Horses, donkeys and the places they call home
Horses in Argentina, from prehistory to everyday life
Gathering cattle on a large farm, crossing the Andes or playing polo: horses have accompanied very different ways of life in Argentina. From Indigenous riders to Criollo breeders, generations have developed the skills to feed horses, raise them, ride them and work alongside them.
Argentina’s horse story begins long before the first riders. Prehistoric equids lived on the continent and then disappeared. Colonisation brought domestic horses in the sixteenth century, and travel and exchange carried those animals farther afield. Today’s breeding and riding traditions grew from that more recent history.
How many horses, donkeys and mules are declared in Argentina?
Argentina’s animal-health service has 2,631,898 equids on record as at 31 March 2026. Equids here means horses, donkeys and mules together. The official report separates the three groups to show how many of each animal make up the total.
Declared horses in Argentina, young and adult
2,528,435
The horse figure includes foals, young horses, mares, adult horses and stallions. The animal-health report counts donkeys and mules in two other groups.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
Declared donkeys in Argentina
62,402
The report uses the Spanish words asnos and burros for donkeys. Both names are combined in a single figure.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
Declared mules in Argentina
41,061
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a mare. The animal-health report uses the Spanish word mulas to count this group separately from horses and donkeys.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
Equids declared by their keepers in 2026
Argentina’s producers declare their animals to SENASA, the national service responsible for animal health and agri-food quality. The declarations are stored in a database called SIGSA. Agriculture officials brought the records together and checked them to prepare the 2026 report. The report therefore describes declared animals, rather than a visit-based count of every equid in the country.
The 2026 declarations cover 209,923 establishments with equids and 265,941 different people or businesses responsible for their animal-health records. A breeder might, for example, keep animals at several sites. Animals belonging to several keepers can also share one establishment. Counting places and counting responsible parties provides two different views of how animals are kept.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
The 2018 agricultural census counts horses living on farms
904,417
Horses on the agricultural holdings counted in 2018
INDEC, Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, counted horses on 78,247 agricultural holdings. A holding must cover at least 500 m² and produce for the market to qualify for this census, whether it grows crops, raises livestock or supplies forestry products. A cattle farm can therefore be counted with its working horses even when it does not breed horses for sale.
The agricultural census counts horses on qualifying holdings as at 30 June 2018. The 2026 animal-health report uses the animal declarations held by SENASA. The two totals cover different groups and dates, so the gap does not measure an increase in Argentina’s horse population. The 2018 agricultural total includes horses of all ages and leaves donkeys and mules aside.
Most horses counted in 2018 are kept for the farm’s own needs
The 2018 census records 623,841 horses kept exclusively for the holding’s own use. The other 280,576 horses are on holdings with commercial equine production. The commercial activities studied include work, sport, breeding stock and meat. That group therefore extends beyond farms breeding competition horses.
How farms use the horses counted in Argentina in 2018
Together, the bars represent all 904,417 horses counted. Each bar starts at zero and becomes longer as the horse count increases.
- Horses kept for the farm’s own needs
623,841
- Horses on holdings with commercial equine production
280,576
How horses reached Argentina and became part of people’s lives
Prehistoric equids disappeared from South America long before domestic horses arrived in the sixteenth century. The horses brought during colonisation then travelled across Indigenous and colonial territories, long before Argentina’s present borders were drawn.
Long before domestic horses
Teeth and bones reveal Argentina’s prehistoric equids
Long before Europeans arrived, equids lived in what is now Argentina. Scientists distinguish Hippidion and Equus, two zoological genera, meaning two groups of related species. The ancestors of these animals were able to reach South America from farther north after a land route formed through Central America.
In Mendoza Province, researchers studied teeth found at Uspallata and bones discovered at El Carrizal. The remains were attributed to Hippidion. These fossils establish the presence of an ancient equid in the region long before the domestic horses raised there today.
Researchers bring discoveries from many places together to reconstruct prehistoric equid life. The shape of teeth and bones helps identify the animals; the ground layers containing the fossils help place them in time. A discovery in Mendoza therefore contributes to a history assembled across South America.
