This unique story starts with the establishment of the Spanish Mission chains beginning in 1769 in San Diego, California and ending in 1823 with the establishment of the last mission called San Francisco de Solano. From 1830 to 1848 the Old Spanish Trail was used as a trade route between Los Angeles, CA and Santa Fe, NM. The book titled “The Old Spanish Trail” by Leroy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen states that, “The tame stock in use at missions and ranchos and the mules, produced by careful breeding, were more highly prized. Loss of tame animals by theft was always a matter of concern. Soon the more irresponsible traders and certain adventurers found it easier to obtain livestock by raid than by trade. By 1832 raids on the herds of missions and ranches had become so frequent and devastating that Californians were alarmed.” There were many illegal raids, but the most notable and most famous of all of these raids was done by Ute Indian Chief Wakara and Thomas “Peg Leg” Smith in 1840. These raids by Chief Wakara on the Spanish California horses continued until Wakara’s death in 1855.

            The most significant part of this history is the route that the Old Spanish Trail takes comes very close to the Needles Mountain Range in southwest Utah. Here is where we find a very unique herd of wild Spanish horses that are now known as Spanish Sulphur horses. Named after the Sulphur Springs that is found near the horses. These historical horses are the very last of the famous breeding practices of the Spaniards of California. They predominately come in the dun and grulla coloration as that color pattern was believed by the Spaniards to make the most courageous and best working horse. Other colors are red dun, chestnut, black, and bay. The grey color, although popular with the Sulphur’s cousin of Spain, does not exist in the Spanish Sulphur as the Spaniards in California believed that the grey colored horse was not courageous at all and made the worst working horse. White is very minimal or not present at all. The breed typically stands 14 – 14.2HH with the maximum height at 14.3HH.

            In 1997, Dr. Gus Cothran from the University of Kentucky did a genetic study on the Sulphur herd. His study showed that the Sulphur herd clustered in the Iberian breed group genetically. He also discovered that they only show the D1 and D3 Iberian/Barb genotype (mtDNA). He states that, “Highest individual similarity values were to the Chilean Criollo, Puerto Rican Paso Fino and American Paso Fino, all Spanish breeds. Mean similarity and distance to other major groups of breeds for the Sulphur herd were consistently lower. The Sulphur herd shows genetic variants that probably are of Iberian origins at the Trf, Est, Pi, A HBG, D HGB and Q HGB loci. In particular the D cfgkm and Q ac variants likely represent old Spanish blood lines.” A very interesting mutation was also found that Dr. Cothran, “never observed this variant in any other non-Sulphur horse and we have tested over 140 other populations and over 200,000 individuals.”

            What is the future of California’s Spanish horse breed? Right now, they are considered critically endangered with less than 300 known individuals. The goal of this paper is not only making people aware of California’s rare Spanish horse breed and its plight for survival, but is also written to encourage other Sulphur owners to contact the author of this work in order to discover more of these rare horses and bring their existence to light to other owners and breeders in order to maintain a healthy gene pool, organize promotional events, and to eventually organize breed shows.

            What can California’s horse do? The Spanish Sulphur is a loyal and hard working horse that has exceptional courage (especially noted in stallions), sensitive to his rider, very agile, sure-footed, and has great stamina. These natural qualities can be put to use in many different areas of equestrian sport such as: classical dressage, reining, endurance, cow work, trail riding, and high school arts.