A species of the horse, the Onager of Asia, was worked and bred by the Sumerians in the settlements of Sumer where four Onager stud farms existed.  One was located above the Black Sea, another near the Aral Sea and two in the vicinity of the Tigris River.  Before the horse was ever ridden, they were yoked to heavy, clumsy, solid four-wheeled carts and controlled by lines (reins) attached to a ring in their nose.  This was prior to 3,000 B.C.  Evidently the Onager had a very intractable disposition as they were replaced as a work animal by a small, sturdy Aryan horse from the South Asiatic Russian Steppes.

                The first actual record of horse domestication by man was at Mesopotamia in 2,200 B.C.  These horses appeared as a small, light type, driven to chariots by the Hittites as they came down from north of the Black and Caspian Seas through the Caucasus Mountains where they settled on the western edge of the Persian Desert.  The Hittites learned horsemanship from their neighbors, the Hurrians from the kingdom of Mitanni on the Hisatan Plains.  These Hurrians migrated from the Central Russian Steppes and settled around Lake Van.  They were later known as Medes.

                The first written instructions on training horses to chariots and horse care were found on five clay tablets written in 1360 B.C. by Kikkuli, a Mitanni horse trainer.  These clay tablets were in the great library of Boghazkoi in the ancient Hittite capitol Anatolia.  These tablets indicated the Mitannis had been working horses to chariots several centuries before 2,200 B.C.  It was several centuries later before the horse was strong enough to ride, as history indicates they had weak backs.

                Ancient archeological records and cave paintings indicate the Hittite horses were slender, spirited horses similar to the Caspian pony with both standing nine and one-half to eleven and one-half hands, very trim and refined with heavy mane and tail.  

                In 1965 a small band of horses was found on the northern slopes of the Elburz Mountains near the Caspian Sea in Iran.  From blood tests and bone structure analysis, scientists believe these horses could well be the descendants of the first horses used to chariots in Mesopotamia.  It was thought they had been extinct for 1,000 years.  The Persians have long claimed that the Caspian pony was the founding blood of the Persian Arabian, the oldest known Arabian.

                History indicates that the first domestication of the horse spread from the Danube River area across the South Russian Steppes into China just west of the Yellow Sea.  This vast area, which stretches 3,500 miles, was the original breeding ground of the horse and was inhabited by the Scythians and other barbaric mounted nomads of many tribes.  These nomads, known as Aryans, rode small native horses they had domesticated from the wild horses of the Karsh Steppes.

                Indications show that the first horse breeding and domestication developed, was by race known as Sacre, who lived in great horse country between the Oxus and Jaxates Rivers above Ferghana in Russia.  According to ancient graves, the people of this area also developed a large superb strain of thoroughbred type horse near Ferghana.  Many were buckskin in color but some strains were pintos and others were appaloosa colored with sparse manes and tails.  These horses were known by the Chinese as fabulous, heavenly blood sweaters and were sought with gifts and war in order to acquire fifty head by the king of China.  This was in 102 B.C.  Up until that time the Chinese cavalry rode small Mongolian horses.  Eventually through breeding programs, they produced 300,000 head of these Bactrian horses, which were valued at 300 pounds of gold each.

                Early historians stated these horses were originally ridden by Aryan chiefs and aristocrats as indicated by ancient gravesites.  These superb horses had unbelievable stamina and could gallop 100 miles a day for six or seven days without rest.  There could have been as many as six different types of wild horses developing from one light horse branch, the Pritzvola, in the vast wild area.  When the Asiatic Hyksos or "shepherd" kings conquered part of Egypt in 1670 B.C. using Mongolian horses to chariots, these barbarian tribesmen introduced the first horses, predominately brown in color, to Egypt.  The first recorded domestic horse in Egypt was a horse skeleton found in Queen Hatsheput's tomb in 1490 B.C.  After two centuries the Egyptians drove the Hyksos out of Egypt, forcing the to leave vast herds of Mongolian horses.  The Egyptians gradually became active horse breeders, acquiring superbly bred stallions from the Phoenicians to cross with the horses left by the Hyksos.  The result was a tall, racehorse developed for chariots.  Herodotus later described them as having a slender tapering neck, well-rounded chest and shoulders, high withers, long clean legs and long and plentiful tails.  Their colors were mainly white, bright bay, piebald of black with white stockings on two to four feet.  They stood fifteen to eighteen hands and were called Donkolawi of Nubia.   