Source: Cirilli et al. — Equid evolution (2022) · Cerdeño, Moreiras and Alberdi — Hippidion in Mendoza (2008)
Around 11,000 years ago
Ancient equids disappeared long before domestic horses arrived
South America’s prehistoric equids disappeared around the end of the last ice age and the start of the warmer period that followed. The Hippidion and Equus known from fossils were no longer present when Europeans brought domestic horses in the sixteenth century.
The youngest known fossils are not exactly the same age in every region. Dating a bone or the ground around it helps trace when animals disappeared from that place. Scientists need to compare several sites to understand the end of equids’ presence on the continent.
The Criollo raised in Argentina descends from domestic horses introduced during colonisation. Criollo history starts with those arrivals and continues through generations bred in South America. Hippidion fossils tell a much older story that ended before these domestic horses were present.
From the sixteenth century
Domestic horses reached the Río de la Plata and western Argentina along different routes
Pedro de Mendoza’s expedition reached the Río de la Plata with horses in 1536. Animals remained nearby when the Spanish abandoned their first Buenos Aires settlement in 1541. More horses arrived when Buenos Aires was re-established in 1580.
Horses also reached Argentine territories from the west, through what is now Chile and the Cuyo region. People’s journeys and exchanges between regions carried animals beyond the first colonial settlements. Argentina’s horse history grew from several arrival routes.
Early accounts disagree about how many horses were left near Buenos Aires in 1541. Historians therefore have no certain founder count for that episode. Later arrivals and journeys across the Andes also matter when explaining how horses spread.
Source: Rindel, Zorzoli and Gordón — Horses in Patagonian societies (2024)
Sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
Indigenous peoples raised and exchanged horses across the Pampas and Patagonia
Indigenous communities in the Pampas and Patagonia learned to breed, ride and exchange horses. Relationships between communities carried animals far beyond colonial settlements. Indigenous riders developed their own ways of working with horses and making them part of daily life.
People adopted horses at different times across Patagonia. In their 2024 study, researchers Rindel, Zorzoli and Gordón describe earlier adoption in the north than in the written accounts concerning the south. Travellers saw riders near the Strait of Magellan in 1741. The account shows that horses were being ridden there by then, without revealing when the region’s first riders began using them.
With horses, families could carry more belongings. Journeys also had to allow mounts access to grass and water. Horses’ needs therefore influenced routes and campsites. In several Patagonian societies, horses also provided food and played a part in ceremonies and relationships between people.
Source: Rindel, Zorzoli and Gordón — Horses in Patagonian societies (2024)
From the seventeenth century
Mules carried loads between Córdoba’s livestock estates and the markets of Potosí
During colonial times, mules supported trade between livestock-producing regions and towns. Animals carried loads along the routes, including those leading to the markets of Potosí, now in Bolivia. Trade gave mules raised farther south an important place in the economy.
In Córdoba’s hills, the Jesuit estates of Alta Gracia and La Candelaria used upland grazing for cattle and mules. Quebrada del Condorito National Park now tells the story of those livestock lands and the animals supplying Potosí.
Mules are usually bred from a mare and a male donkey. The mule trade therefore depended on both the mares and the donkeys used for reproduction. Behind the loaded animals on the roads was the work of breeding and raising them.
Source: National Parks — Quebrada del Condorito’s pastoral history
Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
On large livestock estates, gauchos tended cattle on horseback
Estancias are large rural properties often used to raise cattle. Gauchos, rural livestock workers, watched herds, gathered animals and moved them on horseback. Riders’ skills and horses’ work developed around these repeated tasks.
On early Río de la Plata estancias, herds grazed across broad areas without fencing comparable to that on farms today. Workers had to find straying cattle, bring them back to the herd and handle a lasso. Riding made it much easier to follow and move the animals than working on foot.
Estancias brought together owners, herd managers and labourers whose living conditions differed. Some estates also used enslaved workers. Period pictures and accounts help recover this collective life behind the solitary gaucho figure later celebrated in literature and festivities.
1817
In 1817, mules helped San Martín’s army cross the Andes
In 1817, José de San Martín led his army across the Andes from the Mendoza region into Chile during the wars of independence. Before the crossing, the expedition had to assemble food, equipment and animals able to accompany the mountain journey.
Mules carried loads and served as mounts on mountain paths. The army also provided horses for fighting on more open ground. Horses and mules travelled in the same expedition with different jobs.
