The American Saddle Horse
We enjoy two breeds of horses at Meritage Farm. Both are very people loving, full of personality, beautiful in appearance and their versatility allows them to be trained for a variety of equine uses. These two breeds started as one breed known as the American Saddle Horse back in the 1600’s with the continued development taking place for hundreds of years.
The first recorded horse show was in Lexington, Kentucky in 1817, but such competitions undoubtedly took place years before. In 1856, St. Louis, the largest city west of the Mississippi, held its first great fair which featured the nation’s first major horse show. Missouri rivaled Kentucky for the best Saddle Horses and Missourians say, “If Kentucky made the Saddle Horses, then Missouri made them better”.
The American Saddle Horse gained fame during the civil war from 1861 through 1865. Saddle Horses served as mounts for many famous generals such as Lee on Traveler (shown), Grant on Cincinnati, Sherman rode Lexington and Stonewall Jackson’s mount was Little Sorrel. Confederate Cavalry were mounted almost exclusively on American Saddle Horses and these horses performed legendary feats of endurance during the war. Because most confederate horses were privately owned, General Grant’s order at Lee’s surrender, which allowed the men to keep their horses, perhaps saved the breed.
After the war and in to the 1870’s, despite the fact the American Saddle Horse was still very much a service animal, the rivalry between breeders at horse shows and especially state pride between Kentucky and Missouri was intense. Gifted horsemen began making a living at training these horses for show. This is truly the best thought for the timing of the American Saddle Horse becoming separate breeds; one being the American Saddlebred, with refinement focused for show ring training, and the other the Gaited Mountain Saddle Horse, bred as a utility, farm and family use animal.