The Virginia highlander is a small breed of horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 with a four-beat ambling

Ambling

The term amble or ambling is used to describe a number of four-beat intermediate gaits of horses. All are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter or gallop...

 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:...

.

The inspiration for the breed was Pogo, a chestnut

Chestnut (coat)

Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...

 stallion

Stallion (horse)

A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded .Stallions will follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck, as well as a somewhat more muscular physique as compared to...

 foaled in 1960, a small crossbred horse, thought to have been sired by a Welsh pony

Welsh Pony

The Welsh Pony and Cob are closely related horse breeds including both pony and cob types, which originated in Wales in the United Kingdom...

, out of an Arabian

Arabian horse

The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...

/Tennessee Walker

Tennessee Walker

The Tennessee Walker or Tennessee Walking Horse is a breed of riding horse. The breed was originally bred in the Southern United States to carry the owners of plantations around their lands...

 mare

Mare (horse)

A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...

. He had a natural singlefoot

Ambling

The term amble or ambling is used to describe a number of four-beat intermediate gaits of horses. All are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter or gallop...

 gait. His owner, the late William M. Pugh, intrigued by the good-natured, naturally gaited stallion, developed a breeding program for small gaited horse

Gaited horse

Gaited horses are horse breeds that have natural gaited tendencies, that is, the ability to perform one of the smooth to ride, intermediate speed four-beat horse gaits, collectively referred to as ambling gaits....

s, by crossing Pogo and his descendants with other Arabians, Tennessee Walkers, Morgans

Morgan horse

The Morgan is one of the earliest horse breeds developed in the United States. Tracing back to the stallion Figure, later named Justin Morgan after his best-known owner, the breed excels in many disciplines, and is known for its versatility....

, and American Saddlebred

American Saddlebred

The American Saddlebred, formerly known as the American Saddle Horse, is a breed of horse that was developed in Kentucky by plantation owners. Today, in the horse show world, they are most commonly seen under saddle in Saddle seat style riding, and in various types of driving, including pleasure...

s as well as Hackney ponies

Hackney pony

The Hackney pony is a breed of pony closely related to the Hackney horse. Originally bred to pull carriages, they are used today primarily as show ponies. The breed does not have its own stud book, but shares one with the Hackney Horse in all countries that have an official Hackney Stud Book...

, and Welsh ponies. Horses that met Pugh's criteria for conformation, disposition and gaited ability were bred on. The registry began with two foundation stallions, Shadow of the Ridge and Pugh's Red Cloud.

The Virginia Highlander Horse Association was formed in the early 1990s to promote the Virginia Highlander breed through registry and education. Twenty-two horses (20 mares and 2 stallions) made up the original foundation stock. By June 2004, there were more than 130 registered Virginia Highlanders above and beyond the original foundation animals.

Characteristics

The Virginia highlander stands between 13 and 14 hands

Hand (unit)

The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand...

 high. Coat colors

Equine coat color

Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.While most horses remain the same color throughout life, a few, over the course of several years, will develop a different coat color from that with which they were born...

 of the breed include roan

Roan (horse)

Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are more solid-colored. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds...

, chestnut

Chestnut (coat)

Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...

, black

Black (horse)

Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...

 and gray

Gray (horse)

Gray or grey is a coat color of horses characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike many depigmentation genes, gray does not affect skin or eye color Their adult hair coat is white, dappled, or white intermingled...

, as well the occasional white

White (horse)

White horses are born white and stay white throughout their life. White horses may have brown, blue, or hazel eyes. "True white" horses, especially those that carry one of the dominant white genes, are rare...

. Breed characteristics include a good temperament and most have a natural singlefoot

Ambling

The term amble or ambling is used to describe a number of four-beat intermediate gaits of horses. All are faster than a walk but usually slower than a canter or gallop...

 gait.

The breed is found mostly in the east and southeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.