By 1450 B.C. the Phoenicians had become the greatest marine traders of that time.  They operated from Gadir, opening up Atlantic and Mediterranean trade routes by 1000 to 800 B.C.   They acquired highly bred stallions from stud farms at Mesopotamia and sold them at every port along their trade routes.  Their routes also included the Arabian Peninsula between the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.  They sold horses to the ancient warlike Celtiberians of Spain.  They probably carried the ancient ram-nosed, striped, dun Sorraia horse from Spain to the Barbary Coast of North Africa to be crossed with the Berber horse, causing the North Africa horse to have the convex face or ram nose.

             When the fierce Hittites conquered Syro-Palestine in 1370 B.C., they used their light three man chariots and brought their droves of horses with them.  While spreading across North Africa's Barbary States, they had to continuously replenish their horses from famous breeding studs north of Mesopotamia in the Lake Van area.  Thus, the famous Nisaean horse arrived in North Africa.  The northern Bedouin of Arabian tribes migrated to Egypt when the Persians pushed them out of Mesopotamia in 1,000 B.C.   Although they spread across North Africa, these ancient Bedouin tribes were not the aristocratic Arab of Nejd; their horses were Kudush, not pure.  These Bedouins developed three strains in Africa, preferring orange and saffron colored (palomino) horses.  One of the strains was the Bornu from the district south of Lake Chad.  Another strain was called the Dongola from the District of Nubia and the third strain was the Morgrabin from the side of the plains south of the Atlas Mountains.

             The North African Berber breed undoubtedly descended from these three Bedouin strains and was at times incorrectly called Barb.  (See picture No. 2)   The Numidian horses used in Hannibal's cavalry in conjunction with his elephants in the Second Punic War were probably descended from the Berber and the ancient ram-nosed Sorraia horse of Spain.

             From all indications, the Barb evolved from the Numidian horse, but was crossed up with oriental horses during the Arabian invasion in 700 A.D.  After this invasion several types existed.  The Barb was strictly of North African origin and when carried to Spain by the Moors in the invasion of 711 A.D., the Barb and the Kuhaylai-Jinah-At-Tayr Arabian blood mixed with the indigenous horses in the world for eight centuries, the Spanish Ginete.  The light Andalusian evolved from this Spanish Ginete through seven centuries of occupation of Spain by the Moors and their practice of scientific breeding, creating several Andalusian strains - one of which was spotted.

             My friend, Carl R. Raswan, the most knowledgeable authority on the Arabian and Barb horse in Arabia and North Africa who lived with both Bedouin an Berber tribes and rode both breeds, stated that "We are unable to prove a fixed type or predominating strain of Barb horse.  The name Berber Horse was changed to Barb in English language, therefore, Berber and Barb was likely the same horse.  As is, the word Barb merely designated a horse from the Barbary Coast of North Africa, not a breed.  The Barb more than any other horse changed its type with the times and its human masters, and many were mixed with Arabian blood, imported into Morocco by its powerful Sultan rulers."  This is why many historians from as far back as 1100 A.D., including J. Frank Dobie (The Mustang, 1934), refer to the conquistadors' horses as more Arabian and Barb in type.

             The mounted Scythians moved south out of the Asiatic Russian Steppes in 700 B.C. and emerged masters of the horse.  They were noted for their highly trained battle mounts that wore elaborate ornaments of bronze, silver, and gold.  They practically lived on their horses, riding geldings and in emergencies would open up their mount's vein and use the horse's blood for food and drink without dismounting.  They were the first horse breeders to practice gelding inferior colts to upgrade their horses.

             These Scythians made raids to Egypt in 610 B.C. and while they were on a raid to the west in the present day Hungarian Plains they met a migrating band of Western Celts using shaggy Celtic ponies to chariots.  These Celtic people knew how to exploit the horse to the fullest extent.  After the Scythians taught them the technique of riding, many Celtic tribes recognized the cavalry's superiority over chariots for warfare and the cavalry gradually replaced the chariot.

             As early as 750 B.C. a larger horse for cavalry was bred above Mesopotamia and famous horse breeding farms were established at Armenia and Media where the famous Nisaean horse developed.  The tall Turk horse descended from the Nisaean.  The Turk is closely related to the Numidian.  The Nisaean was large for that time, standing fourteen and one-half hands, bred by the Medes in the cool grassy country near Hamadan in the Lake Van area.  They were developed from the small sturdy Aryan horse and the Blood Sweater of the South Russian Steppes near Ferghana.  They were bred for 1,500 years.  Many were honey colored with light colored manes and tails.  This blood sweating - Aryan strain is closely related to the ancient Pinto and Appaloosa horse brought by invading horsemen from Ferghana to Central Europe in 1,000 B.C., and taken on the North Africa and Spain.  This blood was later carried by the Spanish Conquistadors to become part of the equine blood of the New World.  The Persian king, Xerxes, evidently used some horses of this blood when he invaded Greece in 480 B.C. using chariots pulled by Appaloosa colored horses.