The Andes crossing also relied on people who handled, fed and cared for the animals. Preparing mounts mattered to the army’s movement alongside preparing its equipment. Horses and mules make the practical needs of this military journey easier to understand.
1863 to the late nineteenth century
In Buenos Aires, horses pulled trams before electricity arrived
In 1863, a horse-drawn tram service extended Buenos Aires’ Northern Railway between Retiro and Plaza de Mayo. Routes spread through several districts from 1870. Horses were carrying passengers in city streets as well as working in the countryside.
Animal traction here meant horses pulling a carriage guided by rails. Keeping trams running each day required drivers, horses fit for work and places to feed and rest the animals. Passengers’ journeys depended on that daily work.
Electric trams arrived in Buenos Aires in 1897 and moved carriages with another source of power. In the countryside, horses continued to meet other needs, particularly around cattle. Replacing horses in city transport therefore followed a different timetable from changes on farms.
Late nineteenth century
Military conquest takes land from Indigenous peoples
In the late nineteenth century, the Argentine state launched military campaigns to take control of land inhabited by Indigenous peoples. The so-called Conquest of the Desert belongs to this history of deaths, forced displacement and lost land. The “desert” in the official name was territory where communities lived.
Photographs and accounts held by the Roca Museum show the horses, mules and vehicles in military columns in 1879 and later years. Animals carried people and loads and supported warfare. Both the army and Indigenous communities depended on mounts to travel.
When a community lost its land, families also lost access to grazing, routes and campsites. Conquest therefore disrupted ways of life in which horses played an important part. Indigenous peoples remain present in Argentina today, with their histories and knowledge.
Source: Roca Museum — Transport on nineteenth-century frontiers · Nahuel Huapi National Park — History and cultural heritage
The 1910s to 1953
The Criollo gains a breed standard and working trials
In the early twentieth century, Argentine breeders including Emilio Solanet sought to preserve Criollos and choose horses for breeding. In 1922, the Argentine Rural Society approved a breed standard: a document describing the characteristics breeders sought. The Criollo breeders’ association was founded in 1923.
Breeders also had a studbook, a register preserving registered horses’ ancestry. The Criollo standard and studbook helped organise breeding choices and follow descendants. The breed’s twentieth-century organisation continued a history of horses already raised for generations.
In April 1925, Aimé Félix Tschiffely left Buenos Aires with the Criollos Gato and Mancha to travel to New York. Tschiffely reached New York with Mancha in September 1928, helping publicise the breed. In 1953, the Criollo association also began an annual mounted endurance trial. Long-distance and working tests let breeders watch horses in action alongside assessing their appearance.
Source: Criollo association — Argentine breed timeline · National Archives — Gato, Mancha and Tschiffely’s journey · Criollo association — Marcha y Enduro
Twentieth and twenty-first centuries
Breeders chose horses for racing, polo and equestrian sports
Racing, polo and equestrian sports led Argentine breeders to seek horses for different activities. The Stud Book Argentino records racing Thoroughbreds. The Silla Argentino is raised for disciplines including showjumping, dressage and eventing.
Argentina’s polo horse breeders’ association was founded in 1984. The Polo Argentino programme admits playing mares that meet its requirements. Qualities observed on the field can therefore influence which mares are chosen for breeding.
As sport breeding developed, farms also kept horses for work and their own needs. The 2018 agricultural census records that continuing presence. Understanding horses in Argentina means looking at competition fields and the daily activities of agricultural holdings.
Source: Polo breeders — AACCP history and objectives · Polo breeders — Polo Argentino programme · AAFE — Silla Argentino regulations, 2022 edition · Stud Book Argentino — Sangre Pura de Carrera regulations · INDEC — Agricultural census 2018, final results
Argentina’s declarations record about 2.6 million equids a year from 2016 to 2026
The chart follows horses, donkeys and mules recorded by Argentina’s animal-health service between 2016 and 2026. All eleven figures were brought together in the official 2026 report. They show changes in declared animals rather than eleven nationwide rounds of counting visits.
Declared horses, donkeys and mules in Argentina, year by year from 2016 to 2026
All bars start at zero and use the same scale. The largest count is for 2025, with 2,714,067 declared equids.
