THE SPOTTED SADDLE HORSE: The Equine Sports Model
By Monica Mills Wilson (First No. American Rights)

About a quarter century ago in the Tennessee hills, local farmers rode a nimble, smooth-gaited, colorful little spotted horse that took to the terrain like a billy goat. One might have been sired by Ol' Slocum's pony around the corner. Maybe another bred out of the black-and-white mare the farm kids rode in the woods.
Whatever their breeding, one thing was sure. These cat-tracked pintos could "ride the rough" like no other. About 14 hands high, they scrambled up mountain sides, jumped 4' fences from a standstill, and could pen a wayward cow like a Quarter Horse. Come Sunday, they wowed the local horse show crowd with their gorgeous coat patterns and easy-going ride.
By 1979, fanciers of this saddle horse decided to keep track of their breedings. Fifteen founding partners put up $l,000 each to form the National Spotted Saddle Horse Association (NSSHA), an official breed registry in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The first 550 horses registered with NSSHA received foundation status. Founding stallions, Fireball (SHF-1) and Tony W (SHF-2), probably produced more spotted foals than any other sires.
In its infancy, however, the club faced growing pains. In l985, Mack Motes, one of the original founders broke ranks with the privately owned NSSHA to form the Spotted Saddle Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association (SSHBEA), a registry run by a board of directors and its members in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Motes served as SSHBEA's first president and his stallion at the time, Scout's Mountain Buck M. (F85-1), became its first foundation sire.
"In my mind," says Deedy Decker, editor of SSHBEA's Spotted Saddle Horse News, "the Spotted Saddle Horse can do more things than any horse living. From showing in Open or Lite Shod classes to Trail Pleasure and Sport Horse competi- tions, this is one of the toughest, smoothest, most versatile breeds. If word ever spread about these horses this organization would grow by leaps and bounds." Indeed, as the new kid on the block, the breed has experienced tremendous growth over the past l7 years. Since l979, records show more than l7,000 horses registered with SSHBEA and another l3,000 with NSSHA to date.
Despite such rapid growth, however, NSSHA and SSHBEA today are clearly challenged to define an ideal standard for this evolving breed. Mainly because any horse that displays the pinto coloring and a natural gait other than a trot may be registered as a Spotted Saddle Horse. This includes true Spotted Saddle Horses, Tennessee Walkers, Fox Trotters, Peruvian Pasos, Paso Finos, and gaited crossbreeds.
To qualify for Spotted Saddle Horse registration, coat patterns must show behind the head and above the hocks. Coat colors comprise all the hues known in the equine world. Typical markings run from the clean, circular tobiano pattern to the irregular, rather splashy overo design. Less common are the roan-like sabino markings and the tovero pattern combining both traits of the overo and tobiano.
Performed gaits include the flat walk, intermediate gait, and canter. The flat walk is a naturally smooth, long-reaching, four-cornered gait w
ith each hoof striking the ground separately. It covers from 4 to 8 miles an hour.
Intermediate gaits may be a rack, stepping pace, fox-trot, single-foot or show gait. The show gait is a refined flat walk with a marked increase in speed ranging from 10 to 20 miles per hour.
The canter is a comfortable rocking-chair-gait with a rhythmic rise and fall action.
Trainers are lenient with gait descriptions since they are working with breed variations. Professional spotted and pleasure horse trainer Bobby McNatt, 44, of McNatt Farms in Fayetteville, Tennessee describes the true saddle gait: "A good going saddle horse will get in there with his nose set and his head held high. Front legs are stepping off the ground, breaking real high and reaching. He's scissoring behind, taking a good stride but not picking up or snapping his hocks at all."
Although both registries allow breed variations, the true Spotted Saddle Horse's own ancestry is linked to the early spotted pony. Some breed historians claim the horse can trace its roots back to the Icelandic Ponies that jumped ship as Viking explorers crashed to our shores. The Icelandic ponies were often spotted, naturally gaited, and strong enough to carry their masters into war.
Others say Spanish-American-type spotted ponies were crossed with other gaited breeds to produce a smooth-walking pinto with a gentle, tractable nature.
