Lab Test Results Suggest Embattled Free-Roaming Horses In Arizona Have Historical Lineage

Lab Test Results Suggest Embattled Free-Roaming Horses In Arizona Have Historical Lineage
Two wild horses walk through a field in Eureka, Nev., on July 7, 2005. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Allan Stein
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An expert in horse population genetics claims to have found laboratory evidence of historical ancestry in samples taken from Arizona’s free-roaming Salt River horses found shot to death on federal land in 2022.

“So far, I can say that there is evidence of Spanish ancestry in the Salt River horses,” Gus Cothran, a retired professor and consultant in animal genetics at Texas A&M University, said in a statement.