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Horses, like a lot of
things in the 1990s, are specialized. There are roping horses, cutting
horses, endurance horses, show horses, parade horses . . . .
The Missouri fox trotting horse is best
described as a pleasure horse. Not because it can't perform the tasks
mentioned above, but because it manages to do most of these things
reasonably well and still maintain a reputation as an excellent trail
horse. Indeed, some would claim that the Missouri fox trotter has no equal
on the trails and horse paths of this country.
Originating in the Ozark country of southern
Missouri and northern Arkansas during the turn of the century, the
Missouri fox trotter traces its lineage to no single stud like some
breeds. Rather, the fox trotter was generated from stock kept by farmers
and country doctors, county sheriffs and salesmen. Thus, the fox trotter's
origins are probably as diverse as those of any horse. The farmers needed
a horse that could plow a field all day long then be hitched to a buggy on
a Sunday. The doctors needed a horse that could travel long distances in a
day, covering country in a hurry.
All of these early horses had one thing in
common: they could fox trot.
The fox trot is a unique gait that comes
naturally to the Missouri fox trotting horse. It is a broken, diagonal
gait with the horse trotting in the hindquarters and walking in the
forequarters. The rider, instead of having to post as he would for the
typical square trot of other breeds, can actually stay glued to the
saddle, enjoying the easy motion of the fox trot.
Residents of the Show-Me State soon realized that
they had something to show to the rest of the country and an official
breed organization was formed in 1948. The group formed a breed standard
and only admitted horses that could conform to that standard and perform
the fox trot. In the beginning, several outstanding studs such as Old Fox,
Blankenship Diamond, Golden Governor and Cotham Dare contributed greatly
to the breed's bright future.
The books were closed on both sides in 1983
and the fox trotter of today is now a relatively large horse in the 15-16
hand range, with a deep chest, high withers, stout legs and sturdy hooves.
Bays, blacks, chestnuts, grays, palominos and sorrels are common. Paints,
buckskins and grullas are very much in demand but still rather rare.
Today, the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association has nearly 40,000
animals registered in all 50 states, Germany and Canada, according to
Naida Haden, MFTHBA spokesman.
In recent years, the popularity of the breed
has grown enormously. A remarkable percentage of that growth has come in
the West, said Haden. The fox trotter is now a fairly well known breed in
the Rocky Mountain states and California in particular. Indeed, for the
past two years, the prestigious world grand championship title (contested
for each September at a week-long show and celebration in Ava, Mo.) has
gone to a California horse. In 1991, the crown was taken by Lady's Red
Ruby J., a mare owned by Dallas Beaird of West Covina, Calif. In 1992,
another California mare, Touch's Golden Taffy, also owned by Beaird, took
the title. Never before 1991 had the title been taken by a horse outside
the Midwest in the world championship's 30-plus year history.
While the Missouri fox trotter is without a
doubt a very adept show horse, some staunch fox trotting horse enthusiasts
truly believe that the breed's future beats on
trails, particularly in the rugged West where long distances are covered
and safety to both horse and rider is a primary concern.
"Three things: speed, disposition and a
big heart make them ideal for the West," said John Mumma, a former
U.S. Forest Service regional forester in Missoula, Mont. "They are
still being discovered. In my opinion, their greatest value is to the
backyard horse owner who is looking for a horse that is gentle and travels
well."
Mumma first started working with Missouri fox
trotting horses in the early 1970s in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
He, like a lot of USFS employees, enjoyed the smooth ride, the disposition
and the speed of the animal. Today, the agency has almost completely gone
over to fox trotters for their use in the backcountry and MFTHBA reports
that there are over 1,000 registered animals in that agency.
"They can out-walk any other horse as far
as I'm concerned; most other horses have to trot to keep up with
them," said Mumma.
These qualities impressed Dave King, a Fremont
County (Wyoming) Sheriff's Department investigator based in Lander.
Although he grew up with quarter horses, King purchased a fox trotter
gelding after riding a friend's horse.
"There's not an uncomfortable time in the
saddle from a walk to a gallop," said King. "For me, the trot
was uncomfortable on a quarter horse.
"If you asked me what I'd do differently,
well, the only thing I'd do differently is find another one just like him
and buy him too. And I will," said King.