- 2016
2,548,926
- 2017
2,599,882
- 2018
2,611,240
- 2019
2,652,042
- 2020
2,696,254
- 2021
2,603,894
- 2022
2,561,780
- 2023
2,615,804
- 2024
2,695,854
- 2025
2,714,067
- 2026
2,631,898
Registered equids fell by 3.03% between 2025 and 2026. Because figures depend on keepers’ declarations and updates, the fall alone cannot explain why the count changed. The report gives 31 March as the reference date for 2026; earlier counts are presented by year.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
Where are horses raised, and how are their parents and ancestry recorded?
Horses, donkeys and mules are present in every jurisdiction covered by Argentina’s animal-health report. Some provinces have many more animals than others. Breeding establishments also support different activities, from cattle work to preparing sport horses.
In 2026, five provinces hold 60.3% of declared horses, donkeys and mules
The chart combines the three animal groups as at 31 March 2026. Buenos Aires means the province here: the animal-health service counts the autonomous city of Buenos Aires separately.
- Buenos Aires Province
658,763
- Corrientes
325,470
- Entre Ríos
231,344
- Córdoba
193,131
- Chaco
179,529
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
Buenos Aires has the most declared equids
Buenos Aires Province has the largest recorded equid population, followed by Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Córdoba and Chaco. Herds are not all the same size. A province can therefore hold many animals without accounting for the same share of farms or keepers.
Horses on agricultural holdings may be used for work, sport, breeding or the farm’s own needs. Provincial counts help locate animals. Understanding how horses are used also requires knowing what the establishments do.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026 · INDEC — Agricultural census 2018, final results
Declaring a horse and tracing its ancestry
A SENASA declaration records where animals are kept and who is responsible for their animal-health records. A breed’s studbook preserves horses’ ancestry, including their parents’ names. A breeder may therefore declare horses for animal-health purposes and separately enter them in their breed register.
The Argentine Rural Society offers pedigree searches: a pedigree lists a horse’s recorded ancestors. Other organisations maintain the Silla Argentino and Thoroughbred registers. Identity and parentage checks establish that documents describe the correct animal and the parents declared. A pedigree remains useful after the horse has died, so a register preserves several generations. Their accumulated entries do not represent the horses alive today.
Source: Argentine Rural Society — Pedigree search · Polo breeders — Polo Argentino programme · AAFE — Silla Argentino regulations, 2022 edition · Stud Book Argentino — Sangre Pura de Carrera regulations
Feral horses in Tornquist park
Horses live and breed freely in Ernesto Tornquist Provincial Park in Buenos Aires Province. The animals descend from domestic horses and are described as feral. Their story therefore begins with horses introduced by people after prehistoric equids had disappeared.
Research on Tornquist’s horses examines their numbers, environmental effects and disagreements about their management. Debates concern the horses’ future alongside protection of the park’s plants and other animals. The cited 2018 study describes those questions at that time and does not provide a current count of all free-ranging horses in Argentina.
Source: Scorolli — Feral horse management at Tornquist (2018)
Which organisations look after horse records and equestrian activities in Argentina?
A breeder may deal with several organisations during a horse’s life. The animal-health service records animal declarations, breed registers preserve ancestry and sporting bodies organise competitions. Statistics organisations, meanwhile, describe breeding and farming across the country.
- SENASA brings together information on declared animals and where they live
Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria — SENASA
SENASA is Argentina’s national service for animal health and agri-food quality. Producers declare animals through its SIGSA system. Agriculture officials used these declarations to prepare the 2026 figures.
The 2026 report records how many horses, donkeys and mules are registered, which establishments hold them and the parties responsible for their animal-health records.
Source: Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
- The national statistics institute counts horses on agricultural holdings
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos — INDEC
INDEC, Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, conducts the agricultural census. Its final 2018 results describe horses living on farms and the activities for which they are kept.
Census tables distinguish horses kept for a farm’s own needs from horses on holdings with commercial equine production.
- The Argentine Rural Society preserves the ancestry of several horse breeds
Sociedad Rural Argentina — SRA
The Argentine Rural Society maintains genealogical registers for breeds including the Criollo and Polo Argentino. Breeders can search a horse’s pedigree to find its recorded parents and earlier ancestors.
