THE ORIGINAL FOUNDATION OF THE MISSOURI FOXTROTTING HORSE

I thought some of you may like to see some statistics regarding the original foundation horses. I will be posting more information as the days go by but here is a starter for you.

Beginning in 1948 and considering the first 1600 horses registered in the MFTHBA the Tennessee Walker did not impact the breed. . Of those 1600 horses 1381 had no KNOWN Tennessee Walking Horse blood. 219 horses had some known TWH in them but only 33 were full blooded TWH. Of those 33 full blood TWH, most were geldings. There were only 6 stallions and of those only 3 produced. Of those 3 only 1 produced significantly.

Within that same 1600 horses there were 8 that had ¾ TWH blood, 99 that were half TWH, 44 - 1/4 bloods, 21 were 1/8 and 5 were 2/3. 1 horse was 1/3 . The remainder had so little TWH as to not matter.

Of the first half bred Tennessee Walking Horses entering the breed, 57 were mares, 6 were stallions and 36 were geldings. Of the 57 mares 22 never produced leaving only 35 mares that produced. Of the 35 (V-128) mares that produced 22 of the mares had five or fewer foals with the majority of them having 3 or less. Only 13 mares had more than five foals. Of those that produced more than five foals all but three belonged to either Dale or Kinder Esther.Of the six half bred stallions, five never produced leaving only one stallion who produced 98 recorded offspring.

The next highest group was the quarter bred Tennessee Walker crosses. There were 44 total quarter (V-64) TWH bred horses with their other 3/4 being primarily Morgan and/or Saddlehorse. A scant few of these carried Quarter Horse blood, a couple also carried Arabian and there were one or two that had pony blood.

Of that total 18 were mares, 13 were stallions and 13 were geldings.

Statistically it becomes abundantly clear that the Tennessee Walking Horse did not play a major role in the original development of the Missouri Foxtrotter Horse.

When analyzing the first 2750 numbers in the MFTHBA registry we can see that the TWH did not play a big part either. Here are some statistics taken directly from the records on file at the MFTHBA office that verifies this statement.

TOTAL NUMBERS 2750
TOTAL MISSING HORSES 733

(numbers that never had a horse issued to them)

This leaves a total of 2017 actual horses. Here is how those 2017 horses break down according to percentage of TWH.

V-FACTOR BREAK DOWN

For the first 20+ years of the registry including the first 2750 numbers.

V-factor numbers are rounded to the nearest full number. Fractions under five round to the full next lowest number; fractions five and over round to the next higher number.

Factor ....Percent....Number of Individuals

V-0 .............0/0............1165 (no known TWH blood)
V-4............ 1/32......... 4
V-6 ............1/32 .........1
V-8 ............1/16 .........18
V-12.......... 1/16..........2
V-16 ..........1/16 .........52
V-18 ..........1/16 .........1
V-20 ..........1/16 .........2
V-24 ..........2/16 ........21....reduces to 1/8
V-26 ..........2/16........ 1
V-32 ..........2/16........ 81
V-40.......... 3/16........ 13
V-46.......... 3/16....... .1
V-48 ..........3/16....... .18
V-52.......... 3/16 ........1
V-56 ..........4/16.........8...reduces to 1/4
V-58 ..........4/16.........1
V-62.......... 4/16.........1
V-64 ..........4/16..........141
V-65.......... 4/16..........1
V-68 ..........4/16..........1
V-76.......... 5/16 .........1
V-80.......... 5/16......... 7
V-84.......... 5/16 .........1
V-88.......... 6.16......... 1... reduces to 3/8
V-92.......... 6/16......... 2
V-96 ..........6/16......... 30
V-104........ 7/16 .........5
V-108........ 7/16 .........1
V-112 ........7/16......... 9
V-114........ 7/16 .........1
V-120 .........8/16.........1...reduces to 1/2
V-128......... 8/16.........243
V-129 .........8/16.........1
V-136 .........9/16........ 1
V-144......... 9/16........ 1
V-152 ........10/16....... 2...reduces to 5/8
V-160 ........10/16........10
V-176 ........11/16....... 2
V-184 ........12/16........1...reduces to 3/4
V-192 ........12/16........44
V-196 ........12/16........1
V-200 ........13/16 .......1
V-224 ........14/16....... 10
V-242 ........15/16....... 1
V-256 FULL TWH ....95

The rest were of unknown breeding.

TOTAL STALLIONS... 374....... TOTAL GELDINGS 438

TOTAL V-0 STALLIONS ...174........ TOTAL V-0 GELDINGS 261

TOTAL V-256 STALLIONS... 21 .........TOTAL V-256 GELDINGS 20

It is very clear to see that the Tennessee Walking Horse did not significantly influence the original foundation of the Missouri Foxtrotter. The influence it played came AFTER 1970 when it was allowed into the breed in numbers which effectively produced cross bred types. Unchecked use of those late coming TWH in effect eventually diluted the original blood that had been on it's way to standardization before the advent of TWH. Today, virtually every MFT is part TWH with an alarming percentage being well over half.

FOUNDATION HORSES 1 THROUGH 2750 COLOR BREAKDOWN

The colors listed below include colors as listed on registrations. Some of them are not accepted color designations by today's standards but we have to accept them as written for our analysis.

COLORS:

1. SORREL……............................... 903
2. PALOMINO................................. 241
3. BAY………................................... 229
4. BLACK……................................. 179
5. RED ROAN ...................................72
6. GRAY………................................. 50
7 BUCKSKIN…................................ 30
8. ROAN.............................................28
9. WHITE ...........................................27
10. BROWN .......................................26
11.BLUE ROAN .................................19
12. SORREL ROAN...........................16
13. BLACK ROAN .............................10
14. PALOMINO ROAN .....................10
15. CREAM ...........................................9
16. BAY & WHITE SPOTTED ............9
17. SORREL & WHITE SPOTTED.....7
18. SABINO ROAN...............................6
19. SPOTTED ........................................6
20. BLACK & WHITE SPOTTED .......6
21. STRAWBERRY ROAN................. 5
22. BROWN ROAN............................. 4
23. SPOTTED RED ROAN.................. 4
24. CHOCOLATE .................................4
25. DUN .................................................4
26. COPPER ..........................................2
27. BROWN & WHITE SPOTTED..... 2
28. WHITE BORN ................................2
29. CALICO........................................... 1
30. CHOCOLATE DAPPLE .................1
31. CHOCOLATE ROAN..................... 1
32. GOLDEN TAN ................................1
33. PALOMINO & WHITE SPOTTED 1
34. GRAY & WHITE SPOTTED .........1

The rest were of unknown color