Some American horse enthusiasts associate Spain with a sense of history and origin. Many American horses are descendants of Spanish horses brought over by 15^th and 16^th century explorers, and many of America's “native” wild horses are deeply rooted in Spanish equine genes.

But Spain has its own “native” wild horse, which dates back at least 3,000 years. The Spanish Retuertas horse has roamed the country’s marshlands for longer than recorded history. But because it wasn’t popular as a working horse, newer breeds took its place in domestication. The small, hardy, and genetically distinct Retuertas faced extinction in the 1980s, but conservationists rescued the breed by protecting it in the Doñana national park in southern Spain.

Today, that rescue effort has been doubled. As part of a much larger program called "Rewilding Europe," 47 Retuertas horses have been rehomed from Doñana to a 500-hectare (1,235-acre) private reserve in the western part of the Iberian peninsula called Campanarios de Azabas. Arriving in two groups—one in 2012 and one in 2013—the horses have settled into their new home and several new foals were born in the past year, confirming the effort's success.

But, unbeknownst to them, the horses have a job at Campanarios de Azabas, a nongovernment organization: The Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre (FNYH), working in collaboration with Rewilding Europe, chose these horses for their roles as herbivores in helping maintain the land in a natural way