The whole point of keeping Asad a stallion is to make sure that he is available to the widest possible range of Colonial Spanish Barb Mustang etc.. mare owners. He is a result of Sharon Scheikovsky and Dave Reynold‘s linebreeding the Book Cliff strain through their most prized stallion, Chato, a 1974 Grulla Stallion sired by SMR #633 Cochise (Monty Holbrook Book Cliff strain) SMR #33 out of Gray Mare (from Utah)SMR #519.
Here is what Sharon and Dave had to say about him:
‘Chato had a way of moving so smoothly that he appeared to float. He was a horse many people took for taller than his 13.3 hands because of the presence he had about him. He had a big shoulder and narrow v’ed up chest. He was clean legged and had the convex classic Iberian
profile seen less and less these days. He was described as “one in a million” and to us he was…Chato’s legacy lives on through his son Chato’s Shadow, his grandson Silvertip, and his daughters’.
Chato’s Shadow was registered in both the Spanish Mustang Registry SMR #1531, Southwest Spanish Mustang Registry SSMA #1459. He shares his sire’s line with Coche II, one of the founding mares of the Spanish Barb (Breeders) Horse Association, (SB(B)HA).
Chato’s Shadow carried the very rare Brindle markings as well as the dominate Dun factor genes. So he was also registered with the European-based Sorraia Mustang Studbook #T53 based on his color and his mitochondiral DNA results.
Sharon and Dave registered their next three generations of stallions, including Asad, with just the SMR. After 6-7 generations of line-breeding Book Cliff horses, Asad was produced by breeding, half-siblings both sired by Koche out of mares that are also linebred to the Book Cliff strain.
Breeding Asad back to his cousins in the SMR risks losing the genetic diversity essential to the long-term health of the strain. I have watched the devastating and irrevocable loss of genetic diversity due to the infighting and fragmentation among Colonial Spanish Barb Mustang etc breeders since the early 1970’s. I decided to register Asad with the Horse of the America (HOA) registry to make sure he was available to the widest possible range of mare owners.
The HOA is an open registry that accepts Original Indian Horses, Barbs, Spanish Barbs & Spanish Mustangs from the various breeders and registries who collected and bred these horses when most were dedicated to annihilating these horses along with the Spanish and Indian peoples who depended on them. Although the SMR, SB(B)HA and the SSMA ended up focusing on different strains, they share many founding individuals because they swapped breeding stock to maintain genetic diversity in the 1950’s and 60’s.
The Livestock Conservancy lists some of the free-roaming strains that have been recognized as Colonial Spanish Barb Mustang etc descendants, usually confirmed through DNA testing. These strains include several different registries, each with somewhat different goals (SMR, SSMA, SBHA, AIHR, HOA). Under this umbrella some strains have independent conservation programs and are noted individually.
- Baca-Chica (Threatened)
- Choctaw (Threatened)
- Santa Cruz (Threatened)
- Sulphur (Threatened)
- Wilbur-Cruce (Threatened)
- Marsh Tacky1 (Critical)
- Florida Cracker1 (Critical)
- Galiceño1(Critical)
- Banker1 (Critical)
Several Bureau of Land Management Horse Management Areas have horses that have been confirmed through DNA testing to carry significant Colonial Spanish Barb Mustang etc genetic markers Although these horses are the minority of free-roaming individuals in the BLM holding pens, their number is significant when faced with the desperate need to maintain a healthy genetic diversity.
The American Indian Horse Registry has five categories of registration. Their O, A and AA categories include horses of Colonial Spanish Barb Mustang type. Horses of the O category usually share bloodlines with the established Registries and may be dual registered. Horses in the A and AA category maybe descended from the remaining wild and free-roaming horse populations. The HOA also states that Colonial Spanish type horses from the wild may be registered by inspection.
Since the HOA recognizes horses from all the above sources, they maximize a breeder’s ability to preserve genetic diversity among the strains they wish to perpetuate while minimizing the bureaucratic headaches. I am all for minimizing bureaucratic headaches, so I have registered Asad with the HOA. When I actually received his HOA papers, I found a great bonus.
The HOA includes percentages of the strains a horse carries on their certificates. Asad carrries about 70% Book Cliff ancestry along with 15% going back to a single mare, Queenie, from the Shoshoni Crow. The other 15% includes Gilbert Jones horses like Choctaw, a stallion from Oklahoma and Blue Corn, a mare from the same Pueblo lands between Santa Fe and Albuquerque as the Medicine Paint stallion San Domingo.
sara annon 