Rocky Mountain Horses are majestic with classic lines.
Rocky Mountain Horse Association
4037 Iron Works Parkway
Suite 160
Lexington, Kentucky 40511
www.rmhorse.com
To describe the majestic Rocky Mountain Horse defies the imagination. When speaking of it, words like regal, magnificent, beautiful, and marvelous, along with a full array of other superlatives are appropriate for this true American breed. Owners soon discover this horse is not just a beautiful animal, but also a part of their life, defining who they are, how they live, and their outlook on life. The Rocky Mountain Horse’s ability to quickly bond with people captures the owners’ hearts and minds, and even their souls. The history and versatility of the Rocky Mountain Horse leave those who have not owned and loved one with the feeling that the breed must have been something created within the imagination of a movie screenwriter—but they are far more than a writer’s fantasy.
“One horse for all occasions” defines this unique breed of horse that, in just slightly more than two decades, has gone from becoming a near extinct breed to having more than seventeen thousand registered horses. From only twenty-six Rocky Mountain Horses located in an isolated area of the Appalachian Mountains in 1986, they have spread to forty-seven states and internationally to eleven countries. To understand what makes the breed so popular only requires the knowledge of their unique characteristics.
Characteristics
The Rocky Mountain Horse naturally demonstrates a smooth, ambling, four-beat gait that glides forward. It moves its feet with minimal ground clearance, as well as minimal knee and hock action. People are often astounded when a newborn foal steps right into this inherent gait when it is first turned out to pasture with the dam. Since this gait does not waste motion, it enables both the horse and the rider to travel long distances with minimal fatigue. While maintaining its natural gait, the horse can move at speeds from 7 to 20 miles per hour.
The beauty of the gait has made the Rocky Mountain Horse popular at horse shows across the country. The surefootedness of its gait has brought a whole new equine star to trail riding enthusiasts, from the casual trail rider, to competitive and endurance contenders. Often misunderstood by those not familiar with it, the Rocky can also perform the same basic gaits as non-gaited horses, such as walk, trot, canter, and gallop.
While the smooth gait is often the first skill that sparks the interest of many riders, it is the breed’s beauty that catches the eye. There is nothing more beautiful than a group of Rockies moving around the pasture with long flowing manes and tails and a wonderful range of solid body colors. The chocolate body color with a mane and tail that can range from a dark flaxen to nearly white comes to mind when many think of the Rocky. There are also beautiful blacks, grays, bays, duns, buckskins, sorrels, roans, and palominos, to name a few. Beyond the beauty of the horses is their temperament and gait, which are the attributes that most owners rank right at the top.
Nothing shows the disposition of the Rocky Mountain horse like a stallion on a trail ride with other horses, including mares, or being ridden around a pasture by a preteen youngster. Their affinity for humans has become legendary. Owners smile when seeing articles on how to catch a horse to bring in from the pasture. Just calling them or walking out and waiting is sufficient for the Rockies; they soon come to see if something is wanted of them. Due to their natural curiosity and fondness of humans, they will often wander up to where someone may be working around the barn to see what they are doing, or maybe even “supervise.”
Between the smooth gait and gentle disposition, the Rocky Mountain Horse is an ideal family horse, making it a natural for the beginning young rider. These same traits have also made the Rocky a natural choice for a growing population of senior citizens whose aging bones and muscles previously prevented them from riding. It is not unusual for seventy-year-old riders to find themselves being referred to as “the kids” by other riders in the group. Additionally, horse lovers who had given up on being able to continue riding because of injuries or inherent back or leg problems can now enjoy horseback activities on the back of a Rocky Mountain Horse. Many riding programs for the disabled have been adding Rockies to their stables because of what seems to be an instinctive intuition to their rider’s special needs.
