American Azteca and Foundation Stock Society

The horse pictured above is Holy Toledo, an Azteca owned by Jeff and Katrina Saunders. The picture comes from the web page of a new registry, The American Azteca and Foundation Stock Society. The formation of this registry is another great opportunity for the off site breeding program for the Corollas.

Breeding Corollas to modern stock is a tricky move. The only real danger is if the 1/2 breeds were somehow slipped into the offsite breeding program as pure Corollas or Shacklefords. It will be up to those participating in the program to be diligent to protect its integrity.

That important caveat aside, I know just how wonderful a foal can be produced by such crosses. As it has for the past 50 years, the American Indian Horse Registry provides a great home registry for horses of of 1/2 Colonial Spanish horse descent.

This new registry has an interesting twist. HOA registered horses, of which all Corollas and Shacklefords are eligible to be, may be registered with the American Azteca and Foundation Stock Society as foundation breeding stock. I intend to do so with all of my Corolla and Shackleford stallions.

The founders of this registry are serving a very important purpose in working to develop the American Azteca. Modern breeding fads have allowed modern breeds that were once rooted in Spanish Colonial cow pony stock to create horses that have neither the body nor the temperament to have made solid working stock on the western ranges of the 1800's. The recognition of the historical reality that the root of that working stock was the Colonial Spanish horse is implicit in the use of HOA registered horses as foundation stock.

Like all endangered heritage breeds of American livestock, the Corollas should be preserved for the sake of preservation. They should not have to prove their worth. Time has proven their worth. But for those that want additional reasons to preserve these horses we show their athleticism, endurance, tractability, and inherent soundness every time we saddle up. The existence of the American Azteca and Foundation Stock Society helps illustrate the third reason that these horses should be preserve. Their genes are vitally important in continuing to improve the modern breeds whose roots are in the Spanish Colonial horse.

I will register my stallions with this registry and intend to register every stallion that we produce in the off site breeding program with this far sited registry. Unlike splinter groups of Spanish mustang registries, this registry compliments and does not compete with the HOA.