The Campeiro is thought to descend from horses lost from the expedition of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541 from Santa Catarina Island to the new Spanish settlement at Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay).
[4] The horses became established as a feral population on the mainland, on the plateaux that are now parts of the states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul, and are characterised by the Araucária moist forest biome,[4] where they became very numerous.
[1][3] The horses were first seen and reported in 1728 by the exploratory expedition of Francisco de Souza e Faria from the coast of Santa Catarina across the plateau in the direction of the settlement of Curitiba (now the capital of Paraná state).
The breed was officially recognised by the Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento, the Brazilian ministry of agriculture, in 1985, and a stud-book was opened.
[6] The Campeiro is raised almost exclusively on the Planalto Serrano de Santa Catarina [pt] and is usually managed extensively, although working horses and those in preparation for showing or competition are usually stabled.