Saving The Heartbeat of the West | Teen Ink

Saving The Heartbeat of the West

December 15, 2012
By VickyNickyKitty SILVER, Lincolnton, North Carolina
VickyNickyKitty SILVER, Lincolnton, North Carolina
5 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!
-Psalm 150:4


Snow peaked mountains, rolling hills, and open spaces. That describes the North
American West. In the West, if you listen closely you just might hear the magnificent sound of wild Mustang’s hoof beats in the distance. Mustangs have very unique characteristics, they are different and there are several examples of these amazing horses, such as Padre` and Hidalgo. However, these mustangs are being sent to slaughter houses, by even the people that are supposed to be helping them. We can stop this problem. We need to be a hero to these mustangs just as they were and are a hero to us.

Mustangs are horses that posses traits that not many other animals do. They have passion and it’s almost as if they are in tune with the sky and wind. Mustangs have some very unique physical traits too. They are small and compact, have good bone, and are extremely hardy. Mustangs originally descended from horses brought by the Spanish to the Americas in the early 1500's. Therefore most mustangs have Spanish traits. The average height of a mustang is around 13.2 to 15 hands high. They can also be any color because they are mixed with so many different breeds. Some horses are suited for different things, but the mustang is suited for almost anything. The reason they are best suited for almost everything is because they are mentally strong. They don’t like to give up on anything without a fight. Sometimes they might get a little nervous about doing something, if they were taken from the wild. However, that could because they can’t see the sky or can’t feel the sun on their back or feel the wind on their face. But if you choose to trust a mustang with your whole heart then they can take you anywhere you want to go. They can make you feel something that nothing else can. They might get a little nervous every now and then but their heart is fearless, and that’s the most important thing. That way they don’t ever miss out on anything that life has to offer them.

One example of these fearless and magnificent creatures is Padre`. Padre` was adopted out through the Bureau Of Land Management to Patti Gruber. When Patti took Padre` to his first show he qualified for Dressage at Devon, one of the highest-rated dressage competitions. At Devon he won first in four year old and older stallions (in hand) class. He also won Reserve Grand Champion stallion overall. Amazingly, Padre` was also ranked #14 USDF Dressage Sport Horse Breeding Horse Of The Year for four year old and older stallions. Padre` is a beautiful dun mustang who helped prove that mustangs are wonderful horses who have a heart as big as the sky and a mind that is as strong as an Ox.

However, there are cumulonimbus clouds forming over the mustangs perfect skies. Those clouds are the awful people that send mustangs to slaughter houses for money or the people that kill them because they break into their fences. They don’t get the mustang, what they stand for, and most importantly what they feel. Those people don’t understand that these horses helped us get to where we are today. I have heard the comment made in a movie that “Wherever a settler left his foot print there was always a hoof print beside it.” That comment is completely true, mustangs are the real pioneers of America, and they should be given most of the credit. Settlers would never have set out to find or settle new land without their hero to get them out of a sticky situation or just to have a friend to keep them company. This is why mustangs just can’t be sent to slaughter houses. A mustang can provide so much more when it’s living then when it’s dead. There should be extreme punishments for anybody who sends a mustang to the slaughter house, or kills them.
The Bureau Of Land Management is the main organization that is known for protecting and adopting out mustangs. They take mustangs out of the wild and adopt them out, for about one hundred twenty five dollars. What they are doing is good, because if the mustang population keeps growing then soon they, and the other animals that graze with them will not have enough land to graze on. That however, is not the only thing that the Bureau Of Land Management has been doing. Supposedly the Bureau Of Land Management has been sending mustangs to slaughter houses too. There has been trucks leaving the Bureau Of Land Management at odd hours, hours that they are not really even supposed to be there. There has also been trucks coming back to the Bureau Of Land Management at odd hours as well, when every body was supposed to be back from the sales and things like that. People have also seen bloody horses on trucks that look like the Bureau Of Land Management’s. These are the people that are supposed to be helping the mustangs! So, it’s almost like you have two different species working for the Bureau of Land Management, the people that are evil, that look a mustang in the eye and then send if to be killed. Then you have the people that truly have a beautiful heart and are trying to protect these mustangs and save their lives.

We need to help these mustangs or at least inform people about what is going on. Posting about these horses and what is happening to them on several different sites would help. There are several things that you can do, you can start a blog, give a speech, write a paper, or give a donation to an organization that actually helps the mustangs. If you have or own horses you could even adopt a mustang, if that is what you feel like you should do. That would be like saving a life. If you adopt a mustang, it could possibly be one of the best decisions you ever make. However, if you do think about adopting a mustang, you need to understand the horse, and be in tune with them. A lot of times people mistake mustangs for something that they are not. They think that they are these crazy horses at rodeos that try to buck you off. That is not what they are though, they are probably the most caring and loving horses that there is. There is no limit to the things that you could do for these horses, and they would appreciate anything that you do.

Mustangs are smart, strong, and extraordinarily beautiful, but they can not stop the people that are sending them to slaughter houses. These horses do not care about what you have done, will do, or what people think of you. They love you and they want to give people some of the freedom that they have, the power to let go. Mustangs are like an image of the perfect poem. However, these horses need our help this time, they need our voice to speak for them. If their power, our power, and most importantly, God's power is put together then what could stop us from making sure that mustangs are not sent to slaughter houses. Mustangs are heroes to people every day, so we need thank them the best way we can, so if they are being sent to slaughter houses then we need to try to save their life. The people that are killing these mustangs probably think that every thing should listen to them and do what they tell them to. However, trying to tame a mustang is like trying to tame the wind, it can not be done. We need to save and protect the heartbeat of the west, the mustang.



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This article has 1 comment.


on Apr. 9 2013 at 9:20 am
Very well said. My name is Hannah, and I've always loved horses and through strange events and God's direction He led me to an organization that had just started with mustangs (Legendary Mustang Sanctuary). I was nervous but soon found out about this wonderful horse. No other horse can compare. We are trying our best to save as many as we can and adopt them out, and get their name out there. Thanks for the article.