SORRAIA MUSTANG STUDBOOK
	The SORRAIA MUSTANG STUDBOOK (SMS) has been established to record available data of all Sorraia-type mustangs, keep track of these horses, and encourage selective breeding for this type, as a means to help preserve the subspecies. The SMS does not rival any other mustang registry, and does register horses strictly on conformation, regardless of the BLM Herd Management Areas they were captured in, or other mustang registries they may have already been registered with. At this point, free registration is available and consists of data-recording only; no papers issued. Issueing of registration certificates optional, at $25.-per horse. If you are a mustang owner and feel your horse(s) may qualify, please write to the SMS, sending in 5 color photographs: 1 direct sideview from each side, 1 front view, 1 headshot directly from one side (if necessary, take forelock out of the way to ensure clear view of profile), at least 1 of the photos must show dorsal stripe. Send also BLM number, BLM Herd Management Area incl. state (or registration number of other mustang registry, if the horse does not have a BLM-number), sex, birth date, height, name and address of owner. Should the horse have a white marking not recognizable in the photos, please specify, or include close-up photo. The SMS provides the following divisions for mustangs showing Sorraia characteristics: Permanent, Foundation, and Tentative. Permanent is reserved for mustangs which absolutely resemble the Sorraia horse in color and conformation; Foundation status is for horses which resemble the Sorraia, but lack in a minor detail, such as a small white marking, or a less than ideal profile; Tentative is for those individuals which fall short significantly in one way or another, but can still be expected to make a valuable contribution (i. e. producing horses eligible for Foundation status) because they possess many of the characteristics. Horses are assessed based on conformation, color, bloodlines, and mtDNA-typing.
	Send your application to:        SORRAIA MUSTANG STUDBOOK    Othmaringhausen    58553 Halver    Germany
	SORRAIA CHARACTERISTICS SMS STANDARD OF PERFECTION
	The purpose of the Sorraia Mustang Studbook is the conservation of those special individuals among America's mustangs which represent in type the indigenous wild horse of southern Iberia, today known as Sorraia horse. Therefore, the Standard of Perfection, and any evaluation of the phenotype of Sorraia Mustangs, must be based solely on the typical conformation, color, and other characteristics of the Sorraia horse: Conformation General: Refined, not coarse or heavy-boned. A horse of long lines and built "uphill". Size: Approx. 14 to 14,3 hands. Head: Profile more or less convex – a curved line from poll to nostrils without any indentations. Forehead usually somewhat domed and fairly narrow. Head narrow from front and side view. Face rather long. Fairly small and refined muzzle. Ears of medium length or long, only slightly curved. Eyes set rather high – very large, protruding eyes are atypical. Neck: Of good length, with a clean throatlatch. Slim in individuals of normal condition, crested in fat individuals. Withers: Prominent and long, reaching far into the back; typically higher than the rear end. Back: Straight; of medium length; back bone visible in individuals of rather lean condition. Chest: Narrow from a front view, deep from a side view. Barrel: Narrow. Hip/Rump: Rafter-shaped (front or hind view). Hip of medium length, sloping but not dropping. Medium tail set. Legs: Long, with round, fairly long cannon bones and long pasterns. Hooves are of medium size with tendency toward mule-footedness. Very little, if any, fetlock hair.    Muscling: Long and smooth. Color Always regular dun or grulla (no red dun), typically a rather light shade. Face/muzzle dark, and dark around the eyes. A mealy mouth is not acceptable. Ears are outlined black in front and back, with whitish rim; tipped black on backside, sometimes also striped on backside. Fawn-colored tuft inside ear. Bi-colored mane and tail = the black middle part is fringed by light-colored, often almost white, hair. A dorsal stripe must be present; cobwebbing on forehead, zebra stripes on legs, neck stripes, shoulder stripes, and fishbone markings on the back are all desirable, although not always present. White markings are atypical and undesirable. Note: Mares of different color, but showing all the other characteristics of the Sorraia, may still be eligible for the Tentative division. Haircoat Finer in texture than northern primitive horses. The forelock is sometimes sparse. The hair stroke creates the appearance of stripes ("barring") on neck/chest. Newborn foals can have a zebra-like pattern all over, created by the directions of the hair. Action		These are drawings by Ruy d'Andrade of early Sorraias, horses that he has known Sorraia mare in Portugal with typical conformation Photo © Oelke
			The typical rafter hip of the Sorraia, visible in animals of medium and poor condition Photo © Oelke
