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The Rocky Mountain Horse is one of the most popular up-and-coming horse breeds in the U.S. today, and there's good reason for that. They are unusually safe, comfortable and people-oriented. They rarely spook and when they do they do it by freezing in place. These horses want to be with you as much as you want to be with them - they will leave their buddies and their food to follow you around the pasture all day while you fix fences. And they have the ability to move with a smooth fifth gait which allow their rider to fly down the trail at speed, without having to deal with the discomfort of a trot.
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Other Mountain Horse Breeds
Newcomers to the breed often get confused by the odd fact that there are now four breed registries, all of different names, which contain largely the same core group of horses. The are The Rocky Mountain Horse, The Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse, The Mountain Pleasure Horse, and The Kentucky Natural Gaited Horse. Here's how that happened...
In 1986 the Rocky Mountain Horse registry was formed to recognize and promote a unique group of gaited horses which had developed in eastern Kentucky. As the registry grew there arose differences of opinion over which horses should be allowed into the registry. An active group of members wanted to expand the registry to focus on the historical ancestry of these horses, before and beyond those descended from the foundation stallion Tobe. Ultimately, they broke away form the Rocky Mountain Horse registry and formed their own Registry, creating a breed called the Mountain Pleasure Horse Association. Shortly after that, another group differed with the main block of members about another aspect of which horses should be included in the registry. This group also broke away from the Rocky Mountain Horse registry again, forming yet another registry called the Kentucky Mountain Horse Association. Two other, smaller groups have arisen since then, for similar reasons. The Kentucky Natural Gaited Horse Association is the smallest of the alternate registries and the Spotted Saddle Horse Association was formed to include horses of Rocky original with paint coloring (none of the other registries allow horses with paint coloring, but many of the original Kentucky stock did have this coloring). Thus, today there exist a number of similar registries which are often referred to by the collective name, The Mountain Horse registries.
Are the registries all the same breed?
We tell our clients that for all intents and purposes, these four breeds constitute the same horses and this is true up to a point. Most of the core horses can be (and some are) registered in all four Mountain Horse breeds. The differences come in the later additions to the breed.
Each registry has slightly different criteria for which horses they allowed into their registry when the registry was created. The Rocky Mountain Horse association focused most of its attention on descendants of Tobe. The Mountain Pleasure Horse association included all those same horses but then sought out horses descended from other lines all originating in the same area of eastern Kentucky where the breed developed. The Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse registry allowed additional horses to register who could not prove specific ancestry but showed all the hallmark characteristics of the original Rocky Mountain Horse stock. Other differences persist.
In short, we consider the core horses of these registries to be the same no matter what breed name is attached to them. But we are aware that there may be some outside bloodlines that do not truly deserve the name which snuck into some of the registries before the books were closed. If the horse you are looking at has registration papers for any one of the Mountain Horse breeds, take a look at them. Is that horse's lineage documented back at least 5 generations? Can it be traced back to Old Tobe or one of the other known sires of this breed from at least the early 1900s? If so, you can assume you have the equivalent of a Rocky Mountain Horse, whatever the name. If not, you may still have such a horse - but you should be more careful in checking out the hallmark characteristics of the breed and don't assume they are there until proven.
Newcomers to the breed often get confused by the odd fact that there are now four breed registries, all of different names, which contain largely the same core group of horses. The are The Rocky Mountain Horse, The Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse, The Mountain Pleasure Horse, and The Kentucky Natural Gaited Horse. Here's how that happened...
In 1986 the Rocky Mountain Horse registry was formed to recognize and promote a unique group of gaited horses which had developed in eastern Kentucky. As the registry grew there arose differences of opinion over which horses should be allowed into the registry. An active group of members wanted to expand the registry to focus on the historical ancestry of these horses, before and beyond those descended from the foundation stallion Tobe. Ultimately, they broke away form the Rocky Mountain Horse registry and formed their own Registry, creating a breed called the Mountain Pleasure Horse Association. Shortly after that, another group differed with the main block of members about another aspect of which horses should be included in the registry. This group also broke away from the Rocky Mountain Horse registry again, forming yet another registry called the Kentucky Mountain Horse Association. Two other, smaller groups have arisen since then, for similar reasons. The Kentucky Natural Gaited Horse Association is the smallest of the alternate registries and the Spotted Saddle Horse Association was formed to include horses of Rocky original with paint coloring (none of the other registries allow horses with paint coloring, but many of the original Kentucky stock did have this coloring). Thus, today there exist a number of similar registries which are often referred to by the collective name, The Mountain Horse registries.
Are the registries all the same breed?
We tell our clients that for all intents and purposes, these four breeds constitute the same horses and this is true up to a point. Most of the core horses can be (and some are) registered in all four Mountain Horse breeds. The differences come in the later additions to the breed.
Each registry has slightly different criteria for which horses they allowed into their registry when the registry was created. The Rocky Mountain Horse association focused most of its attention on descendants of Tobe. The Mountain Pleasure Horse association included all those same horses but then sought out horses descended from other lines all originating in the same area of eastern Kentucky where the breed developed. The Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse registry allowed additional horses to register who could not prove specific ancestry but showed all the hallmark characteristics of the original Rocky Mountain Horse stock. Other differences persist.
In short, we consider the core horses of these registries to be the same no matter what breed name is attached to them. But we are aware that there may be some outside bloodlines that do not truly deserve the name which snuck into some of the registries before the books were closed. If the horse you are looking at has registration papers for any one of the Mountain Horse breeds, take a look at them. Is that horse's lineage documented back at least 5 generations? Can it be traced back to Old Tobe or one of the other known sires of this breed from at least the early 1900s? If so, you can assume you have the equivalent of a Rocky Mountain Horse, whatever the name. If not, you may still have such a horse - but you should be more careful in checking out the hallmark characteristics of the breed and don't assume they are there until proven.