Half Breeds

Brent has been a rodeo cowboy and a working cowboy. He understands what makes some horses more athletic than others. Brent owns Young Joseph, an American Indian Horse award winner for 2007. Joseph is a Chincoteague/BLM cross. At the time I was breeding these crosses I was only interested in creating spectacular horses. I had no interest in any particular type of mustang and certainly had no interest in any particular mustang registry. This was a few years before I was able to adopt the first Corolla stallion from the wild from the Corolla Wild Horse Fund. Of course, Joseph's breeding well predated our efforts to set up off site breeding centers for the Corollas.
The Chincoteague/BLM crosses have turned out to be super horses. They are strong, have great stamina, and most importantly, they are gentle, intelligent and affectionate.
Last week Brent suggested that I breed Young Joseph's mother to Ta Sunka Witco, my Spanish Mustang stallion who is the grand son of the famous Choctaw Sundance. My knee jerk reaction to the suggestion was to reject it. After all, the colt would not be a pure bred and would not be HOA eligible. However, the colt would be eligible for the American Indian Horse Registry.
My final consideration was that the colt would still be viewed by many as simply a "grade" horse. The reality is that all he could ever be is...a spectacular horse, perhaps even greater than Young Joseph. But of course we are talking about horse breeding and reality is irrelevant to the established horse world, perception is all that matters.
I am more interested in reality than perception and I expect that down the road I will make that cross and I have no doubt that the resulting colt will be the perfect horse for the family, competitive trail riding, and perhaps endurance.
I have bred two of my Corolla stallions to a few mustang mares and one Appaloosa. It is ironic that the Appaloosa colt will look more like the original Nez Perce horses than do modern Appaloosas, who too often look like well dressed Quarter Horses or Thoroughbreds. These few half breeds will never be used in the off site breeding program no matter how spectacular they become, but they will serve as stepping stones to help the public understand what a rare treasure a Corolla Spanish Mustang is.