Before choosing breeding animals, a breeder can consult the pedigrees of the horses being considered to identify their parents and trace their registered lines.
- The Criollo association brings breeders together and organises trials for their horses
Asociación de Criadores de Caballos Criollos — ACCC
The Criollo breeders’ association promotes the breed and supports its conservation. Breeders present animals and enter trials to observe how horses perform at work and under sustained effort.
An endurance trial shows how a horse manages a long journey. Cattle-working tests allow breeders to observe a horse’s movements and responses to its rider.
- The polo breeders’ association supports choosing horses for the game and for breeding
Asociación Argentina de Criadores de Caballos de Polo — AACCP
Founded in 1984, the Argentine Association of Polo Horse Breeders supports Polo Argentino breeding and ancestry records. It also works on training people in equine occupations and on horse welfare.
Playing mares may enter the breeding programme if they meet its conditions. Polo Argentino therefore names horses entered in a particular programme within the wider group of horses playing the sport.
- The Silla Argentino organisation oversees selection of sport horses
Asociación Argentina de Fomento Equino — AAFE
Argentina’s association for equine development, known as AAFE, maintains Silla Argentino registers. Its 2022 rules explain how ancestry, conformation, meaning the shape and structure of the body, and sporting ability are assessed.
Breeders seek horses for disciplines including showjumping, dressage and eventing. Silla Argentino rules also cover identifying animals and recording reproduction.
- The Stud Book Argentino preserves racing Thoroughbreds’ identity and ancestry
Stud Book Argentino — Jockey Club
The Stud Book Argentino records Thoroughbreds, called Sangre Pura de Carrera in Argentina. Its files follow births, parents, ownership changes and horses moving between countries.
When a foal is registered, birth records and parentage checks help establish its identity. The register records where the horse comes from and preserves information that follows it through life.
Source: Stud Book Argentino — Sangre Pura de Carrera regulations
- The Argentine Polo Association sets the rules for matches and sporting play
Asociación Argentina de Polo — AAP
The Argentine Polo Association deals with playing rules, players and match conditions. The polo horse breeders’ association, meanwhile, works on breeding and the animals’ ancestry.
Polo rules describe team composition, periods of play, substitutions and the fouls umpires must penalise.
- The pato federation organises competitions in a mounted ball game
Founded in 1941, the Argentine Pato Federation organises competitions and rules for the sport. Riders contest a handled ball and try to throw it through a hoop-shaped goal.
A rider can consult the rules to understand how a match unfolds, how teams are formed and how players contest the handled ball.
Which horses are raised in Argentina for work, racing and sport?
Argentine breeders have developed programmes around the Criollo, Polo Argentino and Silla Argentino. Farms also raise Thoroughbreds, a breed formed in Britain. A Thoroughbred can therefore be born in Argentina while belonging to a breed of British origin.
Source: Agriculture Secretariat — Horse breeds raised in Argentina
The Criollo, a breeding history shared across South America
Criollos’ ancestors were domestic horses from the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain and Portugal are located. Their descendants were raised for generations in several South American regions. In Argentina, early twentieth-century breeders sought to preserve horses able to travel and work with cattle.
Argentine breeders observe horses in presentations and ability trials. Other countries also have their own Criollo traditions and registers. The breed profile explores that shared history and differences between national breeding organisations.
Discover this breed’s history and usesThe Polo Argentino, selected for the movements of the game
A polo horse has to follow accelerations and changes of direction. The Polo Argentino programme helps breeders select animals for that work. Playing mares may join the breeding programme under the association’s conditions.
Registering a foal as Polo Argentino establishes its place in the register. Schooling and training then build its experience on the field. Horses from other backgrounds can also play polo.
Explore the breeding and registration rulesThe Silla Argentino, from showjumping to eventing
Argentina’s association for equine development organises Silla Argentino breeding. Breeders assess horses’ ancestry, the way their bodies are built and their abilities in equestrian sports.
Silla Argentino names this breeding programme and its register. Rules establish which horses may be admitted and used for reproduction. A riding horse born in Argentina does not automatically enter the programme.
Explore the breeding and registration rulesThe Thoroughbred, a British breed raised in Argentina
Argentina calls the racing Thoroughbred Sangre Pura de Carrera, often shortened to SPC. The Stud Book Argentino records ancestry for locally born and imported horses. Following parents connects Argentine-bred generations with those recorded in other countries.