             History indicates the Greeks acquired their first horses from a long chain of Scythian horse dealers across the Danube River.  These Greek horses were predominately sorrel in color.  Xenophon mentions the beauty, courage, and endurance of the Greek horses.  Crete probably got their first horses from Egypt.

             All horses up to 710 B.C. were developed from the light type horse.  The Bronze Age burials of Old Austria revealed the first domestication of the heavy Diluvial European Forest Horse in 710 B.C.

             In 648 B.C. horses were first introduced in sports with chariots and riders entered in Olympic games.  Thereafter, horses often appeared in Greek art.  These ancient paintings are positive proof of type and color of the Spanish horse of that era and those of the centuries that followed.  Listed below are just a few examples in the museums of the world.

             Queen Margherita of Austria mounted on a piebald Andalusian.

             Francis I of France mounted on an Isabella Andalusian.

             Queen Isabella of France mounted on a Medicine Hat.

             Two pinto Berber horses racing at a roman carnival.

             Of all the ancient paintings, none reveal all colors in ancient Spanish horses like the "Painting from Life" by Johann George Von Hamilton of the band of twenty-four Spanish broodmares and nine stallions at Lippizza in the Karst hills.  This was near Trieste in old Austria, a country the ancient Greeks had long recognized as producing superior horses with speed, stamina, and strength.  These horses came directly from Spain.  Their descendants are the gray Lipizzaners of today.  These Spanish horses were famous as far back as Caesar's time, originated at Carthage in North Africa.  The following colors are represented in the painting: palominos, buckskins, grullas, bays with dorsal stripes, appaloosas, grays with bloody shoulder marking, tobiano paints and other odd-colored horses.  Their conformation shows ram faces, long heads, and short ears; however, the ears may have been snipped, as was the custom of that time.  They had a moderately low tail set, were slightly leggy and had well-proportioned bodies standing fourteen and one-half to fifteen hands.  A thorough study of this painting proves that the North American mustang has all the known colors of the equine race in its ancient Spanish ancestors' background.

             After being exiled by the Scythians the Parthians left the Turanian Steppes and settled east of Medea, establishing their empire of Partha of the Pontic Steppes from 300 to 65 B.C.  Included were parts of Persia, Afghanistan and northern Saudi Arabia.  This empire of barbaric horsemen had two cavalry branches that fought in conjunction with each other.  The heavy cavalry, riding Nicaean horses, was the first in the world to use armor.  It was a light-scaled armor formed of plates overlapping one another like feathers on a bird, covering both horse and rider entirely.  Some was made of silver and gold.  The light cavalry used no armor and depended on their small, fast, and nimble footed Arabian type horses to confuse the enemy with hit and run tactics, using the bow and arrow.  40,000 of these Parthians caused the Roman army at Carthage some of their blanket days.

             Ancient coins of Carthage bear witness to fleet Arabian type horses in 360 B.C. the Phoenicians of Carthage invaded Spain bringing Berber, Numidian and Kuhaylai-Jinuh-At-Tayr Arabian blood.   When the Romans defeated Carthage in 146 B.C. they continuously imported hot desert Barbary Coast horses all over the Roman Empire to improve their Latium breed of horses.

             The Celts invaded Spain from Gaul in A.D. 600 bringing a Norse horse type, which was usually dark dun in color with a wide dorsal stripe, stripes on withers and neck and prominent zebra stripes on the legs.  They also had a heavy mane that fell to both sides of the neck.  This Norse horse is believed to have descended from the Northern Dun, which in turn descended from horses of the Stone Age.  These Norse-Celtic horses crossed with Spain's native Sorraia horses resulted in the breed known as Villanos, a coarse heavyboned type bred in Castile in old Castilan Province.  They were a large mediaeval type Andalusian horse capable of carrying the heaviest of armor and probably standing fourteen hands.  They were classed as a desterier of Knight's charger.

             In 409 A.D. the Vandals from Gaul crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain with their great horses.  They moved through Spain into North Africa in 429 A.D. staying one hundred and four years.  These Vandal horses were the Descendants of the old Suffolk Cob crossed with the Nisaean horse carried to Europe from the Nisaean Plains at Medea.

             Fifty years later the Visigoths from Italy moved into Spain with their great horses, some of which were shod with gold and silver shoes, and stayed in Spain two centuries.  This heavy infusion of the great horse blood put more size on the native Spanish horse.  Alien the Roman stated, "The Numidian and Mauretanian horses were small before this Vandal and Visigoth infusion into Spain.  These war horses were nothing more than well proportioned active Cobs, not the heavy, clumsy draft horse later developed for heavy, slow work.  For confirmation of this fact see the picture of Bamberg Rider From the Cathedral, an excellent example of the conformation and size of the armored knight's charger.

