Book of Mormon verses containing the reference to horses:
1 Nephi 18:25
And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men.
Enos 1:21
And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the land, and raise all manner of grain, and of fruit, and flocks of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle of every kind, and goats, and wild goats, and also many horses.
Alma 18:9-10
And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses. Now the king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi…Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished…
Alma 18:12
And it came to pass that when Ammon had made ready the horses and the chariots for the king and his servants…
Alma 20:6
Now when Lamoni had heard this he caused that his servants should make ready his horses and his chariots.
3 Nephi 3:22
And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and did march forth by thousands and by tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies.
For years I have had critics approach me with the accusation that the Book of Mormon references to horses are anachronistic. My response was essentially that I did not know why we have not discovered horses in the Americas prior to Columbus. This was just something I accepted as outside of my knowledge and expressed that we would have to wait and see as more information became available. I would then share with them that I had a spiritual witness of the Book of Mormon, its truthfulness, and especially its claims about Jesus Christ, prophecy, and the nature of God. Outside of doing this, there was not much else for me to do.
Matt Roper gave a presentation regarding anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, where he essentially made the point that as our scientific advancements increase, we will see more and more evidence that the Book of Mormon is an authentic document. You can see a video version of his arguments here.
Now while scientists agreed that horses lived in the Americas millions of years ago, they have been in agreement that horses became extinct in the Americas near the end of the Pleistocene period, about 10,000 years ago during the end of the last ice age.1
Recently more and more evidence has come to light regarding horses pre-dating Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, surviving the end of the last ice age. This new knowledge does not “prove the Book of Mormon,” but it does create space for the believer to see that it could have happened. Finding horse remains in North America that coincide with the time frame of the Nephites does not “prove” the Book of Mormon is true, but it does lend to it being plausible. Here you can read Yvette Running Horse Collin’s recent dissertation, “The Relationship between the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and the Horse: Deconstructing a Eurocentric Myth.” You may want to skip to page 152 and start reading in this location where the evidence is most compelling.
Notes
- Jay Kirkpatrick wrote, “The last prehistoric North American horses died out between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene, but by then Equus had spread to Asia, Europe, and Africa.” The Surprising History of America’s Wild Horses, Live Science, July 24, 2008. Clearly, as Matt Roper suggests, as more scientific evidence comes to light, the position on this commonly held belief (like so many in our scientific past) will be revised to reflect new information available to us.
Further Reading:
Daniel Johnson, “Hard” Evidence for Ancient American Horses, BYU Studies Quarterly, 54, no. 3 (2015).
Lyla June Johnson, “Yes world, there were horses in Native culture before the settlers came,” Indian Country Today, July 3, 2019.
Yvette Running Horse Collin, The Relationship Between the Indigenous Peoples of the Americans and the Horse: Deconstructing a Eurocentric Myth, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Doctoral Dissertation, May 2017.