When the Rocky Mountain Horse® originated in the United States in the late 1800's in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky, there was no comprehension of the need to document anything about them. Therefore the history of this horse from 1890 to the late 1900's has little or no documentation. The inhabitants of this region were unaware that their utility horses might someday become the foundation of a special breed. In fact, the existence of these horses was mostly a secret for many years to all but the locals. Few facts can be proven beyond the shadow of doubt since everyone who personally witnessed the breed's beginnings in the 1800's is now deceased. Only a verbal history passed down from generation to generation exists, so all that can be recorded are the stories remembered by living descendants of those witnesses.
A horse was a necessity, had to be versatile and had to earn its keep by working hard daily. Even so, the families of this poor area could not afford the upkeep, so their horses received no special care, and had to withstand the harsh winters in Kentucky with minimal shelter. They were fed a kind of rough silage and some ate the bark off trees when they were hungry. Only the horses that survived these extreme conditions lived to reproduce their kind.
The traditional belief is that around 1890, a young, gaited colt appeared in eastern Kentucky that was the foundation to a line of horses that has been treasured in the area ever since. He was called "the Rocky Mountain Horse" by the local Appalachian people because of the area he had come from. Little is known about this foundation stallion, but the oral history indicates that he was chocolate-colored with a flaxen mane and tail, and that he possessed a superior gait.
This stallion was out-crossed to the local Appalachian saddle mares in this relatively small geographical area but the basic characteristics of this strong genetic line continue. A medium-sized horse of gentle temperament with an easy ambling four beat gait that made it the horse of choice on the farms and rugged foothills of the Appalachians was created. This versatile horse had natural endurance, could plow, work cattle, be ridden, or drive the buggy. Because of the gait, they could cover a greater distance without tiring. For these reasons the breed was preserved and this prized line of horses gradually increased in numbers. Today it is known as the Rocky Mountain Horse® and is used as a pleasure horse, for trail or endurance riding, and as a show horse, is rapidly gaining popularity because of their unique way of moving in the ring. The calm nature is ideally suited for working around cattle and for 4-H projects.
In Spout Springs, Kentucky, Sam Tuttle was the most prominent breeder of Rocky Mountain Horses for nearly 75 years and is considered to be the person most responsible for the survival of the breed. He used these horses for many years in the 1960's to haul inexperienced people over rough and rugged trails in Natural Bridge State Park. His favorite stallion, Old Tobe, was also his primary breeding stallion and sired foals until the age of 34, and lived to age 37. He had the perfect sure-footed gait and a calm, gentle temperament and was the one that carried the young, the old, or the unsure over the mountain trails for 10 years without faltering, even though he was a breeding stallion. Everyone who rode the stallion fell in love with him and his offspring were always in demand. He passed on his gait, disposition, and other great qualities to his offspring but one outstanding trait passed on was longevity, and many of his offspring are still breeding in their late twenties and early thirties. It has also been said that his offspring followed in his perfectly-timed footsteps. Many of the present Rocky Mountain Horses® can trace back to Old Tobe.
When roads improved and new means of travel were created, gaited horse populations in the United States started to decline. One exception was the less-developed area of the Appalachian Mountains where gaited horses were still necessary for travel where there were no roads, and so breeding continued. Even through the hard times of the Depression and World War II years, Sam Tuttle kept a sizable herd of thirty to forty horses on his farm. In the 1950s, when the horse populations in general were rapidly declining due to tractors and farm machinery available, breeders still bought their mares to Old Tobe from several different states and he was always in demand for stud service.
It became obvious that a haphazard and unorganized maintenance of this breed could eventually result in its loss and so a systematic preservation of the characteristics of the Rocky Mountain Horse® was necessary. So, from 1980 through 1985, Rea Swan of Lexington, Kentucky, diligently worked on locating the few remaining breeders who were interested in preserving this unique strain. In total, 26 people, representing only 33 horses, attended the first meeting in May 1986 in Winchester, Kentucky to form the Rocky Mountain Horse Association' (RMHA) for the explicit purpose of preserving, promoting, breeding, and developing the Rocky Mountain Horse®. The breed has since been issued a Registration Certification mark by the U.S. Patent Office and only those horses registered by the RMHA may be called a Rocky Mountain Horse®. Of all the "mountain horse" breed registries, the first breed-specific registry to be formed was the RMHA and there are now over 12,000 registered Rocky Mountain Horses®.
In October 1986, people who were concerned with keeping the breed alive came from 7 different counties to the first open meeting of the RMHA and 30 horses that met breed standards were registered that day, for a starting total of 63 horses. But for the next few years, members had the daunting task of locating and determining which horses qualified for registration as foundation stock. After locating a horse that qualified, the process for determining and recording its lineage was a difficult task due to the lack of prior documentation of parentage, so it was a bit like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. But after talking to enough people, much of the missing information was found and the RMHA was able to fill in the rest of the pieces. Today, any vague or unsubstantiated information about lineage is denoted by the letters “STBB", on the registration papers, which stands for "said to be by", and in 1989, the books were closed for registrations of foundation stock to preserving the traits of the breed by limiting further unknown lineage. The Rocky Mountain Horse is one of the few American breeds that require certification before breeding to produce offspring eligible for registration and it is a unique concept used for culling undesirable traits before they get into the gene pool.
The Rocky Mountain Horse® is from 14.2 to 16 hands high, but the only exception to this is for mares that can be certified at a minimum of 14 hands under certain conditions. The breed comes in only solid colors, but facial markings are acceptable if not excessive, and there cannot be any white above the knee or hock. The horse must have a natural ambling four beat gait, either a single foot or a rack, with no evidence of pacing. When the Rocky Mountain Horse® moves, you can count 4 distinct hoofbeats which produce a cadence of equal rhythm in this order: left rear, left front, right rear, right front. This gait is naturally present from birth and does not require training aids or action devices. Each individual horse has its own speed and can travel at 7-20 miles per hour.
The Rocky Mountain Horse® is known for its gentleness and its ease of handling and training. It is a wonderful surefooted and comfortable riding horse with a strong heart and natural endurance.
About Crystal Eikanger
Crystal Eikanger is a freelance writer, web designer, video editor and voice talent working as Ei-Kan Productions on www.rentacoder.com as well as other freelance sites. www.HorseClicks.com is a popular website filled with classifieds of horses for sale, horse trailers, tack, and horse related properties.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Kentucky Appalachian Bred Rocky Mountain Horse®
