Cutting K Quarter Horses

History of the Australian Quarter Horse

"The world’s most versatile horse" is how the Quarter Horse is known today.

Founded from Arab, Barb and Turk breeds shipped to America by Spanish explorers and traders. Selected stallions from these original herds were then crossed with mares which arrived from England in 1611. This cross produced a compact. heavily muscled horse which could run short distances faster than any other horse.

As the country grew and more and more Englishmen arrived, they soon replaced quarter mile racing with traditional longer distance races which were not particularly suited to the stocky Quarter Horse and from his start in racing in colonial America the Quarter Horse began its change from sporting horse to working horse.

With the westward movement of the pioneers also went the Quarter Horse and in the 1800's vast cattle ranches began stretching across the plains and it was there the breed established its reputation. The Quarter Horse proved to have cow sense - a natural ability to judge the actions of cattle making him the greatest cattle roundup and trail driving horse in history.

The approach of the 1900's brought the breeds reputation as a ranch horse to its peak  but with this also came technological changes and settlement of western states causing a decline in the number and size of massive cattle ranches. Railways stretched further West providing transportation of cattle to market and eliminating the need for long distance cattle drives while other advancements permitted cutbacks in the number of employees and horses needed for cattle activities.

With a number of ranchers becoming concerned that the Quarter Horse breed might not survive it was decided that something should be done and in 1939 at the South western Exposition and Fat Stock Show in Fort Worth. Texas a handful of breeders met to lay the groundwork for an organisation to represent and preserve the Quarter Horse.

One year later, on 15 March 1940, representatives from several states and the Republic of Mexico met in Fort Worth to formally establish a registry known as the American Quarter Horse Association. Eight hundred shares of stock were sold at $10 a share to finance operations. Home for the first Quarter Horse office was College Station. Texas. at the home of Robert Denhardt. first secretary of the AQHA - eventually the office was moved to Fort Worth and in 1946 to Amarillo Texas.

The founders of the Quarter Horse Association determined that the Grand Champion Stallion at the 1941 Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show in Fort Worth would receive number I in the registry. Top honours were captured by the King Ranch owned "Wimpy", of Kingsville Texas. Sired by Solis and out of the mare Panda, his bloodlines trace back to Old Sorrel. Hickory Bill and Peter McCue, three of the most famed foundation sires of the modern Quarter Horse. Foaled in 1935 on the King Ranch. Wimpy I became one of the worlds most noted Quarter Horses, he died in 1959 just four years after the first Quarter Horses arrived in Australia.

The late Mr Samuel Hordern and King Ranch Australia brought the first four Quarter Horses to Australia in 1954. These four stallions were Jackeroo. Vaquero, Mescal and Gold Standard. Vaquero and Jackeroo went to stud in Warwick, Queensland while Mescal went to a stud at Bowral. N .S. W. Unfortunately Gold Standard who had been sent to a property in Clermont, Queensland died before the formation of the Australian Quarter Horse Association so his particulars do not appear in the Stud Book.

The original importers were pleased with their Quarter Horses and so in 1961 a further eleven horses were brought 9ut. This shipment consisted of three stallions and eight mares. Again in 1963 fifteen more Quarter Horses arrived. This consignment had five stallions and ten mares variously owned by King Ranch, Sir Rupert Clarke, and Mrs S.B. Myer. Another prominent horse to arrive in 1963 was "Hoss Pistol" imported by Billy Faint unbeknownst to many people for a long time.

Between 1961 and 1964 a number of importers and breeders of Quarter Horses met ;informally under the Chairmanship of Mr Peter Baillieu. The result of the meetings was the formation of the Australian Quarter Horse Association in 1964.

The first office was set up at King Ranch in Bowral. It was then moved in 1970 to Sussex Street Sydney to an office owned by Sam Horden and run by Jack Reilly. North Sydney was the next location to be taken up in 1972 while 1974 saw the office move, once again, to Crows Nest and then to Neutral Bay in 1976 the present location in Tamworth was established in 1987.

With interest in Quarter Horses increasing rapidly in 1965 and 1966 a partnership of Messrs. Greenup, Douglas and Bassingthwaighte imported one stallion while Denton and Louise Hughes brought in two more stallions. Early in 1967 King Ranch and Joyce and Joyce imported a further fourteen head consisting of five stallions and nine mares. While later in the same year, Clover Leaf Stud brought out the largest single consignment of  , Quarter Horses - ten stallions and nineteen mares.