	Free-moving, ground-covering, long-strided walk, trot and gallop, usually with noticeable knee action. At the walk, the hind feet overreach the front feet. Great flexibility in neck, spine, and legs. A tendency to be gaited is not uncommon. Even when excited, the tail is raised only little; these horses usually do not raise their tails up perpendicularly, let alone laying them over their rump when excited, like Arabians tend to do. Dun Sorraia mare in fat condition Photo © Oelke		Grullo Sorraia stallion in the wintertime Photo © Oelke
	FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
	Some claim the SMS to be just a color registry. Is that true? Nothing could be further from the truth. While it is correct that Sorraias come in regular dun and grulla only (no red duns), the color is only one characteristic that has to be met. Sorraias are of a unique conformation, so for SMS registration, conformation is at least as important as is color. The way a horse moves is also a criteria, as is how it holds its tail. Is it true that Sorraias originally came in all colors and have been selectively bred to be duns and grullas? We have to rely here on the work of DR. RUY D'ANDRADE, who had a sterling reputation as a scientist. He was the one who discovered the Sorraia in 1920, he was the one who selected those individuals to which all of today's Sorraias go back. According to him, the color of the Sorraias is dun or grulla. He had no intention to create a color breed, or any new breed; his intention was to preserve the Sorraia as a remnant of a truly wild horse population, and the primitive ancestor of the Andalusian/Lusitano horse. Also, it could be proved through DNA tests that the horses he selected actually have a unique status. Chroniclers many centuries before d'Andrade have already and always described the Iberian wild horse as either grulla or dun. Therefore, no – Sorraias never came in all colors. Theirs is the color of the South Iberian wild horse: dun or grulla. Is it the position of the SMS that there are still mustangs around which are pure Sorraia? No. After centuries of unrestricted interbreeding in the wild, it would be unresonable to assume for any mustangs to be pure this or that. However, mustangs of Sorraia phenotype aren't like that by chance. The DNA study proved the existence of Sorraia blood among the mustangs, and the fact that many of the Sorraia-type mustangs "breed true", i. e. pass on reliably their characteristics, proves that they aren't just freaks, i. e. similar in phenotype by some chance. They actually must also be similar in genotype. Here are some reasons why we still have Sorraia-type mustangs: The natural qualities of the Sorraia horses equipped them to survive better in a wild state on the American continent than horses of other origins, at least as far as prairie, semi-desert, and desert regions are concerned – survival of the fittest. Another reason is that animals of a certain kind, especially primitive ones, will instinctively prefer partners of the same kind to mate with if they have a choice. The vast and remote regions of the American West provided an environment for wild horses that allowed for groups of certain kinds to more or less stay together. This held true until recent times: When the BLM started to take stock and round up the wild horses in their efforts to manage the public lands, they found herds, or bands, of horses similar in type and even in color. Also, the primitive genes may somehow be stronger, because they are Mother Nature's own recipe. Remnant populations of wild animals show a surprising ability to retain their type and color in spite of interbreeding pressure by surrounding domestic animals of the same species. That's why populations of mustangs of a primitive type could have retained their characteristics in spite of some of their interbreeding with other mustangs – there remained a nucleus of horses which still possessed most or all of the characteristics. By starting breeding programs based on mating Sorraia-type mustangs to Sorraia-type mustangs, the Sorraia genotype will be strengthened, and other genes will be bred out. Thus, a population of Sorraia Mustangs can be revitalized, consisting of horses of good Sorraia phenotype, and genotype. Is the Sorraia-type mustang the only true Spanish mustang, or Spanish type, like some say it is? The typical Sorraia horse differs in type from the domestic Iberian breeds, like the Andalusian and the Lusitano. The latter are man-made breeds and as such combine traits of several types of horses, and have been selected toward a certain man-made ideal. However, many still show Sorraia characteristics. It is only logical though that a mustang which looks like an Andalusian must be called a Spanish type. It so happens though that certain characteristics of the Sorraia have been declared by some people as non-Spanish, like the narrow head, ears that are not hooked, the narrow chest, the medium-length back, the tail that is not set particularly low. It is irresponsible to declare the most original and primitive Iberian horse to be of non-Spanish type. With all the discussions about what Spanish type is, and all the arguments one way or another, the Sorraia's conformation type provides an objective parameter, a breeding goal, a standard of perfection not formulated by man, but determined by Mother Nature – by Iberia's natural environment.
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