Official Big Horses Suck Thread

[RednBlue11]

Big horses suck

we dont even have a small one

[HB Pony Dad]

And we'll need a bigger scooper as well!

[RednBlue11]

I will commit to going to every game for the rest of my life if they make this happen...

[SMU Cyclist]

Those of you who complain are idiots! I'm sorry, but most of your arguments against a Mustang are specious, and downright perplexing.

Big Horses? A Mustang is typically a pony (14 hands or shorter) and isn't big, you are just used to that tiny and lame excuse for a mascot, the miniature shetland (see my Mustang manifesto from a few years ago, I will be glad to send it to you)

I'm sorry but the joke has been for years the guys running across the field next to the little draft horse, and has always helped perpetuate the stereotype that SMU is a "City Slicker" school that couldn't tell a snaffle bit from a halter. Any real horseman just laughs at our students running beside the shetland, as if it takes two city boys to handle that wild beat. The handlers just appear witless. I know we don't have an ag program, but please.

I applaud everyone involved with this new and enlightened action, especially since all of you seem oblivious to the threat that out namesake is facing due to endangered habitat. As a way to focus on the the need for wild horse preservation, this is a positive step.

The complaining appears suitable only for Fox News type intellects...

[Rebel10]

Hey, I see kids throwing temper tantrums in the store all the time to get what they want. Why can't we?

[Statler]

Those of you who complain are idiots! I'm sorry, but most of your arguments against a Mustang are specious, and downright perplexing.

Big Horses? A Mustang is typically a pony (14 hands or shorter) and isn't big, you are just used to that tiny and lame excuse for a mascot, the miniature shetland (see my Mustang manifesto from a few years ago, I will be glad to send it to you)

I'm sorry but the joke has been for years the guys running across the field next to the little draft horse, and has always helped perpetuate the stereotype that SMU is a "City Slicker" school that couldn't tell a snaffle bit from a halter. Any real horseman just laughs at our students running beside the shetland, as if it takes two city boys to handle that wild beat. The handlers just appear witless. I know we don't have an ag program, but please.

I applaud everyone involved with this new and enlightened action, especially since all of you seem oblivious to the threat that out namesake is facing due to endangered habitat. As a way to focus on the the need for wild horse preservation, this is a positive step.

The complaining appears suitable only for Fox News type intellects...

You sound like a PETA type. Why are you for the exploitation of animals as mascots?

[PonyKai]

Those of you who complain are idiots!

Oh that's a nice tactic. You disagree with my opinion so you're a moron.

[jtstang]

We are city slickers, and damn proud of it. It's what separates us from the Aggies.

[RednBlue11]

Those of you who complain are idiots! I'm sorry, but most of your arguments against a Mustang are specious, and downright perplexing.

Big Horses? A Mustang is typically a pony (14 hands or shorter) and isn't big, you are just used to that tiny and lame excuse for a mascot, the miniature shetland (see my Mustang manifesto from a few years ago, I will be glad to send it to you)

I'm sorry but the joke has been for years the guys running across the field next to the little draft horse, and has always helped perpetuate the stereotype that SMU is a "City Slicker" school that couldn't tell a snaffle bit from a halter. Any real horseman just laughs at our students running beside the shetland, as if it takes two city boys to handle that wild beat. The handlers just appear witless. I know we don't have an ag program, but please.

I applaud everyone involved with this new and enlightened action, especially since all of you seem oblivious to the threat that out namesake is facing due to endangered habitat. As a way to focus on the the need for wild horse preservation, this is a positive step.

The complaining appears suitable only for Fox News type intellects...

You sound like a PETA type. Why are you for the exploitation of animals as mascots?

id like to know what specifically you can point to in what they said that suggests PETA

[RednBlue11]

We are city slickers, and damn proud of it. It's what separates us from the Aggies.

i sincerely hope that isnt the only difference

[SMU21TCU10]

Anybody else remember like 3 or 4 years ago when the Peruna handler busted midfield?

[KnuckleStang]

And we wonder where do all our traditions go... Not unlike when, at the end of Copeland's run, somebody tried to ditch the basic red mustang in favor of some Arena ball-looking crap logo, because a "student focus group" reacted positively to it. Utter retardation. We were able to fend that one off, but not this time. An Okie Lite grad is writing us a check, so we have to change our mascot to what they want. Our traditions go down the commode, to distract from two decades of sorry football. "it will enhance the gameday experience!" My god I am depressed

[RednBlue11]

what are "all these traditions" that we are loosing?....can anyone name them?....remind yourselves that we havent lost peruna, people are just acting like its already happened

[SMU Cyclist]

Originally ignored by the Daily (three days a week Daily?) Campus

Jake Torre’s impassioned editorial regarding Peruna, while arguing for the continuation of the current incarnation of Peruna as SMU’s symbol, perpetuates many specious arguments regarding the meaning of Peruna. There are many impassioned students and alumni who have also written praising the familiar Peruna that we have seen for generations. I admire all of you for your passion and commitment to the University. I disagree with the reasoning behind this passion and ask you to examine this issue more closely.

