Colorado Ranger Horse Association
1510 Greenhouse Lane
Wampum, Pennsylvania 16157
www.coloradoranger.com
In 1878, the former president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, developed a friendship with the Sultan Hamid of the Ottoman Empire during a world tour. Before Grant left Turkey, the sultan presented him with two horses, whose descendants continue to make an impact today. One was a desert Arabian named Leopard, the other a Barb named Linden Tree. Both of these stallions are listed in studbooks of two major American breed registries, the Arabian Horse Association and the Jockey Club. Their influence on the horse world touches almost every breed in the United States today.
History
The two stallions arrived in 1879 in Virginia, where they spent several years with breeder Randolph Huntington. By using these horses, Huntington hoped to perfect what would become a new breed of light harness horses that he called the Americo/Arab Trotting horse. Financial troubles, however, contributed to the demise of the project.
Around the turn of the century, Leopard and Linden Tree moved west to the ranch holdings of General George Colby in Beatrice, Nebraska. Here, the two desert stallions left strong, desirable traits on their foals from the native range mares on the Colby ranch. Some of these mares were, in fact, horses from the western Indian tribes that had been forced onto reservations in the Nebraska area. When the two stallions were crossed with the mares, it resulted in a new type of versatile using horse with a lot of cow sense, or cattle-working ability. Their reputation soon spread.
The Ira J. Whipple family introduced the horses to Colorado with the purchase of an outstanding group of young mares the family bought from General Colby. All the mares had been sired by either Leopard or Linden Tree. To head the band of mares, Whipple selected Tony, a double-bred grandson of Leopard.
Colorado Ranger stud—a well-balanced horse with long neck, nice shoulder, and overall quality. Sherry Byrd
Early in the 1900s, Mike Ruby, one of the greatest horsemen of the plains, developed an interest in this line because of the horses’ reputation for working cows, their good disposition, and their stamina. He began breeding them by acquiring as his herd sires Patches, a son of Tony from the Colby Ranch, and Max, the Barb stallion from the ranch of Colorado Governor Oliver Shoupe. Max was halo-spotted, meaning he had spots with faded halo outlines around them. He was sired by a renowned horse called the Waldron Leopard and out of an Arabian mare.
Ruby was different in many ways than many of the ranchers of his day. Well before most of the prominent registries were founded, he maintained accurate written records of his mares, stallions, and their offspring, which was an unusual practice at that time. His handwritten records included foaling dates, colors, and complete pedigrees and were important to establishing a breed. They have been preserved as part of the Colorado Ranger Horse Association’s corporate records, and Ruby is recognized as the founder of the Colorado Ranger breed.
Ruby continued to enlarge his herd, and in 1934 he was invited to display two of his stallions at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. His leopard-patterned stallions, Leopard No. 3 and Fox No. 10, were seen by thousands of visitors. Encouraged by the faculty members of Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University), the new breed of horse was officially named the Colorado Ranger, because it was originally bred and raised in Colorado under range conditions. Verbal references to those “rangerbred” horses eventually led to their being more commonly known as Rangerbreds, although the official name of Colorado Ranger remains.
With the naming of the breed came a breed registry. Ruby founded the Colorado Ranger Horse Association (CRHA) in 1935, and the state of Colorado granted him a corporate charter in 1938. Patches and Max were named foundation sires of the breed and listed first in the CRHA association’s studbook.
The majority of Rangerbreds were often much louder colored, or more patterned, than other early Appaloosas, which were mostly roans. Due to registrations being available only to CRHA members and there being a fifty-member limit, many horses with a Rangerbred heritage were not able to be registered at that time. (Those with color patterns were, however, accepted by the Appaloosa Horse Club Registry that came into being several months later.) This was the beginning of establishing the Colorado Ranger as a breed.
The breed took a setback when the drought years in the mid 1930s took its toll on the horses, as grass and water were hard to come by. Now an aging horseman, Ruby drove his horses from the plains to save them. Refusing to see a lifetime’s endeavor destroyed, he made a trail herd and drove his J Bar horses from eastern Colorado to new leases on the western slopes of the Rockies. This was a distance of more than three hundred miles over which he drove a substantial herd through rough Rocky Mountain terrain.
Ruby made horse history on that drive. This man could face adversity without flinching, but he had tears in his eyes as he told of a drought-stricken mare on the drive and her newborn foal that died due to lack of its mother’s milk. Four months later in the lush mountain meadows, the mare began producing milk for her colt that lay dead three hundred miles back on the prairies. Two years later, the rains began, and Ruby made another long, historic drive back to the home range, testifying to the toughness and bravery of not only himself, but also his horses.