In a word, the country that King lives in is
big. Often, he has been called into the wilderness of the Shoshone
National Forest to investigate firearms violations, cattle killings or to
conduct search and rescues. Each time, he has spent long hours in the
saddle, but on a fox trotter, he found those hours more enjoyable.
Although the Missouri fox trotter will
probably never surpass much more popular breeds such as the Arab or
quarter horse, its future is secured in the West. A lot of the horse's
popularity in the region is owed to Paul Senteney, a retired USFS wildlife
biologist turned horse buyer for the agency, who first started bringing
horses west from Missouri in 1968. A year before, Senteney had come across
some fox trotting horses on the San Juan National Forest in southwestern
Colorado. The agency had obtained these few horses from Missouri bean
farmers who had moved to nearby Dove Creek, Colo.
"I was really impressed with those
horses," said Senteney. "They were so gentle and could cover so
much country."
Thus started a long career of purchasing
horses for the USFS. Each year, Senteney would make trips to Missouri to
purchase horses, looking for the kind of horse
hat the agency could safely let a dignitary or a rookie seasonal
ranger ride. Senteney bought horses that went to national forests from
Nebraska to California.
"I don't think that there's any doubt
that they will get more and more popular," said Senteney. "In
the West, the future of the breed, in my opinion, will be as a pleasure
horse."
As a rule, the breed is very calm and well
mannered. Senteney points to one incident high in the Colorado Rockies
that could have resulted in disaster, but ended up only as a tense moment.
In 1988, Senteney was part of a group of USFS employees showing the
country to some college professors who were relatively green when it came
to horses. It was autumn, and the group was crossing a high, wind-swept
ridge in the Gunnison National Forest called Storm Pass. There was snow
underfoot and the trail wound above timberline along a steep cliff. At the
top of the pass, Senteney and some other veteran horsemen dismounted to
tighten their cinches, but one man did not get off to do so.
Starting down, the saddle of that man's horse
suddenly rode high on the horse's neck. Instead of blowing up, however,
the horse just spread his legs and stopped, letting the man get off the
saddle, which was now almost at the animal's ears. "I was really
impressed with that horse," said Senteney. "It could have been
disaster, but that horse just was as patient as could be. If he hadn't
been so calm, we would have lost a man and a horse. Later that day, the
outfitter packing in our supplies lost two mules off of the pass."
Such stories are common with people who use
fox trotters on the sprawling public lands of the West. For people who
spend a great deal of time in the saddle, the fox trotter is an excellent
choice, said Floyd Reed of Salida, Colo.
Reed, who grew up riding quarter horses, first
discovered the fox trotting breed in 1969 on the Bighorn National Forest
in north-central Wyoming. "I bought a big, rangey mare and I've
stayed with them ever since. I have a horse now that is three generations
from my original horses," said Reed.
Once, by accident, Reed rode his mare 42 miles
over rugged terrain. "I was working out from the ranger station and
just started riding and without thinking about it, I rode 42 miles. I
spent the day in the saddle and got to thinking: 'Gee, I did a lot of
riding' and I got to counting up sections on the map. It was 42 miles. I
sure didn't mean to, but the horse didn't seem any worse for the
wear," remembered Reed. "It was just like riding rawhide, that
horse was so tough."
Like others, Reed swears by the breed's
disposition. "I had a horse that got caught up in barb wire and stood
on three legs for about 24 hours before I discovered her. Any other horse
might have blown up and had to be destroyed, but she was only
scratched."
Some doubters in the West say that the
Missouri fox trotter seems to stumble a lot in the mountains, but Reed and
others are quick to point out that these horses come from relatively flat
country to the West and thus are not used to rocky terrain. "Give an
18-year-old boy a basketball who has never played with one before and you
get the same thing. To me, that's a gross generality. Give them a season
in the mountains, they will get a lot better.
"The same thing goes for cow
horses," Reed continued. "People say that fox trotters aren't
cow horses, but if you train them, they can be. I know of a couple of
people who use them on their ranches and they are cow horses deluxe."
While Missouri fox trotting horse enthusiasts
swear they will never go back to other breeds, they are quick to point out
that the other breeds have their uses and fine qualities as well.
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Missouri Fox
Trotter