Horses, a prominent member of the genus Equus, are well-known in their domesticated form, being a beloved beast of burden, mode of transport, and pet. However, wild horses are very important grazers in the wild.

The only horse lineage that has no domesticated ancestry is Przewalski's horse, native to Mongolia, as the European wild horse was driven extinct in the early 20th century and the first Paleoindians likely drove the American subspecie(s) extinct.

Even though the wild American horse lineages have gone extinct, as of 2021 there were over 70,000 free-ranging mustangs, or wild horses descended from others that escaped the conquistador explorers that came to the U.S Southwest in the 15 and 1600s.

A unique characteristic of horses is that they don't differ wildly – in either genetics, morphology, or behavior – from wild horses. Therefore, these mustangs, beyond being the same species as the American wild horse, share almost all of their genetic makeup: this is well-supported by studies saying their genetic makeup is very similar.

Despite this, many groups treat them as a harmful invasive in the U.S, despite the evidence pointing towards them being a reintroduced species that were extirpated by paleolithic humans. The only harm they cause is due to overpopulation, which is due to the extermination of predators, like wolves, from much of the U.S.

The push against them mainly comes from the cattle industry, who feel the horses compete with cattle for grazing land, despite being able to coexist with cattle and actually help reduce cattle parasites in the areas they graze.

These megafauna have finally been returned to their homelands, and we must keep it that way. Beyond the beauty they add to the landscape, they also increase the health of their ecosystems.

The Rewilding Foundation believes that to be faithful to what America would have looked like before negative human disruption, conservationists should create rewilding herds to release into nature reserves. The traits they would select for would be a size around that of a Mongolian wild horse with a coat color spectrum of blue-dun to dun and a standing mane, as this is likely the look of extinct American wild horse lineages.