The expense involved in importing Quarter Horses to Australia (because of the necessity  I for them to spend a six months quarantine period in the United Kingdom) had restricted their availability for sale, but the first purebred offered for auction, Jackeroo, sold for $6,000 in 1961 and was subsequently resold again in 1967 for $5.000.

In 1966 the purebred Quarter Horse, Pronto Mio Q4. realised $11,550 and is the first stallion of the breed to stand as a sire in Western Australia. These Sales were all of imported horses, while the first Australian-bred purebred Quarter Horse stallion sold at auction in 1967, Quarter Master, realised $10,000.

The aim of the AQHA is to further the Quarter Horse breed in Australia while maintaining the quality of Quarter Horse progeny. Following the example of the parent body in the United States, the AQHA instituted an up-grading program and rigid inspection and classification of all Quarter Horse progeny. The classification system was phased out from 1979 as it was decided that the crossing of any already registered stock would produce an animal eligible to be included in the Stud Book without prior inspection.

What is a cream gene and how does it work?

Every horse has two locations in its genetic code where a certain type of color modification gene can reside. These genes are commonly called "cream" genes. They make the horse's base color one, or two, shades lighter, depending on whether there are one, or two, of them present.

Some horses, like sorrels/chestnuts, bays, and blacks have no cream genes. We call these the base, or basic, colors.

Some horses, like palominos, buckskins, and smoky blacks have one cream gene. They may be called "single dilutes."

Other horses, like cremellos, perlinos, and smoky creams, have two cream genes. They are "double dilutes."

To see examples of these colorations, please click on the links in the descriptions above, or visit the Color Chart . If You're not exactly sure what the differences between Cremellos and Perlinos are

The Facts and the Myths

Misconception #1: "Double Dilute" - Just a fancy name for an albino.
False- It is very important to note that the cream gene only makes the horse's color LIGHTER, but does not remove it, even when there are two genes present. They cannot make a horse an actual albino; it will always have pigment in its skin, hair, and eyes. The only truly pink skin and white hair on a horse will be its MARKINGS, if any

The first picture is of a sheath of a Gold Cream Champagne overo horse (carries both the cream gene and the champagne gene.) The second is the nose of a cremello colt that has white markings. They illustrate very graphically the difference in truley pigment free pink skin and pink skin that still has pigment.

Also, genes that cause albinism in other mammals are "recessive" genes, meaning they will not be expressed unless the animal gets 2 copies of the gene. The carriers of the "recessive" gene will not show any characteristics of the gene. In contrast, cream genes are "incomplete dominant" genes, meaning they cannot be "hidden". A horse with one copy of the cream gene will exhibit characteristics of that gene (i.e. palomino, buckskin coloring.) And thus far, research has not been able to find any albinos, or even albino genes, in the horse world!

Misconception #2: Because of thier pink skin, double dilutes sunburn easily and have increased problems with cancer.
False- Graphically illustrated above, there is a difference between pinks. What does this mean? It means that the rules reguarding bald faced white horses (like a mostly white paint) and sunburn do not apply to double dilutes. While no research has been done on the subject to date, owners of double dilutes who also have paints or other horses with large areas of white markings report that thier double dilutes sunburn much less frequently, if at all.

Picture of a red dun QH with a sunburned nose

On the issue of cancers; there has been a lot of research done on this subject, and cancer HAS been known to be associated with certain breeds and colors. One of these breeds is NOT the "American Cream and White" (where many double dilutes of all breeds are registered.) As a matter of fact, pink or double dilute "pumpkin" skin was never mentioned in these studies as being at risk. The breeds with the most problems are appaloosas and draft breeds (associated with squamous cell carcinoma.) And the COLOR with the most cancer problems, to the point that several veterinarians have been quoted as saying "it's not if, it's WHEN they get cancer" is grey (associated with melenomas)

Misconception #3: Double Dilutes are lethal whites that somehow survived, and may produce lethal whites.