             In 711 A.D., 3,000 Arabs and 7,000 Berbers, all mounted cavalry, invaded Spain at Tarfia, defeating and exterminating 90,000 Goths of the Plains of Xeres near Cadiz, bringing herds of Berber, Moorish, and Kuhaylai-Jinah-Arabian and Barb horses to Spain.  These Mohammedan warriors stayed in Spain 700 years.  These Saracen horses from North Africa crossed with the indigenous Spanish horse resulted in a superior breed called the Spanish Ginete.  (See picture No. 4)   They were bred at Cordoba.  For more evidence of the Spanish Ginete, see paintings of King Charles of England (1636) mounted on a Ginete from Spain and Prince Mauritz of Orange-Nassau riding a long maned white Ginete.  In 1618 King Phillip III of Spain presented the future Charles I of England with twenty-four Spanish Ginetes selected from his stud at Cordoba.  He also made a gift of twelve Ginetes to George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, who had been appointed Grand Master of the Horse by King James I of England.

             From this same stock came many of the Spanish horses to the New World.  The boyhood friend of and historian for Cortes and his expedition was Bernal Diaz Del Castillo.  He kept a detailed record of all horses in the expedition.  He referred to them as Andalusians.  If this statement is accurate, the horses brought to the New World were of Spanish Ginete and Villanos blood, as two types of Andalusians were bred, the small Ginete bred at Cordoba and heavier ancient Villanos bred at Castile in the old Castilian province.

             History reveals that the pure-in-the-strain Asil Arabian with the wedge shaped head, dish face, and straight croup, bred under very rigid pedigrees with records beginning in 610 A.D., was not a part of the Moorish invasion of Spain in 711 A.D.  They were not produced in sufficient numbers at that date to have mounted an army.  History indicated that the Asil Arabian spread under the reign of Harun-Al-Rashad, the fifth Caliph ruler of Baghdad (736 to 809).  He believed the finest bred Asil Arabians were essential for cavalry.  His triumphs in battle riding at the head of his legions extended Arabian rule to three continents.  He was responsible for Arab culture reaching 6000 miles to all of Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Tunis, Algeria, and the greater part of southwestern Asia.  See the painting by Julius Kockert of Harun mounted on a dished face Arabian leading his army during the Golden Age of the Mohammedan nation.

             In the past it was customary to call strains of horses by the name of the race of riding them of the locality where the horse originated.

             When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella outfitted Columbus at Cadiz on his second voyage in 1493 for colonizing Hispanola, he had ten mares and fifteen stallions.  Twenty of these horses belonged to Lancers that had just helped drive the last Moors from Granada.  The Canary Islands supplies some horses for the New World, probably Garranos of Portuguese blood.  Columbus sailed from Cadiz through the Sea of Mares, so named because in 1425 the Portuguese had lost so many horses in this rough water while exporting them to the Canaries.  On October 2, 1493, Columbus' expedition of seventeen ships was anchored off the Grand Canary Island with the first horses enroute to the New World.  Columbus established his own ranch on Haiti.  All future expeditions carried all horses possible on the King's orders to stock the Islands and Spain's royal studs.

             Spain placed an embargo on exporting horses in 1520, although some horses were shipped directly from Spain after the embargo.  The Islands furnished practically all horses thereafter that went to the New World.

             In 1500 the first rancher to leave Espanola and settle in Cuba was the appointed governor, Captain Diego De Velasques.  He took eight horses from his ranches of Espanola where in earlier years he had amassed a fortune by breeding horses.  In 1514 he brought more horses to Cuba and established his Bayamo Ranch, famous for highly trained pinto horses.  The conquistadors sailing to North and South America eagerly bought these horses.  At least one of these pinto horses was in Cortes' sixteen horses.  Moron, one of the conquistadors, owned it a native of Cuba.  Two Spanish Ginetes were also among Cortes' horses, which became the first horses to reach Mexico.

             Cortes was born in the town of Medellin, which was in the province of Estremadura.  Most of the early conquistadors came from this province.  Their horses came from the great horse breeding area on the plains of Cordoba where the Moors bred the famed Ginete up.

             In 1519 Hernando Cortes sailed from Cuba, a rebel, with 522 soldiers and sixteen horses and foal born on ship and landed at Vera Cruz, Mexico.  The ruthless Pedro De Alvarado joined Cortes at Vera Cruz with 150 soldiers and 20 horses.  The battle that followed pitted 300 Indians against each Spaniard.  A year later, Diego De Velasques sent the Cuban governor, Panfilo De Narvaes, with soldiers and 80 horses to relieve Cortes of his command.  The cagey Cortes seized these horses at this crucial time.  These horses were no doubt a large factor in the conquering of Mexico in two years time.

