Millions of years ago, the horses we ride and love today were no bigger than a dog in a species known as the Eohippus or Dawn Horse. They had four toes on their forefeet and roamed North America and Eurasia. As time passed and the environment changed, Eohippus increased in size, their toes joined together into one hoof, and they developed long flat teeth suitable for grazing. After millions of years of evolution, the once little Dawn Horse became a species known as Equus Ferus; the ancestor of all modern equines. These wild horses were very similar in appearance to the modern-day horse and would spread into South America and as far as Africa during the Pleistocene Epoch or Ice Age. But, roughly 12,000 years ago, Equus Ferus disappeared from North and South America. Had it not been for their Westward migration of over the Bering Land Bridge, the horse would be extinct. Horses were never to be seen in North or South America until 1494 when Christopher Columbus brought Spanish horses on his second voyage to the Americas. After the submergence of the Bering Land Bridge, Equus Ferus freely roamed across Europe, Asia, and Africa until they were domesticated 6,000 years ago in the northern steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Today, the endangered Przewalski’s horse is thought to be the last truly wild horse in the world.

Although the evolution of the horse is a story that takes place over a million years, this story takes place during the Pleistocene Epoch when extensive sheets of ice and glaciers covered the land. Temperatures frequently drop below freezing and the snow would never completely melt in the cool summers. Wooly mammoths and giant ground sloths roam the land along with predators such as the sabretooth tiger and dire wolf. In this unforgiving land the adaptability and persistence of a species is the difference between survival or extinction.

You might be interested to know that recent research is starting to dispute whether horses were around or not in North America pre-Columbus! There have been a few bones found to support this theory, as well as Native American oral storytelling. It's not a definite thing yet, but it might be worth taking into account when writing!

I'll have to look into this! Thanks for the tip.

I didn't realize I could cause someone to become interested in writing something! I must say, I'm honored.

It certainly seems like a great idea, plus you could learn a thing or two :D

I watched a documentary awhile back, I dont exactly remember the details, but it was called True Appaloosa, and a woman was trying to find the origins of the appaloosa I thiink(?)

I thought it might be interesting for you :)