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The Iberian horse is a designation given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian Peninsula. At present, some breeds are officially recognized by the FAO, 'FAO breed list', accessed March 15, 2012, cites 3 Portuguese and 20 spanish breeds 'R.D. 2129/2008', accessed March 13, 2012, while other horses believed to be native to the peninsula are not. Likewise, some modern breeds are understood from mitochondrial DNA to be descended from historic , while others have origins outside the Iberian peninsula. The remaining FAO-recognized breeds are of well-known foreign blood, or are recently developed breeds.
Roman writers mention in Hispania war horses, wild horses, "tieldones" and small "asturcones'" in the north.
Two distinct of Iberian horse were identified in early research: so-called "Celtic" ponies, centered in the Cantabrian Range in the north, and the horses of the south, represented today by the Andalusian horse, Lusitano, Marismeño and related breeds. The northern breeds include the Garrano, Pottok, and Asturcon, all of which are considered endangered breeds. Genetic characterization of the Spanish Trotter horse breed using microsatellite markers, Genetics and Molecular Biology, accessed November 5, 2009.Lopez, María S. et al.. "Mitochondrial DNA Insight On The Evolutionary History Of The Iberian Horses." Poroceedings of the XIV Plant and Animal Genome Conference, 2006. Web page accessed June 17, 2007 at
Throughout history, Iberian horses have been influenced by many different peoples and cultures who occupied Spain, including the Celts, the Carthaginians, the Ancient Rome, various Germanic tribes and the Arabs. The Iberian horse was identified as a talented war horse as early as 450 BCE. Mitochondrial DNA studies of the modern horses of the Iberian Peninsula and Barb horse of North Africa present convincing evidence that horses crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in both directions and crossbred. It is not possible to determine which of these strains is the older one, and both trace to the Roman era, far earlier than the Muslim conquest of Spain that is commonly assumed to mark the beginning of such crossbreeding.
At one time, the northern Celtic horses were thought to have ancestry related to the Exmoor pony of the British Isles, but subsequent Mitochondrial DNA studies revealed that the populations are not closely related until there was some documented admixture between Exmoors and Celtic horses in the early-to-mid 20th century. If anything, the Iberian breeds are characterized by a "consistent absence of geographical structure".
When the Spanish reached the Americas in the late 15th century, they brought various horses of Iberian ancestry with them. Their descendants have been designated as the Colonial Spanish Horse and have contributed significantly to a number of horse breeds in both North and South America.
In modern times, from outside breeds were crossed on local breeds, such as the Exmoor pony stallions brought to the area, or for example, the heavy Burguete horse and Jaca Navarra breeds crossed on foreign stallions to create a bigger animal more useful for the horsemeat industry.
In Spain and Portugal, the 1980s marked the start of efforts to bring back several of the Northern Iberian breeds from extinction, some of which were down to a few dozen individuals. The Cartusian strain of Pure Spanish (Andalusian) horse was also endangered, with a breeding population of about 150 animals. In 2005, a distinctive primitive, feral breed was identified inside Doñana National Park, the Retuerta horse (Caballo de las retuertas).The Retuertas horse; the "missing link" in the iberoamerican horse breed origin?, Vega-Plà et al 2005, available at eeap.org (A. Rodero et al, 2008) needs full cite
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