Columbus Day, Conquest & return of Horses to the Americas

 Salvete Omnes,

today, as every  Monday close to October 12, we celebrate the national holiday known as Columbus Day to commemorate the day when the 12th of October but in 1492 the small Spanish armada, of three ships, commanded by the royal admiral Colon (Columbus) having crossed the Atlantic landed their boats in the Bahama Islands. 

Technically or more precisely, the horses arrived in the Americas a year later, during the second voyage of Columbus, in December 1493. 

Long live the Spanish horses of the Americas  and all other American horses that came after 1493.

For the indigenous peoples of the Americas the Age of Conquista (Conquest) has begun an continues to this day.. with the African and Eurasian diseases, alcoholism, death, destruction and loss of culture, language and identity. One could say that they received horses, Christianity, Western civilisational Progress,  and the final end to their cannibalism - all in return for their Americas.

Like the cowering woman before Columbus  in the sculpture below

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Valete

Red Horse - Tashunka Luta - narrative of the LBH battle

 Salvete Omnes,

day second of the battle of the Little Big Horn aka Greasy Grass River and its 150th anniversary.
Red Horse (Tashunka Luta), Miniconjou/Minneconjou Lakota warrior, drew his own pictographic account the battle. 

In 1881 in South Dakota, the Cheyenne River Agency, Dr Charles E. McChesney, acting Asst. Surgeon on the US,  purchase the  41 accurate pictographic drawings from Red Horse. 
One map

Five drawings of soldiers approaching  the village. Five drawings of the tipis. Five drawings of charging warriors. Five drawings  of Indians fighting the soldiers. Five views of dead horses.Five views of dead and mutilated soldiers. Five views of of Indian casualties. Six drawings of Indians leading away captured horses.

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The drawings were made with colored pencils on the heavy sheets of manila paper - 24x35inches. 
The sheets are in poor condition and are available only in photographs. 

Article analyzing the Indian - Lakota and Cheyenne - casualties during the battle as portrayed by Red Horse. 

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all images are from Wiki Commons .

Valete

Dun and grullo Sorraia horses of Iberian Peninsula

 Salvete Omnes,

convex profile 

I am always interested in the rare breeds of horses, and the Portuguese Sorraia horse is one of them

dorsal stripe on a foal

2007 genetics study of the Portuguese and German herds. 

  Sorraia horses from Portugal (but also bred in the US, Canada and Germany) are usually dun or grullo (Rata in Portuguese) with primitive markings.

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Zebra stripes on the foal's legs

Canada 

Iberian Sorraia phenotype is present in the Black Hills sanctuary in South Dakota,  in Kiger Mustangs of Oregon, and some Pryor Mountian mustangs of Wyoiming etc.

Dr Sponenberg on the American Sorraias - interview. 

Iberian Origin of the New World horse - DNA study. 

Iberian horses from the Ice Age onward  - 2024 DNA study.

images are from Wiki Commons

Valete