13/07/2025
Horse History
Where did they originate? It's an age-old question and with a common belief that horses “went extinct” during the Ice Age. I pulled together a lot of time, knowledge, and research and put it together in a shorter simplified overview.
I often also hear, “But modern horse is very different from fossil horse”. My way of thinking supported by scientific paleontological record and other overwhelming evidence, is that, like humans, the modern horse (domestic and wild) originated in a specific world region and from a common ancestor- what that original ancestor "looked like" means little and has no bearing.
To simplify an example- like the poodle, it also derived from the wolf- doesn't matter how the poodle got to its present characteristics, it still has an original ancestor and place of origin. All species, including the equine, canine, and human is in a state of active evolution - a continual work-in-progress.
The horse ancestor and its earliest known fossil record are in North America. Human ancient/ original ancestors also looked very different from modern mankind, but due to the process of evolution, originated from early or more primitive humankind. Wild horses are on the evolutionary fast-track through 'survival of the fittest' of change and swiftly so, in relative terms to earth timelines. As we often observe out on the range, it's typically the biggest, strongest, swiftest, smartest stallion, and the one with most stamina and will-power which will typically win a mare or even perhaps an entire band, and as a result of evolutionary sequence- furthers his genetics, and natural hormones rule the necessary behaviors and dynamics.
This is why competition for mares via stallion battles are essential in the continual evolution of the equine. Typically, the best of the best win this right in the wild kingdom - and why the horse is vastly different from its earliest ancestor Eohippus, the earliest horse in N. America (56 million to 33.9 million years ago).
True, human domestication - breeds or breed specialties also had an influence, but as equine geneticists have stated (paraphrased), “A few thousand years of equine domestication does little to alter biology.”
We really don't know why horses were even considered to have "died out" here in N. America as there is compiling evidence to the contrary. "Extinction" of the ancestors of modern horse is quickly becoming an outdated belief and now unbelievable. As to the theory of extinction, large scale die-out from climate and glacial effects on the landscape, but it is also important to know only a portion of N. America was affected by the maximum iceshelf - much of the region was not (see map of maximum ice sheet over North America in comments) if we ponder the map depicting the farthest south the iceage icesheets covered the land mass- there were large regions of survivability in conjunction with the Ice Age theory. Hunting by man is also believed to have had an effect on equid populations during the ice age. As to total extermination, that is up for skeptical debate.
Personally, I suspect the "complete extinction" theory will be overturned one day as we are learning more via scientific data collection. I also find it interesting that earliest horse fossils (related to modern horse) are found in North America. "But what about the Przewalski's Horse?" I sometimes hear (a horse-type mammal depicted as “ the only true wild horse”) ... Well known and debated early fossils found elsewhere in the world (ie Mongolia) such as the Przewalski's horse- is only a distant cousin to modern horse as they have 66 chromosomes, compared to the 64 that the modern equine have- a split off the family tree (there are also other cousins in Asia, Africa, such as the zebra). Those early fossils found elsewhere are merely a split on the evolutionary tree, and only distantly related to what we know as the modern horse which, unlike the Przewalski‘s or zebras, for instance,, modern horse- wild and domestic have roots squarely in North American soil .
The Ice Age migration theory (which is also known to be true), suggests that some north American equids crossed the Bering Sea bridge to Europe and Asia, some of which ‘domesticated’, and some returned here to their motherland, so to speak, via early explorers and roam this continent as well. But once again, even those horses- simply put, according to Dr Jay Kirkpatrick, "... a few thousand years of domestication does little if any altering of the natural horse/genetics." This applies to all modern equines- wild, re-introduced (such as the Kigers and Cerbats), or influenced in some way by humans through domestication.
And while for now, the current, though transient belief that the horse became "extinct" in N. America is prominent still in some minds and search engines, however, even more fascinating to learn, that through archaeological and paleontological evidence and testing, we are finding that there were also likely horses remaining in the lower portion of the continent, not well documented by modern American inhabitants, but rather through rock art and verbal histories of the indigenous people. The horses which are believed to have remained here depicted on boulders and cave walls (unaffected by the ice shelf- notedly, SE Oregon (est 12,000-8,000 years ago and which I saw myself), Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico), hard history- literally “written in stone” by the indigenous peoples- petroglyphs on boulders and cave walls.. etched deeply into rock and walls for centuries, permanent images of horses and horses with riders which pre-date the arrival of Spanish explorers.
Wild horses of today in North America are a long legacy in history of evolved horses of various means- horses from early explorers, from farm, ranch, and cavalry, and those wild ones which remained here since the earliest ancestors those millions of years ago. All found roaming wild in our 10 west states still today. How lucky are we.
Time tells the best stories.
Site 5GF2 is one of the few that represent the Biographic rock art tradition. As described by Keyser and Klassen, the images of this tradition are largely narrative, with illustrations that range from every day activities to major historical events (2001:224). In this drawing of a part of Panel 1, we see multiple figures composed into a scene depicting a bison hunting event. Cole (1987:275- 286) describes this panel, and those in most of the site, as having been painted during the Early Historic Ute period, likely prior to AD 1830. Notable are the empty spaces in the horse paintings indicating their coloration, and the feather adornment on the horses, which probably identifies the status of their rider. Page 33
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/uploads/Getinvolved_RAC_nearyou_Colorado_Northwest_rockart.pdf Cole, Sally J. 1987 An Analysis of the Prehistoric and Historic Rock Art of Western Colorado. Colorado Bureau of Land Management Cultural Resources Series No. 21, Denver.
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Additional Reading:
Horse fossils. LA Times 2011: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/06/wild-horses-nevada-blm-native-species.html
Native American connection to evidence of wild horses in NA pre-Spanish Explorers: http://thewildhorseconspiracy.org/2013/07/02/exciting-article-about-by-phd-steven-jones-re-more-recent-surviving-native-horse-in-north-america/
Horses in the Americas Prior to Spanish Explorers:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=279337446885634&set=a.10158717834863956
Were there Horses in the Americas Before Columbus: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303446285_Were_there_Horses_in_the_Americas_before_Columbus (to view the text after you click on the link then tap on the image to see the text).
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*About the Illustration:
For my articles, I often like to use digitally generated AI.
“Written in Stone” is Digitally Generated and Remastered aI Art by me- Sonya Spaziani aka Mustang Meg/MustangWild for my article, Horse History.
