Wild mustangs descended from Spanish horses face management controversies that have significant welfare implications for free-roaming horse populations.
Free-roaming mustangs face welfare challenges from both natural pressures and management interventions. Drought reduces forage and water causing starvation. Helicopter roundups cause severe stress, injury, and family disruption. Overcrowded short-term holding facilities stress gathered horses. Non-lethal PZP contraception programs require periodic capture but otherwise allow horses to remain free and intact as social units. The ongoing political debate about mustang management continues to affect welfare outcomes for individual horses.