Choctaw Horse

Choctaw Horse
Herd of Choctaw Horses
Conservation statusFAO: National risk level[1]

IUCN Red List: None

Livestock Conservancy: Critical[2]
Country of originUnited States of America
UseRiding
Traits
Weight
  • 700 to 900 lbs[3]
Height
  • 13.2 to 14.2 hands (52 to 56 inches)[3]
ColorVery variable

The Choctaw Horse is an American breed or strain of small riding horse of Colonial Spanish type. Like all Colonial Spanish horses, it derives from the horses brought to the Americas by the Conquistadores in and after the late fifteenth century and introduced in the seventeenth century into what is now the United States. As is clear from the name, the Choctaw Horse is strongly associated with the indigenous Choctaw people of America, who originally bred it in their traditional homeland in the area of modern-day Alabama and Mississippi, and continued to do so after their forced removal to the Indian Territory – modern Oklahoma – in the 1830s.[4][5][6][7]

It is an endangered breed and is listed – with all other Colonial Spanish breeds – by the Livestock Conservancy as 'critical'.[8] In 2009 no more than 200 horses of the Choctaw and Cherokee strains were thought to remain.[5]

  1. ^ "FAO Database: Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) - Browse by Country and Species". Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  2. ^ "Kerr Center News: Spring 2009" (PDF). Poteau, OK: Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture. 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Bixby, Donald (1999). "Rare Choctaw Strain of the Colonial Spanish Horse is Conservation Priority". Diversity. 15 (2): 12.
  4. ^ "The Choctaw Horse by Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD | Choctaw Nation". 2013-03-06. Archived from the original on 2013-03-06. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "American Livestock Breeds Conservancy: Blackjack Mountain Horse Rescue". 2023-03-20. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  7. ^ Gorrie, Sarah (2013). The complete illustrated encyclopedia of horses and ponies. Pippa Roome, Catherine Austen, Nicola Jane Swinney. London. ISBN 978-0-85775-881-1. OCLC 869772400.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ "Colonial Spanish Horse - The Livestock Conservancy". 2023-01-21. Archived from the original on 2023-01-21. Retrieved 2023-05-08.