New format and PDF file attached - based on member responses, both formats are wanted!

President's Letter

Thanksgiving. A Season of Gratitude. I have so much for which to be grateful this year! 

When I decided to evacuate the Marchador herd in July due to heavy smoke from a nearby forest fire, I posted on Facebook that I was going dark for the day; that I was moving 33 Marchadors to town to escape the <500 AQI. The smoke was so thick from a far-too-close wildfire that we could see about 200 yards. Someone commented on my post asking if we needed help. 

It is very hard for us to ask for help, but a quick factoring in my head of how many trips it was going to take to move all those horses made me reply, "Yes, please, if you're not busy."

I got into the project of bringing the horses up to the corrals and sorting out which horses could be in a trailer with which other horses. We gathered the mares and foals in one group, the yearlings and two year olds into another, the three & four year olds into yet another, and the adults, not counting the stallions into the last group. The two stallions would stay home for the time being until I had a secure place for them. 

By the time I was ready to start loading some horses, people with horse trailers started showing up. So many people with horse trailers arrived to help move the horses to safety that three trailers went home empty!  I still get a little teary when I remember all those people who just dropped everything and came to help us. 

As Marchador owners, we have the privilege to share our awesome breed with other horse lovers and with people who haven't ever even met a horse in real life. By helping us, a whole bunch of people had the opportunity to see what great horses these are! So many people said things like, "Wow! These horses are so calm!" "Can you believe how those foals loaded up??" "I can't wait to learn more about the Marchadors! I'm so IMPRESSED by how nice they are under stress!"

It was harrowing and crazy to have to move all those horses and they were away from the ranch for almost a week. The wildfire threatened us, but ultimately the incredible firefighters beat it. 

There were many, many times this year that I was overwhelmed with gratitude and most of those times were around these horses. 

Take a moment from your busy day and stroke your Marchador's soft coat. Give thanks that we get to share our world with these magnificent beings. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Tia Nelson, DVM 

USMMA President

August 30- Sept 1

Caminhos do Marchador @ Rancho Sr Jua, Bridgeton, NJ.  

Marchadors from Ranch Sr. Jua, Monarch Marchadors, and others on the east coast competed! Thanks to our hosts Rancho Sr Jua hosts Sebastiao DeOliveira, Jennyfer Homem and Monarch Marchador host Jean Allred. 

This ABCCMM Competition is designed to show off some of the best attributes of the

Marchador breed with 4 separate events -

- a distance ride similar to endurance with vet checks for soundness at the start and finish

- an arena course with obstacles similar to Working Equitation

- An gaiting competition in the arena

- Another trail ride, this time where the judge tries each horse for comfort and training.

This event is historic!

Read more about the event, the MMs and riders and see photos on our full article on the website.



January 29-31 ABCCMM Inspection Texas and Arizona

Early 2025, we are in Phoenix, Arizona and Corpus Christi, Texas with Dr. George Vilar.

More states and farms may be added too. This event is often open to the public.

There will be a foal inspection - PROVISIONAL. This inspection visit will be for Kadencia's foal Steele do Summerwind. There will also be a riding inspection - DEFINITIVE. Measurements, angles and riding take place for 2 stallions and 4 mares: Padawan do Summerwind, AZ; Paloma do Summerwind; Qupid do Summerwind, AZ, Olivia do Summerwind, TX and Paris do Summerwind, TX. Qyra do Summerwind is tentative, but will probably not be ready for this visit.

More information coming out as plans develop.

February 1-3

ABCCMM Themed Cavalgada Ride

The long ride (cavalgada) is a themed ride. Which means a ride made special by the theme - the date, the place, full moon or some cause.

We would like this to be an official ABCCMM event as well. Part of that is following their regulations, one of which is to have an official judge and the required number of horses participating.

More details about the ride in the next newsletter as plans are finalized.

Tentatively, we would like to hold a social event too and perhaps a training clinic this weekend.

SAVE THE DATES!!!

In Memory - Elba Cruzalta 1997-2024 by Lynn Kelley

We lost Elba Cruzalta in March. One of the original imported horses from Brazil, she was a special girl. Many people rode her to feel the great picada gait that felt like floating above the ground. She was healthy until the very end. It was a very sad day for everyone who had known her - or her offspring. Please take a moment to honor her and read her memorial - with her story and more photos!

Contributions from Jeff and Michelle Bosley, Carolina Peterson and Lynn Kelley.

Go Leo!! submitted by Connie Claire

A Marchador made it into the record books Mounted Archery in the US! Connie Claire competing with her Marchador gelding Leo (aka DaVinci do Summerwind) is ranked 7th in the U.S. On the Hunt course, they excel - just seconds behind Elizabeth Tinnan, the US #1.

Connie and her husband Doren own, operate, teach and run events at their facility Archer's Point, Dunellon, Florida. Connie owns 2 other MMs, both younger and hopefuls to follow in Leo's footsteps.