Impact of Rangerbreds
As time went on, the Ruby family’s herd grew to several hundred head of horses, and the family supplied many other ranches throughout Colorado and other western states with its horses. Sometimes the horses were sold, while other times they were leased.
This is verified by people who knew the Rubys and lived around them. Mike Ruby often leased groups of horses to various ranchers throughout Colorado and other western states. These ranchers were simply looking to improve their own breeding herds, or just wanted new blood. Some may have been breeding for a specific type, like what evolved into the Quarter Horse or Appaloosas. Even though there were noticeable appaloosa-colored/patterned horses in the Ruby herds, there were the muted roan patterns and solid-colored animals as well. A rancher might come to the Ruby ranch to lease some mares, pick out a group of roan or solid-colored ones, and take them home to breed with Appaloosas. Later, the leased group would be returned, and maybe the next time this same group (or portions of it) would be leased by a rancher breeding for the Quarter Horse type, who would take the mares home to breed with Quarter Horses.
In this way, the Rangerbred greatly influenced and was affected by the Quarter Horse and Appaloosa breeding of that time and area. All these breeds were particularly noted for their athletic ability and were primarily bred for ranches. They were in demand as working cow horses.
There is no doubt that some Rangerbred bloodlines were in some of these early Quarter and Appaloosa horses. Research has found CRHA-registered lines in the old National Quarter Horse Breeders’ Association registry and in various Appaloosa lines.
Registry
In 1964, the CRHA lifted the fifty-member limit, and registration was opened to all horses meeting pedigree requirements, regardless of owner membership status. Since then, the CRHA has registered many Appaloosas with a Rangerbred heritage that were lost to the organization for so many years.
Additional Appaloosa bloodlines with Rangerbred connections are still being recognized through continued pedigree research. The most recent research indicates that one out of every five Appaloosas is eligible for registry with the CRHA. Appaloosa pedigrees are checked for Rangerbred heritage by the organization at no charge to the owner. About 90 percent of all registered Rangerbreds are also registered Appaloosas.
The CRHA is the oldest of the western horse breed registries in the United States. It is not a color registry; founder Mike Ruby wisely decided that a horse’s ability has nothing to do with his “hide.” Due to this, Rangerbreds come in a wide variety of color patterns: from solid bays, classic blacks, grays, and roans, all the way to colorful blankets and leopards. All Rangerbreds carry equal registration status regardless of color. This is a breed that traces its purity through known bloodlines only. The registry still uses the bloodline grading system developed by Ruby to denote bloodline concentration.
To meet requirements for registration, a horse must show a direct descent from one of the foundation stallions, Patches No. 1 and/or Max No. 2. Rangerbreds may be outcrossed on horses of other recognized breed registries, including the Jockey Club, American Quarter Horse Association, Appaloosa registries (U.S., Canadian, and foreign), Arabian Horse Association, AraAppaloosa, and Foundation Breeders’ International. With certain reservations, they may also be outcrossed to horses registered with the Appaloosa Color Breeders Association, American Appaloosa Association, and International Colored Appaloosa Association. No Paint, Pinto, or pony outcrosses are approved. Outcrossed mares must be registered with one of these registries, or show positive proof of parentage tracing to one of or a combination of the accepted registries, with approval.
Characteristics
Rangerbreds are basically stock horses, yet just like most stock breeds now, some Rangerbreds will do well in English riding and dressage. They also do well in competitive and endurance distance riding.
They range in size from 14 to 15 or more hands. Small, foxy ears are desired. They come in all colors with the appaloosa spotting being the only approved color pattern.
Generally speaking, Rangerbreds are people friendly, attention loving horses.
There are several different types of Rangerbreds; those bred with a higher percentage of Quarter Horse will favor the Quarter Horse traits. Likewise, those with higher Thoroughbred percentage up close will favor the Thoroughbred or sport horse type of look. Some can have thinning manes and tails with summer shedding like some Appaloosas.
CRHA board member Sherry Byrd states, “I like the breed because they have the added dimension of that long traceable pedigree going back into history: being connected with Ulysses S. Grant—and of course the Turkey/Middle East angle [Barb and Arab], as well. The Rangerbred has more of an exotic touch to it.”
Credit: Sherry Byrd, Colorado Ranger Horse Association