This was almost the year of the thoroughbred horse, with California Chrome's run for the elusive Triple Crown. But here's the story of a smaller, scrappier horse that overcame long odds with the help of a Wyoming family. Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer has this postcard from a visit with the Spanish Mustang. Living history comes thundering over the ridge. This is America’s original horse. It’s called the Spanish Mustang because it traces directly back to the horses first brought to the western hemisphere from Spain by Columbus in 1492. But let’s jump ahead to just 100 years ago. Bob Brislawn was a homesteader near Oshoto, north of Moorcroft. He discovered the Indian or cow pony, as it would have been called, while working with U.S. Geological Survey. So Brislawn set out to find more of the vanishing breed in remote, isolated canyons and on Indian reservations, where the bloodlines had remained pure over the centuries. From these mares and stallions came the Spanish Mustang
↧