What is a Tigerhorse

What is a Tigerhorse you may ask?

Quite possibly one of the first gaited breeds.

In short a appaloosa colored gaited horse.

Why do they call it Tiger?
Do they have stripes?
Did they use them to hunt Tigers?

Many Questions come to mind.  There are many theories and what follows is based on my limited research on the subject but since there is so little information on this very unique breed and what is left of them seem to be genetic "leftovers" this is basically a theory so you can take it or leave it.


The Name Tiger seems to have come from the Europeans as they used the word tiger to describe all large and colorful exotic cats,
not limited to the striped cat we associate the word tiger with today.
In fact the cat most often associated with the word Tiger as far as I can determine was the leopard which certainly makes more sense as far the color pattern of these horses a least
to me.

There are several examples of the tigerhorses in art from around the world that are available via the internet.

Just remember Tiger's are GAITED horses.

And we still call appaloosa's that have a full spotted coat leopard appaloosas.
Many Apaloosas have a gait although it is not "accepted" by the Appaloosa horse association. There is a foundation appaloosa breeder that has nothing but gaited appys www.leopardappaloosa.com  and has written a great article about them.
So in my way of thinking the fact that these horses are called Tiger says to me that the breed is at least a few hundred years old based on the
reference to the old world use of the "tiger" name below is a historical reference to the correct time period when this was used.

There is a very interesting reference to "tigers" on the Knabstrupper horse history link
Knabstruppers are beautiful spotted horse from Denmark who's most influential stallion of the breed was named "The Tiger horses" in the late 1600's.
 They breed out their color in the mid 1700's they think due to the grey gene. 
 In the early 1800's the spotted horses returned to Denmark from another lineage Did these horses
have a roll in our lovely Tigers??
I find no reference that these horses were gaited Interesting none the less
check out their story @
www.knabstrapper.org.uk

Now for the Question do they use them to hunt Tigers?
Is that how they got their name?

Well I guess we will never really know the answer to this, since there is some historical reference to the ancestory of these horses being in the mongolian and siberian regions where there are tigers I do believe that it is possible that it "could" have happened but I cannot find any historical proof that it did so all of the stories of them hunting tigers are well, stories.
However if someone has some historical reference to this or any other reference to hunting tigers I would love to it have access to it please email me! or any info on tigerhorses!!neoequus@yahoo.com

Present Day.....

I have been fortunate enough to find this genetic material and have my very own Tigers.
I have twoTigerhorse Stallions!!!
 Admirals is our primary herd sire the other is black with a dorsal stripe and one of Admirals get
named App's Loverboy NER.

We have registered our gaited mares with the tigerhorse outcross program to try to bring back this beautiful and exotic horse this breed of horse is sensible,friendly easy to handle flashy good with children loves to perform and is tireless.
That is our herd sire(Admiral Ponca Patches) playing with my daughter.

Great Horse thats what a Tigerhorse is.......Just ask me

 I have endless great stories about Admiral and his good nature and his love of people. 

979-492-2520 Jamie

In the last 300?? years....

How did they get to the Americas?
 
Well that is all theory as well but my best guess based on my research is that they came from the Spainards Maybe into Mexico first then migrated through indian trade routes and were somehow traded, stolen, or found by the Nez Perce indians who through their own unique and very sucessful breeding program distributed this valuable horse thoughout the continent.
This horse was very highly prized and fetched a much higher price than it's solid colored trotting cousins.
The cowboys were heard to have paid upwards of 50 dollars for one of these horses.
 The average horse was around 10 dollars, so to get one with what was then called the Indian shuffle was obviously worth quite a bit more as the cowboy could ride alot farther and in comfort because of the easy gait.

And this is the horse, the one we refer to as the Indian pony that we are finding in our bloodlines today dormant "hidden" if you will.
Those beautiful horses that came over possibly with the Spainards bred by the Indians the spotted gaited elegant sturdy horses of yesteryear who could have come from Siberia?
 Denmark? Mongolia? Spain?or maybe a combination of all.
However they got here I for one am glad they got here.

This bloodline is most probably somewhere in every horse in the Americas today there is only approximately 100 years of selective breeding separating all breeds in the North America all we have to do is find it ........ 

I DID FIND IT IN THE TWHBEA LINES.....of all places....

Admiral Ponca Patches APP is the original out of this line.