INDIGENOUS WILD HORSES

Native Fact: North America is the literal birthplace of equus and the wild horse. The magic of the horse originated on this land, then culminated globally and marked a turning point in the history of mankind. No other animal has had such influence and impact on humankind's development. To the wild horse, to the tamed horse, we owe immense gratitude and respect, for the horse gave two-leggeds a massive advantage and was instrumental in our development and our survival. Humankind will forever owe a great debt to the horse.

In our evolution, it is historic fact that wild horses originated and fully developed on the North American continent. It is said, some of those wild horses drifted across the Bering Land Bridge to Eurasia, while many remaining on the northern continent were subject to a big die-off 10,000 years ago; as is the case for many species throughout time for various reasons. While many moons ago there existed a contiguous land mass which could be walked, the melting of the ice age gave way to rising waters which eventually divided continents by surrounding major land masses with oceans. This, of course, isolated pockets of humanity and life forms, including horses, until two-legged travel by water evolved.

Recorded history explains that around 4000 BC man's interactive relation with the horse was put in motion. Eurasians learned to tame and work with descendants of horses that had traveled by land from their birthplace in North America. This unleashed endless possibilities and ultimately led to the building of societies and empires. With the horse came power, strength, travel, and speed.

“The horse was here well before the settlers.”

— Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin, The Relationship Between The Indigenous Peoples Of The Americas And The Horse: Deconstructing A Eurocentric Myth

That said, there is an imperative element of history often washed over and overlooked, and that is the truth that is the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, their lives, heritage, and history. Prior to the white man's arrival to the North American continent, indigenous lives, cultures, and societies thrived and flourished in coexistence with the land, animals, and ways of the earth and skies and beyond. Native American history and oral tradition share with us that horses have always existed on the North American continent and that their integral relationship with the horse was in existence well before the white man's arrival. This indigenous truth later dovetailed with European explorers and settlers crossing the Atlantic with their horses and marking this return to native turf and their ancestors.

From Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin's 2017 dissertation, The Relationship Between The Indigenous Peoples Of The Americas And The Horse: Deconstructing A Eurocentric Myth - The horse was here well before the settlers. "We have calmly known we've always had the horse, way before the settlers came. The Spanish never came through our area, so there's no way they could have introduced them to us," reads one quote from a Blackfoot (Nitsitapi) study participant in Collin’s doctoral study. In conversation, Dr. Collin also shared the story of asking an elder why this true account of the horse is not better understood. This elder's response was that "no one ever asked us."

Thanks to documented and oral history, we are able to know that wild horses are not feral, for all bloodlines always lead back to their native birthplace. The wild horse originated and fully developed right here on this land throughout the West. While many remained, others migrated to what would became other continents with rising waters. Let us recognize and nurture this unique legacy, for there is no other place on Earth like this. Let us celebrate this native treasure. May we beam with pride and act in truth with deep appreciation, compassion, and respect for our native wild horses. This is a legacy to nurture, honor, understand and secure for future generations. Wild love is lasting and forever.

- Andrea Maki

““We have calmly known we’ve always had the horse, way before the settlers came. The Spanish never came through our area, so there’s no way they could have introduced them to us.” ”

— Blackfoot (Nitsitapi) study participant in Dr. Yvette Collin’s doctoral study.

Learn more, click here: The Relationship Between The Indigenous Peoples Of The Americas And The Horse: Deconstructing A Eurocentric Myth, Dissertation by Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin

“Yes world, there were horses in Native culture before the settlers came,” Indian-Country-Today, 2019

THE HAGERMAN HORSE OF IDAHO - The Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) was a North American species of equid from the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods, first appearing around 3.5 million years ago, and the Hagerman fossils represent the oldest widely-accepted remains of the genus Equus. An average Hagerman Horse was about the size of an Arabian Horse and probably lived in grasslands and floodplains, which is what Hagerman was like 3 million years ago. Native North American horses went extinct approximately 10,000 years ago, as did many other large-bodied species of the period. It is one of the oldest horses of genus Equus and is recognized as the State Fossil of Idaho.

Visit the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Museum in Hagerman, Idaho

Cattle rancher, Elmer Cook, discovered fossil bones on this land in Hagerman, Idaho in 1928 and showed them to Dr. H.T. Stearns of the U.S. Geological Survey, who in turn passed them to Dr. James W. Gidley at the Smithsonian Institution. The bones were identified as belonging to an extinct horse, hence the site became known as the Hagerman Horse Quarry. Three tons of excavated specimens were sent to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., producing twenty complete skeletons, more than 100 skulls, and forty-eight lower jaws along with numerous isolated bones. Paleontologists believe that an entire herd of these animals were probably swept away and drowned by flood waters, ending up buried and fossilized in the soft sands of this river bottom. Visit the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Museum in Hagerman, Idaho to experience and learn more about this spectacular and unique history in person.