I noted with surprise that quite a few people know that the Mustangs live in North America only by 500 years and come from domesticated horses. It's true that the wild horse (Equus ferus) existed in North America in prehistoric times, but it died out at the end of the last ice age around 10-12 thousand years ago. Thus at the beginning of the Columbian Exchange, there were no equids in the Americas at all. Horses first returned with the conquistadors, more accurate with the arrival of Cortés in 1519. The first mustangs descended from Iberian horses brought to Mexico and Florida. Some of these horses were sold, escaped or were captured by Native Americans, and rapidly spread by trade and other means throughout western North America.
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