- Type: Art Audio File
- Collection: American Art
- Culture/Region: America
- Subject Area: Visual Arts
- Grade Level: K-12, College, Adult, Families
During Catlin’s time, great herds of mustangs (wild horses) roamed the west. Listen to the artist’s description of these amazing animals:
The whole country seemed to be alive with buffaloes and bands of wild horses. There is no other animal on the prairie so wild… as the horse. There is no doubt but that they are able to distinguish the character of the enemy approaching, and, when off, will generally run three or four miles before they stop. I made many attempts to approach them by stealth, when they were grazing or gamboling, and never succeeded but once.
On this occasion I left my horse, and, with my friend Chadwick, skulked through a ravine for a couple of miles until within gun shot of a fine herd, when under the cover of a little hedge I used my pencil sketching them. In this herd we saw all the colors that can be seen in a kennel of English hounds. Some were milk white, some jet black, others were sorrel, bay and cream color, many were iron gray, others were pied. Their manes were very thick, and hanging in the wildest confusion over their necks and faces. Their long tails swept over the ground.