About a hundred years ago imaginative armchair historians began speculating on the possibility that horses from the two expeditions escaped onto the Texas plains, where they reverted to a wild state and increased over the years until there were thousands of wild horses at hand for the Indians to catch and tame. This idea was given good standing by Clark Wissler, dean of American anthropologists, but it collapsed quickly when subjected to critical evaluation by people who knew both the difficulties in attempting to develop a horse culture from scratch, and the trials and dangers that horses would undergo on the western ranges.
There are three important considerations that rule out this romantic possibility. First, Coronado had, at the most, three mares in his entire horse herd, and it is doubtful that any of them were taken east of the Rio Grande. De Soto had none. The Spanish did not use mares for military work, and this was definitely a military expedition. The possibility that even one of the mares escaped onto the Texas plains is remote indeed. Second, there is no record of any number of horses escaping at one time. The only losses of any account were of horses killed in chasing buffalo. Third, there was not a sign of any horse in this open country, wild or tame, mentioned by Spanish travelers for the next 140 years, and no wild herds are mentioned until after the Indians of the area had been using horses for thirty years.
Even highly intelligent Indians could not catch, tame, and train wild horses, and develop the complicated gear needed for handling the animals in only a century or so when it required the combined resources of a few million people and 4,000 years to accomplish the same results in the Near East. For the Indians to accept horses as rapidly as they did, and to use Spanish gear as far north as the Canadian plains, they had to have tame, gentle, well-trained horses from the start. They also had to have many samples of horse gear to copy. These well-broken horses could have come at first only from the Spanish colonies in New Mexico, and the first of these colonies was not established until 1599, fifty-eight years after the Coronado expedition. Even with horses on the Rio Grande by 1599, no contemporary document mentions Indian tribes in the area using horses until 1659, sixty years later.
On modern ranches, where well-fed stock horses are used only for a short period each working day and are hauled to and from work in a truck, a rancher handling several hundred head of stock on a well-fenced range can manage with just a few trained saddle horses. On the Spanish frontier, conditions demanded that the rancher and his vaqueros spend a major part of each working day in the saddle, with each man using several horses a week.
The seventeenth-century rancher depended on his horses to transport both people and supplies. Pack strings supplied the sheep herders on the open range, for the flocks had to be tended twenty-four hours a day 365 days a year, and spent several months of each year miles from the home ranch.
The herds of cattle needed constant attention, and could be handled only by men on horseback. These rather fierce Spanish cattle could easily outrun any man on foot who tried to drive them, or might just as likely turn and kill him. And finally there were the horse herds, composed of brood mares, the young stock, and spare riding horses, which needed supervision lest they go astray, be stolen by wild Indians, or wander into the crops in the unfenced fields.
The horse herd had to be quite large for the ordinary stock ranch. The working horses were fed no hay or grain, but subsisted entirely on natural forage. They required two or three days of rest after each working day, to replenish wasted tissues and to store up reserves for another working day. A horse could work hard only about half a day twice a week, if it was to be kept in good condition. Thus an active vaquero might need a saddle string of six regular horses, with two special mounts for the more demanding work, such as roping. He usually had a couple of green horses, broncos, just starting their training. All these horses would be needed when the rider was working on a roundup or trail drive.
When the rancher traveled cross-country he usually took along two or three men for protection and companionship. Each rider required several mounts for an extended journey, so even a small group of three or four men might start out with a string of twenty horses, changing mounts each morning and noon, driving two or three pack horses along with the loose horses, and using new pack horses each day. In addition to all these riding horses and pack animals, they took a few draft animals for cultivating the fields and for small hauling jobs.
To keep up this large number of working horses, the rancher needed about an equal number of brood mares. Since range-raised horses grew rather slowly, they were not usually broken to the saddle until they were four or five years old. This meant that the mares would have with them the new colts, the yearlings, the two-year-olds, and the three-year-olds. In addition, all the riding horses and pack horses resting up between jobs would be out with the herd.
Thus for each full-time rider at the ranch there would be about twenty horses out to pasture at all times, and these had to be herded constantly, as did the cattle and sheep, to keep them out of the cultivated fields during the growing season and to protect them against thieves and straying. In colonial days it was physically impossible to fence the pastures, or even the larger plowed fields, in the desert and range country, for there was no suitable timber within miles.
It is obvious that raising, breaking, handling, and using horses kept the Spanish ranchers busy. About a fourth of their total effort was spent producing and training the horses necessary for taking care of the herds that produced the working horses. In order to get his work done, the rancher turned to the local Indians for help with the stock, especially around the stables and corrals. They took care of the saddle stock, saddling and unsaddling, watering, and cutting out the horses needed for each day's work. Although it was against Spanish law for any Indian in New Spain to ride a horse, the Rio Grande Valley was far removed from the viceroy at Mexico City, and the need for horsemen was great. Ranchers often ignored minor breaches of this law around the home place, and many permitted the Indian helpers to ride out for range stock and to help with the horses and camp chores on a long cross-country trip.
The young men from even the sedentary Pueblo tribe became restive under their bonds and rebelled against the constant labor demanded of them. With the Spanish holding all the Pueblo villages, a rebel had no place to hide and no place to run, unless he went out to one of the wild tribes to the north or east, across miles of open country. In that case, he needed a horse to ride, and, if he did not want to get caught, he also took the fastest mounts in the stables, leaving the slower animals for his pursuers.
The fugitive might be killed by the wild tribe, but more often he was welcomed. With his well-trained horses and his experience in using the animals, he could teach his new friends a great deal about horses in a short time. As soon as the wild tribe became accustomed to the horses, they could go out and steal a few more, begin a herd, and in five or ten years become a tribe of skilled horsemen.
In the colonial archives there are many accounts of runaways. At times a whole family made its escape to join an Apache band. In addition to teaching the Apaches about horses, they also gave instructions on how to improve their gardens, lodges, and pottery.