MOUNTAIN HORSES
Feral herds of Mountain Horses can be seen close-up in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in western Virginia (see location marked by red dot in Map 2). Herds also roam other backcountry areas in eastern Kentucky. They are the descendants of escaped horses originally brought to the area by pioneers. The Mountain Horse landrace constitutes much of the nonThoroughbred ancestry of the Quarter Horse and Saddlebred.
The Rocky Mountain and Mountain Pleasure breeds are derived from such herds and from livestock kept for generations under domestic conditions by families in the area. Good photographs of early representatives of these breeds are hard to find, so I have rendered three important individuals as drawings in order to make their conformation clear (far right).
None of them stood more than 14:2; note the shapely necks, short strong backs, excellent legs and feet, powerful hindquarters, Spanish-influenced heads and overall muscularity. Such horses preserve the conformation and gaits of the Virginia Hobby of Colonial times. Their height has recently been increased through crosses with Quarter Horse, Saddlebred and Tennessee Walker but despite market demand for bigger horses, Rocky Mountain and Mountain Pleasure horse breeders have been wise to be rather cautious in making crosses with outside strains because gains in height are often offset by losses in steadymindedness and smoothness of gait. The largest and heaviest Rocky Mountain Horse I’ve seen is my own gelding Oliver (see page 63) who stands fully 15:2 and weighs 1,100 pounds.