Breed professionals, however, clearly discern the inherited spotted pony influence in today's true Spotted Saddle Horse. These horses tend to show more pony-like traits than others, standing smaller between 14-15 hands, with heavier heads, legs, and shorter necks. These horses often display remarkable agility and athletic prowess.
By the Civil War's end, these spotted ponies were often bred with imported gaited horses left behind in the United States. Over the years, the Standardbred, Mustang, and most recently the Tennessee Waker played major roles in developing the breed. According to NSSHA, today some breeders also cross with Missouri Fox Trotters and Racking Horses, which all share a common heritage with the old Tennessee Pacer, the original Tennessee Walking Horse.
Breeders crossing with Tennessee Walking Horses hope to add refinement and height as well as to double the gene needed to preserve the Walker's gliding stride. As a result, some Spotted Saddle Horses stand taller, l6 hands and up, with longer, finer necks and legs, and resemble a heavier TWH than any other breed.
Gaited horse breeders, however, caution prospective owners not to confuse Spotted Saddle Horses with spotted Tennessee Walking Horses. Though cousins, they are different breeds with different registries. While many spotted Tennessee Walking Horses qualify for double registration with SSHBEA and the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association (TWHBEA), Spotted Saddle Horses may not be registered with TWHBEA unless both parents are also registered with TWHBEA.
Some breeders like McNatt take issue with double registering the two breeds. McNatt warns that cross-breeding threatens the integrity of the breed by compromising those inherited pony-traits that originally made the Spotted Saddle Horse unique in the first place.
He started raising Spotted Saddle Horses years ago, seeking out the most colorful, agile, athletic and tractable animals he could find to "bump up the breed."
Today he breeds and trains both Spotted Saddle Horses and Tennessee Walking Horses. With his wife, Sharon, they own Mr. Bojangles, a 7-time World Champion Spotted Saddle Horse Stallion; Battle Colors, (TWH/SSH), a 1989 World Champion Spotted Stallion, and Photo Flash Reflections, 1996 SSHBEA Shotgunning and Team Penning World Champion. McNatts son, Wendell, l6, and his horse, Dude's Top Gun, won the SSHBEA 1996 Hi Point Youth Championship.
Having trained both breeds for show and sport horse events, McNatt found the Spotted Saddle Horse a far superior athlete with a naturally smoother gait than the Walker. He claims it's rare for a double-registered Spotted TWH to tie over a Spotted Saddle Horse in stock horse competition.
"For a naturally gaited horse," declares McNatt, "the Spotted Saddle Horse will be ten times smoother than the average Walking Horse because of that (early) pony infusion and its square-going gait. While 90% of the others (Walkers) are pacers, the saddle horse will have a true gait, smooth as silk, wearing only a keg shoe, never had a chain on in its life."
Furthermore, McNatt is concerned that with the influx of double registered spotted horses, Walking Horse judges will tie the "walkier" type horse over a more natural-going horse. Resulting, he fears, in more trainers resorting to "soring"-- caustically enhancing front leg animation and manipulating gait timing -- the easy- gaited horse to win over bigger-licked horses.
"Walking Horse oriented (elements) came in, and soring came in, and big shoes came in, and politics came in, and they took out all the fun," states McNatt of the current industry showing trend.
As a result, McNatt is passionate about safeguarding those early "grass roots" intentions for the breed. Many saddle horse proponents like McNatt advocate keeping the breed natural, with a light shoe, and a good image. "Show them with a high head, clean tack, and let them rip and run and make it fun," says McNatt.
In response to the popularity of versatility events, SSHBEA started competitive stock horse trials in 1994. This year they changed the name to the SSHBEA Sport Horse Division.
"Some people don't like to show horses in a ring. They'd rather ride them, run them, and play with them," says Jerry Higgins of Bradyville, Tennessee. He and his wife, Janice, who serves as SSHBEA board secretary, are avid trail riders who found Sport Horse competition to be a natural progression. "We recognized this as another outlet to market and sell our horses."
