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Spanish Sulphur Mustangs |
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| The studies that Dr. Gus Cothran conducted, in particular, have shown that the "markers" in a particular kind of blood test show that these Sulphur Horses appear to be direct descendants with no apparent influx of other blood, to the Spanish Horses which were brought to the California Missions by the Spaniards. Genetic marker data indicates the Sulphur Herd has a clear Spanish component in it's ancestry. "The Sulphur herd in general appears to have strong Spanish links. What I can tell you is that the Sulphur horses have the highest similarity to Spanish Type Horses of any "Wild Horse" population in the U.S.A. that I have tested. They definitely have Spanish ancestry and possibly are primarily derived from Spanish Horses". |
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| "A Wild Iberian Horse Among Mustangs" by Hardy Oelke: Where the connection of the Iberian Horse to the American Mustang is? Can one really believe that these horses survived among Mustangs? And how did they get there in the first place? |
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What we know is: ~ |
| 1. That Sorraias all have
a typical DNA pattern, one rarely found in other horses. 2. We know that Columbus made at least one shipment of horses to the New World which most likely were identical to those we call Sorraias today. If that happened once, there is a good chance it happened more than once. 3. There are some Mustangs that have the Sorraia DNA pattern. 4. And we know and can see it with our own eyes, that among America's Mustangs there are horses of the Sorraia phenotype. Some Sulphurs resemble the Sorraia so much that one cannot tell them apart. Oelke found the same form as the Iberian horse in the Sulphur Springs horses of Utah, proof of the purity of Spanish descent. |
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Can you tell which horses are Sorraias and which horses are Sulphurs? |
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| "To some, the Wild Mustangs of the American West are just a nuisance, but to many, they are a treasure, a living legend and symbol of American history and of the free spirit of the West. It was this "Spanish Mustang" who deserved, above all, the preservation granted by the U.S. government as a symbol of American history". Hardy Oelke has always had a profound interest in the world's primitive horses, Hardy has traveled North America extensively since 1975 in order to study its horses and horse culture, but he was not prepared to find among the Wild Horse herd that resembled the Sorraia. |
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| According to D. Philip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD, of Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and Technical Coordinator, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy: "The Sulphur Herd Management area horses that are appear to be of Spanish phenotype. The horses were reasonably uniform in phenotype and most of the variation encountered could be explained by a Spanish origin of the population. The remoteness of the range and blood-typing studies, suggests that these horses are indeed Spanish. As such they are a unique genetic resource and should be managed to perpetuate this uniqueness. The Sulphur Herd, is Spanish in type and therefore more unique than horses of most other BLM management areas." He later states: "The fact that the horses were so consistently Spanish type is evidence that these horses have a Spanish origin. This evaluation therefore establishes the Sulphur horses as Spanish in appearance". (Phenotype: is the trait within a genetic composition that gives them their outward appearance). |
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~Answer to the Sorraia and the Sulphur comparison = 1 Sorraia, 1 Sulphur, 3 Sorraias; Sulphur mare; Sorraia mare & foal~ |
