The mascot debuted in 1932, and since then a black Shetland pony, Peruna, has been present at every SMU home football game except for one.

In the March 22, 1985, edition of The Daily Campus, Barcus related his story to Linda Beheler: “I was out on a picnic and saw a little black horse running through the high weeds and I said, ‘that would make a good mascot for SMU.’ So I went to coach Ray Morrison and said, ‘Ray, I’ve found a horse that I think would make a good mascot,’ and he told me to bring it to the pep meeting.

So I got a popular [student] to bring the pony to the pep rally and from then on it became the official school mascot.”[3] On Halloween 1934, Peruna I escaped from his on-campus living quarters and was struck and killed by an automobile on Mockingbird Lane.

When Cully Culwell was having difficulty locating a black stallion to replace Peruna VI, he shared, “stallions are hard to obtain now because most young male horses are castrated to make them tamer….a stallion which is more aggressive, better represents the spirit of the SMU Mustangs.” [4] The first football teams at SMU were unofficially known as the "Parsons" because of the large number of theology students on the team, but after SMU won a state championship in women's basketball, it was determined that the university's teams needed an official mascot.

The list was narrowed to three finalists, and at a pep assembly on October 17, 1917, the name "Mustangs" was selected over Bisons and Greyhounds.

She was struck by the idea while watching the team practice from her office in Dallas Hall: "Why, out there, on the football field, it looks just like a bunch of wild Mustangs!".

The popularity of Peruna soared during Prohibition due to the high alcohol content allowed for "medicinal" purposes.

At the time, Bob Goodrich (who later became a Methodist Bishop) was the Band Director and took his younger brother, Wilson, on the trip as a ‘Shovel Boy’ for Peruna.

The next day, the student body president (Finis Crutchfield ’37), along with the leader of the Mustang Band (Robert Goodrich ’35), led the procession from the flagpole to the burial site near Ownby Stadium.

Gene Gaddy (’50) recalls that, because of his role on the Student Council, he was called back from summer break to serve as a pallbearer for Peruna IV.

In Chicago for the 1953 Notre Dame game, Peruna V was put up at the posh Stevens Hotel, had elevator privileges, and drank from the washbasin while being cared for by Burl Luscombe.

As they drove, the radio programming was interrupted to inform the audience that Peruna had been “horse napped” by UT students who would display him at the game the next day.

The UT student body was surprised to see the real Peruna parade in because the wrong stolen horse was there also....minus its tail and mane.

The two years of rest through the Death Penalty, assisted in his healing, though he was retired early due to increasingly more frequent shots to reduce swelling before games.

[4][needs update] Peruna VIII ‘exchanged reins’ at the Spirit and Traditions Pep Rally at the beginning of the 1997 school year.

After a long road trip to Washington, D.C., Peruna VIII led The Mustang Band in President George W. Bush’s Inauguration Parade.

[3] Peruna VIII's infectious, untamed spirit is demonstrated before every game and as stamps and whinnies as the Mustang Band forms a tunnel and he waits impatiently to lead the players on to the field.

Peruna IX was found by the Culwells mere days before he was scheduled for castration and was spared in order to become SMU's next stallion mascot.

The rough-and-tumble stallion attended summer band practices during 2011 to become adjusted to game noise and has been clocked galloping across the football field at a record pace.