. Brislawn (affectionately known as Mr.Mustang) Here is the story... Link

A Macro look at the Foundation Stock

Here Neil Uibreaslain will guide you through a quick look at the basic history that surround the foundations of our current Spanish Mustangs. Neil grew up with these horses, together his personal intimacy with them along with his lifelong studies puts a new perspsective on the qualities of these horses. Every three months we will feature a new group of three foundation horses for you to think about. Understanding the nature surrounding these individuals will help you to develop a minds eye of how they may have impacted the breed and why they were used.

An Unfortunate Misunderstanding about Spanish Mustangs

By: Neil UiBreaslain
An introduction to shed light on the horses we will be discussing below.

M

ost everyone has heard of the cat like agility of these horses. They even rush home with a new Spanish Mustang to experience this phenomenon - and it doesn't happen. Moreover, I don't know of any other kind of horse that, when standing at ease, can look more unlikely to have enough energy to jog down to the mailbox, let alone herd cattle or run wild horses. "Where are the valiant, unstoppable Iberian War horses, out-stepping arrow and spear.?" "Where are the daring, dauntless buffalo horses?" "I don't see any magnificent Spanish fancy riding horses here. Are these the horses that could handle and herd the wild longhorns that no one else could?" The answer to these observations and the explanation of the Great Misunderstanding are one and the same: These things cannot be imposed on these horses from without. It must well up from within.

Nobody trained the Iberian War Horses.
Nobody trained the Western Cow Ponies.
Nobody trained the Buffalo Horses.

They were natural War Horses.
They were natural Cow Ponies.
They were natural Buffalo Horses.

Yes, put a Spanish Don and his accouterments on one of these horses and you see appear before your startled eyes a magnificent Spanish fancy riding horse.

Mexican on a Horse
Photo Courtesy Portugal Department of Agriculture

Put a Western Range Rider and his accouterments on one of these horses and you see appear before your startled eyes a Western Cow Pony. Put a Wilderness Indian and his accouterments on one of these horses and you see appear before your startled eyes a Buffalo Horse. Speaking more specifically, what about the term 'turning under themselves'? The answer: No whip, no spurs, no teaching or training of any kind by the rider can make this happen. Instead, these horses do it of their own accord the instant they see a need to do so. Other horse breeders say no horse can turn on their front feet, but these do. I must qualify that by saying they actually turn in the air while balancing on one or both front feet. They put their head down along their side and, with the proper twist and harnessing of angular momentum, they pass under the very point where their hind quarters are just departing. The same with the lightning-like Spanish close combat maneuvers. The Spanish did not teach these horses how to do those things. Instead, the horses taught the Spanish warriors that these things would be done at need by the horses of their own accord.

Altidudes de Combate a Gineta
Photo Courtesy Portugal Department of Agriculture

These horses are at their best when and if they are given full initiative. The Iberian Warriors did not teach their horses to be War Horses. The horses took the initiative of learning it and doing it on their own. The Western Cowboys did not teach their horses to be Cow Ponies. The horses took the initiative of learning it and doing it on their own. This was also true for Buffalo Horses and Polo Ponies, wherein they also learned and carried through on their own. That which came into being in Europe, and were called High Schools for other kinds of horses, came about in an effort to train and force these other kinds of horses to do what the Spanish Horses could do naturally and would do of their own initiative. The Spanish horse sees what is needed and responds. They like to be needed, useful, and be praised for doing what they've done. They get satisfaction out of life that way.

We now understand why when speaking of Rang, Kitty would say, "No chrome, no flash, nobody ever notices her. I've got the best horse on the place".

RANG SMR #164, What were her origins, why was she chosen, and how did she impact the breed?

R

ang was one of the finest horses I have ever had my hands on. In speaking of her, no matter how long the day, there would always be something else left to praise. When you closed your eyes, mounted on Rang, at any pace, in any terrain, you could not tell you were moving. With your eyes open there was a sensation of drifting quietly through the air like a thistle tuft on the wind. Though it is normally easy enough for a rider to "throw" their saddle horse, I've never had a horse fall with me at any speed or in any traveling conditions, including quarter mile ice floes. With Rang the big difference was that she seemed to barely ever touch the ground in the first place, let alone be able to fall down. To "throw" her would have been out of the question.

In Utah the old time wild horses were termed Rangs. So we named this horse Rang. She came out of the Utah Book Cliffs as a coming two. I started using her as a saddle horse that very spring. Sweet natured, fearless, and calm in any situation, she made no effort to dump me, or throw me, the first time I got on. Instead, she just twisted, ever so gently, out from under me quicker than the eye could follow, leaving me standing beside her, only on the other side. As I got on the next time I laid over her neck and she made no further protest.