Thoroughbred farms raise horses particularly for flat racing. The breed profile follows the development of this international breeding tradition and the other activities Thoroughbreds may learn after racing or away from competition.
Discover this breed’s history and usesSource: Stud Book Argentino — Sangre Pura de Carrera regulations
How work with horses becomes sport, skilled occupations and tradition
Polo brings horses and riders together as a team
In outdoor polo, two teams of four riders use mallets to send a ball between their opponents’ goalposts. The match is divided into periods, and players change horses during play. A team therefore needs several mounts prepared for the game.
In Argentina, polo connects breeders with the people who prepare and care for horses. Qualities seen during matches can guide breeding choices. Training also helps each horse learn to respond to its rider’s requests on the field.
Source: Argentine Polo Association — Rules, 2020 edition · Polo breeders — Polo Argentino programme
Pato: a handled ball and hoop-shaped goals
Pato is played by two teams of four riders. Players hold and pass a leather ball with six handles, then try to throw it through an upright hoop to score. Handles allow riders to hold and contest the ball on horseback under the sport’s rules.
Pato is recognised as Argentina’s national sport and appears in its intangible cultural heritage inventory. The federation founded in 1941 organises competitions and promotes the game. Its handled ball and hoop goals help distinguish pato from other mounted games.
Source: Argentine Pato Federation — Rules of play · Culture — Pato as intangible cultural heritage · Argentine Pato Federation — Organisational history
Criollo trials carry rural skills into competition
In endurance trials, Criollo horses are observed over long journeys. In cattle-working tests, riders must direct animals and obtain precise responses from their mounts. Competitions give shared rules to tasks that grew from rural work.
Life with horses also includes less visible daily tasks: preparing equipment, understanding grazing and caring for animals. People working together pass those skills on through practice. Public presentations and celebrations then show part of that work.
Source: Criollo association — Marcha y Enduro · Buenos Aires Province — Estancias and rural work
A San Antonio de Areco museum tells the story of rural life and gauchos
The Ricardo Güiraldes park and gaucho museum in San Antonio de Areco presents rural traditions and the memory of the Argentine writer. The project began in the 1930s. Its building recreates the architecture of an earlier estancia to evoke life in the countryside.
Objects, stories and celebrations tell part of horses’ place in Argentine society. Indigenous communities also preserve knowledge and memories of the lands where they live. Bringing these histories together reveals different ways of living with horses in the same landscapes.
Source: Historical Monuments — San Antonio de Areco’s gaucho museum · Nahuel Huapi National Park — History and cultural heritage
Sources on equids in Argentina
Agriculture and INDEC publications provide animal counts and explain how they were made. Researchers study fossils, early accounts and free-ranging horses. Museums describe past uses, while associations and registers publish their histories and rules for breeding or sport.
- Agriculture and SENASA — Informe existencias équidos 2026
This report brings together animal declarations held by SENASA as at 31 March 2026. Page 2 explains the method, p. 3 gives animal groups and the 2016–2026 counts, and pp. 4–5 cover provinces and establishments. The document was updated on 28 May 2026.
- INDEC — Agricultural census 2018, final results
Final results of the 2018 agricultural census were published in 2021. Pages 649–652 describe horses present on 30 June 2018 and their uses on farms. Page 740 explains which holdings qualify and the date used to count animals.
- Cirilli et al. — Equid evolution (2022)
The authors bring together scientific knowledge of equid history. The South American section explains which animals belong to Hippidion and Equus, how they reached the continent and when they disappeared.
- Cerdeño, Moreiras and Alberdi — Hippidion in Mendoza (2008)
Researchers describe Hippidion teeth and bones found at Uspallata and El Carrizal in Mendoza Province. The study identifies the specific discoveries behind the account of these ancient equids.
- Rindel, Zorzoli and Gordón — Horses in Patagonian societies (2024)
Researchers compare historical accounts, archaeological discoveries and Patagonian environments to trace horses’ arrival. The study also explains how horses’ needs and uses influenced communities’ travel and food.
- National Parks — Quebrada del Condorito’s pastoral history
The national park describes the history of grazing lands used by Córdoba’s Jesuit estates. Its account explains that mules supplied the markets of Potosí.