The Higgins' who breed Spotted Saddle Horses and Spotted Saddle Mules began competing in stock horse events with their stallion, Tonto's Terminator, (Tonto W x a Go Boy mare), after discovering what a natural athlete he was. Initially, they only trail rode him without a clue to his running talent. One day, they entered him in a race at a Paint show and won.
"He never ran a barrel or pole until he was six," recalls Jerry. "He just picked it up really quick."
The Higgins' worked Tonto only a few months before his first SSHBEA stock horse show where he clocked l8 seconds in Barrels. "That's pretty good for a saddle horse," says Jerry, who trained the horse. "Quarter horses run about l6 seconds."
Tonto went on to earn points in all the required sport horse events which include: Competitive Trail Ride, Competitive Trail Obstacles, Hunting, Reining, Team Penning, Break/Away Roping, (and/or Team Roping), Barrels and Pole Bending. He holds the 1994 and 1995 SSHBEA Competitive Stock Horse Hi Point Grand World Championship and SSHBEA Competitive Stock Horse of the Year titles for the last three years.
At a recent five-breed show in Shelbyville, Tonto's Terminator won all the running classes against every other breed, including Walkers.
According to SSHBEA's Deedy Decker, the allure of spots has hit the west coast too. About 90% of horses leaving Tennessee are purchased as pleasure and trail mounts.
California horse trainer Eddie Parada of Windwalker Ranch in Winchester became interested in Spotted Saddle Horses when client's expressed a growing interest in the breed. "They liked the smooth gaits and gentle personality of the walking horse, but also wanted the color of the Paints," he said.
The spotted horses he brought back from Tennessee sold quickly with requests for more. He soon purchased two multi-registered tobiano studs, Professor's Spotted Prince, a black-and white, and Colors Can Do, a chestnut and white, for his breeding program to satisfy his client's demand for gaited color.
As the breed makes its mark in California, a growing number of owners want to show and promote their horses. When I decided to show my two Spotted Saddle Horses, I discovered the opportunities were limited in California. If Spotted Saddle Horse owners want to compete in this state, they could do so in "Open" non-gaited horse shows or shows in which their horses are also registered. In TWHBEA or Plantation Walking Horse shows only horses that are double-registered with TWHBEA can show. Currently, very few Spotted Saddle Horse divisions are offered, if at all.
Beth Jennings, of Invicta Farms, is a trainer of soft-gaited breeds at Briarcliff in Menifee, California. Jennings considers the spotted breed the "wave of the future" -- especially for versatility and trail trial events.
"If I was going to help someone buy a Spotted Saddle Horse out here," she says, "I would make sure it was a double-registered individual, either Fox-Trotter, or Walking Horse because we don't have any strictly Spotted Saddle Horse shows yet."
Spotted Saddle Horses range in price from $l500 for a colt up to $50,000 for a world champion. Double-registered TWH/SSH horses range from $3,000 for a colt and up.
Jennings advises buyers to consider horses with a good saddle gait. "It should be a very smooth individual, a little handier than some of the other gaited breeds. It is a little more agile in some ways, used more for mountainous terrain and working in tight quarters. The gait is not as gliding, but just as smooth as any other. You want a smooth gait, but shouldn't worry about what it is."
In response to requests for more Spotted Saddle/Walking Horse classes, the National Plantation Walking Horse Association (NPWHA) has offered three spotted horse classes (SSH/TWH Halter, SSH/TWH 2-Gait, and Color 2-Gait) at the NPWHA Spring Fling at Briarcliff Equestrian Center in Menifee, May 25; the 1997 Futurity at Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, September 13-14; and, the NPWHA Fall Finale at Briarcliff, October 19.
While several states have active Spotted Saddle Horse clubs, California breed fanciers have the unique opportunity to determine the breed's future growth in this state. The challenges, however, are many:
* Whether to initiate Sport Horse Competitions as in Tennessee;
* Or, to promote the multi-registered show horse through other gaited breed association shows;
* Or, to establish an affiliated west coast Spotted Saddle Horse association true to the original "grass roots" ideal for the breed.
A lot to consider, but one thing is certain. The popularity of this "equine sports model" will continue to rise due to its colorful markings, smooth ride and athletic ability. With clearly defined standards, however, the quality of this breed can only excel.

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