Celebration of the Horse Day – July 15, 2025

History of Celebration of the Horse Day

Horses have long been important to the American continent, even before the United States was founded. Horses are thought to have frequented these countries between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago before going extinct. They were reintroduced to the Western Hemisphere in the late 1400s, and to Florida in 1538.

Colonial Spanish Horses were common in the southeastern and western U.S. from the 1500s until the mid-1800s when crossbreeding became common. Around the same time, some horses were released into the wild, and herds of feral horses known as mustangs roamed the plains. In the United States now, there are over 33,000 feral horses.

Horses were acquired by Native Americans in the 1500s and 1600s. The Comanches were among the first tribes to receive them, followed by the Blackfoot and Crow. Horses were especially significant to Great Plains Native Americans.

Horses were utilized by cowboys on cattle drives and ranches in the 1800s and for transportation, hauling, and farming. Horse racing grew in popularity during this period, with the introduction of Thoroughbred horse racing.

Horses were bred for military and agricultural reasons as the 1900s began, but with mechanized transportation becoming more prevalent after World War I, horse populations declined. There were over 20 million horses in the nation in 1915, but only 4.5 million in 1959. In the United States today, there are about 9.2 million horses.