The Costa Rican Saddle Horse is a horse breed

Horse breed

Horse breed is a broad term with no clear consensus as to definition, but most commonly refers to selectively bred populations of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a very broad sense to define landrace animals, or...

 developed in Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

. Since 1850 breeders of the Costa Rican horse have paid more attention to the selection of breeding stock. Because the horse population was small and inbreeding

Inbreeding

Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...

 a concern, a few stallions were imported from Spain and Peru. The breed was founded by "Janitzio" foaled in 1955, a loudly marked sabino

Sabino horse

Sabino is a group of white spotting patterns in horses that affect the skin and hair. A wide variety of irregular color patterns are accepted as sabino. In the strictest sense, "sabino" refers to the white patterns produced by the Sabino 1 gene, for which there is a DNA test...

 stallion. In 1972 a breed club (ASCACOPA) was established and later in 1974 the breed registry

Breed registry

A breed registry, also known as a stud book or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders when they are still young...

 was initiated.

Characteristics

The minimum height for males is 14.2½ hands (148 centimetres (58.3 in)) and 14.1½ hands  (146 centimetres (57.5 in)) for females. The head profile is strait or slightly convex. The neck is arched, ample at the base and tapered toward the head. The chest is deep and well muscled, the barrel well developed. The back

Back (horse)

The back describes the area of horse anatomy where the saddle goes, and in popular usage extends to include the loin or lumbar region behind the thoracic vertebrae that also is crucial to a horse's weight-carrying ability. These two sections of the vertebral column beginning at the withers, the...

 is short with the underline being longer. The croup

Rump (animal)

The rump or croup, in the external morphology of an animal, is the portion of the posterior dorsum that is posterior to the loins and anterior to the tail. Anatomically, the rump corresponds to the sacrum....

 is long, well muscled and slightly rounded. The hair on the mane & tail is fine and the skin should be fine with short hair. The gait

Horse gait

Horse gaits are the various ways in which a horse can move, either naturally or as a result of specialized training by humans.-Classification:...

 and movements are performed with action and energy, the knees and hocks showing high flexing during the rhythmic and harmonious trot

Trot (horse gait)

The trot is a two-beat diagonal gait of the horse, where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time. There is a moment of suspension between each beat....

.