Колорадский рейнджер: американская порода лошадей.

American horse breed

the horse breed

The Colorado Ranger is a horse breed from the Colorado High Plains in the United States. The breed is descended from two stallions imported from Turkey to the US state of Virginia in the late 1800s. These stallions were then bred to ranch horses in Nebraska and Colorado, and in the early 1900s the two stallions who every registered Colorado Ranger traces to, Patches #1 and Max #2, were foaled. The breed was championed by rancher Mike Ruby, who founded the Colorado Ranger Horse Association in 1935. Original registry membership limits resulted in many Colorado Ranger horses being registered instead as Appaloosas, but pedigree research is ongoing to discover additional horses who trace their ancestry back to the original stallions. By 2005, more than 6,000 Colorado Ranger horses had been registered. Colorado Rangers may be any solid color or carry leopard spotting patterns. Pinto coloration and American Paint Horse breeding are not allowed, nor are draft horse and pony breeding. Colorado Ranger horses may be dual registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club, and approximately 90 percent are.

Colorado Ranger horses may be of any color except pinto, and pinto or American Paint Horse breeding is not allowed within five generations of any registered horse's pedigree. They stand high. The breed has a straight facial profile, long, muscular neck and deep chest. The shoulders and croup are sloping, connected by a short back. Colorado Ranger horses are still used for their original purpose as ranch horses. They are also shown, both in Western and English disciplines, although mainly the former, and used for trail and pleasure riding. They are known for their athleticism, good disposition and abilities as stock horses.

The original foundation ancestors of the Colorado Ranger were two stallions brought to the United States and given to US president Ulysses S. Grant by the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1878. The first horse was a gray Barb named Linden Tree, foaled in 1874. The second was a desert bred Arabian, also gray, named Leopard, foaled in 1873. The two stallions reached Virginia in 1879, after their voyage from Turkey. Upon reaching Virginia, they spent 14 years in the breeding herds of Randolph Huntington, a noted breeder of trotting and roadster horses. In 1896, Randolph leased Leopard and Linden Tree to a friend of Grant's, named General Colby, who used the stallions to breed a number of mares on his ranch in Nebraska. These breedings were successful at producing high quality ranch horses, and a few years later several ranches in Colorado collaborated to buy a group of horses, including one stallion, from the Colby Ranch. All of the mares were sired by one of the two imported sires, and the stallion, a few spot leopard Appaloosa, was a grandson of Leopard on both sides of his pedigree. The influence of Linden Tree and Leopard on American horse breeding was such that they are now listed in the studbooks for the Arabian Horse Association and the Jockey Club (which registers Thoroughbreds), both major breed associations in the United States.

The Colorado ranchers used the horses purchased from Colby to improve their existing ranch stock, and the progeny of these crossings became the Colorado Ranger Horse. Although leopard coloration was not originally an aim of the breeding program, many of the resulting horses bore spotted coat patterns, and breeders began to include the patterning as one of their goals. Two other stallions also became influential foundation sires of the breed. One was a Colorado born leopard spot colt named Max, foaled in 1918. Mike Ruby, a horseman from the Colorado High Plains, became interested in the breed and acquired Max and Patches, a son of the original Colby Ranch stallion. During his time breeding Colorado Ranger horses, he kept complete records of every horse that he bred, which became the initial pedigree record for the breed association. Ruby was invited to bring two stallions to the Denver Stock Show in 1934, and chose to take Leopard #3 and Fox #10. The names Colorado Rangers and Colorado Rangerbreds were coined during this show by members of the now Colorado State University faculty, in reference to the horses having been bred on the ranges of Colorado. Although "Colorado Ranger" is the official name of the breed, the nickname of "Rangerbreds" is still commonly used. As of 2005, there were more than 6,000 horses registered with the CRHA, with between 100 and 125 new horses registered annually. While originally bred in the western US, today many Colorado Rangers are found in the midwest and eastern parts of the country, including the states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They are also found in Canada, where there is at least one large breeding farm.