Mesteñeros, or mustang runners, were people in Mexico, and later on in the United States, in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th century, usually

vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...

s or

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

s, that caught, broke and drove wild horses, called mesteños or

mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

s, to market in what is now Central and Northern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. These Mesteñeros operated originally in the 16th century in what is now Central Mexico, then, by the 18th century primarily in Northern Mexico, the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

from

and

, and in

, primarily in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

during the 19th century and in the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

during the 20th century.

Etymology and History

“Mesteñero”, or mesteño hunter, derives from ''mesteño'' or wild ownerless horses. In

Mexican Spanish Mexican Spanish () is the variety of dialects and sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexico and its bordering regions. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, more than double any other country in the world. Spanish is spo ...

, both, and were used interchangeably and meant untamed, wild ownerless horses, mules and cattle that roamed free in the vastness of the Mexican countryside; synonymous with untamed, unbroken, bronco, ferocious, wild. The Mexican definition is the one adopted by the Americans. Although the vast majority of Mexican horses were raised in the wild, mesteños or mostrencos were only those that had no owner, thus, they were public property and under Mexican law any Mexican citizen could take possession of them. Prior to the 18th century, the proper name used in the country for such animals was ''cimarrrón'' or çimarrón, any animal, wether a horse or bull, that was wild and had no owner. In Spain, referred originally to any stray livestock animal of uncertain ownership that ended under the ownership of the powerful

transhumant Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower ...

merino sheep The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

ranchers'

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

medieval Spain Spain in the Middle Ages is a period in the history of Spain that began in the 5th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the early modern period in 1492. The history of Spain is marked by waves o ...

, called the

Mesta The ''Mesta'' () was a powerful association protecting livestock owners and their animals in the Crown of Castile that was incorporated in the 13th century and was dissolved in 1836. Although best known for its organisation of the annual migrat ...

(); , in

Castillian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langu ...

, literally means, “''lo que toca o pertenece a la Mesta''” (what belongs to the Mesta). The name of the Mesta derived ultimately from the , referring to the common ownership of the guild's animals by multiple parties. While , is any goods, including beasts and jewels, that had been abandoned or whose ownership is uncertain and, as such, after a year and one day they fall under the ownership of the Prince or to the community that has privilege over it. It derives from , which means “to present” or “to manifest” because by law, after finding said goods, they must present or manifest them to the authorities. In Spain, it also means a person who doesn’t have a home or a master, someone who is ignorant or slow to reason or learn, and someone who is fat and heavy.

The great Mustang hunts (Cacería de la Caballada Mesteña)

The hunt for the mesteño horse was a grand event, a great battle between man and beast. The hunt was colloquially called by the Mexicans, ''correr mesteños'', that is hunting mesteños with the lasso as they were hunted using their reatas. The great hunts for mesteño horses took place after the rainy season (monsoon) and during the winter rains, between October and December, or after the melting of the snow, when the watering holes were replenished and the pastures were renewed, and the horses came down to drink, mainly in the region colloquially known as "Los Llanos" (the plains), an area that stretched from northern

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

in the south to southern

in the north, and west to the foothills of the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

in Chihuahua to the foothills of the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

to the east. In this large area, the Bolsón de Mapimí region alone had, by the late 18th century, more than 230,000 wild horses. For this great hunt, or rodeo as it was called by the Rancheros—for it was a grand roundup—a large number of men was required, typically between 100 and 200 skilled, cunning, and well-mounted riders and enough provisions for at least a month. These Rancheros would go out in search of the herds in groups of six to ten, wandering for many days across the vast plains, deserts, and mountains until they found their target. This operation required time and great patience, as the entire process, from the moment they set out until they were captured, could take weeks. When they finally managed to locate the horses, they built a very large and wide corral made out of thick mezquite wood with double palisades tied with strong leather ropes, where they would enclose them. Once the construction of the corral was finished and covered with grass and bushes so as not to alarm the horses, the roundup began, which consisted of the hunters dividing into groups of five, ten and fifteen men positioning themselves in certain places surrounding an area of more than twenty leagues (approximately 65 miles) in order to block the passage of the herds, forcing them towards the point where the corral was built. The enclosure process was a very dangerous and violent battle in which many horses and men perished. When they finally managed to capture and enclose enough of them—hundreds of them—they would leave them without food and water for six days. Weakened and exhausted, they were then joined by tamed mares called "caponeras" and lead them to the pastures and corrals where they would be sorted and tested to later be taken to the large cities to be sold.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesteneros Animal husbandry occupations History of the American West History of the Great Basin History of the San Joaquin Valley Horse-related professions and professionals Spanish words and phrases