Welcome to Lonestar Spanish Mustangs

The Spanish Mustang is the Heritage Horse of America.  Brought to these shores by the early Spanish explorers, this is the foundation blood of all horses of American origin.  The State of Oklahoma has officially recognized these horses as the Heritage Horse of Oklahoma. 

LSM is proud to be a Choctaw Conservation Breeder.  The Choctaw strain of Spanish Mustang is particularly rare as evidenced by the following quote from Dr. Phillip Sponenburg, DVM, PHD, Professor, Pathology and Genetics, Virginia- Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech.  "The Historical Record for the Choctaw Indian horses is extensive and more details are known for this strain than for many other strains of Colonial Spanish horse. But, they are surviving by a thin thread, perilously close to extinction."  Dr. Sponenburg is an active member of The Livestock Conservancy,  a group that works to conserve American Heritage Breeds.  LSM currently holds Rickman's Lady, Scotty's Warrior Buck, Spooky Night Flight and Cherokee Chief all Choctaw Conservation horses.

 Lonestar Spanish Mustangs works to preserve the rare genetics of the horse of the Spanish Conquest.  These bloodlines were revered and protected in the last century by Gilbert Jones, founder of the Southwest Spanish Mustang Association.  Upon Gilbert's passing, his torch of passion was carried forth by Bryant Rickman, a man of uncommon commitment.  These special horses come from the herd of Bryant and Darlene Rickman, heralding The Spirit of Blackjack Mountain and Rickman Spanish Mustangs. 

In the early years of the 20th century, a young Gilbert Jones arrived on the Southern Plains of Texas, west of the present day city of Lubbock.  In a keen vision of what the future held for these horses, Gilbert began what was to become a lifelong passion of gathering and preserving the genetics of the Horse that made America.  It is in thanks to, and honor of, Gilbert Jones that Lonestar Spanish Mustangs works to continue his legend along with that of Bryant Rickman and the Southwest Spanish Mustang Association.

The bloodlines present in the herd at Lonestar Spanish Mustangs are representative of several strains of horses, all of which trace their origin on this continent back to the era of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas.  Choctaw, Northern Plains tribes, Navajo, Cherokee, Southwest, Old Mexico, Utah and Nevada strains are all present in the blood of these unique pictures of America's past.  

With the other strains, we have brought the horse of the plains back to its roots in the Texas Panhandle.  The very ground our horses walk today was trodden for hundreds of years by the horses of Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho Native Americans.  These were the horses that carried the greatest light cavalry the world had ever seen.  They provided transportation, companionship and yes, even food for the Great Plains Tribes.  These horses were the key to the Comanche domination of this very region up to and including the years of the Indian Wars waged by the U.S. Government.  It was the predecessors of these horses that U.S. Colonel Mackenzie slaughtered by the hundreds following the battle of Palo Duro Canyon.

In later years, when only the ghosts of the Great Plains Tribes roamed the plains, the American Cowboy embraced these horses as the hardy cow ponies of the great cattle drives.  Remnants of the numerous Mustang herds that roamed what was then known as the Great Horse Desert were gathered, used and sold by the influx of white settlement which began in Texas.