             It has been stated that the Spaniards rode stallions only.  This is very misleading.  According to the records, over one-third of Columbus' horses and almost one-third of Cortes' horses were mares.

             In 1526 Louis Vasquez de Ayllon, Justice of the Supreme Court of Santo Domingo, obtained a patent from King Charles V of Spain to explore 2500 miles on the Atlantic coast and its islands from Florida north to the Sable Islands ninety miles southeast of Nova Scotia.

             He established an ill fated colony on the coast of Carolina near the present day Wilmington, of five hundred men, women, and children including a number of friars and black slaves, bringing 80 to 90 horses.  From all research these were the first horses carried up the Atlantic coast.  From this date on it was customary for the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French explorers to place stallions and mares on these coastal islands in the hope they would propagate and furnish mounts for future Conquistadors.

             In still another expedition, Hernando Desoto landed at Tampa Bay, Florida on May 30, 1539 with 219 head of the finest horses that could be bought with gold he had plundered from the Indians of Peru.  One hundred three of these horses came directly from Cordoba, Spain where the Moors had bred the Spanish Ginete for 700 years.  These Spanish Ginetes probably were the beginning of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian horses.  This would explain why these Indian horses were such a superior breed at this very early date in American history.

             I have been a Mustang and Indian pony lover almost from birth - born seeing the Indians riding their ponies and cowboys of the "old School" who had went up the Chishom Trail riding Mustangs.  I started collecting and breeding Mustangs in a very small way.  My Uncle H.O. Case, no doubt being a horse breaker and breaking many Mustangs and half-breeds caused me to naturally lean to the Mustang breed.

             At the age of 11, I started collecting outstanding Mustang horses.  My first was a little mare I named Susie, given to me by my uncle.  When I was 13 years old I rode Susie driving a small herd of cattle behind a covered wagon from Hastings, Oklahoma to Llano-Estacado of Texas near the New Mexico line.  When I arrived on Llano-Estacado I was really in Mustang country.  I then started accumulating the Mustangs I continued to breed for 75 years.  I am now 92 years old and Bryant Rickman is continuing breeding the Gilbert H. Jones Mustang strain.

             In my long time studying and breeding these colorful horses and studying every book on the subject I could find, I have accumulated quite a library, and through studying other breeding programs I have formed my opinion of characteristics of mustangs breeds.  First, I want to state, no expert color genetic can come to Bryant Rickman's band of Gilbert Jones horses and predict what color the colts will be.  This is from 75 years watching the colts hit the ground.

             Now, after 75 years of being a breeder, I think the three expeditions coming to the New World were all brought from Spain, which was the largest melting pot of any nation.

             First, Cortes' expedition in 1519, horses were Jennets-Vallanos (probably pack horses) but also very tough endurance riding horses - Andalusians - Sorria - Berber and Barb - Arabian (but not the highly bred registered horse in Arabia).

             Second - The California Spanish Horse is bound to be almost pure Andalusian.  Look at a picture of California Vaqueros roping saddle horses in a corral painted by James Walker at Mission De San Fernano in California.  This is California's leading Spanish horse breeders.

             The 5 civilized tribes, Creeks, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee all moved to Indian Territory in the Trail of Tears.  From all my research their horses were undoubtedly started from the Spanish Jennette, because of their docile, gentle, sensible disposition, some gaited, with close chunky conformation.  When I moved my Texas-Mexico horses to Oklahoma 40 years ago in 1958, there were still some pure Choctaw horses here, and they are undoubtedly a distinct breed of their own.  The Choctaws were so gentle and easy to handle, they are entirely different form my horses in every way.  They are very unlikely to be mixed, to any extent, with horses of Cortes' or mustangs of Mexico.  I know from personal experience when I brought my horses from New Mexico to Oklahoma.  The people in Oklahoma noted the difference, of how bronky, snorty - with rollers in their nose and walleyed - with white rings around the eye, my western ponies were compared to the purest Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Cherokee horses.  The Indian horses were so gentle and docile compared to mine.  The five civilized tribe horses evidently evolved from Cuba as large ranchers in Florida delta with Cubans for at least a century and no doubt got most their horses from Cuba and Desoto.  It has been noted the superity and well built ponies of the Five Civilized Tribes.  I am sure the Cracker ponies of Florida are the descendants of the tribes mentioned that was brought to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.

             Third - The Desoto Expedition, the best equipped of all expeditions and best-blooded horses of mostly Jennet breed.  A large amount of Desoto horses were shipped from Spain after the embargo.