Breed to the Best submitted by Ronald Knaack

I met Lynn Kelley in 2015 at the PBR Finals in Las Vegas. She was showing some Mangalarga Marchadors to the public. I could tell from my first look they were a beautiful gaited breed and the rest is history. I became a breeder.

I searched America for the best mares I could find and purchase. I started with Crensa and Sabela. I then purchased some frozen semen from a champion stallion in Brazil from Lynn.

Talisma Kafe was my choice of stallions because I always believed “breed to the best and forget the rest.” My first colt was Apache do High Country and he was born in my lap. He grew up to be a good looking stallion, so I started showing him in California. He ended up winning a couple of grand championships which got the attention of a Marchador breeder in Germany. Apache made history the day his frozen semen was approved and shipped to the breeder in Germany. It had never been done before.

Just recently, the same German breeder decided to take another High Country Marchador yearling stud colt. We sent Bandit do High Country to Texas to be tested and shipped by plane to Germany. The Germans like my breeding program and are going to spread the word in Europe about the High Country Marchadors and their breeding program.

In 2024 we continued our breeding program by importing new frozen semen from Brazil, Jaguar Da Boa Terra. We will be hand-picking some of our mares for Jaguar and we have a small supply available for sale to anyone interested in improving their Marchadors with new lines.

Always remember when creating a new product, do the best so the next generation is better than the last. I consider us still in infancy of breeding Marchadors in North America. Now is the time to breed the basic products for an outstanding future product. 

Again, breed to the best and forget the rest.

Ronald and Nancy Knaack own and operate High Country Marchadors in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Working Equitation Invite! by Randy Gassett

My Marchador Nobre do Summerwind and I will be competing at this Arizona event. If anyone wants to come watch to learn more about a Marchador or about Working Equitation, this would be a great place to start.

It's the Arizona Working Equitation finals (AZWEC)!

AZWEC finals will be held December 6th through the 8th at Chaparrosa Ranch, 31316 N 152nd Street in Scottsdale AZ.  

This is a multi -day show 

Tentative Schedule:

Friday December 6th

8am to 1pm - Competitor move in and set up

2pm to 6pm - Dressage Trial All Levels 

Saturday December 7th

8am to 5pm Dressage continued

Ease of Handling (obstacles) all Levels 

4:30 to 6:30 Social and Level 1 awards

Sunday December 8th

8am to 3pm Speed Competition (obstacles)

3:30 to 4pmAwards

4pm to 6pm - Move out and clean up

Figure 1: Figure showing the different alleles reported in the new Gray Copy Number test.

There is new knowledge about the gray coat color based on the latest research. We will be updating our testing to reflect this knowledge.

As you likely know, the initial cause of graying in horses was reported as a 4.6 kilobase duplication in intron 6 of the Syntaxin 17 (STX17) gene. The new research study that we were involved in determined that in some horse’s gray is caused by the duplication (two copies), as previously published, but in other cases it is caused by a triplication (three copies).  The triplication is the most common allele across horse breeds.

You can find more information about this study here and we will have more information on our website when the test is launched.

The previous gray test reported alleles as N (non-gray) or G (gray). The new alleles are defined as G2 (duplication) or G3 (triplication), see Figure 1.  Because horses have two copies of every chromosome, they can technically have two, three, four, five, or six copies of this DNA region. Horses with the G3 allele gray at a faster rate and have a higher incidence of melanoma than those with the G2 allele.

To keep our testing consistent with the science we will soon be discontinuing our previous Gray test and will be replacing it our Gray Copy Number test to report the copy number detected and when resolvable which alleles are present. What I mean by when resolvable, horses with 4 copies could be N/G3 or G2/G2 and at this time the technology doesn’t allow us to determine this for every case.

Your contract price for the Grey Copy Number test will be $45 if you choose to add it to your contract. 

New results will be:

N/N = "Does not have the duplication or triplication that causes gray. The horse will not gray. The N allele is also known as G1."

N/G2 = "One copy of the duplication (G2) associated with slow graying and low incidence of melanoma. Horse will gray."

G2/G3 = "One copy of the triplication (G3) and one copy of the duplication (G2). G3 is associated with fast graying and high incidence of melanoma. Horse will gray."

G3/G3 = "Two copies of the triplication (G3). G3 is associated with fast graying and high incidence of melanoma. Horse will gray."

4 copies = (N/G3 or G2/G2)= "Unresolvable-four copies detected. The horse either has one copy of the triplication (G3) OR two copies of the duplication (G2). Horse will gray."

This new test will be available as an additional test for the same price ($45) for samples on file, including those that were previously tested for the gray test that will be discontinued.

The gray test that is now a part of our coat color panels will still remain as a presence/absence test and this test will also be available to order on it is own for a contracted rate of $40

• present which means a grey allele was detected and horse will turn gray or
• absent in which neither of the gray alleles were detected and therefore the horse will not turn gray.

Our target date to launch the test is November 7^th.   If this changes I will let you know.

Rebecca Bellone, Ph.D.

Director, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory

Professor, Department of Population Health and Reproduction

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

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