My Granddad grew up in Iowa using oxen. By the late 1800's when he moved to Washington state and took a job on a large horse ranch in the Blue Mountains, he still had never used a horse in his life. This seemingly being no hindrance, he started work at the ranch in the fall. One thing you know, on a horse ranch, there is, as they say, never a dull moment. Granddad Fir was given a string of young, un-handled horses, an A fork saddle, and whatever else he might have thought might come in handy. Thus equipped, Grandad started with what he knew about oxen, who become partners with their driver, and before long he was recognizing from the horses what they wanted him to know. It was all down hill from there. In the spring time the next year Granddad returned to settle in the railroad water stop turned town (Sprague). His ability to handle ill-natured or outlawed horses soon gave him the name of Rarie Fir after the famous horse showman (Will be a Link).

My Dad was born in 1890 and was around on the relatives cattle and wheat ranches there in the Cayuse and Pelouse Country of Washington State before deciding he needed to stick to town to get an education. He turned into mostly a city feller for awhile until his health forced him to accept a job with the United States Geological Survey, Topographic Branch, mapping the wilderness everywhere West. Dad was, of course, well enough used to Indian and Spanish Ponies, that the Survey had him also do the packing and handling the Survey Indian Ponys, the only horses, they had found out the hard way, were tough enough, and dependable enough, to use in the rough country.

Dad loved those little horses and built up his own horse and cattle ranch in Wyoming, buying many of his horses from the Survey itself.

Nonetheless, he became acutely aware, during those years, that everywhere, at the beginning of the Nineteen Hundreds, rejection and elimination of horses of Spanish blood had became the prevailing design.

Crossing them up with other breeds was the favorite method, such as on the San Rafael Swell/Reef in Utah, where once abounded wild Spanish Mustangs. But the Swasey Family, at the beginning of the twentieth century, used this area and these wild horses as a great Cross-Them-Up-and-Sell-Them Horse Ranch

Rounding up the wild herds for slaughter was an attractive means, for many, of picking up some easy riches. Shooting them out of malice was another popular pastime.

Inadvertently, one might say, many were lost simply because they were so numerous, for it happened that, during WWI, The Powder River Basin of Wyoming was seen as an inexhaustible supply, with thousands of wild, old time, Spanish Mustangs being shipped to The US Military in France. They were cleaned out for the war, every one. In the military effort there in France these Spanish ponies were used for riding, for packing, as well as for living shields for 'going over the top' of the trenches, wherein they didn't stay living very long. Probably most importantly of all, though, they were good for teaching the French how to holler 'Powder River, Let'er Buck!' Dad, in the Army Corp of Engineers, was helping build and care for those cute little railway supply lines all the while, and saw train load after train load of these wonderful little Indian ponies from the Powder River Basin moving to the front lines. Yet the very same railroad stock cars that were full of horses one day would be full of US Troops the next day. As in most military contentions there were about three times as many horses killed as men.

Not everybody was against the Spanish Mustang. Tim McCoy, for instance, the movie star, tried to 'save' the Spanish ponies in the 1920's. Hence the horse named Tim McCoy in the Spanish Mustang Registry, from remnants of his stock.

Likewise, Max Brand, i.e. Fredric Faust, was growing up with Spanish ponies in California during that time. He knew and loved the little Spanish ponies, ie, 'Mustangs,' well, though in his books he knowingly made them larger in order for them to sound POWERFUL.

Spanish blood had once been so wide spread, that it was hard to eradicate entirely, though mixed blood wild horses rapidly took their place and became plentiful. Only a few wild bands were still full-blooded Spanish, usually those that were hard to reach in remote areas.

There were parts of both the Southeast and Southwest that had, by preference, kept uncrossed domesticated Spanish ponies that were descended from the original domesticated ones brought in by the Spanish, that is to say, horses that had never been wild, or even been semi-wild ranch horses.

In his travels throughout the West with the USGS, Dad became increasingly aware and concerned about the decreasing numbers of the Spanish Pony. More and more, at home or away, he began to think about forming a Registry for these horses. When he left the Survey he began searching for horses for that purpose. But now he realized it was almost too late. Nonetheless, in the long run a little bunch was gathered together from various sources. among them Indian Reservations, Oklahoma wild horses, and the Utah Book Cliff Horses which must have been as close to that first horse ever ridden in ancient Iberia as could be asked or imagined. They were so calm, so trusting, so gentle and kind, yet too quick of movement to be followed by the human eye. One best have had faery wings themselves to glide with them as they swept away, outracing even the shadows of the clouds sweeping across the mesas.

Dr. Lawrence P. Richards, Zoologist, in 1957, along with his wife Chris, traveled to Portugal to consult with the Portugal Department of Agriculture on verifying Dad's resulting assortment of horses, by comparison of conformation, body, head, and leg measurements, bones, behavior, temperament, way of traveling, and other tests with the remaining few ancient Spanish Marismeņos that were still living in Spain and Portugal. Upon Dr. Richards' return, Bob Brislawn Sr. and family formed the Spanish Mustang Registry for the preservation of these ancient and peerless horses. Over the years numerous other folks have joined in for the furthering of these horses' future.

A few of the early horses with which I was most involved - where they came from , and if I have a story about them, I will eventually put on a link to that story.

Buckshot. SMR # 1. Parents were caught wild in the Utah Book Cliffs.

Kamawi

Shoshoni

Cedro

Rang. SMR # 164. Saddle Mare. Bornunsheltered, caught in the Utah Book Cliffs at age two.

Four Lane. SMR # 175. Caught wild in the Utah Book Cliffs as a 6-8 month old colt. Out of Tabyough's herd.

Tabyough (never registered). Caught (roped) wild in Utah Book Cliffs by Ute Indians.

Baldy, the horse (never registered). Foot trapped in the Utah Book Cliffs by Ute Indians. Saddle horse. Would eat nothing but brush of all sorts.

--- Several others I don't listed here yet.

All original horses were cleared out of the Utah Book Cliffs by the US Government on or about 1960-62.

Over the years the standards became neglected, but recovery efforts are being undertaken, such as the American Heritage Horse Association. Likewise, numerous other Spanish Strain Registries have been formed. These latter concentrate on the variations of elegant ancestry found among Spanish horses of 'Colonial' bloodlines.

Resources:

--- Neil UiBreaslain