History
A handful of today’s wild horses are thought to be descendants of those brought by Spanish Explorers to North America in the 1500s. This was a reintroduction as this continent has been scientifically noted as the cradle of the horse’s evolution, beginning some 50 million years ago. Evidence shows some horses may have survived the last ice age about 10,000 years ago. Because of the bloodline purity through isolation, the wild Carter Reservoir Mustangs may be living in some of their original homelands, which is a staggering prospect.
Today
They live in an isolated state on one of the 21 HMAs managed by the BLM State Office of California. The Carters continue to utilize their native rangeland of over 350,000 public and private acres called the New Year’s Lake HMA. Now they are to stay within the reduced and renamed HMA of approximately 22,000 acres. Carter Mustangs exhibit similar primitive dun characteristics of the ancient Spanish-Iberian lineage. Varying dun shades and dark points, the addition of stripes on their legs, backs, shoulders, bellies, shoulder capes, smudges, dark outlined ears, multicolored manes, and tails, cobwebbing on the forehead, and face masks are displayed generation after generation. Proven by genetic testing, horses from this HMA are related to ancient bloodlines.
The CRMI website states, “Both rounds of mitochondrial DNA testing done by Certagen Labs in Germany in 2015 and 2020 for CRMI have scientifically proven that 100% of the Carter samples tested (31 of 31) carry genetically ancient Spanish-Iberian ancestry based on the maternal side.” Over a series of years, these hair samples were collected from horses captured and those deceased on the range from various locations on the HMA. Every horse sample tested, “directly traces them back 500 years to those horses brought to North America by the early Spanish explorers. Even more importantly, the D genotype, under which they are categorized, is the oldest of the known wild types dating back an estimated 500,000 years.” For more detailed information see the "About" page.
Endangered Possibility
This bloodline conservation effort is in danger due to the BLM Appropriate Management Level (AML) of the unsustainable number of 25-35 horses on this HMA. A genetically viable Carter herd, in numbers of 150-200, with separation would provide a way for these Mustangs to escape bloodline dilution and probable extinction. The Carters should be exempt from the “genetic diversity” or drug-induced population control practices of BLM.
No evidence to date shows any hereditary weakness because of their isolation. The Carters have coevolved with native flora and fauna and all the wildlife and natural predators they live among today. In July of 2000, a report was delivered to BLM by Dr. Sponenberg stating that the few Spanish herds in the U.S. can be considered “genetic resources that are unique and irreplaceable.”
Lastly, it is CRMI’s conviction that this herd needs to be protected, studied, and preserved on their native range as a walk back in time for future generations to historically learn from.
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