Home of the Spirit Animals

The history of the horse in North America is  controversial right now. Historians have long asserted that Spanish explorers introduced horses to the Americas. First arriving in Hispaniola in the Caribbean with Christopher Columbus during his second voyage in 1493, six horses reached the North American mainland with Hernán Cortés in 1519. Following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, horses that were abandoned or escaped the Spanish adapted to the wild, becoming known as mustangs. Many were sold throughout the extensive Indigenous trade network, spreading thousands of miles long before Europeans entered the region.

But few know that the horse had its origins in North America. The Eohippus, ("dawn horse"), also scientifically known as Hyracotherium, developed in North America some 50 million years ago. This browser was approximately the size of a dog, but over millions of years, it grew and evolved into the Equus, our modern horse. It is believed that horses later crossed the Bering Land Bridge into Asia before they vanished from its home turf. Equus scotti, the last of the horses that lived in North America, disappeared about 10,000 years ago, just about the same time as other megafauna such as mammoths and saber toothed tigers did.

Some groups claim that horses never died out here, and that the Indigenous Peoples had horses long before the Spanish came.

Cyd Raschke's Home of the Spirit Animals (2025, Raven+Grace Press, ISBN 9798992383836) tells the story of how the first foal from Spanish horses might have been born in the Americas. The 2026 Spur Award for both Best Western Juvenile Fiction and Best First Novel, it follows a Native American girl who longs to return to her tribe after many years as a slave, and a Spanish Moor who is shipwrecked on the Texas coast. 

Diego had been sailing with a group of beautiful horses that were bound for Cathay when a hurricane sunk his ship. The year is 1496, and Europeans have not yet figured out that the Americas stand between them and the Far East. The San Esteban is charged with establishing a trading enterprise for exporting horses to China and Japan, and carries Andalusian, Arabian, and Galician horses. When the ship goes down, Diego manages to save the horses, but finds himself alone in a land that he believes is Java. He doesn't understand the customs or the language.

Sixteen-year-old Nemae came from a tribe that lived in what is now called the Texas hill country. When she was quite young, her father was killed in a war with other tribes, and she and her mother taken captive. They now live along the coast, and her mother has integrated into her new tribe, marrying and having a child, but Nemae continues to feel like an outcast. She dreams of majestic creatures, calling them the spirit animals of legend, and when Diego arrives with his horses, she believes they are calling her to something greater.

The two build a relationship as they travel to find her people, and a place that will accept a stranger and his strange new animals. Some people are hesitant or even terrified of the horses, while others are curious. Nemae and Diego advocate for them, showing how the animals can be used for hunting, transportation, and even protection. They also must argue that, unlike deer, the horses are not good to eat. Convincing the superstitious and tradition-bound people does not come easily.

This story of the reintroduction of horses to the Americas, is either upper middle grade or YA. It has some content that might be confusing or disturbing to younger readers, including some violence and some male predation of the subservient Nemae. It isn't graphic, but parents and teachers will want to talk with their readers about some sections.

About the Author

Cyd Raschke grew up in rural Washington State, where a relative placed her atop a palomino Belgian when she was a toddler. One inspiration for this story was to correct assumptions that wild horses are not native to America.She set the novel in Texas after learning the story of Mustang Island, and visiting Hill Country where she saw how ideal the land would be for horses to thrive. 

Ms. Raschke has a PhD in Social Psychology. She and her husband live in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where they raised two sons. Of Alaskan Native and Scandinavian heritage, Cyd feels a sense of loss of legacy shared by many descendants of Indigenous Nations and was grateful for the chance to share some of her native culture through this story. It is her first novel. 

Jennifer Bohnhoff is a former middle school and high school history and language arts teacher. She lives in the mountains of central New Mexico and writes historical and contemporary fiction for middle grade through adult readers. She is available to lecture on the history behind her stories.

The booklink in the above blog will take you to Bookshop.org, an online bookseller that gives 75% of its profits to independent bookstores, authors, and reviewers. If you click through and make a purchase on Bookshop.org, Ms. Bohnhoff will receive a commission, and Bookshop.org will give a matching commission to independent booksellers. But don't feel compelled to buy! Feel free to browse the author's lists and find the books you’re interested in at your local library.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is ready to pass along her gently used, signed copy of Home of the Spirit Animals. If you'd like to be considered for it, leave a comment to this blog, and I'll pick one commenter at random and contact via email for mailing directions.