This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Stock horse" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
A cutting horse working a cowMontana cowboys and their horses, circa 1910
A stock horse is a horse of a type that is well suited for working with livestock, particularly cattle.[1] The related cow pony or cow horse is a historic phrase, still used colloquially today, referring to a particularly small agile cattle-herding horse;[2] the term dates to 1874.[3] The word "pony" in this context has little to do with the animal's size,[4] though the traditional cow pony could be as small as 700 to 900 pounds (320 to 410 kg) and less than 14 hands (56 inches, 142 cm) high.[3]
Such horses are characterized by agility, quickness, and powerful hindquarters.[5] They are usually noted for intelligence and "cow sense," having an instinctive understanding of how to respond to the movement of cattle so as to move livestock in a desired manner with minimal or no guidance from their rider. Such horses are used both as working animals on livestock ranches or stations, and are also seen in competition where horses are evaluated on their ability to work cattle.
The term may refer to any of the following:
A horse used for ranch work or for competition based on the movements of a working ranch horse, including:
campdrafting
cutting (sport)
ranch sorting
reining
rodeo, particularly calf roping and team roping
team penning
working cow horse
An outdated term for reining or working cow horse competition.
Any breed used for ranch or cattle work in the United States, or work on cattle stations in Australia, including:
Australian Stock Horse
American Quarter Horse[1]
American Paint Horse[6]
Appaloosa[1]
Banker horse
Carolina Marsh Tacky
Florida Cracker Horse
Any other horse used for western riding, ranch work or for stock horse types of competition.
Any breed or type of light riding horse of a phenotype that includes a powerful build with heavily muscled hindquarters that appears suitable for work as a stock horse. This includes some representatives of a variety of breeds and crossbreeds, such as the cutting horse. Breeds with stock horse-type representatives include:
Arabian horse
Morab
Morgan horse
Mustang
Pony of the Americas
Quarab
^ abc"Light Horse Breed Types and Uses" (PDF). Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
^Cow pony
^ abRobert Hendrickson (2000), The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms, Infobase Publishing, p. 467
^Ramon F. Adams (1936), Cowboy Lingo, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, pp. 79, 81, ISBN 978-0-618-08349-7
^Lawrence, Larry A. (August 2001). "Horse Conformation Analysis". Washington State University. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
^"Tobiano Pattern - APHA". www.apha.com. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
A stockhorse is a horse of a type that is well suited for working with livestock, particularly cattle. The related cow pony or cow horse is a historic...
The American Paint Horse is a breed of horse that combines both the conformational characteristics of a western stockhorse with a pinto spotting pattern...
The Australian StockHorse (or Stockhorse), has been especially bred for Australian conditions. It is a hardy breed of horse noted for endurance, agility...
West needed a hardy, willing horse. On the Great Plains, settlers encountered horses that descended from the Spanish stock Hernán Cortés and other Conquistadors...
cutting horse is a stockhorse, typically an American Quarter Horse, bred and trained for cutting, a modern equestrian competition requiring a horse and rider...
myopathy, an autosomal dominant muscle disease found mainly in stockhorse and draft horse breeds caused by a missense mutation in the GYS1 gene. Morgans...
athleticism and stamina. The horses were originally used for classical dressage, driving, bullfighting, and as stockhorses. Modern Andalusians are used...
named the official state horse of Idaho in 1975. It is best known as a stockhorse used in a number of western riding disciplines, but is also a versatile...
The Arabian or Arab horse (Arabic: الحصان العربي [alħisˤaːn alʕarabijj], DMG al-ḥiṣān al-ʿarabī) is a breed of horse with historic roots on the Arabian...
Barb horses were brought into Spain by the Moors and crossed on native Spanish stock. The result was the Andalusian horse and other Iberian horse breeds...
is a unique Australian sport involving a horse and rider working cattle. The riding style is Australian stock, somewhat akin to American Western riding...
original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015. "stock-horse-show-source.com". stock-horse-show-source.com. Archived from the original on December...
internationally when lone rider Steve Jefferys reared his Australian StockHorse and cracked the stockwhip to commence the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening...
female horses, foundation queen for female cats, or foundation bitch for female dogs. The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, whether...
century, and quickly developed into a gaited breed appreciated for its stockhorse abilities, stamina and smooth gaits. It performs an ambling gait known...
early stock, with 148 horses by 1679, 218 horses by 1688, 684 by 1698, and by 1709, enough that the government limited farmers to owning two horses and...
Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed for horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically...
men to manage the horses than to cull them. Australian Light Horse Australian StockHorse Battle of Beersheba Brumby List of horse breeds Project Waler...
are also bred for horse meat. They have been crossed with several light horse breeds to produce both stockhorses and sport horses. Purebred Percherons...
Colonial Spanish horse is a term for a group of horse breed and feral populations descended from the original Iberian horsestock brought from Spain to...
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of...
Horse training refers to a variety of practices that teach horses to perform certain behaviors when commanded to do so by humans. Horses are trained to...
Pro Rodeo, and stock contractor Tooke Bucking Horses. While researching, he noticed the recurrence of Sankey's foundation bucking horse sire, "Custer"...
battle. In the 12th and 13th centuries, some eastern horses of crusaders were mated with Friesian stock. During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Netherlands...
Many breeds of horse make good stockhorses, but the most common today in North America is the American Quarter Horse, which is a horse breed developed...
Global Information
