Twelve U.S. states have designated a horse breed as the official state horse. The first state horse was designated in Vermont in 1961. The most recent state designations occurred in 2010, when North Carolina and South Carolina both declared state breeds. Some breeds, such as the Morgan horse (pictured) in Vermont and Massachusetts, were named as the state horse because of the close connection between the history of the breed and the state. Others, including the Tennessee Walking Horse and the Missouri Fox Trotter, include the state in the official breed name. Schoolchildren have been persuasive lobbyists for the cause of some state horses, such as the Colonial Spanish Horse being named the state horse of North Carolina due to the presence of Spanish-descended Banker horses in the Outer Banks. Others have been brought to official status through the lobbying efforts of their breed registries. In addition to being state symbols in their own right, horses have appeared in state symbols; for example, a horse's head appears on the Seal of New Jersey. (Full list...)