Last updated: October 16, 2026
You’ve seen the pictures: mustangs running across the plains, ponies grazing along a Carolina beach. They sure look wild. Then you hear that truly wild horses are nearly gone. So what are you looking at when you see free-running horses in the wild?
Here’s what separates wild from feral horses, what they’re called around the world, and where you can still see them.
Table of Contents
Are There Still Wild Horses?
The difference between wild and feral comes down to ancestry, not whether a horse will let you catch it. Feral horses descend from domestic stock, even if their families have lived without human care for generations. A truly wild horse comes from a line that was never domesticated. By that standard, nearly every free-roaming horse alive today is feral, and the open question is whether Przewalski’s horse is the one exception.
Feral doesn’t mean they don’t matter. In the U.S., the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 calls mustangs and burros living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, and covers all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands administered by the BLM and the Forest Service. So a mustang can be feral to a biologist and wild under federal law at the same time.
Horses also have a long history in North America. They evolved here and died out at the end of the last ice age, long before Spanish horses arrived in the 1500s, which is why some people argue mustangs are a returning native species rather than an introduced one. The question of whether horses are native to North America still divides scientists and advocates.
What Are Wild Horses Called?
There isn’t one name for every wild horse. In the western U.S., they’re mustangs, in Australia they’re brumbies, and Przewalski’s horses are also called takhi. Here are the names you’re most likely to hear:
| Name | Where they live | Wild or feral? |
|---|---|---|
| Przewalski’s horse, takhi, or Mongolian wild horse | Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan | Generally considered wild |
| Mustang | Western U.S. | Feral |
| Brumby | Australia | Feral |
| Banker horse | Outer Banks, North Carolina | Feral |
| Assateague or Chincoteague pony | Assateague Island, Maryland and Virginia | Feral |
| Sable Island horse | Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada | Feral |
| Namib Desert horse | Namibia | Feral |
Free-roaming horses live in familiar social groups. A family group, often a stallion with his mares and their young, is usually called a band, and young males without mares often run together in bachelor bands.
Przewalski’s Horse: The Last Wild Horse?
Przewalski’s horse is named for Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky, who brought it to European scientists’ attention in the 1870s. Mongolians call it the takhi. It’s a short, stocky horse, usually 12 to 14 hands, dun-colored with a pale muzzle, a dark stripe down the back, and a stiff mane that stands upright with no forelock. It also has 66 chromosomes, two more than a domestic horse.
From extinct in the wild to recovery
The takhi came close to disappearing. The last one seen in the wild was a single stallion in Mongolia in 1969, and the species survived only in zoos, descended from a small number of founding animals. Captive breeding prevented their extinction, and reintroductions began in Mongolia in the 1990s, later expanding to China. In 2024, captive-bred horses were flown from European zoos to central Kazakhstan, and Smithsonian Magazine reported at the time that some 2,000 Przewalski’s horses lived in captivity worldwide. The IUCN lists the species as Endangered.
Is it really wild?
In 2018, researchers studied ancient horse DNA from Botai, a roughly 5,500-year-old settlement in northern Kazakhstan long associated with early horse domestication. The study in Science found the Botai horses were the ancestors of Przewalski’s horses, not of modern domestic horses, and as National Geographic reported, the authors concluded that takhi descend from early domesticated horses that went back to the wild. Under that interpretation, they’d be feral too.
Not everyone accepts that. The key question is whether the Botai horses were domesticated at all. A 2021 paper in Scientific Reports challenged the evidence, arguing that tooth wear once blamed on bridles could have happened naturally and that the people there more likely hunted wild horses. That leaves the takhi’s ancient history open to debate, but it doesn’t change the importance of protecting this distinct, endangered horse.
How Many Wild Horses Are Left in the U.S.?
The Bureau of Land Management estimated 61,523 wild horses on the western public rangelands it manages as of March 1, 2026, plus 23,943 burros, for a combined 85,466 animals, according to its 2026 population report. Nevada had 37,426 of those horses, more than half the total. These figures cover BLM-managed herds, not every free-roaming horse in the country.
The BLM’s appropriate management level, the number of horses and burros it aims to maintain in its herd management areas alongside other resources and uses, is 25,592 animals combined. Another 58,025 were in off-range corrals and pastures as of May 2026. The agency removes horses through gathers, uses fertility control to slow population growth, and offers removed horses for adoption or other placement into private care.
Brumbies: Australia’s Wild Horses
Australia has large feral horse populations. Horses were introduced by British settlers beginning in 1788, and the ones that escaped or were turned out became brumbies. They live everywhere from tropical savanna to the Snowy Mountains, and they’re part of Australian folklore, which is why managing them is so heated.
One of the main disputes centers on New South Wales’ Kosciuszko National Park, where horses damage alpine bogs and streams. According to the NSW government, the 2025 survey estimated between 6,476 and 16,411 horses in the park, and the state is legally required to reduce that to 3,000 horses in retention areas by mid-2027. That estimate covers Kosciuszko only, not Australia’s entire brumby population.
Where to See Free-Roaming Horses
- Nevada: Mustangs roam the Virginia Range near Reno.
- Wyoming: The McCullough Peaks herd ranges near Cody.
- Oregon: The South Steens herd roams the high desert near Steens Mountain.
- North Carolina: The Banker horses of Corolla and Shackleford Banks live on the Outer Banks.
- Maryland and Virginia: Assateague Island National Seashore is home to the Assateague and Chincoteague ponies.
- Mongolia: Hustai National Park is home to reintroduced Przewalski’s horses.
- Australia: Brumbies live in parts of the Snowy Mountains and Guy Fawkes River National Park in New South Wales.
Access and viewing rules vary from place to place, so check the local rules before you go. Wherever you are, remember these aren’t pets. Give them plenty of room, never feed or approach them, and don’t get between a mare and her foal or a stallion and his band. Wild horses can be dangerous when they feel crowded.
About Miles Henry
Racehorse Owner & Author | 30+ Years in Thoroughbred Racing
Miles Henry (legal name: William Bradley) is a professional horseman based in Folsom, Louisiana. He holds Louisiana Racing License #67012 and has spent over three decades managing Thoroughbreds at premier tracks including Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, and Evangeline Downs.
Expertise & Hands-On Experience: Beyond the track, Miles has decades of experience in specialized equine care, covering everything from hoof health and nutrition to training protocols for Quarter Horses, Friesians, and Paints. Every guide on Horse Racing Sense is rooted in this “boots-on-the-ground” perspective.
30 of their last 90 starts
Equibase Profile.
Connect with Miles: