The Wild Mustangs of Mt. Taylor

By Johnnie  Meier

Mount Taylor soars to an elevation of 11,203 feet in central New Mexico providing a panorama of the volcanic badlands of the El Malpais.  The mountain is revered by the Navajo who identify the mountain as the southernmost of the four sacred peaks from which supernatural beings descended to create the world.  The mountain has a presence; something alive, something strange and unusual, something spiritual.  It is in this primeval environment that the wild mustangs of Mt. Taylor find sanctuary.  

On the eastern slopes of Mt. Taylor, 12 to 15 stallions each dominate a herd of several mares, as many as eight mares in a larger herd.  These herds independently roam the Aspen woods and Alpine meadows on 15,000 acres of the historic Elkins Ranch near San Mateo.  These herds have recently captivated the attention of horse lovers and scholars across the country and have set off rounds of discussion, speculation, controversy, and study.  What sets these horses apart is that these horses have been isolated and running free in the mountain wilderness for centuries past and bear the striking characteristics of Spanish Colonial horses. 

The Spanish Colonial horses are distinct in appearance with very identifiable conformations.   A Spanish Colonial horse is small in stature standing only 13-14 hands and weighs 700 to 800 lbs. The facial features include straight to convex foreheads with nostrils that are small and crescent shaped. The mouth is distinguished by an upper lip longer than the lower lip.  Viewing from the front, the Spanish Colonial horse reveals that the legs are closely spaced at the chest therefore showing an “A-frame” stance.  The tail hangs low on the rear quarter and the rear leg chestnuts are missing or very small.  A long list of characteristics can be made but to the eye, “you know one when you see one.”

The Spanish Colonial horse was supplanted worldwide with the introduction of bigger and stronger breeds such as thoroughbreds and quarter horses.  Dan Elkins, head wrangler at the Elkins Ranch, says it this way, “Back in my grandfather’s time, ranchers would go up into the mountain in the Spring and capture a few of the wild colts for ranch use.  But catching these wild horses was a grueling challenge.  As the quarter horses became more affordable, it turned out to be way easier to go buy a quarter horse for a few hundred dollars than to chase down a wild mustang.”  And so it was the world over so that even in Spain, the original breed became obsolete and was replaced.  Dr. Phillip Sponenberg has studied the Spanish Colonial horse and notes that the North American strains “…are a direct remnant of the horses of the Golden Age of Spain and that type is mostly or wholly extinct in Spain.” Dr. Sponenberg has studied the Mt. Taylor mustangs on the Elkins Ranch and his conclusion is that the horses “show a pronounced Colonial Spanish type.”

The wild mustangs of Mt. Taylor indeed have the conformation of the Spanish Colonial horses and beg the question, “How did they get there?”   The speculation is intriguing.  The Spanish conquistadors like Cortez and Coronado brought horses to the American Southwest.  Geronimo Padilla, a scholar of the original documents of the early Spaniards, offers this insight.  “The conquistadors of the 1500s were expeditionary.  They came to explore and document their journeys.  The colonization came much later in 1598 beginning with Don Juan De Onate.”  Padilla explains that although Onate initiated colonization in New Mexico, the notion that horses may have escaped from Onate is not very likely.  Onate made a 1,000-mile journey from Santa Barbara in the southern Chihuahua area of Mexico. His horses were key to his colonist’s survival and lost horses would have to be replaced with stock from 1000 miles away.  Padilla says that if horses escaped, Onate would not rest until they were recaptured.   The Spaniards did create settlements around Mt. Taylor through land grants in the late 1700s.   These settlements included a determined effort to create a breeding and self-sustaining stock. 

Renegade Comanches, Navajos, and Apaches found these settlements lucrative targets for raids and horses were especially coveted.  The Comanches systematically and repeatedly raided the settlements stealing horses and other bounty.  It was during these repeated raids that horses likely escaped to the upper slopes of Mt. Taylor.  The settlers were less likely to stray away from their fortified encampments to chase down escaped horses due to the risk of attack.  Padilla laughs at a recollection from his studies. “The settlers were puzzled at the Comanche raids since they always left horses behind, never taking the entire herd.  Historians later learned from the Comanche elders that they would always leave horses so that the settlers could breed and raise new horses for next year’s raid!”  One look at the distinctive Spanish Colonial conformations of wild mustangs at Mt. Taylor, and knowing the history of the area, it is reasonable to assume that the Mt. Taylor mustangs are direct descendents of Onate’s original herd.

Although there are recognized herds of Spanish Colonial horses in North America, almost all these horses are domesticated.   What is exciting about the Mt. Taylor horses is that they are truly feral, wild and fiercely undomesticated representing new genetic diversity.   Dan Elkins has spent several years observing these horses in the wild and recording their life on the mountain.  He has come to admire and respect the survival instincts of these horses.  The social interactions between the lead stallions and the dominant mares reveal a raw and untamed profile.  Especially telling is the battles of the stallions to maintain a herd of mares.  Dan has observed these fierce and often deadly duels and recorded the aftermath; broken jaws, missing ears, flesh peeled and shredded on the bloodied backs of the combatants.  “If the losing stallion does not die in combat, the coyotes will finish him off,” states Dan matter-of-factly.

Dan Elkins and his partner Star Gonzales want to see these horses protected and do what they can to share the experience of living with these unique horses.  They have begun a program to capture young colts as his Grandfather once did and offer them to other horse aficionados interested in owning a true Spanish Colonial horse.  Dan notes that there is a renewed appreciation for the breed’s rugged beauty and legendary endurance.   Trainers have told him that the wild mustangs are unusually responsive to the slightest nuance of the trainer.  Dan explains, “These wild mustangs have acute and finely tuned senses that have resulted from the challenge of survival in the wild.  These horses are keenly aware of every motion and every sound around them. They hear you, see you, and feel you in a way that is unique to a wild mustang.”

Looking down from the high meadows of Mt Taylor, Interstate 40 stretches east and west ringing with the mechanical rhythms of commuters and truckers involved in the repetitive motions that structure their daily lives.  High in these sacred mountains a spiritual balance to the commotion below exists; wild mustangs run free.

To find out more about the wild mustangs, visit www.mttaylormustangs.com.