A good example of this is an elderly rider by the name of Jacklyn Hammitt of California. After her first ride on a Rocky, she acquired her own. Now at age seventy-six and with ten years of riding her Rocky, she is still riding along western trails two and three times a week. As she often says, “When my time on this earth is over, I hope it ends as I’m sitting squarely in my saddle and watching my last sunset.” Gloria Northcote, also from California, introduced Hammitt to Rockies and has been through the same experiences due to her leg problems. As a member of the Rocky Mountain Horse Association (RMHA) Trail Program, Northcote logged more than ten thousand miles of trail riding in just four years. Another example is Chris Balan, a member of the West Coast Rocky Mountain Horse Club, who on occasion will remove her prosthetic leg and strap it on her saddle with no problem. At a disabled camp program in the Southeast, a middle-aged blind man, after riding a Rocky around a pasture, expressed amazement: “I would have never believed a blind man could have ridden a horse.” The sensitivity of the Rocky Mountain Horse to riders with special needs seems to have no limits. Testaments like these about the Rocky Mountain Horse are not unusual.
Chocolate colored with flaxen mane and tail is popular in Rocky Mountain horses. Kim Levinson
The versatility of the breed seems only to be limited by what a rider is willing to try. Rockies are used in competitive events, endurance rides, barrel racing, pole bending, working cattle, pulling buggies and carts, show classes, trail riding, jumping, and dressage. Dressage trainers have reported that the Rocky can be trained in far less time than other breeds. They are proving they truly are “one horse for all occasions.”
Most Rocky Mountain Horses are considered easy keepers. It is not unusual for many Rocky owners to seldom find a need for feeding grain if good pastureland is available. During wintertime or in areas where good pasture is limited, most owners feed them local quality hay. Like all breeds, an individual horse may have slightly different needs, thus the owner should watch for weight problems and adjust feed accordingly.
Basic routine veterinary care and feeding will normally lead to a long healthy life. It is not unusual for Rockies to live into their thirties. Depending on the terrain and riding habits of the owner, some owners keep their Rockies barefoot.
As so many Rocky Mountain Horse owners like to say, “You can’t own just one. You don’t just own and ride the Rocky Mountain Horse, you experience them.” The short history of the breed has shown that the introduction of a Rocky into an area for the first time seems to open the floodgates. As friends, neighbors, other trail riders, or show enthusiasts see and experience the breed, they soon become established in what some have called “Rocky Mountain Horse enclaves.” From Florida to Minnesota and California to across the globe, the number of Rockies has increased as their popularity continues to grow.
History
The RMHA history of the breed began when a gaited colt was brought from the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in eastern Kentucky around 1890. His name is unknown, but he was referred to as “the Rocky Mountain Horse” by the local Kentucky people after the region from which he had come. He is the horse credited for the start of the Rocky Mountain Horse breed. Little is known about this foundation stallion, but oral history indicated he was chocolate colored with flaxen mane and tail and possessed a superior gait. The stallion was bred to the local Appalachian saddle mares in a relatively small geographical area, and the basic characteristics of a strong genetic line continued. This prized line of horses increased in numbers as the years went by and became known as Rocky Mountain Horses.
Sam Tuttle, the most prominent breeder of Rocky Mountain Horses for the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, owned a stallion he named Tobe, sired by the original Rocky Mountain Horse. Tobe was the primary Rocky stallion used in Tuttle’s breeding program and was always in demand for stud service. People brought their mares to Tobe from several different states, and he was as famous in Estill County as Man O’War was in Lexington, Kentucky.
In the early 1960s, Tuttle managed the trail riding concession at the Natural Bridge State Park in Powell County, Kentucky. He had as many as fifty horses including Tobe, who was often seen tied to the hitching post alongside all the mares. Besides breeding, Tobe was also used as a trail horse and became quite well known in the years he was ridden there. He carried Tuttle, and sometimes the trail guides, with surefooted ease over mountainous terrain for many years. Tuttle allowed other people to ride Tobe occasionally, and everyone who did enjoyed his gentle temperament and comfortable gait. It amazed people to know the well mannered horse they were riding was indeed a breeding stallion.
Tobe was used for breeding until he was thirty-four and passed on his gait, disposition, and other great qualities to his offspring, which were said to have followed in his “perfectly timed” footsteps. He left a legacy of many fine horses before his death at the ripe old age of thirty-seven.
