>>> Karen, are these horses related to your new horses? >>> http://www.equus-survival-trust.org/ It mentions the Abaco Horses >>> (lots of splashes) in the Bahamas.
Yes, they've been isolated long enough that they are considered distinct breeds, but they have the same origins. NC has two breeds of wild Spanish horses, the Shacklefords and the Bankers - and they still exist in the "wild." The Marsh Tackies (of coastal S.C.) only exist in domestication now. If you look on this page: http://www.equus-survival-trust.org/documents/equineconservationlist.pdf , you can see that these breeds are listed under the general term of "Colonial Spanish" horses. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that, since this website was done, that the Bankers have been elevated to the highest level, "Critical/Nearly Extinct." That's the reason they really don't want Black Bart gelded - he's a nicely put together stallion, and with a gene pool so small, it would be a shame to lose him. I'm new to all this of course, so I may not have all my details right, but I gather the governing bodies of these breeds don't fully have everything coordinated yet. There's one registry that covers most of the breeds, but I think there are a couple of other registries too. On this page of the HOA website, you can see a few of the breeds that they represent: the Bankers, the Florida Crackers, the Kigers, the Choctaws, the Sulfurs to name a few. I believe it was Dr. Sponenburg who said he believes that probably 20% of the remaining Colonial Spanish horses are gaited. I never saw either Vinnie or Bart do anything other than trot in the mid-speed range, so I'm just assuming they are three-gaited. Mostly though, these are quiet horses who mostly are seen standing, grazing, "strolling", "moseying" and occasionally galloping, so even the Corolla folks aren't certain of their gaitedness. However, in combing the web for pictures of Bankers, I've come across several pictures of Bankers in the wild who appear to me to be foxtrotting. There's a man in Virginia (Steve Edwards, the man who wrote the "I Ride Ponies" article) who has the largest number of Bankers in domestication, and he says these are the smoothest trotting of the mustangs he's ever encountered, and apparently he's been a mustang fan for a long time. I wonder if this "smooth trot" he describes is actually a foxtrot. My two should be here when Liz comes down in October, so it will be interesting to see what she sees in their conformation, assuming I haven't seen any gait at liberty by then. (I have no delusions of riding either horse by October!) The Bankers are seen in chestnut, bay and black now, but you saw that Vinnie is technically pinto, just minimally so. There was a colt born in the Banker herd a few years ago with even more obvious pinto markings - I believe he even has a blue eye. I didn't see him in person, only a picture. He's the first pinto (or, obviously so) born on the Outer Banks in 30 years. So, they know that the color is still there in the gene pool. Some people remember a number of grays and pintos in the wild in the 1970's and prior - it's believed they were more appealing, so were trapped and taken into domestication. Since grey is dominant, they know that color has been lost from the breed. I think there are records of palominos and roans not that long ago too, but none now. Karen Thomas, NC
