By Drew Marine | October 11, 2018 at 9:18 PM CDT – Updated October 11 at 9:18 PM

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) – Wild horses at Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk have been the source of controversy for years, JRTC and Fort Polk wanting them removed. Now, a professor at Texas A&M University says some of these horses could have a rare genetic history that could protect some of them from removal.

Between 400 and 500 horses roam free in and around the Fort Polk training facility, according to their spokesperson. So far in Emeritus Clinical Professor, Gus Cothran’s, testing, 20 of these horses have a connection to a colonial Spanish breed from the 1500s to 1700s.

“The horses that the Spanish brought to the new world, when they were settling and conquering, no longer exist in Spain. Or, if they do, they’re very small numbers and are extremely endangered,” Cothran said.

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