Origin of the Salvadorean Creole Horse

At present, in rural El Salvador, horses are still kept as a means of transport and cargo, mainly in areas of difficult access, where there are no roads for vehicles [1]. It is these animals that are conserved by Salvadoran farmers mostly creoles, although if a DNA study were done it would possibly reveal traces of breeds introduced in different time periods such as in the study by Do [2] in Mexico, although for the most part these animals owned of farmers are descended from those introduced to El Salvador by the spaniards conquerers and colonizers.

To unravel the origin of horses in El Salvador, we must go back to the conquest of New Spain. Spain, since according to [3], the conquer Hernan Cortez embarked with 11 horses and 5 for the conquest of New Spain in 1519. Cortez's horses at his disposal increased that same year when he defeated the expedition sent by Diego Velasquez from Cuba to capture him, which had 80 horses. [4], affirms that the cabildo of Mexico City in 1529 established the registry of branding irons, where 24 people were registered. This due to the proliferation of horses and other livestock, this in a period of 10 years after the landing of Cortez. According to [5], the flow of horses from the Antilles to New Spain from was constant until at least 1550, and it is said that they were overabundant. 

Thus, during the conquest of El Salvador, which began in 1524, Pedro de Alvarado reports in his report to Hernán Cortez that he penetrated into the lordship of Cuscatlán, he specifically mentions that in the battle of Acaxual he had 100 horses for warfare [6]. It is possible that in the process of conquest of Cuscatlán there was certainly a permanent presence of horses for warfare (1524-1528), and it is very likely that along with the colonizers the horses settled definitively in the town of San Salvador (1528-1545), proof of this is the horse bridle in the ancient town of San Salvador (figure 1). Probably being able to breed and reproduce them, as they continued fighting until 1542 when the current territory of El Salvador was pacified with the conquest of the Lenca territory. 

 Figure 1: Horse bridle found in the archaeological site of ancient town of San Salvador.

From: Fowler, 2011. 

During the colonial period, the main function of horses changed from being warriors to being mainly for transportation and cargo [7,8] and also to originate mules and hinnys, when they were crossed with donkeys.

The lberian of the Slavadoran Creole horses been demonstrated, and that lineage is the one owned by the farmers in rural areas,because the introduced purebred horses are only within the reach of wealthy people.

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3. Díaz del Castillo B (1982) Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Madrid: Instituto "Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo" C.S.I.C.
4. Robles O (2016) Los primeros Caballos en mexico.
5. Matesanz JA (1965) Introducción de la ganadería en Nueva España 1521-1535. Historia Mexicana 14:533-566. Recuperado a partir de.
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7. Dalton R (1963) El Salvador Monografía. Casa de las Américas. La Habana.
8. Fowler WR (2011) “Excavaciones y arquitectura de la Estructura 6F2.” In CiudadVieja: Excavaciones, arquitectura, y paisaje cultural de la primera villa de San Salvador Secretaría de Cultura de la Presidencia/Editorial Universitaria. Ministerio de Educación de El Salvador. Historia de El Salvador . Recuperado de.