Colorado Ranger facts for kids

The Colorado Ranger is a special horse breed from the Colorado High Plains in the United States. These horses are known for being strong and good at ranch work. They are also great for riding and showing.

This breed started with two stallions brought from Turkey in the late 1800s. These stallions were bred with ranch horses in Nebraska and Colorado. Later, two important stallions, Patches #1 and Max #2, were born. All registered Colorado Rangers today can trace their family tree back to these two horses.

A rancher named Mike Ruby helped make the breed famous. He started the Colorado Ranger Horse Association in 1935. By 2005, over 6,000 Colorado Ranger horses were officially registered. These horses can be any solid color or have cool spotty patterns.

What Makes a Colorado Ranger Horse Special?

Colorado Ranger horses are known for their strong bodies and friendly personalities. They are also very athletic. This makes them great for many activities.

They usually stand between 14.2 to 16 hands (58 to 64 inches, 147 to 163 cm) hands tall. This is about 57 to 64 inches at the shoulder. They have a straight face, a long, strong neck, and a deep chest. Their shoulders and back are sloped, with a short back in between.

These horses are still used for their original job: working on ranches. They are also popular for Western riding and English riding shows. Many people enjoy riding them on trails too.

Colors and Registration Rules

Colorado Ranger horses can be almost any color. However, they cannot be pinto colored. Also, horses with American Paint Horse or draft horse or pony blood in their recent family history cannot be registered.

To be a purebred Colorado Ranger, a horse must trace its family tree back to Patches #1 or Max #2. These two stallions are the main ancestors of the breed.

Colorado Ranger horses can also be registered with the Appaloosa Horse Club. About 90% of them are registered with both groups. This means they meet the standards for both breeds.

The History of Colorado Ranger Horses

The story of the Colorado Ranger horse began with two special stallions. They were given to US president Ulysses S. Grant by the Turkish Sultan in 1878.

One horse was a gray Barb horse named Linden Tree. He was born in 1874. The other was a gray Arabian horse named Leopard, born in 1873. They arrived in Virginia in 1879.

These two stallions spent 14 years with a famous horse breeder named Randolph Huntington. In 1896, they were leased to General Colby in Nebraska. General Colby used them to breed many good ranch horses.

Later, ranchers in Colorado bought some of these horses. The mares were daughters of Linden Tree or Leopard. The stallion was a grandson of Leopard. These horses helped improve the ranch horses in Colorado.

How the Breed Grew in the 20th Century

The horses from General Colby's ranch became the first Colorado Ranger Horses. At first, breeders did not plan for spotted coats. But many horses born had spots, so breeders started to like this pattern.

Two other stallions also became very important. One was a spotted colt named Max, born in Colorado in 1918. The other was a Barb stallion named Spotte. He came from North Africa in 1918. Spotte added more Barb horse blood to the breed.

Mike Ruby, a horseman from the Colorado High Plains, loved these horses. He bought Max and Patches (a son of the original Colby Ranch stallion). Mike Ruby kept very detailed records of all his horses. These records became the first official family tree for the breed.

In 1934, Mike Ruby showed two of his stallions at the Denver Stock Show. People at the show called them "Colorado Rangers" because they were bred on the ranges of Colorado. The name "Rangerbreds" is still used today.

Saving the Breed and Forming the Association

During the terrible drought of the 1930s, Mike Ruby saved his best Ranger horses. He drove them over 300 miles (480 km) to find better grass. When the rains returned, he drove them back home.

After rebuilding his herd, Ruby would lease his Rangerbred horses to other ranchers. This helped spread the Colorado Ranger horses across the western United States. They also influenced other western breeds like the Quarter Horse and Appaloosa.

In 1935, Mike Ruby founded the Colorado Ranger Horse Association (CRHA). He was the president until he passed away in 1942. At first, the association only allowed 50 members. This meant many Ranger horses were registered as Appaloosas instead.

In 1964, the membership limit was removed. Since then, more horses with Ranger blood have been found and registered. The CRHA believes that many Appaloosas might have Colorado Ranger blood.

As of 2005, over 6,000 horses were registered with the CRHA. About 100 to 125 new horses are registered every year. While they started in the western US, Colorado Rangers are now found all over the country. You can also find them in Canada.