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Rocky Mountain Horse Association
Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse Assoc
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN HORSES originated in the hills of Eastern Kentucky and were used daily for both work and pleasure. They were known to be small statured, gentle, and willing . Most Rocky Mountain Horses trace their ancestry back to a stallion named Tobe who was owned by Sam Tuttle and used by Tuttle to run the concessions at Natural Bridge State Park, KY. Tobe produced 5 offspring that are the foundation stallions of the Rocky Mountain breed: Sewell's Sam, Kilburn's Chocolate Sundown, Yankee, Maple's Squirrel, and Sam Clemon's Tim. The signature color of the ROCKY MOUNTAIN HORSE is chocolate with a flax mane and tail (below), however ,Rockies come in all colors, including bay, black, palomino, sorrel, and buckskin.
The chocolate color is a genetically black horse with the silver dapple gene creating the dark chocolate color. The manes and tails can range from white to a mixed chocolate and flax. Another unique color to the Rocky Mountain breed is "red chocolate", which is actually a bay with a silver dapple gene, creating brown, rather than black legs and points with a flax mane and tail, as in the picture below. ROCKIES were gathered under one registry in 1986 when breeding was monitored and guidelines determined to protect and preserve the breed and prevent extinction. Prior to the registry, just a few hundred horses existed. Today, because of RM breeder's care and concern, there are over 16,000 horses registered. To maintain the norms of the breed, all horses must be certified before they are shown or bred and before they are permanently registered. IN ORDER TO BE CERTIFIED THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN HORSES MUST:
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HORSES are popular trail horses because of their smooth gait and their temperament. Rockies make great companions because of their naturally curious and attention-loving nature.
Show circuits for the Mountain Horse are provided by the KMSHA, the UMH and the RM organizations.
Many RM horses
are also registered with the Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse
Registry. The KMSHA
is a registry with similar guidelines and their own show circuit.
A third Mountain horse registry is the Mountain Pleasure Horse
Association (MPH). They, too, share horses with the
Rocky Mountain registry. The United Mountain Horse (UMH)
is affiliated with the American Gaited Horse Registry. They
offer another show circuit for mountain horses. All of these organizations originated in
Central Kentucky and their horses share some of the same ancestry.
Although their philosophies vary, all three celebrate the
distinctive characteristics of the Mountain Horse.
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