             Desoto's first act after landing was to send Diego Maldonado back to Cuba to buy more horses to replace any horses lost by his expedition.  Desoto taught some Tuscaloosa chiefs of the Maubician tribe how to ride horses.  He also presented some young horses of both sexes to friendly chiefs of the Chickasaw nation who had rendered him service.  There are also indications that horses escaped during the expedition's long march.

             In the terrible fight at Chicaza in what is now Pontotoc County, Mississippi, according to the historian, a Gentlemen of Elvis, each attacking Indian brought with him three cords.  The first was to tie a hog, another a horse, and the third a soldier.  During their long voyage down the Great River there is also evidence that the Indians stampeded horses that were taken ashore to water, in what is now Saline County, Arkansas.  One of the soldiers, a man named Francisco De Guzman, deserted the expedition into the wilderness with an Indian girl.  Guzman owned three horses, but had lost one gambling, so evidently he and the girl deserted on horses.  Guzman would not have set himself afoot and with his knowledge of horsemanship, the Indians would have possibly made him a chief.  At Vicksbluff, the Indians forced the Spaniards to turn more horses loose (to obtain more horses, this raid could have been caused by Guzman).  Evidence that the Indians were mounted on horses during Desoto's exploration seems almost certain.

             No historian can pinpoint the number of horses that escaped or if they lived to propagate.  However, the Indians must be given credit for more ingenuty than to have killed all the horses after being taught how to ride.

             Descriptions of the Chickasaw or Choctaw horses by early day Indian traders like James Adair, the English botanist William Bartram, Dr. David Ramsey and James Westfall Thompson stated that they had more bottoms to the hand of height than any horse on earth with sensible and docile dispositions.  They stood thirteen and one-half to fourteen hands, were well muscled and of chunky, close conformation.  Their ancestors were undoubtedly Spanish Ginetes brought to Florida by the many early Spanish conquistadors such as Vasquez de Ayllon in 1526, Hernando Desoto in 1539, and Admiral Pedro Mendez who landed at St. Augustine in 1656 with one hundred horses directly from Spain and the royal studs of Espanola.  His expedition moved up the coast to present day Georgia and South Carolina, founding a chain of Spanish Missions.

             When Antonio de Mendoza was appointed Royal Viceroy to Mexico in 1535, he immediately encouraged importing and breeding of horses, making it possible for every Spaniard to own a horse either by purchase of by gift.  He founded a Royal Stud at Ulizable.  In 1541 Mendoza allowed a few Aztec Indians in North America to become horsemen.  This was the beginning of the first Indian horsemen in the New World.

             In the fall of 1539, the famous scout Captain Melchior Diaz, conducting investigations for the Viceroy of Mexico, led a small cavalry unit with Indian scouts north from Culiacan, Mexico to the Pinaleno Mountains in present day Arizona.  The sound of their horses hooves on the earth was the first to be heard in western North America.  Mexico's Viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza and Francisco Vasquez Coronado assembled an

enormous expedition at Compostela, Mexico in 1540 to explore and find the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola as described by Cabeza de Vaca who had just arrived from his eight-year trek from Florida to Mexico.  Cabeza de Vaca and three companions were the only survivors of the Panfilo de Narvaez expedition of June 17, 1527 to Florida, losing 80 horses.  These four survivors were eight years in getting to Sinoloa, Mexico on the Pacific.  Both men sank a fortune in this ill-fated enterprise taking 1300 horses and mules.  They soon lost several hundred of them in a hailstorm.  They also lost more horses that got mixed up with a buffalo herd.  Hernando de Alvarado also lost more on a scouting expedition.  This was probably the beginning of the feral mustang bands that were to mount every Indian tribe west of the Mississippi.

             The southwestern Indians gradually became mounted on Spanish horses by catching feral animals, raiding Spanish ranches and stealing horses from Spanish missions.  The Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680 in present day New Mexico was the beginning of a large numbers of horses falling into Indian hands.  By mid-1700, a few Indians in Canada were making forays deep into the Spanish southwest, stealing horses and driving them back to Canada.  In this manner the Spanish horse was gradually dispersed from tribe to tribe by trade or theft until all the Indian tribes in North America were mounted on horses brought to the New World by the Spaniards.

             No historian knows the exact dates or how the Indians became so proficient in horsemanship.  The Indians left no records.  But it is known that the Indian learned quickly to be the best horsemen as far as maneuverability and distance riding on native grass that the world has ever known.

             Once the Spanish horse gained his freedom and was away from man's careful breeding for certain colors and conformation, the mustang reverted quickly to its ancient ancestors' build and primitive colors.  The next four hundred years spent fending for himself developed his brain for above any domestic horse.  According to the noted authority, Bengt Lundholm of the University of Uppsala in Sweeden, "Wild horses generally have a larger brain cavity than domestics."  Cunningham Grahmn states, "Wild horses eyes become more acute and third hearing infinitely sharper."

