Colonial Spanish horse
Colonial Spanish horse is a term for a group of horse breed and feral populations descended from the original Iberian horse stock brought from Spain to the Americas. The ancestral type from which these horses descend was a product of the horse populations that blended between the Iberian horse and the North African Barb. The term encompasses many strains or breeds now found primarily in North America. The status of the Colonial Spanish horse is considered threatened overall with seven individual strains specifically identified. The horses are registered by several entities.
The Banker horse is an example of a Colonial Spanish horse | |
| Traits | |
|---|---|
| Distinguishing features | Small size, Spanish type, blood markers indicating origins in the Iberian Peninsula |
The Colonial Spanish horse, a general classification popularized by D. Philip Sponenberg, is not synonymous with the Spanish Mustang, the name given to a specific standardized breed derived from the first concerted effort of conservationists in the United States to preserve horses of Colonial Spanish Type. Colonial Spanish horse blood markers have been found in some mustang populations. Small groups of horses of Colonial Spanish horse type have been located in various groups of ranch-bred, mission, and Native American horses, mostly among those in private ownership.