At first I thought you might be related to the famous Texan soldier Reuben Ross but he was shot by Ben McCulloch in 1839.Peter and Lawrence Ross were both at Waco awhile.Baylor has a lot of their papers.

Cant help you right off the bat with the horse question.Ross mightve been trading with Texas and the CSA.There should be records surviving of some transactions perhaps with the quartermaster department and maybe some State Treasury warrants issued to him.Try the Confederate Research Center at Hillsboro.

MWT