With a proposed journey over several counties and terrain varied from desert to mountains, few breeds of horse would have the stamina and endurance to sustain a trip of that nature.
Dr. Emilio Solanet and the Native Indian Chief
Having taken advice on which breed of horse would be the most suited to what he needed, Tschiffely was given two criollo geldings, Mancha and Gato.
Unlike Aime, who had only recently taken up riding, Mancha and Gato had already proven their endurance ability. They had recently made a 1,000 mile road trek. Walking from the Argentine pampas where they had been bred by 'Liempichun' a native Indian chief renown for his skills as a horse breeder, to the ranch of Dr. Solanet, professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture in Buenos Aires. The horses survived on what ever grazing they could find. In fact when they arrived at the ranch they ignored the oats, barley etc that fully domesticated horses relish in favour of their straw bedding.
Neither Mancha, a chestnut skewbald, nor Gato, a dun, would have won a beauty contest. Indeed, their master wrote 'Their sturdy legs, short thick necks and Roman noses are as removed from the points of a first class English hunter as the North Pole from the South. Handsome is as handsome does; however I am willing to state my opinion boldly that no other breed in the world has the capacity of the criollo for continuous hard work.'
The Criollo Horse
The 'modern day' criollo is the descendant of horses brought over from Europe by the Spanish Conquistadors during the 1500's, primarily a Spanish explorer by the name of Don Pedro de Mendoza. Mendoza came from the Andalusian town of Gaudix and, with the backing of his mother, Maria de Mendoza, he offered to finance an expedition to explore and colonise the South Americas in the name of the King.
Don Pedro de Mendoza and the Founding of Buenos Aires
On 24 August 1535, Mendoza set sail with 2,000 men and thirteen ships. His instruction from Charles I of Spain was to colonise Rio de la Plato, build three cities and the surrounding infrastructure the inhabitants would beed such as roads and bridges.
Mendoza and his men arrived at Rio de la Plata in early 1536 and is credited with founding Buenos Aires.
There is no anecdotal evidence for the existance of the modern horse in the Americas prior to the arrival of the conquistadors, either in the spoken word of the Native Indian, or in their art work. As with many animals brought over with explorers and colonists, some escaped captivity and this was the case with the forerunners of the criollo breed. Mainly of Arab-Barb blood, the Spanish horses were considered to be amongst the finest in Europe, but this didn't help them in South America. Hunted and exploited as a pack animal, the breed evolved through natural selection. Only the strongest would survive the extremes of climate and terrain that the new country had to offer.
The criollo horse is regarded as the native horse of Argentina. The breed is renowned for its endurance and ability to survive in the harshest of conditions where food is often scarce and temperatures reach the extremes. The breed, over the centuries has developed a good resistance to disease and is long lived, (Gato died at the age of 32 and Mancha reached the enviable age of 37).
A hardy horse, the criollo has short, sturdy legs with sound, hard feet, of which black is the preferred colour. The breed has a short back, broad chest and muscular neck but is not particularly tall. The average height for a criollo is 14.3 hands, (a hand being a unit of measurement spanning 4 inches), with a maximum height of 15 hands for a stallion. Many colours are accepted; although dun or buckskin as it is known in the America's is favoured.
During the 19th century criollo horses were cross bred with new imports from Europe to produce a 'multi-purpose' animal, one suitable for cart and saddle. The criollo was in danger of being cross bred out of existance. In 1918 it was decided that a pure-bred criollo register should be formed and a breed standard established. The breeders association was formed five years later but it wasn't until 1934 that Dr. Emilio Solanet was able to enforce the breed standard he had written in 1928.
A cull of 70% of the registered criollos occurred in 1938 when it was decided that they did not have the genetic makeup set down by Solanet.
The criollo is synonymous with the Argentine Gaucho, in fact it has been said that 'A Gaucho without a horse was the same as a man without legs.' Although nowadays the breed is more than just the steed of the Argentina gaucho, making very good saddle horses for riding.
During the 10,000 mile trek from Buenos Aires to New York which took three years to complete, Aime Tschiffely, Mancha and Gato encountered extremes of temperature, scarcity of food, attacks from bats and the need to cross rope bridges swung precariously over 1000 foot ravines. Gato survived sliding down a precipice, his fall stopped by a solitary tree and Mancha received minor injuries following a glancing blow from a car whose driver appeared to deliberately drive at them when the trio crossed into the United States of America at Laredo.
After the completion of the trek, Mancha and Gato spent the rest of their lives in retirement at Dr. Emilio Solanet's ranch, El Cardal. The tri were reunited briefly when Aime returned to Argentina during the Second World War.
Sources:
Grateful thanks to The Aimé Tschiffely Literary Estate, Basha O'Reilly, Executor.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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