Talk:Mustang

New thread on prehistoric section

Okay, I went in and made the discussed changes. I know that a big taxonomic discussion is beyond the scope of this article, this article conflicts with both what is said in Mustang and the Wild horse article. Basically, the 2017 Barron study re-classifies Equus lambei as Equus ferus. Based on this, I think we should diverge the lambei into the Wild horse article.

How much do feral horses differ from wild horses?

The article states:

"Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated horses, they are actually feral horses."

Okay, we humans call them "feral" horses.

But how much do they really differ from wild horses? Obviously the gene pool of these horses was mainly that of Spanish horses. But after enough years of living in the wild without human intervention, some amount of natural selection and also what I will call "de-domestication" will take place.

I am curious to what extent these horses still show characteristics of being the descendants of domesticated horses, and to what extent they are almost indistinguishable from wild horses.

If someone is knowledgeable about this, I hope they will add a section addressing these questions.216.161.117.162 (talk) 16:29, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

• It is a myth that the feral horses in the U.S. descend mostly from Spanish horses. Most of them descend from ranch horses brought to the Great Basin in the last 150 years.

• "Feral" means that they were once domesticated. It is an important distinction when you consider whether a species continues to exist as wild where they became feral. Feral species are usually detrimental when introduced into an ecosystem they are not suited to, and is not suited for them.

• True wild horses are smaller than many breeds of domestic/feral horses that were "bred up" in size. Especially when in ecosystems such as the Great Basin Desert that is not suited for large herbivores, the large size of feral horses is a problem.Lynn (SLW) (talk) 18:35, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

mustangs are wild if you go to the outer banks you can see all of them — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:6C60:6400:C2BE:990E:E36E:FEDC:F5FD (talk) 18:52, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Those are Banker horses, not Mustangs. And they are feral too. Montanabw^(talk) 10:04, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Employing a bit of horse sense

“Additional debate,” said the lead, “centers on the question of whether mustangs—and horses in general—are a native species or an introduced invasive species in the lands they inhabit.” I’ve left the internal links as they stood but altered this sentence, but it was rather poorly worded.
Mustangs as such are obviously an alien species in North America. Yet, fossils make it plain that many native Equus spp. inhabited the continent for millions of years, and mustangs have now lived there for centuries. So, it’s tenable that horses have a rightful place there today—partly because, even if ancient horses’ North American extinction was largely due, say, to climate change, arriving humans may well have dealt them their coup de grâce. Mucketymuck (talk) 06:44, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

Requested move 8 January 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Bobby Cohn (talk) 15:35, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

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Mustang → Mustang (horse)Mustang (horse) – WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. The horse may not be the primary topic if you consider lots of people know only words like "pony", "colt". Presumably, the Ford car might be. At least we should opt for a dab. gtp (talk) 11:06, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose per primary which other topics are named after (as well as per long-term significance). Randy Kryn (talk) 15:30, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

  Try to search for "Mustang" in whataver search-engine. Then answer pls. gtp (talk) 15:51, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

• Comment I think the point that MC12GT1 is trying to make is that Ford Mustang (colloquially known as just "mustangs") get a significantly higer viewcount than the horse does, and that therefore there is no PRIMARYTOPIC. People have made similar arguments (and move proposals) regarding the Apple article, but these have been consistently shot down, following the argument at PRIMARYTOPIC criterion 2: A topic is primary for a term with respect to long-term significance if it has substantially greater enduring notability and educational value than any other topic associated with that term. with the majority of people arguing that the fruit has the "long-term significance" over the company and therefore should be the primary topic. I don't have a strong opinion about this particular vote (I think one could easily vote either way) but I just wanted to provide proper context. Hemiauchenia (talk) 16:14, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

  Thank you. Your example is good. I should add that almost everybody have eaten an apple, while almost nobody outside US-UK know that Mustang is a horse. While we can feign that EN Wikipedia is mainly for US citizens, we cannot escape our good sense. Anyway, my real suggestion would have been that of a dab page 50/50 gtp (talk) 17:27, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

  MC12GT1/gpt, if I typed in "Mustang" (as many people do) and landed on a dab page with 64 entries, I'd give up. Anyone looking for an automobile should know it's "Ford" and shouldn't be typing just M-U-S-T-A-N-G in the search bar.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 08:54, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  Excluding those who know that Mustang symbol is a running horse different from Ford symbol. These could make a connection... gtp (talk) 17:30, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose, long-term significance. 162 etc. (talk) 17:22, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
• Oppose per WP:PT2—blindlynx 23:16, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

  OK. Anyway 1 and 2 seem to strictly contradict in this particular case. gtp (talk) 07:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  In this case everything except for the district is named after the horse so it should be the main consideration—blindlynx 22:56, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: The most recent requested move on this question is at Talk:Mustang (disambiguation)/Archive 1#Requested move 12 January 2015 (I think). SilverLocust 💬 00:54, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  I think too. At that time, it was called "Mustang horse°, then moved to "Mustang", while Colt (horse). gtp (talk) 07:45, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

  There are multiple earlier move discussions at Talk:Mustang/Archive 2 and Talk:Mustang (disambiguation)/Archive 1.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 08:44, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose: There is already a dab page Mustang (disambiguation) and this article points to it in a hatnote. I'm quite sure all those other transportation 'mustangs' are named after the horse.   ▶ I am Grorp ◀ 08:44, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
• Oppose. Page views are not the be-all and end-all. The horse is clearly the primary topic, as by far the most of the other entries were named after it. JIP | Talk 11:05, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
• Oppose. Nothing has changed since the last RM. Long-term significance very definitely favours the horse. -- Necrothesp (talk) 10:33, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

"America's Free-Roaming horses (also commonly referred to as "wild horses")" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect America's Free-Roaming horses (also commonly referred to as "wild horses") has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 April 18 § America's Free-Roaming horses (also commonly referred to as "wild horses") until a consensus is reached. fgnievinski (talk) 02:49, 18 April 2025 (UTC)