12/12/2025
Saturday marks the 21st-annual ! 🐴
In 2004, Congress designated Dec. 13 a day to encourage Americans to be mindful of the profound and lasting contribution horses have made to our nation’s history, character and economy.
It’s important to note that a growing body of evidence shows that the horse originated in North America some 53 million years ago and traveled over the Bering Land Bridge, dispersing into Asia 800,000 to 1 million years ago.
Advances in molecular genetics have proven the horse completed its last adaptation in North America before a relatively brief absence, so when the Spanish and then early European settlers brought horses here, Equus caballus was, in fact, returning home.
The tribes of the Great Plains revered horses. In the Colonies, they powered mills, plows and transportation.
Wagon trains, the Pony Express and the great cattle drives all relied on them. Donkeys (b***os) played a key role in the Gold Rush. Mules provided the main source of farming power well into the 20th century. In cities, horses pulled delivery wagons, fire engines, ambulances and cabs.
As cavalry mounts and on supply lines, horses and mules suffered and died alongside soldiers by the millions.
Horses remain our partners in sport and at work, cultural icons, and a multi-billion industry. Therapeutic riding programs are but one more example of the bond we share with them.
The wild horse — the mustang — remains an enduring symbol of freedom around the world.
Yet, more work remains to be done to show horses the respect that they have earned.
✅ Please go to https://returntofreedom.org/current_actions/ to send messages urging Congress to remove the stain of horse slaughter and calling on lawmakers for more humane oversight of the wild horses and b***os on our public lands.
Caption: Spirit, animators’ model for ’ “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” longtime wild horse ambassador at our sanctuary, and / Horse Stars Hall of Fame member. Photo:
