GREG BANKOFF Horsing around The life and times of the horse in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century The horse has long played a significant role in Hispanic society as an engine of war and a symbol of nobility. It accompanied (even sometimes preceded) the conquistadors in their endeavours across the globe while the Spanish word for gentleman, caballero, literally denotes a horseman. Where the ani- mal was adopted by Spain’s adversaries, such as among the Apache of New Galicia or the Mapuche Indians of southern Chile, it proved a formidable barrier to further colonial expansion. In the Philippines, the horse was also introduced by the invaders but here flourished in more unforeseen ways. Animals were brought first from Mexico and subsequently in much greater numbers from China and Japan where they were bred on great stock farms established by the religious orders in the 17th and 18th centuries (Instructions Felipe II 1973 [1589]:156, Chirino 1973 [1604], 12:191). 1 Numbers had evidently increased to such an extent by 1689 that William Dampier was able to report they were plentiful on Luzon and had gone feral on Mindanao (Dampier 1973 [1703], 38:282, 39:87). 2 Half a century later, the horse was even mentioned in connection with overseas commerce (Nicols 1973 [1759]:256). The resultant interbreeding over generations blended the animal’s different pedigrees to create the native horse as a distinctive breed. However, a noticeable adapta- tion of the animal to its new environment was its attenuation. Early Spanish accounts depict the resultant cross-breed as medium-sized, strong, vigorous and proven hard workers (De Morga 1973 [1609], 16:90-1). But as the number of horses increased, so their size apparently decreased and its diminutiveness 1 Timor is also mentioned as a source of supply (Wernstedt and Spencer 1978:211). 2 The origin of the horse in the southern parts of the Philippines is more likely an offshoot of one of the prehistoric East Indian horses, probably Equus sivalensis, brought to the Sulu Islands from Sumatra, Borneo and Malacca during the mid 15th century. This ancestry is still hinted at etymologically by the use of the Malay word ‘kuda’ for horse in Mindanao and Sulu languages (Scott 1994:278).