Articles And Images Used By Permission of Author Michael W Cathey Unless Otherwise Noted

This circa 1910 photo provided by Francine Locke Bray shows Victor M. 洛克,老., center, with unknown cowboys on Choctaw horses in Pushmataha County, Okla. (美联社弗朗辛·洛克·布雷报道) 
10月. 17, 2020
Choctaw Spanish Mustangs, Heritage Horse of Oklahoma, Arrive at 十大娱乐平台排行榜

过去一周有八辆乔克托西班牙野马, horses that are descended from those brought to the United States in the 1500s by Spanish explorers and colonists and then traveled along The Trail of Tears with their Choctaw, 切罗基人和奇卡索人的主人, were gifted to 十大娱乐平台排行榜 for the establishment of a new Choctaw Pony education and legacy preservation program.

Colonial Spanish horses descended from horses introduced from southern Spain, 可能还有北非, 在新大陆被征服的时期. 在新世界, this colonial resource has become differentiated into a number of breeds, and the North American representatives are only one of many such breeds throughout the Americas. These horses are a direct remnant of the horses of the Golden Age of Spain, 哪种类型现在在西班牙大部分或全部灭绝了. The Colonial Spanish horses are therefore a treasure chest of genetic wealth from a time long gone. 除了, they are capable and durable mounts for a wide variety of equine pursuits in North America, and their abilities have been vastly undervalued for most of the last century. These are beautiful and capable horses from a genetic pool that heavily influenced horse breeding throughout the world five centuries ago, 然而,如今它们已经变得相当罕见,而且被低估了.

This historically important Spanish horse has become increasingly rare, and was supplanted as the commonly used improver of indigenous types by the 受过严格训练的 and Arabian. 这三个(西班牙语, 受过严格训练的, and Arabian) are responsible for the general worldwide erosion of genetic variability in horse breeds. The Spanish type subsequently became rare and is now itself in need of conservation. 目前在西班牙的马是独特的, 经过几个世纪的不同选择, 来自殖民时期的西班牙马. The result is that the New World remnants are very important to overall conservation since the New World varieties are closer in type to the historic horse of the Golden Age of Spain.

乔克托马和切罗基马就是其中之一. 这两个部落, 除了奇卡索人和克里克人, were avid horse breeders in their original homes in the southeast. The excellence of their horses is specifically mentioned in various travel journals from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Following removal of these tribes to what is now Oklahoma they continued to breed horses. The basis for these Oklahoma herds was horses brought from the southeast on the Trail of Tears, 但毫无疑问,一些西方马也加入了进来. 最初的马是西班牙的, obtained at first from the chain of missions across the deep South in early Spanish colonial days.

In 1958 Gilbert Jones moved with his family and 25 of his Spanish mustangs to a more hospitable environment, 药泉, 在俄克拉荷马州东南部普什马塔哈县, “ten miles back in the Kiamichi Mountains with one and a half million acres of timber company open range to graze by permits.他很快就结识了几个年纪很大的老人, who had at one time ran several hundred Choctaw ponies on the open range. Realizing that the once numerous horses were quickly disappearing, Jones began the collection of as many Choctaw and 切罗基族 horses as he could find and assembled the largest known herd of these purebred animals. He also crossbred the Choctaw and 切罗基族 horses with the Spanish mustangs he brought with him. The resulting herd was comprised of bloodlines that originated from Choctaw, 切罗基族, Huasteca, 基奥瓦人, 科曼奇族, and other Native American tribes along with Colonial Spanish Horses from Utah and New Mexico (these became the Gilbert Jones composite horses). He established the Southwest Spanish Mustang Registry and kept extensive records of his work.

His horses became known for their ability in long endurance rides, 比如2004年电影《亚洲十大娱乐平台》(Hidalgo)中出现的那种.“事实上, 琼斯的马, 它本身就是产生伊达尔戈的兽群的后代, 演奏著名的野马. The film is based on the story of a half-Lakota cowboy named Frank Hopkins who in 1890 rides his Spanish mustang in the Ocean of Fire, a 3,在阿拉伯沙漠里的万英里生存竞赛, 打败最好的, 阿拉伯酋长的纯种阿拉伯马. 霍普金斯对他的马有十足的信心, saying “You can’t beat mustang intelligence in the entire equine race. These animals have had to shift for themselves for generations. 他们必须决定自己的命运,否则就会被毁灭. Those that survived were animals of superior intelligence.”

琼斯的死后, his herd of 300 Spanish mustangs was inherited by close friends Bryant and Darlene 里克曼. 里克曼, 经验丰富的骑手和驯兽师, 对这些马有真正的感觉, continued to breed them in the same tradition that Gilbert followed. 许多人继续在嘉道山脉自由奔跑. 但时代又变了. In 2007 the lease was terminated and the future of the horses was again in jeopardy. 里克曼, 在家人和朋友的帮助下, was faced with the daunting task of coaxing the horses into catch pens, and safely removing them to his ranch and beyond in the Antlers area.

The Choctaw ponies that last week found their new home at 十大娱乐平台排行榜 was a coordinated effort of love between Francine Locke Bray, 小维克多·洛克的后裔.他是乔克托族的前酋长,也是乔克托族的医生. Maila科尔曼, representing several different owners and Friends of the Heritage Horse of Oklahoma organization, 和苏珊娜听到, a notable Choctaw and long-time member of the 十大娱乐平台排行榜 Board of Directors. In 2013 the Oklahoma Colonial Spanish Mustangs (Choctaw ponies) were declared by the 54th Oklahoma legislature to be the Official Heritage Horse of Oklahoma.