             With today's improved feed and care, breeders will see the purest mustangs of today reach fifteen hands in height, as they will revert to their ancient ancestor's size.  J. Frank Dobie state, "Mustangs can reach fifteen hands."  Dobie's father and uncle handled thousands of Mustangs when Texas was over-stocked with the purest Spanish horses in North America (the purest and finest mustangs were on Wild Horse Prarie in the Southeast and on Llano-Estacado), so J. Frank Dobie knew the Mustang form first hand observation as a young man.

             The Oregon Trail caused the Indian ponies, and all along the trail from Missouri to Oregon to be mixed with draft horse blood.  A large majority of people traveling was North easterners whose horses were primarily draft.  Oxen pulled a big number of the wagons.  This draft horse blood was the cause of many mustangs from Colorado north being heavier boned and showing draft blood.  Utah was as big melting pot for many breeds of horse as Spain.  The Mormons developed Utah early breeding and using many breeds of horses.

             The Spanish Trail from Missouri to Sante Fe, New Mexico was primarily used by Mexicans and white traders of Southwestern heritage.  Mules were mostly used to pull wagons and many were rode.  This is the reason the mustangs stayed the purest longer.  Mountain men like Peg Leg Smith drove thousands of Spanish horses and mules over the Spanish Trail to SantaFe, Taos and Bents Fort.  Unlike the Oregon Trail, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona never had much outside blood until 1890.

             The artists of the Early West, like artists in ancient times, are the ones who portrayed the types and colors of horses of their era.  Catlin was the first artist of stature to paint detailed, on-the-spot paintings of the Comanche horse while he was traveling with General Leavenworth, Col. Dodge and their Dragoons through the Wichita Mountains, now Oklahoma, in 1834.  This expedition was sent out to learn something about the unknown wild Comanche Indian and at that date the Indians' horses were pure Spanish.  The Comanche chief, His-oo-san-chees, the little Spaniard, leading a war party, met the Dragoons on a prancing milk white steed of definite Arabian type.  He led the Dragoons to the top of a hill overlooking the Comanche village of 600 skin-covered lodges on Cache Creek, with thousands of Indian horses grazing in the valley for Catlin to study.  Catlin described them as fourteen or fifteen hands in height and with many varieties of color.  They had profuse manes and tails that reached almost to the ground.  Catlin was riding, according to his own words, the finest horse he had ever ridden, a buckskin stallion with black points named Charley.  Charley was a Comanche Indian Stallion, which was broken by the Indians, and Catlin said they never broke a hors's spirit while breaking.

             It has been stated that the Mustang became mixed with escaped cavalry horses and escaped domestic wagon train horses.  The cavalry rode primarily geldings. Any Eastern horse accustomed to grain and care that escaped from wagon trains could not have survived the rigors of the frontier.

             The book On the Border with MacKenzie, author Captain R.G. Carter of 4th Cavalry of the Final Cleanup of the Comanche and Kiowa Indians in Paladura Canyon on Llano-Estacado of Texas.  Chief Quanah Parker and other bands anialiated or surrendered.  Their 2200 horses were killed and the Indians were forced to walk back to the Indian Reservation at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and now Oklahoma.  These highly trained buffalo hunters and racehorses that had out run the 4th Cavalry thoroughbreds were, according to Captain R.C. Carter, the finest horses to be had.  The white scouts like Jim (Lane) Cook and Tonk-Ka-Way Indian scouts were given quite a number of these fine Indian horses which was sold to the public and scattered on Llano-Estacado among ranchers.  I, Gilbert Jones acquired some of the ancestors of Indian buffalo hunting horses 40 years after the big horse killing.

             When the Indian was at the height of living on Llano-Estacado without molestation, they no doubt got horses at Sante Fe, Taos and Bents Fort from Comancheros (Mexican Indian traders) who bought the finest bred California horses, stolen from Rancheros by mountain men like Peg Leg Smith who stole thousands of fine Spanish horses and drove them over the Spanish Trail to Bents Fort.  Those at Bents Fort bought them without question.  These Comanches weren't far from Sante Fe, Tais and Bents Fort.

             The old stallion "Cortes SSMA #299" was a descendent of Mexican Comanches whose ancestors owned and bred these California Spanish horses.  These ancestors were Comanches and bred these horses since the Indians existed on Llano-Estacado.  Their names are Romero Cantalesano Marquez, who lived at Caballo, N.M., Rio A County.

