The Choctaw Horse Component

I asked the leading expert on preservation of rare Colonial Spanish horse strains what lines I could use to provide a bit of genetic diversity to the Corolla off site breeding program without bringing in breeding that was so outside their genotype and history as to blur the lines between them and other Colonial Spanish horse strains. He recommended that I look to Shackleford first, then Florida Cracker, Marsh Tacky or Choctaws.

Only one matrilineal dna line exists today among the wild Corollas. The other strains set out above are close enough relatives to bring back traits lost to genetic drift as opposed to bringing in traits that would alter the quality of the horse as he appeared throughout early American history. For example, though the Bacas and Galiceanos are great examples of Colonial Spanish horses they differ in body type so much from the Corollas that using them in the breeding program would produce spectacular horses, but horses who are not similar to the Banker. (Corolla is a herd of wild Colonial Spanish horses that are known as Bankers, as are the Shacklefords.)

We are looking to obtain a beautiful young Choctaw stallion to use in the off site breeding program. We have acquired a Marsh Tacky mare and have a Shackleford mare and stallion. We have four Corolla stallions and four Corolla mares, and a young filly who will be bred in a few more years. Our stallions are available for breeding to outside mares.  The Marsh Tacky and Choctaw lines will be crossed into the program rarely and judiciously.

This group will be the core of our off site breeding program for years to come. Their off spring will go to people who are willing to work to preserve the Corollas.

Boys Home in Covington, Virginia has a stallion and two fillies that we produced for use in their future off site breeding program. The owner of the first horse produced in the off site breeding program will be breeding her this spring.

Of course, the off site breeding program is not a replacement for having a wild herd in Corolla. They serve both as a complement and a safety net to prevent the extinction of this line of athletic, docile horses who were such an important part of life in the Colonial southeast.

(Joey and Twister, two Choctaws shown above are part of our program at the moment. Joey is our great new trail horse and his little half brother Twister is in training with us and has recently gone on his first trailride in the woods.)