As a center of trade, it is likely the fort would have seen a variety of animal types. Plains Indians were constantly on the watch for prime horse flesh, and probably introduced a large number of stolen stock into the fort's herds. Typically, horses and mules from the south displayed both a fierro, or large brand, and a venta, a sale-brand. Especially fond of their livestock, the New Mexican cultures were always critical of extranjeros mounted upon or trading for branded animals.
As horsemen, the surrounding tribes had been involved in the theft, trade and capture of horses for many years. On one occasion, Yellow Wolf a Cheyenne Chief presented a fine Comanche horse to William Bent.
The typical "Indian pony" was apparently an agglomeration of European, Asiatic, and Hispano-American breeds. Various terms, among them, cayuse, mustang, and pinto have been used to describe these rugged, hang-dog appearing horses. While travelling near the South Platte River in 1820, Edwin James of the Stephen Long Expedition, recorded seeing "...about thirty wild horses..." Describing them as descendants of domesticated Spanish stock", James found them to be "...of various colors, and all sizes, there being many colts, and some mules, among them."
Lewis Garrard, the teen chronicler of Bent's Fort, paid $50.00 for a horse he described as "...fanciful color, brown and white spots, and white eyes,... designated, by the descriptive though not euphonious name of Paint." Alexander Barclay, the English born clerk of stores at Bent's Fort has left several written accounts of horses. While operating west of the fort, up the Arkansas Valley, Mr. Barclay mentions going into the "...hills and killed goat at sundown on paint horse." Barclay also owned a pacing horse, which he once acknowledged as riding "like a rocking chair."
To many, the New Mexican vaqueros were considered a race of centaurs, a natural group of horsemen equally adept in the handling of caballo, mulo, or burro. Josiah Gregg referred to native Mexican horses as mustangs, categorizing the general stock as "...very small, they are quick, active and spirited... as hardy and long-lived as any other race in existence."
Isaac Cooper, alias Francois des Montaignes, while at Bent's Fort in 1845, mentioned the horses he saw as "...mostly Indian and Spanish, very few American, whilst the mules are entirely Spanish." Cooper described New Mexico as a country producing "...thousands of healthy strong mules... extensively purchased and used for many purposes..." In addition, Mr. Cooper thought the Mexican herds to be inferior when "...compared with the American horse in size,-beauty-or vitality. However those which I saw, were clean limbed and very well proportioned: yet they are light..."
Horses bred in the United States, "American horses", were severely effected by harsh prairie conditions. Mosquitoes, reduced winter forage, a cottonwood bark diet, and the extremes of the western climate would often leave these animals in a destitute condition. However, many also felt that horses bred upon the prairies, mostly descendants of stock traded or stolen after the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, "...lacked the size, bone, and general conformation of an American saddler..." Winter hardships and years of indiscriminate breeding had made this horse "...small, tough, deer-legged, big-barreled, with mulish hocks, (and) slanting quarters..."
The "American horses" to which Mr. Cooper refers were most probably riding stock brought onto the prairies by citizens of the United States. Generally regarded as saddle horses, these animals were descended from a mixed bag of Thoroughbred, Arabian, Morgan, and Standard bred sires.
Throughout colonial times, the dominant breeding center for American horses was Virginia. Slowly, the influence of the "Old Dominion" spread into Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. Historically, the United States was also home to a number of Heavy Harness, Draft, and Military horses. It should be noted that such popular breeds as the Belgiums and the Clydesdales were not imported into the U.S. prior to 1866-1870.
Before 1830, a tremendous mule industry had begun to develop at both ends of the Santa Fe Trail. In Missouri, the introduction of Mexican jacks helped produce a unique and strong working mule. In New Mexico, the "atajo" or mule train was easily recognized. With the familiar Mulera/Madrina or bell mare leading the way, these smallish but tough strings of animals were especially useful while crossing the sandy jornadas and the rugged peaks of the Southwest. It may be said that "...this animal (the Mule) is in fact to the Mexican, what the camel has always been to the Arab-invaluable..."
Randolph Marcy, in his classic handbook The Prairie Traveler flatly states that "In our trips across the Rocky Mountains we had both American and Mexican mules,... for many days they were reduced to a meager allowance of dry grass,... while their work in the deep snow was exceedingly severe... This soon told upon the American mules, and all of them, with the exception of two, died, while the Mexican mules went through. The result was perfectly conclusive."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Josiah Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, ed. by Max L. Moorhead; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
2. George Hyde, The Life of George Bent, ed. by Savoie Lottinville; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
3. Frank Gilbert Roe, The Indian and the Horse, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
4. Edwin James, From Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Major Stephen Long's Expedition 1819-1820, ed. by Maxine Benson; Fulcrum, Inc., Golden.
5. George P. Hammond, The Adventures of Alexander Barclay Mountain Man, Old West Publishing Co., Denver.
6. Francois des Montaignes, The Plains, ed. by Nancy Mower and Don Russell; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
7. Max L. Moorhead, New Mexico's Royal Road, Trade and Travel on the Chihuahua Trail; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
8. The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 14; Americana Corporation, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C.
9. Randolph B. Marcy, Captain U.S. Army, A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service