Please Don't Breed

This morning, as I was wading my way through my FB feed, I saw that someone had posted in a mustang forum a mare that "would make a great broodmare".  There are thousands of horses in BLM holding facilities who need homes, why on earth would someone breed another?  And let's face it, if you're backyard breeding mustangs, you're a big part of the problem.  They're not mustangs after they've been domestically bred, they're just domestic grade horses.  Mustangs are mutts, they're not a "breed" like we think of Thoroughbreds or Arabians.  I, personally, love mustangs because they're mutts.  They don't have the same type of inbred issues that "purebred" animals do.

If someone truly wants a mustang, then just adopt one.  The adoption process is easy and there are many trainers out there who are willing to gentle and train your 'stang for you.  What if you want a mustang and there's not a facility nearby?

Then check out this site.  Amanda is a volunteer who spends one day each month at the Canon City facility taking pictures of the available horses.  In her "spare" time, she coordinates trucks for adopters all over the U.S.  To date, Amanda is credited with over thirty adoptions since May because of her website.  Twenty of those horses have been adopted by people outside of Colorado and she's currently working on coordinating a truck to Texas.  The great thing about adopting a Canon City mustang is that the BLM will pay for the first 150 miles of shipping, so if four people adopt and are on the same truck, then the first 600 miles of shipping is free and the adopters only have to pay the difference (split four ways).

I know our mustangs are awesome and that Ranger Mustang has his own group of followers, so if you ever decide you want one for your own and think you live too far away, just remember that there's someone whose passion is seeing these horses placed in their forever homes.  All you need to do is visit her website and contact her.

But whatever you do, please don't support backyard breeders of mustangs.  Maybe if there's no demand, the practice will cease.