Rocky Mountian Horse

Rocky Mountian Horse

The Rocky Mountain Horse is a horse breed developed in the state of Kentucky in the United States. Despite its name, it originated not in the Rocky Mountains, but instead in the Appalachian Mountains. A foundation stallion, brought from the western United States to eastern Kentucky around 1890, began the Rocky Mountain type in the late 19th century. In the mid-20th century, a stallion named Old Tobe, owned by a prominent breeder, was used to develop the modern type; today most Rocky Mountain Horses trace back to this stallion.

Rocky Mountain Horses stand between 14.2 and 16 hands (58 and 64 inches, 147 and 163 cm) high. Any solid color is accepted by the registry, but a dark brown color called "chocolate" with a pale or flaxen mane and tail is preferred. Chocolate is the result of the relatively rare silver dapple gene working on a black coat. Although rare, this gene has been found in over a dozen breeds, including the Rocky Mountain Horse. Minimal white markings are accepted by the registry, although leg markings may not extend above the knee. The physical characteristics are somewhat variable, due to the disparate breeds that created the Rocky Mountain Horse.

The breed exhibits a natural ambling gait, called the single-foot, which replaces the trot seen in a majority of horse breeds. Both gaits are an intermediate speed between a walk and a cantor or gallop; ambling gaits are four-beat gaits, whereas the trot is a two-beat gait. The extra footfalls provide additional smoothness to a rider because the horse always has at least one foot on the ground. This minimizes movement of the horse's topline and removes the bounce of a two-beat gait, caused by a moment of suspension followed by the jolt of two feet hitting the ground as the horse shifts from one pair of legs to the other.

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