While the show world was focused on breeding show horses with as much backend as possible, the most popular horses got hotter, more lateral and narrower. Meanwhile, a few breeders scattered about the country were still breeding for the foundation style walkers. They bred for the original purpose of the walking horse --- a usable family mount. That meant calm dispositions, study builds and a tighter, smooth gait that you could ride all day long without fatigue. The International Heritage Walking Horse Association was formed by a group of like-minded breeders in order to showcase their foundation type horses. The IHWHA requires video or in person gait and disposition certification and certain pedigree requirements: the horse must have at least four horses from the pre-1950's on their papers, they allow up to 2 padded horses in the lineage (1 padded horse creates a level 2, 2 padded horses creates a level 3 registration), and they insist on "color tracing" each generation back to the foundation papers. While I understand the purpose of such color tracing, I personally disagree with it as there we likely as many misregistered horses that WOULD color trace on papers as there are those who don't and there are other possible reasons why a horse would not color trace (see the case of Merry Yellow Rose.) Westwood Farms is not affiliated with them (other than being members and LOVING their newsletter.) My opinions are not those of the association. While I disagree with some things, I do know and respect many of the board members and breeders represented by the IHWHA. Feel free to link to our information pages, but please do not take photos and information without permission, most are copyrighted.  "Heritage" Walkers
Westwood Farms - Locust Dale, Virginia 22948 - stephanie@westwoodfarms.net - 540-825-1300 |
