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of civilization and safety for its Spanish
settlers and native laborers.”
Pérez prospered and soon became
a community leader and benefactor.
In 1813 he served on the Spanish
side as Captain of Cavalry under
General Joaquín de Arredondo
during the Battle of Medina, when
1,300 Mexican revolutionaries lost
their lives as part of the struggle for
Mexican Independence. Two years
later, however, he was serving as the
territory’s Mexican governor. During
the first two decades of the 19th
century, Pérez held rights to some
200,000 acres.
While land was taken from his
heirs by the Republic of Texas
after his death in 1823, the Pérez
family managed to retain control of
extensive pastureland north of the
Medina throughout the 19th and 20thcenturies, marking nearly 200 years
of ownership by the same family before
the land became a state historical
park. The Pérez rancho never bred
Quarter Horses; their vaqueros were
mounted upon the tamed mustangs
and petizos (small, scrubby domestic
horses of Iberian descent) that
continue to be usual in rural Mexico
and Central America.
By contrast, Anglo immigrants to
Texas were far more likely to prefer
Morgans, Thoroughbreds, Cayuses
or the Billy-Rondo short-track racers
that were the immediate ancestors
of the Quarter Horse. Texas was still
part of Mexico when Stephen Austin’s
wagon train arrived on the banks of
the Brazos River near what is now
Houston, Texas, in 1825. Austin’s
successful colonization attracted
many more Anglo-American settlersto Mexican Texas. One of the earliest
short-horse enthusiasts to arrive was
none other than Sam Houston, who
in 1839 brought in the Sir Archy son
Copperbottom (foaled in 1828).
Another was Alfred Bailes, whose
ranch lay in Guadalupe County near
Seguin. He stood the Kentucky-
bred Thoroughbred Flying Dutchman
(1845, by Grey Eagle out of Blinkey,
she a granddaughter of Sir Archy and
Old Printer). Bailes bred the Quarter
Horse ancestor Bailes’ Brown Dick
(1852, by Flying Dutchman out of
Old Mary who traces to Steel Dust
and Lock’s Rondo). He also bred
the crucially important broodmare
Paisana (1856; the dam of Anthony,
John Crowder, Pancho, Whalebone, Red
Rover and Joe Collins, all by Old Billy
who was foaled in Texas just before the
start of the Civil War).