Rare Horse Breed
The Tiger Horse

An introduction to a rare and
colorful breed of horse called the "Tiger Horse."

Victoria Varley with Annandale's Love Story

TIGRE registered horses are a modern day American breed with a specific phenotype (look alike characteristics).  The breed has a mysterious history and is known for exotic color and strong middle gaits but not all Tiger Horses are spotted.  Some are solid colored which helps to insure that strong contrasting pigmentation remains within the breed.

Tiger Horses tend to be slightly refined and of medium build with first generation out crosses ranging in height from 14.2 to 16 Hands and weighing in at around 800 to 900lbs. The average height of 15 to 15.2 Hands is preferred.

Annandale's Gray Wolf

Tiger Horse History
Victoria Varley, Founder of TIGRE (the Tiger Horse Breed Registry), tells us that the original Tiger Horses are now extinct. The actual history of the Tiger Horse is not clear. "We may never know the truth and can only rely on ancient sculptures,  petryglyphs, cave paintings and historical descriptions of a magnificent horse sounding very similar to our own and over which (just like today) wars were fought."

She goes on to say that "fortunately before the original horse became extinct it was out-crossed to a variety of  breeds world wide. Some of its original characteristics have therefore been preserved for us to extract. We are extremely grateful to all those nations down through the ages who preserved these valuable characteristics which we are putting back together in a single horse. Of course it is difficult if not impossible in one lifetime to separate out all the unwanted genetic material that was also inherited by these different breed infusions and as we only have modern day horses with which to work our pace is slower but we have made huge leaps in the right direction and are producing a magnificent horse which is breeding true to our stated phenotype which means they not only look alike but the genetics to insure they will reproduce alike with regular consistency is also being locked in place."

Victoria wonders if an ancient "white" herd started the Tiger Tale a long time ago? She has named modern day examples of those ethereal animals "Ghost Horses."

Ghost Horse - Annandale's Storyteller

The possibility also exists that perhaps because the terrain that supported these horses was at the foot of the Altai mountains where swamps and biting insects exist, the Tiger Horse developed spots as an insect repellent.  When choices are available flies do seem to prefer settling on solid colored horses more so than on spotted horses.

"In such a herd there would have been Ghosts and solid colors with the majority of the herd being spotted each with a very special purpose; the Ghosts to insure the herd remained largely spotted and the solids to insure good pigmentation also remained within the herd", says Victoria.

In time Annandale's Tiger Horse Farm and others will breed "Ghosts" to each other experimentally.

After only 12 years of dedicated breeding to bring back the Tiger Horse, 48 of the first 68 registered Tiger Horses were produced at Annandale's Tiger Horse Farm which is headquarters for TIGRE, The Tiger Horse Breed Registry.

The owners of Annandale's Tiger Horse Farm are TIGRE'S Founder/owners Victoria and Mark Varley who continue to guide and support members in their quest for Tiger Horse ownership and Tiger Horse perfection.

Tiger Horse Color
Because the ancient Tiger Horse is extinct we have no way of knowing what the precise color characteristics were on the original herd but since genes take millions of years to change or disappear we feel reasonably certain that we have a good idea what they must have looked like and that we have unlocked a formula for the successful re-creation of a modern day version of this once famous horse. Then and now the similarities are remarkable.

Here are some examples of beautiful Tiger Horse markings.
Annandale's Red Glider Spider and Annandale's Cinnamon Blizzard

	OR's Huzzy Bug
	Annandale's  Love Story

	Annandale's Heavenly
	Annandale's Heavenly and Annandale's Winter Fox

	Annandale's Snowbird
	Annandale's Zeus

	Annandale's Fairy Story and Annandale's Fairy Tale
	Annandale's Love Story

Tiger Horse Gaits
Gait is one of the important characteristics of the breed. There are three types of middle gait: TIGRE (TIGRE is The Tiger Horse Breed Registry, founded by Victoria Varley) accepts all of them although the breed is more commonly known for the perfect middle gait they call the "running walk." The running walk is an evenly timed four-beat gait and is the most balanced, smoothest gait to ride.

The three middle gaits are:
A: diagonal gait (the fox trot and fox walk).
B: square gait (the running walk and the rack).
C: lateral gait (stepping pace and flying pace).

Regardless of middle gait inherited, a gaited horse will always be easier to ride than the hard trot or hard pace horse. Trot and pace fall outside the spectrum of "middle gait." The vast majority of trail riding Tiger Horses perform the Running Walk which is a flat shod, evenly timed, four-beat gait with speeds clocked up to 17 mph and even more.  When asked for more speed, the running walk horse tightens up conformation, shortens stride, loses head nod, and summonses more power from behind. This is an exhilarating ride that demands a great deal of energy from the horse. We call this speed "the rack." The rack is tightly "collected" and is also a perfect, evenly timed, four-beat gait which we ride for only short distances because it is so telling on the horse.

Myth:
Contrary to popular belief; trotting horses do not "teach" gaited horses to trot. Nor do gaited horses teach trotting horses to gait. Horses inherit the gait they perform best from one of their parents or a combination of both and can be taught something different only under saddle.

TS Windwalker

To learn more about the Tiger Horse, please visit the TIGRE (The Tiger Horse Breed Registry)
or Annandale's Tiger Horse Farm.
Click Here to contact Victory Varley.