98 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



to graze with the cattle. So long as the ranges were 

 good and not overstocked these horses bred and did well, 

 but with depleted ranges they rapidly deteriorated until 

 the raising of range horses was almost abandoned. From 

 1890 to 1900 horses were a drug on the market and were 

 shot and killed as nuisances on the ranges. With a re- 

 duction in numbers and the great demand due to the 

 Boer War and later on the Russian-Japanese War, they 

 were gathered up and shipped out by thousands until 

 the ranges were almost cleaned up. 



Then came a reaction, and men saw that horses could 

 be raised on the ranges with success, if they were given 

 proper attention and fed in winter when feed was scarce. 

 Today, while there are fewer horses on the western 

 ranges they are worth more per head and get better 

 care than formerly. The western stockman is gradually 

 working back into the range-horse business with great 

 success. 



Mustangs. There has been a great deal of romantic 

 nonsense indulged in over the mustang. His beautiful 

 build, wonderful endurance and remarkable intelligence 

 have been written up in glowing colors. Most writers 

 have assumed that mustangs possessed these attributes 

 because they were descended from the horses brought 

 over from Spain by the early Spanish explorers, and they 

 did of course doubtless have their beginning in this man- 

 ner. The facts are that the true mustang was a small- 

 boned inbred undersized pony, generally of an "off" color, 

 mean of temper and narrow between the eyes. Nor is 

 there anything in existence to prove that because he 

 came over with those conquistadores he was of royal 

 Arabian descent. The Spanish people as a race have 

 never been noted for possessing or raising horses of 



