The Horse in the New World: Return of the Native?

When the second voyage of Columbus arrived at Hispaniola on November 22, 1493, both the Old and New Worlds would be forever altered. On 17 ships were 1,200 immigrants and numerous domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep and horses - all brought along to establish ranch colonies in Santo Domingo and the other islands of the West Indies.

Hernán Cortés was the first person to land horses on the North American continent. As part of an effort by the Spanish to establish a colony on the mainland of New Spain (Mexico), Cortés landed at Tabasco on March 13, 1519. Arriving with him on their 11 ships were 508 soldiers and, most importantly, 16 horses. Due in part to his ability to build alliances with Native people, the military advantage of the horse, and the fact that Montezuma thought him the incarnate of the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, Cortés and his soldiers managed to overthrow the powerful Aztec empire.

Many other Spanish expeditions ventured into the inland territory of New Spain. In 1521, Juan Ponce de León (on his second trip) sailed for Florida with two ships, 200 men and fifty horses landing near Charlotte Harbor. De Soto's explorers had 237 horses on their 1539 trek from Florida to Missouri. In 1540, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's explorers conduct extensive inland reconnaissance from what is now Mexico and Arizona to Kansas in search of the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. They travelled with 248 stallions, the preference of the Spanish military, and two mares.

Although the basis of legends, escaped horses from the early Spanish expeditions were not the seed stock of the wild horse herds of the American West. Only after the mission system in New Spain was established did horses begin to populate North America. Native groups, like the Apache, did raid the missions for horses, and undoubtedly a few horses would have escaped. However, only after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 could large numbers of wild horses be seen roaming the grasslands of the Plains.