There has been a Darwinian vs. human-directed evolution experiment running in North America for centuries. It began when Spanish ships arrived in North America at the end of the 15th century. The experiment continued as waves of Europeans followed the Spanish, from France, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe.
Wild Horses Show Common Traits
Horses that must survive in rocky terrain without human assistance tend to be stocky, with shorter legs, and bigger, tougher hooves. This is especially true in harsh northern climates. For example, the Yakut breed developed itself by natural selection. This heavy-set horse has a dense, thick coat to protect it from the harsh conditions of northern and central Siberia.
The Sorraia horse in southern Iberia is the last remnant of the indigenous wild horses that once grazed that region. It is stocky and short, standing 14 hands high. The horses owned by Spanish colonizers in the Americas had some Sorraia blood. So the Sorraia is also a forebear of the North American Mustang.
Despite the fact that some breeds, such as the Sorraia, are not the product of domestication, the Przewalski ‘s (pronounced sha-val-ski's) horse, is often touted as the world's only truly wild horse. It has 66 chromosomes as opposed to 64 found in other breeds, including the Sorraia. This stocky horse sheds its upright mane and often behaves like a zebra. It may be an offshoot from the horse family tree rather than a forerunner of other horse breeds.
The Mustang Shows Wild Ancestry
Mustangs, descendants of European horses that escaped their human handlers and became feral, are uniquely adapted to their environment. They share many traits with the wild horses noted above and provide a demonstration of Darwinian evolution in action.
While Spanish horses made the biggest genetic contribution to the North American Mustang, horses from New France and the British colonies (modern Canada and the eastern United States) also contributed to its genetic makeup. Spanish Mustangs, found in the Western United States, have larger heads, longer ears, better eyesight and a keener sense of direction than their domesticated ancestors did. In many cases they resemble their Iberian cousin, the Sorraia.
Canadian mustangs , which also have Spanish bloodlines, have developed large hooves to carry them over the muskeg and to help them paw the snow for feed in winter. Extremely strong, they have short, thick legs and stocky muscled bodies. Their Roman noses help them forage for food in underbrush and snow.
Natural selection sorts traits that already exist in the horse, but are usually suppressed by human breeders. These traits become the norm among mustangs because they aid survival in the wild. But natural selection did not produce new traits. They were already there.
Hardy Canadian Breeds Demonstrate Similar Traits
Human breeders, as intelligent designers, have also selected for traits similar to natural selection, to deal with harsh conditions. New France and Newfoundland were among the most isolated colonies in the New World. Not surprisingly, domestic horse populations in these colonies were often isolated from breeding with new bloodlines. The Canadian Horse and the Newfoundland Pony, are short, stocky and muscular, ideally suited for pulling ploughs and surviving January blizzards.
The Canadian, descended from French-Norman breeds brought to New France in the sixteenth century, is shorter and hardier. This 'little iron horse' served its country in the Boer War, found its way to West Indian Sugar Plantations, and was highly prized by Americans who bred it into the Morgan, Tennessee Walking Horse, Standardbred, and the American Saddlebred.
The Newfoundand Pony is the result of three centuries of interbreeding between Exmoor, Dartmoor, New Forest, Galloway, Welsh, Connemara and the odd Highlands ponies. This hardworking animal which is adapted to survive on sparse vegetation and harsh weather, was integral to the survival of Newfoundlanders well into the middle of the 20th Century.
Blue Blood North American Varieties
Still other equine immigrants to the New World became raw materials for breeding experiments both by European settlers and Native North American tribes. These horses are bred to suit human tastes and needs. Typically, they are taller and less stocky than breeds that are created by natural selection or intelligent selection that aims at an animal adapted to a harsh environment.
The stately Tennessee walking horse is the product of human selection using Standardbreds, Morgans, Thoroughbreds, Canadian and Narrangansett Pacers. It is sleek looking, with a smooth gait that makes it an excellent riding horse.
The Missouri Fox Trotting Horse was also bred for its gait. The American Quarter Horse is bred for its speed and sure footedness. Its roots go back to the days before the American Revolution, when colonists challenged each other to short races. A fast horse was a status symbol. The breed was refined in the Southwest by cowboys who further developed its sure-footedness and speed.
Native North Americans also bred horses that immigrants brought from Europe. Unlike European immigrants, they preferred shorter, stockier breeds that could travel rough terrain without horseshoes. For example, the Cayuse Indian Pony is short and stocky with high withers, a long canon bone, and a sloped pastern that makes it easy to ride without a saddle. It is descended from French Canadian horses Pawnee Indians purchased from voyageur traders. Looking for greater strength and speed, Native North American tribes bred these French Canadian horses with Spanish Barbs.
Intelligent Selection Can Be Whimsical
One interesting characteristic of intelligent selection is that breeders will sometimes emphasize a characteristic simply because they like it, although it is not in itself especially significant to the animal’s well-being or survival. For example, French Canadian horses often had spots or white markings on their coats. The Cayuse Indians prized these markings and preferred to breed marked horses. This trait has been passed on to breeds such as the Appaloosa, Paint and Pinto.
Horse Breeding and Specified Complexity
Design of Life author Bill Dembski uses the term “specified complexity” to signify the work of intelligent agents (see pp. 168ff). Intelligent agents produce effects that are not merely complex but specified for an apparent external purpose. Unintelligent causes do not produce these effects. Consider how this relates to horse breeding.
Natural selection eliminates traits that hinder an animal’s survival - and that’s all it can do. Human breeders also select among such traits. They may choose traits related to survival under difficult conditions, as we have seen, but they may also choose traits that are unrelated to simple survival. Those traits are sought for some other purpose.You could say that such breeds are complex and specified.
Intelligent agents can, of course, try to make the animal look as much like an ancient ancestor as possible (consider the Heck horses, for example). Intelligent causes can mimic unintelligent ones when they choose to do so. But unintelligent causes cannot mimic intelligent ones. An unintelligent cause will not just happen to produce specified complexity.