- Buenos Aires Province — Estancias and rural work
This educational resource uses period documents and pictures to describe work on Río de la Plata estancias. It introduces gauchos, cattle and the conditions of different groups of workers.
- National Historical Museum — Crossing the Andes
The National Historical Museum describes the preparation and crossing of the Andes by San Martín’s army in 1817. Riding and pack mules are distinguished from horses intended for fighting on open ground.
- Buenos Aires Legislature — The first tramways
Published in 2024, the account follows Buenos Aires’ tramways: horses pulled the first carriages in 1863, routes expanded from 1870 and electricity arrived in 1897.
- Roca Museum — Transport on nineteenth-century frontiers
The Roca Museum uses photographs and accounts to show horses, mules and vehicles in military campaigns in 1879 and later years.
- Nahuel Huapi National Park — History and cultural heritage
Nahuel Huapi National Park describes the region’s inhabitants, military conquest and the loss of Indigenous land. The account also includes communities living in the park today.
- Criollo association — Argentine breed timeline
The Criollo association follows the breed’s organisation in Argentina: the 1922 standard, its 1923 foundation, Gato and Mancha’s 1925–1928 journey and the creation of horse trials.
- National Archives — Gato, Mancha and Tschiffely’s journey
The National Archives describes Tschiffely’s departure from Buenos Aires with Gato and Mancha in 1925. The account follows the journey to the rider’s arrival in New York with Mancha in September 1928.
- Criollo association — Objectives and disciplines
The association explains its support for Criollo conservation and breeding. Its website also provides information and rules for disciplines offered to breeders and riders.
- Criollo association — Marcha y Enduro
The association introduces Criollo travelling and endurance trials. Regulations explain the events, and results identify participating horses.
- Argentine Rural Society — Pedigree search
The Argentine Rural Society service allows searches for a registered horse and its pedigree, including recorded parents and earlier ancestors.
- Polo breeders — Polo Argentino programme
Polo breeders describe the characteristics sought in the Polo Argentino. The site explains admission of playing mares and links to Argentine Rural Society pedigree searches.
- Polo breeders — AACCP history and objectives
The polo breeders’ association describes its 1984 foundation and its work on horse selection, ancestry, training and welfare. Registration counters on the website are not used as counts of living horses.
- AAFE — Silla Argentino regulations, 2022 edition
The 2022 regulations explain how horses enter Silla Argentino registers. Ancestry, body structure, sporting ability, identification and reproduction are among the subjects covered.
- Stud Book Argentino — Sangre Pura de Carrera regulations
Stud Book Argentino regulations explain how Thoroughbred identity, ancestry, births and movement between countries are recorded. The consulted text is marked as updated in March 2016; current procedures should be checked with the organisation.
- Agriculture Secretariat — Horse breeds raised in Argentina
Argentina’s agriculture service introduces breeds raised in the country, including Criollo, Polo Argentino, Silla Argentino and Sangre Pura de Carrera. The accounts describe horses’ uses and the organisations keeping their registers.
- Argentine Polo Association — Rules, 2020 edition
The 3 June 2020 edition explains polo teams, periods of play and horse changes. It is used to explain the game; rules for a current competition should be checked with its organisers.
- Argentine Pato Federation — Rules of play
The rules explain pato’s handled ball, teams, field, goals and match play. The document is hosted on an Argentine government website and does not state an edition date.
- Culture — Pato as intangible cultural heritage
The Argentine cultural heritage entry describes pato: two teams of four riders compete for a handled ball and score through hoop-shaped goals.
- Argentine Pato Federation — Organisational history
The federation describes its foundation in 1941 and how pato became organised under shared rules. Its account also follows recognition of the game as Argentina’s national sport.
- Historical Monuments — San Antonio de Areco’s gaucho museum
The account describes the creation of the Ricardo Güiraldes park and museum in the 1930s. The building recreates estancia architecture to present San Antonio de Areco’s rural traditions.
- Scorolli — Feral horse management at Tornquist (2018)
The 2018 article examines Tornquist’s feral horses, environmental effects and management disagreements. The public abstract was consulted. Its older estimates are not used to announce a current total of free-ranging horses in Argentina.