Contrary to what historians have said, the horse was here well before the settlers.
The original theory accepted by the Western World was that there were no horses in the Americas prior to Columbus’ arrival in 1492. The Western World concluded that all horses of Native American peoples were, therefore, descendants of horses brought from overseas.
This theory was forced to change after paleontology pioneer Joseph Leidy discovered horse skeletons embedded in American soil in the 1830s. They were dated to be the oldest of any found in the world. The American scientific community was outraged and questioned his findings. Ultimately, they were forced to accept the evidence he provided.