False- Lethal whites are a product of a terrible gene (LWO) that is associated with the frame overo "paint" pattern. LWO, unfortunately, is not prejudiced, and attacks horses of all colors equally, sometimes even horses that appear to be solid, and therefore wouldn't be thought of as an "overo." For more information on this, please click on the link

Misconception #4: If you breed double dilutes together you are going to wind up with weak horses with tons of problems

False- Cream genes DO NOT ACCUMULATE. You cannot have more than two cream genes in any horse. For this reason, breeding dilutes, or even double dilutes together will not increase the lightening of the skin, etc

Double dilute filly from two double dilute parents.

 It's essentially the same as breeding sorrels together: the resutling horse will be a sorrel, getting 2 red genes, one from each parent. Same principal when breeding creams, just different colors. ALSO- Notice exactly what the cream gene affects: the color of the horse's hair, skin, and eyes. Nothing else. It is the same horse with or without the cream genes, only the color is different: it has the same immune system, bone density, resistance to sunburn, stamina and every other strength it would have as a red, bay or black. Anything to the contrary has been disproved by experience and by experiment. If there were any doubts about this, one could just look at the many things that are done with people and thier Double Dilutes. To see these horses performing and proving this point, please visit our Performance Creams page, or visit the International Academy of Equestrian Arts which uses 20 cremello Lusitanos as their "cavalry".

"But I've SEEN Albino Horses!" (Click link for more!)

The cream gene and lethal whites (Click link for more!)

Foal Color Possibilities

Find the color at the left that you want to know the outcome of a mating with the color at the top, and find the spot where they meet to get the results. This chart is strictly for the creme-related colors; if you have other genes modifying the colors, such as pinto, dun, Appaloosa, Champagne, roan, etc., you would need to take those into account as well. In colors where the black gene or the bay gene is present, the possibility of heterozygosity (mixed) is assumed. Percentages are not guarantees; they only show probability where applicable (except 100%).  Clicking the underlined words will take you to a DIFFERENT PAGE, about that color.  We're using "sorrel" to mean sorrel OR chestnut.  The most probable outcomes are at the top of the list in bold, the rest are in no particular order.

This site is not intended to give the visitor a complete education in the science of equine genetics, but merely to explain the creme gene in layman's terms, and thus help dispel some of the myths associated with it. If you have questions about these horses and their coloration, Please visit our Creme Gene Facts page, or if you still have questions, visit the Color Discussion Board

Height Predictions

Some people will use the following methods to predict how tall their young horses will grow to be. While it's not always accurate, it does give a good estimate, and it's fun to do!



Method #1: Elbow/Fetlock 




Because the distance from a horse's point of elbow to its fetlock is approximately the same as the point of elbow to the withers, you can use this method to predict height in young horses. Take a leadrope and stretch it from the point of the elbow down to the fetlock. Now that you've got the distance, keep your hand on where the fetlock measurement is (leave the other end on the point of elbow) and bring the leadrope up to the withers. That's about where your horse should mature to.

Method #2: 



Take a soft cloth measuring tape (like the kind used for sewing) and measure from the middle of the knee to the coronet band. However many inches, is how tall in hands the horse will grow. Each 1/4 of an inch is .1 hand.

So if you get 14 3/4 inches, the horse will be about 14.3

15 1/2 inches, the horse will grow about 15.2

16 1/4 inches, the horse will be about 16.1 

Method #3
 
For this method you will need to know the height of your horse at the age of 2 then complete the formula below it is estimated that your horse will reach 90% of his height at this age. I am using a height of 14 hands at 2 years of age below plug in the height of your horse at two in the hands area on the left

90%=100%
14hd=Xhnds

90X=1400

90X=1400
90      90

X= 15.5555

The 14 hand 2 year old is estimated to reach 15.2 hands at adulthood (as .5 is equal to half of the 4 inches per hand so it is .2 hands)

I don't feel method #3 is a very accurate way to estimate a mature hight and belive you should always remeber the hight of sire and dam 

Also please note I don't use any of these methods I go on the hight of sire and dam and breeding to an extent and the type of foal in quistion. 
However this comes from a life time of watching, learning and feed back however feed can make a huge diffrents in the hight of your foal as well.

Please always remember feed and quility is everything  to a mature hight of an animal,  I have sold 14hh 3yo to the Darling Downs and with in 15 months of breaking and very good country they where 14.3hh, the sire was 14.1hh and dam 14hh and other 14.1, Country is everything when growing young horses  in fact any grass eaters.