Are Spanish Jennet Horses really extincted?

Answer 1

No, the Spanish Jennet horse is not extinct. I have been involved with gaited Spanish horses for 37 years. I have never believed that the Spanish Jennet horse is extinct. I believe that the Spanish Jennet horse evolved over time into several different variations of horses, but it did not become extinct. The term extinction refers to an animal that has died out. For instance: dinosaurs. I see no evidence that dinosaurs evolved into something we know today (unless you want to consider alligators and crocodiles?). The modern forms of the Spanish Jennet would be several and the extended influence is even greater. The Paso type horses are the closest to the original Spanish Jennet because they have the most direct connection to the original source: southern Spain. When Columbus brought horses to the New World on his second voyage in 1493 he gathered horses from the south of Spain. The comfortable gait, medium size and extraordinary athletic ability made the Spanish Jennet the obvious choice for the daunting task of exploring and conquering the unknown territory. Those horses arrived in the New World on the island of Hispaniola, modern day Dominican Republic/Haiti. As the Spanish conquered more territory horses spread throughout the Caribbean. Horses were first taken to Puerto Rico in 1509 by Martin de Salazar. In 1511 Diego de Velasquez invaded Cuba with eight stallions and mares. In 1512 Spanish horses arrived at the Isthmus of Panama and in 1517 Cortez took seventeen horses to Mexico. The first horses arrived in Colombia in 1524. The first horses to arrive in Peru landed in 1531 with Governor Don Francisco Pizarro. As the terrain and size of each new territory that acquired horses varied, so did the goal of the various breeding programs. Gaited horses (Paso horses) survive in large numbers today in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Peru and Cuba as well as other south and Central American countries. Horses made their way north along the isthmus to what is now California and New Mexico. Some were turned into the wild deliberately and some were acquired by the Native American populations. The Spanish influence and some gaitedness were there as a result. When these influences collided with the saddle horses of the Eastern importations as the east coast of the US was colonized the strength of the gait was sometimes expressed and the uniquely American gaited types emerged: the extended influence of the Spanish Jennet had begun.