The continued argument that this particular breed of animal best represents the idea of an SMU Mustang, devalues the initial meaning that President Hyer articulated when he saw the football team practicing outside his office window. The Mustang is one of the iconic symbols of our region, and as such deserves honoring by our institution. The Webster definition that is posited by Mr. Torres is a general definition of the word usage, not the iconographic or genetic definition of the animal. We chose as our symbol, the actual wild Mustangs, which still exists today on public lands throughout the West, and are currently under threat by those that share these public lands with Mustangs (ranchers and their cattle.)

This idea of those Mustangs, that unbridled spirit evident in cowboy mythology and an essential part of the culture of the indigenous people of the plains, was the inspiration for Hyer’s oft quoted “why, they look like a herd of wild Mustangs.” This evocative comment pushed aside mascot options like “Deacons,” “Ministers,” etc. that were then contemplated for SMU’s athletic squads.

Having arrived on this continent by way of the conquistadores, the Mustang has a deep connection to our own arrival on the continent, and in many ways signifies our own success, populating a continent that was already claimed by others. The European descendant’s use of the horse was also an expression of freedom that continues to define the American experience. The Mustang was essential for the flowering of a new way of life for the Apache, Comanche, Dakota, Sioux and other peoples. The emerging conflict between these varied peoples of the Americas and Europe found a common bond in the love of the Mustang.

The young university now had a powerful symbol, and we proceeded to misplace it. Unfortunately (and the breed by chance) a miniature pony was donated to the school, by a local race track owner. (The implication being he wanted someone else to care for it.) Since then, prodigious amounts of misplaced mythology has been created to accommodate this gift. The acceptance of this small horse has created an unnecessary attenuation of the Mustang mythology on this campus. The Shetlands that have commonly served as our mascot were a breed that originated in the islands north of Scotland, and were used as draft ponies during the industrial revolution. These ponies are integral symbols to the birth of the industrial revolution in England, but not rich symbols in the context of the American West. Introduced to this continent late in the 19th century, they have become symbolic as play things for children not ready for a horse.

Once we accepted this caricature of a Mustang, we have had to make circuitous explanations to ourselves why originally this miniature pony, then this miniature Shetland breed was an acceptable substitution for a Mustang, an actual, definable breed. A dictionary definition is regardless of scientific definitions of a Mustang as a definable breed. It is as if the University of Texas chose “Longhorns” as a mascot, then proceeded to use a Holstein dairy cow as the symbol. “They have Horns, right?”

A common slight, mocking SMU by its naysayers, was that the urban Methodists of Dallas couldn’t tell the difference between a Mustang and a draft pony. Even when SMU was founded, the nascent Dallas already had insecurities about the city’s culture, and the perception from the east, that Dallas was seen as a provincial city (unlike Fort Worth, which has always embraced its rough hewn origins.) SMU’s iconographic inaccuracy, using a miniature pony, played right into the hands of SMU and Dallas bashers.

The arguments that Shetland proponents use to continue this devaluation of the Mustang symbol are what I find specious. Arguing that a real Mustang is somehow difficult to manage ignores any real understanding of horses, or the care of horses. Mustangs in the wild are genetically very diverse and highly intelligent. They are very desirable horses to own, and they would not be any more burdensome to handle or stable than a Shetland. They also have what Shetland’s lack, a more honest depiction of our mascot and a more majestic presence.

Peruna has been different breeds in the past, so the precedent for changing breeds exist. Another argument is that we would lose “Pony” as a moniker. Many, if not most, Mustangs are ponies, the term reserved for a horse below 14 hands tall (a Shetland tops out at 11.2 hands) so the term pony would still be applicable. So a pony can’t be “better” than a Mustang, since by definition they can be the same.

In essence, the long standing tradition at SMU is that we have long abrogated our own iconography for one foisted upon us by a well meaning but casual gift. As SMU matures into one of the preeminent universities in the world, so should we embrace the true meaning of Mustang, not the suburbanized caricature we have used. The recent news that the government would suspend conservation efforts on behalf of wild Mustangs drives home the point that SMU should be leading conservation efforts on behalf of our symbol, rather than arguing against the true pony, a Mustang.

[Stallion]

go back to your little cycle club and let the SMU football fans decide. I mean you've been so interested in SMU football you've posted on the Football board 4 times since joining last year. You fit the profile of the SMU student who has been to parts of 3-4 football games. We don't need History Lessons from Cycle Boy. Go crazy with those Cycle Uniforms all you want-we'll defer to your expertise there.