Guests and employees at Arabian Nights often remark on how beautiful and talented the horses in our show are, so our featured breed this week is the American Saddlebred.

The American Saddlebred is a very sensitive and alert horse, making it an ideal candidate for various riding disciplines, including Dressage. These are very beautiful horses and their movements are especially graceful, making them a great fit for Arabian Nights.

An American Saddlebred

American Saddlebreds are recognized by their long and lean body type and wide-set, expressive eyes. These horses are usually black, bay, chestnut or brown in color, but grays, buckskins, palominos, pintos and occasionally roans can be found as well.  Saddlebreds are typically 15-16 hh (hand high), but they can also be found as small as 14.2 hh and occasionally as tall as 17 hh.

The origins of the American Saddlebred can be traced back to natural-gaited horses which came to North America from the British Isles. These horses thrived in their new environment, and through selective breeding the Narragansett Pacer was developed along the eastern seaboard. The Narragansetts were crossed with Thoroughbreds imported to America in the early 1700s. By the time of the Revolutionary War the result of that crossbreeding was recongnized simply as the American Horse.

These horses possessed the size and beauty of the Thoroughbreds, but retained the ability to learn the easy-riding gaits of the Narragansetts. They were used for riding, pulling carriages and other work. Thoroughbreds continued to be crossed with other breeds including Arabians and Morgans. When the first horse shows were held in Kentucky and Virginia in the early 1800s, American Saddlebreds were generally referred to as Kentucky Saddlers.

Today, the American Saddlebred is known as the ultimate show horse. High stepping and elegant, the breed performs up to five gaits: the walk, trot, canter, slow gait and rack.

This American Saddlebred is performing a rack maneuver in Dressage.

The slow gait is a four-beat gait performed in a prancing motion where the horse lifts its legs very high. The rack is a more ground-covering four-beat gait and is much faster; the horse snaps its knees and hocks up quickly while performing this gait. The Saddlebred’s ancestors were naturally gaited, and many Saddlebreds today retain that natural ability. Most can learn additional gaits, too.

To learn more about American Saddlebreds, stay tuned to the blog because we are going to do a story soon about Confetti, a Saddlebred at Arabian Nights.

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