First Horses in the Americas
a basic history of the first horses in the Americas.
For many of us, it’s hard to imagine a world without horses. Keeping them requires time, devotion, and commitment. We use them for work, education, and recreation. They have woven themselves into our language, traditions, and annual rhythms of life. As a person who spent nearly a decade without them in my daily life, I feel like I now appreciate them all the more. I really believe Winston Churchill’s quote that, “The outside of a horse does something good for the inside of a man.” We all realize there are millions of horse owners who can testify to that feeling.
Horses not only play a role in the lives of individuals, but their role in the development of America was beyond integral. You could say that America as we know it would not have been possible without the horse. As a result, it seems worth understanding the history behind the first horses that came to America. It is a complicated history, but one that deserves at least a basic understanding.
If you have no understanding of the first horses in America, I hope you find this brief article helpful. The main source for the information comes from J. Frank Dobie’s book The Mustangs. If you find this information thought-provoking, I’d encourage you to buy and read the book. Dobie was a master author, an esteemed historian, and a famous folklorist. His book is among the most renowned in the subject toward which we now dive.
Right off the bat, things get a little tricky. Prior to the last decade, the accepted history was that horses were non-native species, and were first introduced by Europeans. However, a recent dissertation by a PhD student suggests horses and Indigenous people have had an unbroken relationship from before the last ice age into the present day. While the student’s dissertation may have some people talking, the vast amount of literature and historical evidence still suggests the first horses in the Americas came via the Spanish Conquistadors. Just what kind of horses those were is the subject of this article.
To understand the Spanish horse brought to the Americas, it helps to understand a little about its breeding prior to 1500 AD. Dobie states that around 710 AD the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula dramatically changed the development of their horses. Muslims brought with them both Arabian and Barb horses. Arabians themselves, have as rich and deep a history as any other breed on the planet. Some sources indicate the Bedouin people began breeding horses as early as 2,500 B.C. to meet the demands of their harsh climate. They bred horses for speed, endurance, and hardiness, and the Arab was the product of their breeding. Barbs have a similar history. Dobie states that Barbs were developed in the Barbary region of north Africa. Like their Arab neighbors, Barbs were bred for their swiftness and hardiness, although Dobie notes they were coarser than Arabs. Of course, when Moors raided the European continent in the early 8th century, they rode their prized horses into battle, and herds of breeding stock followed in their wake.
Traditional history says that as Moors took control of the Iberian Peninsula, they crossed their horses with native Spanish stock. These native horses of Spain also have a history worth noting. The horses bred in Spain were descended from what are called Iberian horses. These were the wild horses living in the region as long as 30,000 years ago. Over time, Iberian horses gained recognition for their outstanding disposition and usefulness in war. Even the Greek poet Homer praised the ancient horse in his epic The Illiad. Another testament to their prowess is that the Romans also incorporated them into their own cavalry. When Moor raiders conquered the Iberian Peninsula, these horses would have dotted the countryside.
According to Dobie, these Iberian horses were bred with Arab and Barb stock, which resulted in the development of the Andalusians. However, there is some disagreement about this. Another good historian, Arnold Rojas, claims in his book These Were the Vaqueros that Andulisians had been in development for “centuries” before the Moor invaders conquered Spain. Rojas also wrote “In spite of the fact that it is offensive to the Spanish people and to scholars who have made a thorough study of the ages-old Iberian hippology, self-proclaimed authorities persist in writing that the Andalusian horse is an “Arabian,”…No statement was ever made on thinner evidence.”
At this point, I only hope to offer what my research has so far revealed in this debate. No matter their history, what is not debated is the Andalusians’ reputation as the best war-horses in the world in the late Middle Ages.
For a little information on Andalusians, check out the video below. This brief video highlights the Yeguada de la Cartuja, where they have apparently been breeding these Spanish horses since the 15th century.
In The Mustangs, Dobie laments the lack of detailed information about the first horses in the Americas. His research revealed most of them were of solid color. He claims bays, chestnuts, and duns were often the most identified. He also speaks to the quality of these first horses on page 13 when he wrote:
“Absurd and ridiculous would be any person who tried to find nonexistent similarities between some hammer-headed, ram-nosed, ewe-necked, goat-withered, cat-hammed, sore-backed, hard-mouthed, mean-natured, broom-tailed bronco of the West at the close of the 19th century and an Arabian of (pureblood) perfection. Just as absurd would it be to regard that bronco as representative of the Andalusian Barbs that Cortes and his handful of men rode to conquer the kingdom of Montezuma. One quality out of the original that never withered was hardihood.”
When Conquistadors such as Cortez, Coronado, and De Soto made their explorations, Dobie claims these were the horses they rode. Other sources claim the Conquistadors rode Barbs when they came to the Americas. Based on the historical record, it is likely that Barbs, Arabs, Andalusians, Iberian horses, or a mix of those breeds were the first horses in America. Whatever the specific breeding of each horse was, there is no doubt the animal would have been the culmination of many years of breeding.
In Rojas’ book, he references Bernal Diaz’s book Historia Verdadera De La Conuista in which the author describes a handful of the first horses brought by the conquistadors. Here are a few descriptions:
“Captain Cortez: a bay stallion which died soon after we reached San Juan De Ulloa.
“Pedro De Alvarado and Hernando De Avila: a very good sorrel mare for sport and racing, and the half of which Alvarado took forcibly or bought on our arrival in New Spain.
“Juan Velasquez De Leon; another silver gray mare, very powerful, that we called ‘La Rabona’ (The Rat-Tailed One), very restless and a good racer.
“Francisco De Montejo and Alonzo De Avila; a brownish sorrel stallion, unfit for war.
“Francisco De Morla; a dark bay stallion, a great racer and very restless.
Judging by the Diaz recollection, most Spanish horses brought to the New World were chestnuts and bays. There was also a collection of stallions and mares.
In addition to this, there are some sources that indicate just how important the horses were to the conquistadors. In fact, one chronicler on the Coronado expedition is quoted saying, “Next to God, we owed our victory to the horses.” Bernal Diaz wrote the horses were “our fortress,” and “our only hope for survival.”
As you can tell, the history of the first horses in the Americas is a bit spotty. What is not spotty is the fact that horses had a huge impact on the history of the continent. You could say they had such a big impact that it would be hard to imagine what America would be like if the animals had never been reintroduced. As we appreciate them for what they offer us in our modern lives, it may be worth remembering just how influential these animals have been in human history.