The Wild Mustang: Horses of the American West

Gr 4-6–In a decidedly irreverent ride over the ups and downs of wild horses in the Old and New West, several Gumby-like rock drawings, both humanlike and equine, spring to life. Schooling the less than knowledgeable humans, the snarky horse trots through historical eras, from the introduction (actually, reintroduction) of horses to the New World by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, to the juggling act Federal Bureau of Land Management performs today to keep wild populations humanely in check. The tour covers equine prehistory, anatomy, social behavior, and—in a tone that’s a little too buoyant for the subject—how the animals’ arrival in the American West transformed the Comanche and other Native American residents into dedicated horse thieves. As, over time, domesticated horses escaped to become huge wild herds, the work of mustangers like Johanna July in the late 1800s to capture wild horses one by one turned into systematic slaughter until the public campaigns of Velma “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston and other activists in the 1950s brought that part of the story to a (reasonably) happy ending. Along with playful details, Koch tucks proud, graceful horses aplenty, both wild and at work, into her mix of square and free-form sequential panels.