Mustangs | Spirit of the Shrinking West, National Geographic magazine: Wild Blue-Eyed Mustang

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A wild, blue-eyed mare stares with wariness and curiosity. Horses have a well-developed fight or flight instinct and their first response to a threat is to flee. This horse is a descendant of the Catnip Wild Horse Herd that consists of paints and palominos with blue eyes, which were bred for the American Cavalry in the 1800s. The first use of horses for warfare occurred 5,000 years ago.