...and on the eighth day God created the horse in perfect image, to romp, graze, gallop, play and make manure wherever it darn well pleases, in divine grace.
“Remote from cities and seaports
– far from white men’s haunts–
ran much of my lonely trail.
One night camp might be pitched far from any human
habitation;
again, I ate and slept with
ancient Indian tribes
in stone villages older than the Incas.”---
—from “Tschiffely’s Ride,”
1933.
Aimee Tschiffely was a Swiss school teacher educated in England but living in Argentina. In 1925, he decided to give up his teaching position at a secondary school in Buenos Aires, where he had been for nine years, and begin a journey.
He decided to cross South America from Buenos Aires up through Central America, all the way to Washington, DC.
He originally tried to end the journey in New York City, but suffered a couple of accidents, so therefore ended it in Washington, DC, instead.
Before his departure, he decided he would travel in a proper manner and see as much of each country as he could.
Vowing to make the journey more interesting, Tschiffely, who was thirty three at the time, decided to travel in remote, unpopulated areas, on horseback. It was really the only means suitable.
A lot of people said he was crazy to attempt such an undertaking.
Undeterred, Tschiffely contacted a reputable horse breeder, a Dr. Emilio Solanet.
Dr. Solanet applauded Tschiffely’s tremendous effort and recommended the Criollo Pony. (1) He went on to explain that the Criollo’s (creole) were descended from a few horses brought over by Don Pedro Mendoza, the founder of the city of Buenos Aires, in 1535.
These animals were of the best Spanish stock, the finest in Europe at the time, and were a mix of Barb and Arabian bloodlines.
Dr. Solanet even had a couple of Criollo’s that he was willing to loan to Tschiffely.
“ Gato” and “ Mancha,” ages fifteen and sixteen respectively, were a suitable age for Criollo Ponies, but would be considered old for a European saddle horse.
Gato and Mancha stood at around 14.3HH and had been owned formerly by a Patagonian Indian Chief named Liempichun, which means “ I Have Feathers.”(2)
The two were still half wild, having arrived in Buenos Aires with a slew of horses that came up from Patagonia.
They were far from European standards. Gato, which means “cat” in Spanish, was a milky coffee color, or dun, or what Americans would call buckskin. Mancha, which means “spotted one,” was reddish-brown, or chestnut, with large, irregular white markings, perhaps a skewbald. He had a white face and four white stockings.
Tschiffely wrote of them, “ Their sturdy legs, short thick necks and Roman noses are as far removed from the points of a first-class English hunter as the North Pole from the South. ‘Handsome is as handsome does,’ however, and I am willing to state my opinion boldly that no other breed in the world has the capacity of the Creole for continuous hard work.”(3)
It was on these fairly plain horses that the humble schoolteacher achieved one of the greatest equestrian accomplishments in history.
He departed Buenos Aires in 1925 and arrived in Washington, DC three years later. The journey was 9,940 miles through tropical swamps and frozen deserts, up over the Andes Mountains and across the Panama Canal, through Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, all the republics of Central America, through Mexico, and finally the United States.
Amazingly, at journey’s end, the Criollo Ponies, Gato and Mancha were in great health.
Returning to Argentina via boat, Gato, Mancha and Tschiffely were welcomed home as heroes and given a place in the history books. Tschiffely became a supporter and advocate of the Criollo, making it one of the national symbols of Argentina.(4)
Argentina wasn’t crying then; people who had criticized the Criollo Pony as too coarse, common and rough, suddenly discovered all kinds of good qualities in the breed.
Suddenly so popular, it was being used to create a new breed of pony that is now dominant in the world of polo today: the famous Argentine Polo Pony.
The result of crossing Criollo mares with English Thoroughbreds (Anglo-Americans), and then re-crossing that result with more Anglo-Americans, the Argentine Polo Pony, which comes in at 14.3HH, has inherited all the speed and finesse of the Thoroughbred, while keeping the resilience and stamina of the Criollo.(5)
When the Criollo, or Creole, is referred to as an “American Pony,” this means North, South and Central America, not the United States of America, per se.
After Christopher Columbus arrived in America on his first voyage, there were no horses to be found anywhere. When he embarked on his second voyage, he took some horses with him. Having thought he discovered India, he called the Native American inhabitants “Indians.” Actually, he landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which is now the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The caravels, or small, fast ships, on which he traveled are estimated to have transported around 20 head of horses. The first equine in the New World are said to have stepped foot on to the land on November 28, 1493.(6)
In five years, the island’s horse population had progressed into a herd of breeding stock around 60 head of broodmares. New stallions were routinely brought in from Spain, and horse breeding was extended to Jamaica and Cuba, along with the nearer regions of Central America.
Horses continued to be imported into Panama in 1514, Mexico in 1519, Argentina in 1534 and Florida in 1538.
Angel Cabrera, a top Argentine horse expert, wrote a book on American horses in 1945 titled “Caballos de America, 1945,” stating that the breeding program was a success due to the great climate conditions and quality grazing available in the conquered lands.
The Spanish traditionally allowed the mares and foals to run free in their breeding programs. Some of the horses that escaped or were abandoned eventually formed half-wild herds that interbred among themselves, this in the above listed regions.
The breed became indigenous to these regions, creating a Creole horse, or, “born in-country,” a truly continental American horse, the Criollo.(7)
This pony appears somewhat drafty in appearance: stocky, with the neck tying low on to the shoulder. They come in buckskin, chestnut, piebald and roan colors.
The Argentine Polo Pony is much more refined and proportionate; its coat is smoother and the body is more streamlined.
I think Aimee Tschiffley’s ride in 1925 is quite a remarkable feat, especially in that era. Consider such obstacles as crossing rivers and encountering mosquitos carrying malaria, finding food for the ponies along the way, or roadways that were less passable than some old cow path. Quite remarkable, indeed.
Some of these pony breeds I have never even heard of.
Thanks for reading “Horsin’ Around,” I’ll catch up with you next week.
Pondering what it must have been like for man and ponies on Tschiffley’s Ride, I’ll leave you once again with the immortal words of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, “Happy Trails to You.”
1-7: “Horses,” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Jean-Louis Gouraud