The Spanish Mustang

A Short History of the Mustang in America

The horse, as we know it, was not native to the Americas. There was a prehistoric horse, about the size of a large sheep that had three toes. When Columbus left for Spain, after his 1492 exploratory voyage, he left a few Spanish inhabitants on a Caribbean island, now known as Santo Domingo. On his return voyage of 1494 he left Spain with 34 horses. Twenty of the horses survived the Atlantic crossing and were left on Santo Domingo.

Spain was serious about conquering the New World. In 1517 Hernando Cortez landed in Yucatan, Mexico with troops and 16 horses: ten stallions, five mares, and a six-month-old foal. He re-embarked to Vera Cruz, losing one or two horses en-route, then conquered Mexico with his men and remaining horses.

Spaniards introduced horses to South America in 1532. By 1535, there were wild herds roaming the Pampas of Argentina. Juan De Onate arrived in the area of Santa Fe, N.M., in 1598, with over a thousand horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and chickens, plus colonists. Thus was established our Hispanic Heritage of the Southwest.

The first horses were small, 13 hands average, but were stocky, with strong legs and bodies, able to carry heavy loads for long distances. They were easy keepers, which enabled them to survive the long voyage over the Atlantic and adjust to their new land. They certainly did adjust. They multiplied and many escaped to run wild, the many became thousands, then millions. 

The Spanish Mustang reached its peak in the mid-1800’s with an estimated two million. After 1887, the Spanish horse began to dwindle due to crossbreeding, slaughter, and castration.

As the Spaniard explored, conquered, and laid claim to most of the Americas, the horse changed forever the lifestyle and culture of Native Americans and the WILD WEST repute that extends from the Pampas of Argentina to the vastness of the Great Plains of the United States and Canada to the deserts of the west. In early days every voyage from Spain to the new world was ordered to carry breeding animals.

New Mexico was the place in North America where the horse, the cowboy, and the Wild West began. The role of the Spanish horse on the cultures and history of the European emigrants is unquestionable.

The Crow, Comanche, Apache, Ute, Sioux, Kiowa, Navajo, and others began acquiring horses in the 1600’s. Tribes traded and bartered for horses, some organized raiding parties to steal them. The horses changed their way of life forever. It established wealth, prestige, and honor. Horses became the basis of trade for goods, guns, and wives, ETC.

Then came the horse traders. The first were the Taos Pueblans. The Cayuse Tribe became such excellent traders that the horse was nicknamed the CAYUSE. The Pawnees became so adept as horse traders that their horses showed up on the Atlantic seaboard. Patrick Henry bought several Spanish horses, through this trade routing, when he was governor of Virginia.

The Nez Perce changed from, a fishing, to a hunting society within one generation of obtaining horses. They became famed for the quality and colors of their Appaloosas and Paints. When white settlers stole several hundred of their horses the Nez Perce revolted. The cavalry came after them and by the time they were captured they had jus one horse left out of the thousands they had before.

The Spanish horse was known to be ridden for up to 90 miles without food or water. As a result of this mobility these horses gave the Native Americans, the government began a campaign to eradicate the breed. The cavalry was ordered to kill off the horses, but the soldiers, riding Thoroughbreds, were unable to subdue or capture the more versatile animal. They did take the order seriously and U.S. troops deliberately killed over a 1000 horses in an attack on a Kiowa camp in the Texas Panhandle in 1874.

Today the Spanish Horse is almost extinct. They no longer exist in Spain, and only in a few isolated locations in South and North America. When located, the horses are few in number, usually less than 10. There is barely a viable gene pool in all that have been found. Protected by Federal law in the U.S., in reality they are shot, harassed by ATV’s and horseback riders, even chased by helicopters and small planes. In some cases the mares are shot to facilitate easier capture of the foals. Some lucky ones are adopted, many more are sold for slaughter and human consumption overseas.

Fewer than 17,000 wild horses remained by 1970. In 1971, Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act to protect the last of the Mustangs. Sadly, most of these are feral horses, few have Spanish genes.

It is apparent, with today’s mobility, these rare horses will not survive, unless they are protected with much more industry than they have been in the past.