The Utah Book Cliffs are an area maybe twenty some miles across, one direction or another, where once upon a time a reasonable number of diverse herds of Spanish Mustangs ranged in blissful isolation from the world. If one counts the wrinkles and the crinkles, the straight ups, and the straight downs, these horses had quite an extensive range wherein to diversify. It has been shown world wide that start with a little bunch of the same kind of horses, let them spread out from each other as they multiply, and you soon have quite distinct bands, with noticeable differences, though still within the original framework. We were scraping up as much of the very last of that original stock as we could get our hands on. She was one of the last ones out. There would be no more. The Book Cliffs were now empty and bare.

Character means one's pattern of behavior or personality and is more revealing than the physical characteristics. When assessing a horse for registry, both character and characteristics were automatically evaluated together, drawing the complete picture of that horse in the mind's eye. The horse could as easily be turned down for un-Spanish behavior as for un-Spanish conformation . Likewise, in anyone's personal twenty first century reclamation project, this must be as carefully kept in mind. It is also foolish to assess a horse only when they are standing still. Even learning about these horses as a newcomer, one needs to start by watching them in motion.

Mares, of course don't have as big an effect as stallions on the stream of horses passing down the years. Therefore a much more careful appraisal of pedigree is needed if one wants the benefits of a particular mare in their program. The hard facts of the matter is that a mare's influence can completely disappear in so many years. Fortunately with Rang , besides her female descendants, there are at least two grandsons, stallions, still around somewhere.

A Tribute To Rang and the Wonderful Wild Horse Country From Which She Came
As one flint hard hind leg of one small dark brown horse hit the ground, it forced the whole resplendent Planet Earth right out from under that place where, through all the years before, it had been spinning. The little horse, her rider what is more, heaved up thereby together, straight out beside the burning white, consuming blotch of sun, could breathe the purifying scent of desert sage. She could see, if she chose, from the slide side of the mesa, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, horizon to horizon - Utah's eternal tranquility baked in sunshine. Untamed horse and rider - fit reclamation in the wilds of speed of thought, or stride; but, since no foothold could be found upon the mesa's shifting side, there but remained for them to wallow in the radiant desert sky; and ponder over captivating vistas - where scattered bits of rooted green were squeezed among the red-orange tinge of sun-burned rocks awaiting their return to earth, so far below. This was no chastened, acquiescent real estate - but washed out canyons, bluffs, and sky high mesa rims - enough to maybe make one hold their breath - though only from the beauty, one must guess. Yet, truth could be, this feral horse, in charming consternation of her own, might hold a different turn of mind concerning desert scene. She might, in far less veneration, see a quiet, peaceful spot, all ready made to leave behind this rider's hide and bones; all petrified in hot, enchanting desert sand beneath the tantalizing beauty of the burning blue, clear, fiery sky. But, no, her savoir faire would not permit. Perhaps long Utah summers nurture usefulness, and desiccated seasons hearten lasting worth. The sun shone extra bright that day. The sky was flaring flame of full length blue. The sage smelled sweeter than it ever had. The yellow bluffs spread wide like dashing falls of molten sunshine, splashing into fire-ignited sand. "No need for whoa," the rider told the horse. "Lets ride forever on." END

Yellow Fox SMR #3, What's the scoop on Yellow Fox, we know he came from a Cheyenne Tribe Reservation. But how was he found, and what influences did he have on the breed?

Y

ellow Fox came from the Cheyenne Indian Reservation at Lame Deer, Montana as a weanling colt. The whole family had spent a week there looking over the horses. Yellow Fox was named after the man we bought him from. Emmett wanted a horse that had real brute power to go with endurance. Horses don't particularly care for whole corn but penned up and fed nothing else before the first Bitter Root Ride (rugged mountains in Montana) brought Yellow Fox in ahead in fine shape.END

Blue Corn SMR #138, What were her origins, why was she chosen, and how did she impact the breed?

B

lue Corn was from a similar but different band than Tabbyough and Four Lane. Probably one that had a common element somewhere in their not too distant ancestry. Blue Corn was one of the Book Cliff peripheral horses coming from the horses hidden in the Book Cliffs by the Ute Indians who were living near the White River when the Whites were on the kill about the time of the Meeker incident. The Utes, the people of The Land of the Sun, of course saw all wild horses as their property, their livestock, as it were. END