Colonial Spanish horses were the horse responsible for the Spanish conquest of the Americas. They changed the culture of Native Americans, were used on cattle ranches measured in miles instead of acres, and moved cattle across half a continent to make cowboy history. "The Spanish colonial horse can go and go," says Phil Sponenberg, who set out three-plus decades ago to help save the breed. The legendary horses arrived with Columbus and Cortez. Columbus left his on the Caribbean islands. Cortez brought 32 to conquer Mexico, and these and later imports multiplied to thousands. In 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted and stole the horses. From New Mexico, the horses were rapidly traded north. By the time Lewis and Clark headed west, the horse culture had advanced. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contacts Sponenberg to identify Spanish-type horses in wild herds to help the bureau conserve the horses. The work has taken him to Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Arizona. His task has been to evaluate the overall conformation of the horses and to assure that good candidate populations follow up with detailed bloodtyping or DNA typing by colleague Gus Cothran at Texas A&M. They have never disagreed. As a result, several new strains of horses have been added to the conservation effort. "Equally important, several strains have been excluded," which also helps conserve the bloodlines, Sponenberg says.
photos courtesy of Phil Sponenberg
