- Long elegant neck with clean throat latch.
II) American Sorraia Horse Project Criteria
American Sorraia HORSE
Preservation Project
The American
Sorraia Mustangs are Spanish Mustangs, which are even more
rare, and contain a very special genetic history. American
Sorraia Mustangs are the proven genetic descendants of the
endangered Sorraia Horse of Portugal, showing the genetic
markers and physical characteristics of their Portuguese
ancestors.
The Sorraia is a very special primitive wild form horse,
which gained it’s fame as the unwanted horse of Columbus
and Cortez and earned it’s reputation as the hardy,
eminently suitable horse of the new world. There is no
discussion required that the Conquistadors brought many
types of Iberian blood stock with them to the New World.
Conquer, convert and expand is the nature of any empire or
kingdom. It was soon found that the Sorraia Horse was able
to suffer any number of extreme climate changes and
survive, from the deserts and mountains of Peru to the
North American high deserts and prairies. The Sorraia Horse
and then the American Sorraia Mustang survived to populate
only the most remote areas of North America. It is this
fact which has kept them the characteristically like their
Portuguese ancestors.
The
American Sorraia Mustang is a slim, leggy horse with a long
elegant head, large, expressive deep set eyes that do not
have the bulge of pony eyes. The head profile is convex in
nature and no less than straight in profile. The American
Sorraia Mustang have medium to long ears, excellent bone,
feet and gaits. Some
individuals may have a four beat lateral gait, which
historically among the old cowboys of the West were called
the 40 dollar horses as they were such a smooth ride. The
average horse of that time went for 10 dollars.
The
muscling is smooth and flat without heavily muscling found
in some modern breeds. The heart girth is deep and the
chest is narrow and more “A” shaped in the nature as
opposed to those of other horses shaped like an ‘H” in
front. The neck tie in is lower to the chest as in most
Iberian breeds. The neck can be quite slim in horse that
are lean, but conversely be well crested in horses that
enjoy a more fat condition. The hips are raftered in
nature. The tail set is moderate to low and should fit
smoothly into the curve of the hip. They are an up hill
structured horse which enables them to move with collection
more easily than other breeds of horses. The hair coat of
the horses is fine. Chestnuts are small or missing and
ergots rarely seen. There is little fetlock hair even in
individuals in winter living in colder climates.
The colors of the horses reflect their primitive ancestry.
The American Sorraia Mustangs are either dun or grulla,
roans of those base colors are allowed with appropriate
pedigree documentation, with red dun not being admitted.
Excessive white markings are faulted and not allowed in
breeding stock.
Most striking however, in the horses, are their primitive
markings. A dorsal stripe is always present. They can have
shoulder crosses, leg barring or stripes, facial cob
webbing, chest or rib hair stripes. Highly prized is the
bicolored mane and tail, which looks they have been frosted
with a lighter color.
These horses keep their feet up under them, at all times
and are always alert to what is around them. They were the
horses of the Pony Express, the vaqueros of Mexico and the
Native Americans, upon whose backs much of North America
was built upon.
“Brave, loyal and fierce. They are a family horse that will
go the distance with the partner of choice. I have found
them to be highly bondable, willing, and intelligent. These
are not push button horses and will not abide abuse. They
are however always willing to try. These horses like to
learn and like having a job. American Sorraia Mustangs are
a tough, hardy horse and are able to excel athletically in
many disciplines. Currently there are horses competing in
dressage, eventing, carriage driving, jumping, team
penning, rodeo, endurance, polo and gymkhana, for example.
Breed
Standard listing for American Sorraia Horse
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All horses submitting information to the ASM Project should be prepared to submit photos of all 4 sides of the equine. A close up shot of the horses head, without the foretop in the way. Close up of markings are an additional plus. The horses registration papers are required or a 6 generation pedigree if not registered with any other registry.
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Upon request owners may be asked to submit hair samples of the equine. The ASM will be performing gene banking in an effort to establish lineage and historical progression of the breed.
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In addition, due to recent events within other CS registries, there will be required upon submission of papers a signed affidavit of breeders ethics. If a member breeding is found in violation the equine in question will be suspended pending a committee and board hearing and the breeder in question may be removed from the project.
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Application form. Please follow the directions and if there are any problems. Contact the registrar at heritagehorse@mac.com
III) Spanish LP Project
Spanish
Lp Project
SMLP
Characteristics
Smooth Muscling.
Moderate to low tail set. Rafter Hip Lower neck set than
modern horses. Square horse built uphill. Sound legs and
feet Medium Canon Bones Good hoof wall in proportion to the
horse. Mule feet are not uncommon. Well laid back shoulder.
Narrow chest, with a good “V”.
Deep heart girth.
Head refined, profile straight or convex with good bone
over eyes with alert expression Ears medium, tips curved
inward No overt jowls as seen with quarter horses and
warm-bloods. Medium to short back, with well defined
withers.
It is not unusual for Spanish LP horses to be gaited or to
“shuffle”
Registered Spanish Mustangs accepted into the Spanish LP
project must have acceptable pedigrees & conformation.
If there is a question on parentage, DNA testing will be
required.
No horses that carry gray will be accepted, period. If a LP
foal is born with one gray parent, it must wait until it is
three years old to be considered for inclusion. Close up,
clear pictures are required.
13 to 14.3 H
LP
Traits:
A Spanish LP project horse must have at least three LP
traits clearly showing at birth.
1. White sclera
2. Striped or amber feet on dark legs
3. Mottled skin in the genital area & or on face.
4. Spotted blanket with different degrees of white
expression, depending on the horse
5. Snowflake pattern (usually two yrs or older)
6. LP roan with bony protrusions holding their base color
pigment (usually showing on older horses).
7. Snowcaps or near few spots having no spots within large
blankets of dense white. They also usually have amber feet
or non pigmented feet on dark legs or coronets. The dark
can travel to pointed triangles on the front of the legs…
Sometimes traveling up to the chest. This is a sign of
being homozygous for LP. These horses also show that they
have at least one copy of PATN1.
8. White tipped ears are normal for horses with large white
expression, whether the horse has a spotted blanket, near
leopard or is a snowcap or near few spot.
Spanish LP Breeding
Criteria
If a LP Project mare or stallion is heterozygous for LP,
he/she must be bred to another LP project stallion or mare
who is either homozygous or heterozygous LP, for the
breeding to be a project breeding. In that way we can give
those LP project horses the best chance to produce LP
offspring. The resulting foals will receive a copy of LP
50% of the time, from either parent. If each parent gives
their one copy of LP, the resulting foal will be homozygous
for LP.
If the LP stallion or mare is homozygous for LP, he/she may
be bred to solid, qualified, registered SMs in order to
bring in diverse bloodlines. A homozygous LP horse will
give one of their two copies of LP to 100% of their foals
insuring an LP traited foal EVERY time.