Curly Stockhorse Preservation Project Purpose:

Mission Statement: The Preservation Project is an informal initiative to spread awareness of the decline in numbers of a truly wonderful breed / bloodline of horse. The Preservation Project(s) will evolve and develop as various projects goals are met or change over time. Participation is enthusiastically welcomed on any level. We keep a private webpage with specific information on projects and current work, that is only given out to those involved. We do everything we can to encourage help the horses without costing us much money. Money is tight among most of us, and we try to barter and get by with trades whenever possible, to meet the overall goal of preserving these incredible endangered horses.

Curly Stockhorse Terminology:

Berndt: The Berndt horses—named after Slim Berndt—back when relatively pure, were the original San San horses. They have also been referred to as Fort Berthold horses in some research. There may be a couple head still alive, but they have gone extinct. The Bad Warriors were the Berndt X old Quarter Horses developed by Ernie Hammrich of Mobridge SD, including Waggoneer, Hard Twist & Chuckaway.

Bad Warrior: The main bloodline/ breed we are trying to preserve is the endangered Bad Warrior, or San San horse. Its history goes back as far as the Native nations can remember, in the northwestern plains region. The Preservation Project is trying to preserve the bloodlines that are left in this old horse, and, trying to help facilitate the return of some San San horses back to their ancestral ground, and establish a few preservation bands in the Dakotas. Talks for returning the San San horse to the Crow Preserve have essentially halted for now.

Curly Stockhorses: include not only the Bad Warrior bloodline, but a few other lines, also nearly extinct, like the Fredell and Cypress lines.

KRT25: This the the dominant curl DNA mutation that can be tested for in Curly Horse genetic test panels. This DNA mutation is shared between many of the bloodlines of Curly Stockhorses. However, there is a difference between the divergent bloodlines, even though they share the same old curl mutation. For example, the KRT25 Damele bloodline stockhorse (also rare now) originated from Great Basin bloodlines; wild caught Owyhee Desert curly mustangs. These have developed separate from WYO Checkerboard curly mustangs for centuries, and are significantly different "breeds."

WYO Checkerboard Curly Mustangs: Wild WYO KRT25 mustangs that come from HMA (herd management areas) in Wyoming Checkerboard, are of interest in crossing with Bad Warrior horses to increase their numbers, because theoretically they would (as much as possible) retain the integrity of their gene pool. This is because WYO Checkerboard curly mustangs—HMA geography and history—indicate that they are more closely related to the San San remnant horses.

International Heritage Horse Association Mission & Goals:

The IHHA registers any endangered breeds & bloodlines of horses, but that is just a service to owners by request, not its reason for existence. Its mission is actually unification. IHHA stands with the preservation project volunteers--to support and encourage the eventual merger and union of all Curly Horse registries, and in the meantime to encourage breeding of separate curly breeds or bloodlines, and preserve them from extinction due to crossbreeding. To promote possible future unification, IHHA is working to provide an all-registry online pedigree database, which will be free to the public, and available to all registries, scheduled for 2024. If IHHA succeeds in that project, the goal is for that member platform to be more useful and reliable than curlyhorses.info. Time will tell!

Curly Stockhorse Preservation Goals:

• Preserve critically endangered bloodlines of curly stockhorses:
  • KRT25 rare Bad Warrior bloodline of ranch horses
  • -xxxxx- novel Spanish Sulphur curly coated horses
  • -xxxxx- novel Colonial Spanish curly coated horses
  • KRT25 wild BLM Checkerboard Square curly horses
  • KRT25 old line Lp Curly Horses
  • KRT25 Fredell curly horses
  • -xxxxx- Cook curly horses
  • KRT25 Canadian (Cypress) curly horses
  • KRT25 Working Ranch Morab curly horses (pure Damele line)
  • KRT25 wild BLM Owyhee Desert curly horses
  • KRT25 Homestead type curly horses (drafters)
  • -xxxxx- South American Curly Criollos
    
    
• Preservation Goals through education:
  • halt crossing of diverse types & lines
  • increase quality of heritage and diverse types & lines
  • increase numbers of rare bloodlines
  • get them out in public, the right kind of horses doing the right things
  • incentivize both preserving old lines AND breeding better horses
  • raise public awareness about rare curly stockhorses
    • Support all existing registries to work Publish latest research on Horse TV.
    • Distribute information to Educators, Scientists, Conservancies, Allergy Doctors
    • Educate about history, bloodlines, conformation, type, training, use

Curly Stockhorse Preservation Project 2014 last updated November 2023 Donna Grace heritage.horse.assn@gmail.com