Registry
The Rocky Mountain Horse Association (RMHA) was founded in 1986, but the work to save the breed began six years earlier through the efforts of Rea Swan. As a child, Swan rode one of Tuttle’s horses, her first Rocky Mountain Horse. She acquired her first Rocky in 1980 and shortly after began a quest to save the breed that was in danger of becoming extinct because of its uncontrolled distribution and breeding. During the following five years, Swan traveled thousands of miles through surrounding counties and states to locate horses with Tobe’s genes and characteristics.
By 1986, thirty-three people representing twenty-six progeny of Tobe gathered in Winchester, Kentucky, and the Rocky Mountain Horse Association (RMHA) became a reality. These founders made every effort for the Rocky Mountain Horse to become breed specific for the protection of the breed and to assure its future. RMHA maintains the original breed characteristics of the Rocky Mountain Horse, such as the natural gait, height requirements, conformation, color, markings and others.
The adherence to the original breed standard is maintained through a rigidly controlled two-step registration and certification process. For a foal to be registered, it is required to have DNA parental verification by the association through independent genetics laboratories. The test must verify that both the sire and dam are registered and the DNA matches the parentage listed on the registration application. After the horse is at least twenty-three months old, the horse must be inspected by three trained and official RMHA examiners. If they deem that the horse meets the conformation and gait standards of the RMHA, then a certification seal is placed on the registration papers. The RMHA is one of the few registries that require certification before breeding to produce offspring eligible for registration and certification.
This certification process is unique to most U.S. breed associations and is the reason RMHA was issued a certification mark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The certification mark specifically states: “The certification mark, as used by persons authorized by the certifier, certifies that the horses have been examined by the certifier and meet the certifier’s standards regarding height, body, gait, temperament and color.”
Rocky Mountain Horses are extremely gentle, making ideal family horses. Phyllis Rocha
To the prospective buyer of a Rocky Mountain Horse, this certification mark indicates that the RMHA is committed to making every effort possible to keep the breed pure, from its early beginning into future generations, and to assure it is the finest of horse breeds,. The desire of the RMHA is that all owners can remain confident that their children and grandchildren in future years will have the advantage of owning and riding this same great breed.
Standards
The conformation of the Rocky Mountain Horse has remained constant throughout the breed’s history.
Height: The height of the horse should be no less than 14.2 hands (58 inches) and no more than 16 hands (64 inches).
Head: It should have bold eyes, well-shaped ears, and a face that is neither dished nor protruding. The head should be medium sized and in proportion to the body with medium jaws.
Neck: The neck should be gracefully arched, medium in length, and set on an angle to allow a natural carriage, with a break at the poll.
Body size: The horse should have mediumsized bones with medium-sized feet in proportion to the body.
Legs: It should have a wide and deep chest with a span between the forelegs. The fore and hind legs should be free of noticeable deformity.
Body: The horse should have sloping shoulders, ideally with an angle of 45 degrees.
Color: The horse must have a solid body color. There shall be no white above the knee or hock except on the face, where modest amounts of white markings are acceptable. Excessive facial markings, such as a bald face, are not acceptable.
Gait: The Rocky Mountain Horse naturally demonstrates a smooth, ambling gait that glides forward. The horse moves out with a lateral gait in which one can count four distinct hoof beats producing a cadence of near equal rhythm. The speed may vary, but the four-beat rhythm remains constant. The gait may technically be described as the simultaneous but asynchronous motion of the legs of the same side of the body, followed by the movement of the legs on the opposite side. The gait is initiated by the hind leg. The length of stride for both hind and foreleg should be nearly equal. The Rocky Mountain Horse moves its feet with minimal ground clearance and minimal knee and hock action.
Credit: Rocky Mountain Horse Association
The history provided here includes excerpts from the book, Rocky Mountain Horses, by Bonnie Hodge (Viola, AR: Wildfire Enterprises, 2005), now in its second printing.