(#3) Dissecting Mustang Conformation- let's hear the pros and cons!

[Displaced_Yankee]

@cnm161

Dressage person here. Those Devon show results are in-hand (i.e. halter class), not under saddle. He’s a cute guy, but doesn’t have much by way of ridden credentials.

That’s actually a good summary of conformation in general. Pretty is as pretty does; you need a helluva brain/temperament to compensate for poor conformation, but the best conformation in the world doesn’t guarantee riding success either.

Dressage person here too. I agree with all of your points.

His Centerline.com scores (assumed the same horse as the owner in the COTH article) shows a median Training level score of 60.71% and a high of 65.4%. Looks like the brought him out at second level; but didn’t break 60%. His scores reflect a capable, but Training level, horse.

[JiminyCricket]

@cnm161

Dressage person here. Those Devon show results are in-hand (i.e. halter class), not under saddle. He’s a cute guy, but doesn’t have much by way of ridden credentials.

That’s actually a good summary of conformation in general. Pretty is as pretty does; you need a helluva brain/temperament to compensate for poor conformation, but the best conformation in the world doesn’t guarantee riding success either.

Ah, good to know.

[Pocket_Pony]

@JiminyCricket

I believe that (particularly in Oregon), that is about what they do. While they don’t release domestic stallions into wild herds, they will transplant some mares and stallions from different herds if needed for genetic variability. They also often release what they consider to be the best horses back after a gather so that the herds continue to produce adoptable offspring.

Of course, there’s also a lot of different opinions of what types of horses should be released. If you remove a lot of young horses at once, the herds will overcompensate for that the following years, and you’ll end up with a population boom. If you remove all the older ones, who teaches the young ones how to behave? It’s important to have a balanced age range in feral horse societies, I guess.

Are you kidding me? So you think that the BLM intentionally breeds more mustangs 'cause their adoptions are so successful? There are THOUSANDS of mustangs in the holding pens that will NEVER be adopted. The BLM has to pay to house and feed all of these animals. And you think they want more?

Show me your sources, please, that indicate that the BLM purposefully breeds mustangs when there are already huge issues with ranchers versus mustangs and many mustangs do actually die of starvation out here in the wild west.

[JiminyCricket]

@Pocket Pony

Are you kidding me? So you think that the BLM intentionally breeds more mustangs 'cause their adoptions are so successful? There are THOUSANDS of mustangs in the holding pens that will NEVER be adopted. The BLM has to pay to house and feed all of these animals. And you think they want more?

Show me your sources, please, that indicate that the BLM purposefully breeds mustangs when there are already huge issues with ranchers versus mustangs and many mustangs do actually die of starvation out here in the wild west.

I think you misunderstood, I can see how the way I worded it sounded weird. Obviously the BLM doesn’t want more horses. The BLM folks in Oregon have found that by releasing the best looking ones back, the horses that they have to take off the range when the numbers get too high (which they will, the way they are currently managed) have a better chance of being adopted. It’s not a breeding program to create more horses, it’s a herd management approach that means that fewer of the ones they have to take off the range end up staying in the BLM’s care and eating up the money.

The BLM are in charge of keeping the horses on the range, but not letting their population hurt the range. The approach of the Oregon BLM folks is that when they have to remove horses, they don’t take all the best looking ones and send them to adoption, they release a lot of good looking ones back. Unless something changes in Congress, they will keep having to remove horses, so since they do, and since adopting them out is a way to help get some of the horses out of their pens, if the horses are a nicer looking bunch that people like to adopt, then that helps everyone out.

That is my understanding from what I’ve read, and a lot of it’s repeated on the link below, and, I think, elsewhere on their website.

This is the same link that I shared above, it has a lot of good info:
http://www.mustangs4us.com/HMA-Section/oregon.htm

[TheHorseMutterer]

Since it seems to have gotten more civil here, I’ll chime in. I have two mustang geldings that are polar opposites:

My '09 Wyoming mustang was recently complimented by my vet as being “One of the nicest using horses I’ve seen in a while. Are you sure he’s a mustang?” (The big U on the neck gives it away) Elisa Wallace reminds me of his giant head from time to time, but he’s a solid citizen and athletic as hell. He acts the pony part, but ultimately is the go-to for anything I want to do. Confidence builder deluxe. And also never going to the Olympics for…anything. Unless there’s a medal for Best Eyelashes.

My '12 Nevada guy is a delicate flower who has potential out his ears. He came from Marsha Hartford-Sapp and is ground/trick trained by Cindy Brasfield. I’m excited to see what Elisa thinks of him once she comes back from kicking butt at Badminton. He’s got a heck of a jump, but I’m definitely not the rider who will take him anywhere (Thanks, desk job). Oh, and he’s 4ish, so he’s still growing and filling out wonderfully (15h+ last I checked). And his head is tiny, so at least he has that going for him.

I have all the confidence in the world that we’ll see Elisa take a mustang to the upper levels and maybe even the Olympics one day. Hwin just gets better and better and Emit is going to make a spectacular lower level ambassador. Her horses are all pretty fancy for “range rats.”

The “upper level prospect” is rather elusive in the BLM pens, but let’s be real - it’s also pretty elusive in the domestic world, too. Just because you bred a world champion to a world champion doesn’t mean you get a world champion. I feel about the mustangs about how I feel about the OTTBs (and racehorses in general). They’re not all destined for greatness, but those champions/Triple Crown winners/upper level prospects exist out there somewhere. We just need to get the right horses in the right hands and then we’ll see some magic!
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