A Living Legend of our Western Heritage. Not very many people know, however, that mustangs vary distinctly, and some mustangs represent, as is outlined in this book, something very special. In regard to the development of our culture, there is hardly another animal of greater importance than the horse, and hardly one one more praised. We have changed him through selective breeding to conform with our ideas and needs, and all too often we deprive him of more of his freedom than we realize, because today, we have lost that understanding of the horse as a creature inseparably tied to his natural environment. Recently, this has been felt by many, and therefore, many feel a strong and intimate attraction to the primitive horses.
Mustangs are, however, ferel horses.
At this time, we don't know for certain how many different forms of horses existed before man started to exert his influence. The discussions about the origin of our domestic horses won't stop. Other authors see the cradle of our domestic horses in a variety of primitive horses. They were also endowed with valuable inherent qualities which by now our domestic horses no longer possess. Whenever in any region remainders of a primitive race of horses are discovered, it deserves our utmost attention, because in a time as fast-moving as ours, it may be a matter of just a few years and something irretrievable might be lost.