Spain to America - Southwest Spanish Mustang Association

Words by Gilbert

America

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 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 a large number 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 eyes become more acute and third hearing infinitely sharper.”

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 Prairie 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 Santa 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 Santa Fe, 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 painting 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 horse’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 car 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 brands.

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 starting 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.

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PO Box 329, Hugo, OK 74743