The Untold History of Horses in America: New Study Challenges Western Narrative

The story of horses in the Americas dates back 65 million years when the common ancestor of the Equidae family was born on the continent.

The common ancestor of the Equidae family, which includes horses, zebras, and donkeys, was born on the American continent 65 million years ago. The Equus genus, which includes horses, zebras, and donkeys, also appears in North America 4 million years ago and arrives several times on our Eurasian continent thanks to the retreats of the sea.

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The story of horses in the Americas

Starting from 12,000 years ago, no more vestiges are found in the Americas. It is therefore concluded that the horse became extinct. Its evolutionary history continues in Eurasia, where it is domesticated 4,200 years ago and supplants all existing wild species. From the 16th century, the conquistadors brought horses back to the Americas.

So far, the story seems simple and accepted by the Western world. Only, this story imposes the fact that the Native Americans did not have horses at the time of colonization and that they only adopted them in 1680. 

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To try to solve this enigma, Yvette Running Horse Collin, a Native American anthropologist, contacted geneticist Ludovic Orlando to finally associate more than 80 scientists from around the world to reconsider everything.

Re-study all the collections of American horses, all the archaeological and paleontological pieces, and study the ancient and current DNA of horses to understand their genetic history.

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The result is that Native American horses had a diet of corn, which was not cultivated by Westerners in 1680. Native American horses are therefore older than this date, so this story must be rewritten.

On the other hand, it seems that the horse did indeed disappear from the Americas 12,000 years ago.