What is an Appendix Horse?

by Kathy Hatch, Founder & President

If you have heard someone talk about an Appendix horse as an owner, breeder or buyer, you might be wondering, what is an Appendix horse? This article should clear up a number of questions regarding the Appendix horse, also referred to as an Appendix Quarter horse.

The word appendix means “a part of, or attachment to something else”. The Thoroughbred Studbook from the 1700’s listed other stallions, such as the Colonel horse (know now as the Quarter horse) in the appendix part of the studbook. Usually only a slight mention was made of them. The Thoroughbred stopped doing this and now the only horses in the Jockey Club are pure Thoroughbred bloodlines. In the 1950’s the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) started to establish the breed known today as the Quarter Horse. This horse usually stood 14 to 14.2 hands tall and weighed around 1200 to 1300 lbs. They had shorter coupled joints and larger hips. They were very fast for a quarter or a mile, which is how they received their name The Quarter Horse. The Quarter Horse could run the quarter of a mile in 22 seconds or less.

The association establishes registration of a horse by actually viewing the horse to see if they met the association’s requirements. In the years to follow, certain stallions where inducted into the Quarter horse registry. One by the name of Three Bars. Three Bars was Thoroughbred. He had been sick as a colt and this had stunted his growth. He looked more like a Quarter Horse then a Thoroughbred. Three Bars breeding and other Thoroughbred bloodlines came into the Quarter Horse Association. The Thoroughbred bloodlines came into the Quarter Horse Association mostly because of the racing industry. Horseracing is a big industry and the Thoroughbred made the horses run faster and longer. Other horses are Go Man Go, Top Deck just to name a few.

AQHA needed to do something to preserve the Quarter Horse bloodlines, which is the reason they started their registry. If you crossed a Quarter horse to a Thoroughbred they issued appendix coded papers to the owners. These papers are yellow and the horse’s number has an ‘X in front of the numbers. This means that if you have an appendix coded stallion and want to breed him to Thoroughbred or another appendix coded horse, the American Quarter Horse Association will not register the offspring. And rightly so, they are in the business to register Quarter Horses and to preserve that type of horse. If you ROM (register of merit) an appendix coded horse, then the Quarter Horse Association will let you apply for full registry and receive a full registration number and white papers. Your horse ROM’s if you campaign them in the arena or race them on the track and they have a speed index of 81 or higher.

There are of thousands of appendix coded horses that are never going to ROM and these horses have pedigrees. This is where the American Appendix Horse Association comes into play. This horse association will establish the Appendix horse as a breed. A cross between the Thoroughbred and the Quarter Horse. Only, you as a breeder can use this association to breed the performance horse that suits your needs. You may breed an Appendix to an Appendix or cross back to a Thoroughbred or Quarter Horse again and register the offspring without having to ROM.

The characteristics of an Appendix horse are a lot different than a Quarter Horse. An Appendix horse usually stands 15.2 hands and taller. They weigh 1100 to 1200 lbs. They look more like a Thoroughbred. They should have good withers for a saddle to sit in place on, and a short tie from the withers to the back for speed. The hips are usually not as round and have a slope. Legs should be straight with short cannons and longer pastern. Good hooves are necessary to carry their body weight. An Appendix horse is not a color breed. A paint that has Thoroughbred in their bloodlines can qualify to register in AAHA. Also, any Appendix- coded horse with AQHA can dual register with The American Appendix Horse Association.

In short this association has been set up to make the Appendix horse or the Appendix Quarter Horse an entity of its own. If you have any questions about the Appendix horse or wish to register and join the association their address and e-mail is: The American Appendix Horse Association, P.O. Box 1156, Salmon, Idaho 83467 or call 208-756-1394, web site is www.americanappendix.com and the e-mail is www.register@americanappendix.com