Horses

Although the prehistoric ancestors of modern horses lived throughout North America, they had all disappeared by about 7,000 B. c. Europeans reintroduced the animals to the continent as they explored and colonized the “New World.” As in the Old World, horses soon served a central role in the Americas. The spread of horses profoundly affected many Native American peoples, as they adopted horses for their own purposes.

Europeans relied on horses as an essential technology. Christopher Columbus brought Andalusian horses to the West Indies in 1493, Ponce de Leon imported them to Florida in 1521, and Hernando de Soto’s 1539 expedition included more than 300 of the valuable animals. Two years later, the French began exploring Canada on horseback. In 1585 Sir Walter Ralegh sent horses to the Roanoke colony. The first horses brought by Jamestown colonists were eaten during the starving time, but new stocks arrived in 1611 and 1614. By 1630 herds were well established in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Canada. Although oxen remained the primary heavy draft animal, horses, either ridden or driven, provided the overland transportation.

As their numbers increased, horses became economically important. Selective breeding programs developed, and, after 1650, New England exported horses to other colonies and to West Indies sugar plantations on ships with specially built deck pens. Indicative of their value, in 1701 Massachusetts established a government office of Horse Inspector to verify the license numbers of buyers and sellers and the horses’ descriptions and registration numbers. Horse racing also became popular, and the country’s first Jockey Club formed in Charleston in 1734. Horses in the South were generally kept turned out in large fields without much care. German settlers in Pennsylvania, however, kept theirs in barns through the winter, where they fed on hay, and collected manure to spread on their fields. These farmers began to develop America’s first draft horses, which pulled freight wagons, called Conestogas, hauling three to four tons. Eventually, Americans developed several breeds, including Narragansett Pacers, Virginia Quarter-path racers, and Conestoga horses.

Native Americans quickly took advantage of the introduction of this new domestic species. From the original stock Juan de Onate used in founding the colony of New Mexico, horses spread throughout the Native peoples of the West, particularly after the PuEBLO Revolt in 1680. Many Natives transformed their cultures as they incorporated horses into their communities. The Lakota and the Cheyenne, for example, de-emphasized agriculture in favor of a bison-hunting economy. The territories of these horseowning people shifted, often intensifying conflicts with other groups in the region. The ownership of these animals also became a measure of wealth and prestige. They were used in dowry payments and given as extravagant gifts. Horse stealing demonstrated skill and bravery, and new religious significance and rituals institutionalized their importance. Meanwhile, horses became more important among the people living in the region of the Appalachian Mountains. By 1700 the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Iroquois possessed significant herds and established breeding programs of their own.

Further reading: Virginia DeJohn Anderson, Creatures of E-mpire: How Domestic Ani-mals Tran. sformed Early America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).

—Robert C. Gardner