Free-roaming Colonial Spanish Horses in New Mexico

Now that scholars are actually looking at the horse bones found among indigenous people’s historic remains, there is DNA evidence that horses had been integrated into indigenous cultures decades before Onate set out for Northern New Mexico. The people who assimilated into those indigenous culture were undocumented. Why is no mystery. The just-rescinded Doctrine of […]

Duke of Albuquerque’s Horses in Iran

There is some new information just coming out on equine genetics in North America. The study that looked into the DNA of horses associated with the Siouan-speaking Plains Indian Tribes not only found that the Horse Tribes had horses long before the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680, one horse skeleton was most closely related to […]

Asad, 2005 Grullo Breeding Stallion

I feel that mare owners deserve to be fully informed about the stallions they are considering breeding to.As a responsible stallion owner invested in preservation breeding, I found Etalon offers the most comprehensive health and performance genetic diagnostics for the money. I am taking the less usual route of sharing those results publicly. It is […]

Asad Has a White Line Now

I’ve had a hard time writing about Asad’s hooves until now, because every time I trimmed them I saw how much damage there was to the white line where the laminae connect the inner structures of the hoof to the hoof wall. Instead of a thin smooth narrow white line, he had a lumpy erratic […]

The Highly Contentious Strain of Wilber Cruce Horses

The Wilber Cruce strain remains one of the most acrimoniously contested strains of Colonial Spanish horses. I do regret not taking screenshots of the various explanations of the strain’s backgrounds that have been posted on line over the last decade or so. However, I have put the relevant points of the different stories together as […]

I’m Feeling Like a Real Author Now

Yes, I have received a Winnie Award for one of my Light in the Saddle horse training books. And I should have realized I was writing outside the box when my publisher for my horse series ghosted me. I am beginning to realize my work is leading edge because at least two sites that publish […]

Talley Johnson and Yope Colonial Spanish Horses

When I learned that long-time Colonial Spanish horse breeder Talley Johnson had persuaded one Captain Yates to acquire horses from the mountains 150 miles southwest of Mexico City over 50 years ago, I was intrigued. My father had moved our entire family to the city of Oaxaca, Oaxaca Mexico in December of 1968. As a […]

Absolute and Relative Beauties of the Equine Vertebral Column

I am starting this post with a very brief synopsis of Goubaux and Barrier’s principles of ‘zootechnics’ to make sure my readers have context. You can find a longer introduction here. Even though The Exterior of the Horse was published in 1891, it still offers a very different approach from either veterinary pathologists who look […]

Absolute and Relative Beauties of the Hindquarters

I am starting with a very brief synopsis of Goubaux and Barrier’s principles of ‘zootechnics’ to make sure my readers have context. You can find a longer intro by clicking here. Even though the Exterior of the Horse was published in 1891, it still offers a very different approach from either veterinary pathologists who look […]