The Mountain Pleasure Horse is an old breed of gaited horse that was developed in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. With roots that stretch deeply into history, these sturdy and beautiful horses have remained relatively unchanged for a century or more, reflecting the primitive Appalachian gaited horse type.

Genetic testing has shown them to be ancestral to several modern breeds, including the American Saddlebred and the Tennessee Walking Horse. Historians recount how early breeders made forays into eastern Kentucky to locate and purchase the finest gaited mares. In those days, horsemen knew if you wanted to produce  horses with a locked-in 4-beat gait, you needed to put your stallions to “saddle mares” from the Kentucky hills. So year after year, the simple people of that remote region skillfully bred some of the finest riding horses in the world. Few formal breeding records were kept, however some Mountain Pleasure Horse bloodlines are traceable for over 160 years.

Selling horses to breeders of Tennessee Walkers and American Saddlebreds was only part of the picture, though. These were the “using horses” of the mountain people, ridden by the doctor, the mailman and the traveling preacher. They carried children to the one-room school and the midwife to a baby's birth. They were hitched to the farm wagon and plow. They were central to the life and culture of the people of the mountains, people who knew the best horses were intelligent, sweet natured and calm.

Today’s Mountain Pleasure Horse is an average sized horse of good bone and feet, having a loose, laid back shoulder and ample breadth of chest. The head is set on a gracefully arched neck of medium length at an angle which allows natural carriage with a break at the poll. Mountain Pleasure Horses come in all solid colors. The stunning palomino is a regional favorite and many owners take pride in their golden horses.

Mountain Pleasure Horses are intelligent and sweet natured. Their calm, tractable temperament may have saved the breed from extinction during the hard economic times of the Great Depression. The docile mares made excellent nurse mares, and the stallions were easy to handle teasers, making them invaluable to breeders of Kentucky Thoroughbreds.

The beauty of the Mountain Pleasure Horse is best experienced in the saddle. With tail waving jauntily, they step out in a smooth 4-beat gait that’s wonderfully smooth and easy to ride. The preferred gait is often called a saddle rack. Because there’s no bounce or need to post, people who have given up riding due to back or joint problems are often able to ride a Mountain Pleasure Horse in comfort. Athletic and versatile, these horses are finding their way into a variety of disciplines from competitive trail riding to gaited dressage.

Many owners of Mountain Pleasure Horses like to show their horses. When shown, no action devices or special shoes are allowed. The inherently smooth gait of the Mountain Pleasure Horse is the product of nature and generations of careful breeding.  Foals demonstrate their innate ability to perform this gait by “hitting a lick” within hours of birth.

Owners of Mountain Pleasure Horses are often asked, “Are these the same as Rocky Mountain or Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horses?” To answer this simply, the Mountain Pleasure Horse was used in the development of the Rocky Mountain Horse. Around 50 years ago, a man named Sam Tuttle began breeding gaited mares to Tobe, a stallion with an unusual “chocolate” color. Horses of this lineage became the foundation of the Rocky Mountain Horse. The Rocky Mountain and Mountain Pleasure Horses are recognized as individual breeds. Many Mountain Pleasure Horses are also registered in the Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse Association.

The Mountain Pleasure Horse Association was formed in 1989 for the purpose of preserving the bloodlines and to encourage the breeding of Mountain Pleasure Horse. The association promotes the breed at various expos and horse shows. A world championship show is held in Owingsville, KY at the end of each summer.

Because of their small numbers, Mountain Pleasure Horses have been placed on the “critical list” of the American Equus Survival Trust. Because of their unique place in gaited horse history, they are being used in a number of genetic studies, most recently the Equine Genome Research Project.

Although their place in history is linked to eastern Kentucky, today’s owners and breeders of the Mountain Pleasure Horse can be found throughout the United States and Canada.

Proclamation

On September 29, 1994, the Honorable Brereton C. Jones, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky issued the following proclamation.

Proclamation by Brereton C. Jones
Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky

To All To Whom These Presents Shall Come:

Whereas, the Horsemen of Eastern Kentucky developed a type of horse -- known as the Mountain Pleasure Horse -- to be smooth of gait, gentle of disposition, willing to work and sure-footed as necessary for mountain terrain; and

Whereas, this Mountain Pleasure Horse has been carefully and closely bred for over 160 traceable years along the original Kentucky mountain blood lines; and

Whereas, blood-typing research by the University of Kentucky has shown the Mountain Pleasure Horse to be the parent stock of all the American gaited horse breeds; and

Now, therefore, I, Brereton C. Jones, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do hereby recognize the Mountain Pleasure Horse in Kentucky for 160 traceable years and registered by the Mountain Pleasure Horse Association to be the oldest gaited American breed of horse and to be the parent stock of all other American gaited horse breeds.

Done at the Capitol in the City of Frankfort, this the 29th day of September, in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-four and in the 203rd year of the Commonwealth.

For more than 160 years, Eastern Kentuckians have enjoyed their homegrown product, the Mountain Pleasure Horse. For years called "Mountain Horses" or "Kentucky Saddler" horses, the Mountain Pleasure Horse is the old-time gaited breed of horse that existed in Kentucky 160 years ago and from which selective breeders have developed all other American gaited horse breeds.