Saddle Horse breeding in South Africa

by Ross Millin

The beautiful Undulata's Nutcracker, the prototype of the modern Saddlebred phenotype, namely long sloping shoulder, ultra-refined throat latch, long arching neck with natural poll bend, high withers, short back, well-developed thighs, front leg placement well in front with long upper arm, short cannon bone and long sloping pastern (Photo by Ross Millin)

Over 250 years of selective breeding has given us the beautiful, all-purpose riding horse called the American Saddle Horse. The original American Saddle Horse was born out of necessity on the frontier, where riding was the most important form of transportation.

Saddle Horses can be traced back to Europe, especially to the natural-gaited Galloway and Hobbie horses that survived the treacherous Atlantic passage in the immigration from Great Britain to America in the mid-1600s.
After a period of selective breeding, a new type of horse was developed from those in the Rhode Island area near Naragansett Bay. They were called Naragansett pacers and were soon found along the Eastern Seaboard, especially around Virginia.

An easy, animated gait was cultivated and the horses that showed greatest promise in this direction, were selected for breeding. Breeders of American Horses was founded in 1891 under the name of the National Saddle Horse Breeders' Association. In 1899, the name was changed to the American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association.

Bill Sieberhagen and Indiana Ace. Many American and South African breeders believe that he was the greatest stallion to have left America for Africa. He has numerous BHF-mares and left a legacy of show and breeding stock in both countries. Cameo's Farewell's dam was an Indiana Ace mare (Photo courtesy of Louise de Wet)

At this time, seventeen famous, mainly Thoroughbred, Stan-dard-bred and Morgan stallions were crossed with Naragansett mares and later selected as the foundation sires of the breed. These horses retained the size and beauty of Thoroughbreds, but had the ability to learn the easy riding gaits.

In 1902, this list was decreased to ten stallions. Then, in 1908, all the names but one were eliminated, and Denmark was designated the sole foundation sire of the breed. The other stallions were given regular registration numbers. Harrison Chief was duly recognised as the second foundation sire in 1991.

South Africa

Claude Orpen imported the first American Saddle Horse in 1916 – the five-gaited stallion, Myer's Kentucky Star 7675. Unfortunately, this horse died eighteen months later. However, in 1920 he imported another American Saddle Horse, Red Domino 8313, which unfortunately also died two years later. The influence of these two stallions was immense. Along with Fearnot, a South African-bred five-gaited horse, they raised the Avoca Stud to one of the finest in the country.

Stephanus Phillipus Fouché (Fanie) can be seen as the father of the American Saddle Horse in South Africa. Practically, all the old champions in the showring and many of today stem from horses he bred. The first horse he imported in 1933 was the four-year-old chestnut stallion, Peavine Richard Couer de Lion. In 1943, he imported Proud Bourbon O' Goshen. Many of his offspring fetched record prices.

He also imported Edgeview King (known in the States as Juan Rex/Edgewood King) in 1947, which sired a large number of great riding horses. Edgeview King played a major role in breeding true five gaits in our horses, both purebred and part bred.

Other role players in the South African Saddle Horse industry (these stallions are all deceased) included names such as Cameo's Farewell (imported), Mr USA (imported), Young America (imported), Shalako (locally bred) and Spring Fever (locally bred).

The role of the mare

One should never underestimate the role of the mare in the breeding process – 50% of the genetic material comes from her. In modern times, Spring Fever (Adios Amigo x Cameo's Spring Cheer), Supreme O' Lee (Supreme Sultan x The Royal Princess), Hi-Wing (Wing Commander x Crebilly's Hi-Note), Young America (Mr America x Miss Connie) and Scandal's Last Tango (Vanity Scandal x Gifted Pearl), Yokozuna (Mr USA x Cameo's Truly Fair) and United States (Mr USA x Clover Mist) had an effect as sires of above average broodmares.

Saddle Horse traits

When breeding American Saddle Horses, you have more traits to breed for than for any other horse breed. The horse must have the ideal conformation, attitude, presence, intelligence, personality and animation. To be successful, there are no computerised or scientific formulae for success.

You have to acquire a vast knowledge about the breed characteristics and bloodlines. Knowledge of the show-record (performance) of these horses and bloodlines are essential. To complement this, you also require a gut feel and definitely some good luck!

In 1995, Commander In Chief (bred by Johan Lamprechts) was the first South African-bred Saddle Horse to be exported back to the USA by his owner and trainer, Bill Schoeman. In 1997, he won the Five-Gaited World Grand Championship title with American trainer, Redd Crabtree. Several more stallions followed namely (SA) Tornaado, Tango's Wee Pee, War Image, Wild Temper, Warrior Song, Calif First Night Out, Don't Worry Be Happy, Dare Time and Kalarama's Ultimate Choice.

Pieter Hugo and Lauren Smith recently exported their stallion, Tomcat. A couple of mares and geldings were also exported such as Erasure, Like A Champ, Space Buccaneer, Guts Galore, Zorba and Prince's Domino. Although not all became world champions, they all became successful show horses in their own right.

Genetic material

The Americans specifically wanted some of the old blood back, as our horses are of good stamina and bone structure. Over the years, they have sacrificed stamina and bone structure in certain of their bloodlines for refinement and type. However, if one compares our average South African Saddlebred with the modern American counterpart, we have sacrificed some type, mostly because of a lack of new genetic material. We were therefore forced to perform a significant amount of line- and in-breeding to secure prepotency, which unfortunately led to some off-type horses being born as the result.

Recently, however, this has changed – young stallions with unrelated genetic material have been imported again after a long period of only exports. We now have the new genetic material that we require to establish more type in our modern South African Saddlebred. We already have the stamina and bone structure and if we combine this with the modern type, soon the Americans and the rest of the world will start knocking on our doors even more!

One young stallion in the US in particular has been rewriting the history of Saddle Horse breeding. He is Undulata's Nutcracker (Caramac x Christmas In New York ERB) and at nine years old has already produced 27 world champions! This is an unprecedented achievement. He is also a stallion with great prepotency.

Newline Saddle Horse Stud imported the first Nutcracker colt, Undulata's Made In Heaven as a four-month-old foal in 2009. He had his first mares in the current breeding season and his foals are eagerly awaited.

The future looks bright

A nominated futurity competition, the Africa Saddle Horse Futurity, was established in 2009 and the first Weanling Championship with an unprecedented total amount of prize money (R65 900) was held in March in Middelburg, Eastern Cape.

A South African broodmare hall of fame has been initiated and will give breeders a better idea of which bloodlines and especially mares, have produced consistently. The future of the American Saddlebred in South Africa looks brighter than ever before!

Contact details and websites for more information:
newline@mweb.co.za; www.newlineza.com; or
www.africasaddlehorsefuturity.net