Rattle Creek Roughstock Association - Breed Information

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in the early 1900's, when bronc riding was starting to become a popular rodeo sport, rattle creek ranch in southwestern montana decided to start breeding bucking horses. many breeds went into the foundation, including stock horses like quarter horses, morgans, paint horses, and appaloosa. draft breeds like percherons and belgians helped bulk up rattle creek's horses. from these beginnings, rattle creek produced their first four star stallions. one of these stallions, a red horse named twister, would become the most notable of their horses. when twister passed, a statue of him was erected at the start of the rattle creek ranch driveway. his bloodline is still present in many of rattle creek's horses - most notably in the current mascot, vegas.

twister made winners out of several riders, and when he was done bucking, he was retrained as a pickup horse. this course of events was echoed in his progeny, until at one point, some of his foals and grandfoals never made it to the bucking chutes at all. their bravery and stalwart nature made them good pickup horses, and this translated well into typical ranch work.

other horses in rattle creek started to make this shift, until, finally, in the mid 1990's, rattle creek ranch quit the roughstock business and simply turned instead to raising their horses with the intention of riding. while their horses are known for being rather hard-headed and stubborn, they are also brave and practically unshakeable. they make good ranch and trail horses, but have also excelled in many other disciplines.

in the early 2000's, rattle creek began to reach out to stock contractors. instead of just selling their own horses, rattle creek began to cycle in bronc-bred horses who, for various reasons, did not or no longer fit the bronc lifestyle. as rattle creek's horses were initially bred as broncs, these outside horses tend to echo the same qualities - athletic, tough, and well-built.

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adopts can come with a small number of line variations, which includes ear position, feathering, and mane/tail types. the first variation we'll give an example of is feathering vs no feathering:

adopts can also come with a few ear positions. these include pinned, forward, and flipped:

and finally, the mane and tail variations. these can be mixed and matched as desired by artists:

wavy mane & tail.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxlong mane & tail.

braided mane & tail.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtrimmed mane & tail.

roached mane & tail.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxtangled mane & tail.

short messy mane & tail.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxlong messy mane & tail.

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this will get edited/formatted soon promise

splashed-white 1 [sw1], splashed-white 4 [sw4], and collared splashed-white[sw8]:

three different kinds of splashed-white present in the RCRA. sw1 can be present in heterozygous form or homozygous form, and is the typical splashed white - less white when heterozygous, more white when homozygous.

sw4 can only be present in heterozygous form. it presents as a broad blaze and stockings, but never anything further. it is suspected to be homozygous lethal, and therefore two sw4 horses should not, and cannot, be bred together. more often found on LP horses due to it origins in the appaloosa breed, but can appear on any other coat.

collared splashed white [genotype sw8] is a breed-specific gene that adds a 'collar' of white around a horse's neck. it also often adds a broad or low blaze and stockings/socks. stockings/socks will be taller on the front legs and shorter on the back. eyes are typically blue. there is no difference between heterozygous and homozygous.

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nd1 & nd2, zebra dun:

a horse without any primitive markings and/or dilution is nd2nd2. this only needs displayed in the genotype if a nd1 or D horse is carrying it [i.e, nd1nd2 or Dnd2].

a horse with nd1 is a horse without the dramatic dilution of the typical dun gene. these horses often display primitive markings (line down back, barring on legs, shoulder patch). this can effect any coat, however, dun is dominant over nd1, and will display as a typical dun horse [when the genotype is Dnd1].

zebra dun is a breed-specific gene and an extreme version of dun. the coat is diluted and primitively marked like a normal dun, but leg barring goes up the leg and onto the hip, and partially up onto the shoulder. genetically marked as Dz. zebra dun is dominant over normal dun, and therefore dominant over nd1, as well. the hip and shoulder of a zorse is a good reference point.

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W10 and witrick white.

both dominant white genes and on the same locus. W10 is suspected homozygous lethal and therefore two W10 horses should not, and cannot, be bred together. W10 can vary in appearance, from nearly covering a horse to only presenting as stockings and a belly spot. there are two W10 horses on the middle bottom row of this graphic as an example.

witrick white [genotype Wr] is a breed-specific gene and resembles the witrick white found in cattle [1, 2]. in it's heterozygous form it presents as white along the topline and stomach, and down the legs. in homozygous form, the horse is almost white, with a speckled color along its side.

heterozygous form, [larger]

gray & gray inhibitor.

the gray inhibitor gene [genotype I (capital i)] is a breed-specific gene and makes the graying process much slower, to the point that horses well into their teens will still look ‘early’ in the graying process. non-gray horses can carry the inhibitor gene. comico iv and comico vi are good examples of this phenomena in real life.

sooty.

the typical expression of sooty is more common. extreme sooty, less so - and qualifies as any horse who changes extremely drastically due to sooty, like this palomino morgan. another example of an extremely dark sooty palomino.