             John James Audubon, the famous painter and naturalist, related buying a newly caught wild Mustang he named Barro from a frontiersman who had ridden him from the headwaters of the Arkansas River to Natchez in thirty days.  This horse averaged 35 to 40 miles a day without shoed and with nothing but prairie grass to eat.  Audubon had him shod and put on grain, then rode him from Henderson, Kentucky to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and back to Henderson.  This was a distance of 2,000 miles, during which he averaged not less than 40 miles a day.  Upon his arrival back at Henderson, his doctor declared Audubon's horse to be in as good condition as when he left.  Audubon thought this Mustang blood would have improved the Eastern horses of that day.

             Major General William Harding Carter, United States Army, in his "Great Story of the Horse", National Geographic Magazine, November 1923, told of riding Mustangs in Mexico in 1880 while chasing the famous Apache Chief Victorio.  He mentioned a small line-backed buckskin he rode.  He declared these Spanish horses superior to all other breeds in fleetness and endurance.  No mixture of other blood will ever produce a gamer, hardier, or more enduring animal for the deserts and mountains of the west that the Mustang, hand for hand of height and pound for pound of weight.

             Frank Hopkins, in 1890, rode Hidalgo, the Sioux Indian tobiano stallion in the grueling 3,000-mile endurance race across the Arabian Desert and crossed the finish line on the 68th day, the winner.  Hopkins and Hidalgo won over blooded Arabian horses in their native Arabia.  Hopkins had participated in four hundred endurance races using Mustangs, and he stated the Indians were the greatest horsemen until the government forced them into continuous wars and onto reservations.

             The Lewis and Clark Expedition used Spanish horses and some of them carried Spanish bands.

             Zublon Pike Expedition used Spanish horses all through Texas.

             John Charles Fremont, the pathfinder, used Spanish horses on all four of his expeditions, as Kit Carson advised him that blooded horses couldn't live off the land.

             Another noted frontiersman, Sam Houston, was a great admirer of blooded horses. Having imported Copper bottom from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Texas in 1839 when he was elected Governor of Texas for the second time in 1859 and was confronted with protecting the Texas settlers from Indian depredations along the frontier border, he employed a force of one thousand Texas Rangers.  Houston had lived many years among the Indians and knew the Indian horses' greatest asset was stamina.  He stated flatly that the Rangers would have to be mounted on Texas horses that could subsist on grass in order to fight Indians as the cavalry's fine American horses could not chase Indians without getting tender footed.  American horses could not subsist in that country without grain to feed them.

             It was also Texas Horses that were the ones to gather and drive 12,000,000 Longhorns up trails to northern markets from 1866 to 1890.  They did it while eating nothing but prairie grass.  The Southwest was the cradle of the purest and finest Spanish horses and where they existed the longest.

             James Walker, (1819-1889), painted the truest to life and most authentic Spanish horse of North America while staying at the Mission de San Fernando Rancho in California, he was on the spot painting the Spanish horses from life.  See "Roping a Wild Grizzly", "Roping Wild Horses" and Vaqueros Roping Out Mounts in Corral".

             The only rancher of size that bred Spanish horses up until 1920, to the author's knowledge, was Tom East in deep South Texas.  One hundred head of East's horses were used as models by the famous sculpturer, A. Phi mister Procter, who sculptured the bronze statue group of authentic mustangs at the University of Texas.  Procter lived on the East ranch while studying these colorful Spanish horses for a year before stating this masterpiece.  In the author's collection are two pictures of East's colorful horses.  One is of a top pinto cutting horse.  The other is a group of dun and grulla mares and colts on his San Antonio Viejo Ranch.  These pictures were published in Farm and Ranch Magazine around 1922 and show what the authentic Spanish horse looked like in their purity.

             Up to 1920 comparatively few Mustangs and Spanish Jacks remained almost in their pure state in small, remote and isolated areas of the southwest.  The BLM Wild Horses of today are of many mixtures of different breeds and not recommended by SSMA as having much Spanish blood in them.  Several small ranchers kept a few of the pure mares and stallions and Spanish Jacks because they had soft spots in their hearts for the little horse and mule that had performed so well for them.  Nine such breeders are known to have existed in the past ninety years.

             The Southwest Spanish Mustang Association, Incorporated, was formed with these nine breeder' best bloodlines.  The registry is based on bloodlines and performance by riding.  Emphasis in on riding which is the only way to prove that the Mustang has the stamina and endurance today that they had in the 1800's.  Two annual trail rides are held at Medicine Spring Ranch, which is the modern day proving ground.  We have unequaled records on my racing events.  We invite all dedicated Mustangs admirers to join the SSMA.

For details write to Bryant Rickman, Chairman, P.O. Box 948, Antlers, Oklahoma 74523.

Noted by GILBERT H. JONES