The Choctaw Horse is a horse breed

Horse breed

Horse breed is a broad term with no clear consensus as to definition, but most commonly refers to selectively bred populations of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a very broad sense to define landrace animals, or...

 from the state of Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

 in the United States that was originally used by the Choctaw

Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...

 tribe of Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

. To the Choctaw, this particular breed of horse was symbolic of wealth, glory, honor, and prestige. They were also used for barter

Barter

Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...

. This breed is rare.

Characteristics

They range in height from high and come in all colors

Equine coat color

Horses exhibit a diverse array of coat colors and distinctive markings. A specialized vocabulary has evolved to describe them.While most horses remain the same color throughout life, a few, over the course of several years, will develop a different coat color from that with which they were born...

, although pinto patterns

Pinto horse

A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. The distinction between "pinto" and "solid" can be tenuous, as so-called "solid" horses frequently have areas of white hair. Various cultures throughout history appear to have selectively bred for pinto...

 are the most common. They closely resemble Mustang

Mustang (horse)

A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...

s. They are stocky, strong, and have great stamina. Their heads have a straight profile. They have pleatiful manes and tails.

Uses

They are very "cowy" horses, meaning that they have great cow sense and excel when working with cattle. They are smart, energetic horses and are strong and sturdy enough to be pack horses. They are very agile, making them suitable for the faster western events

Western riding

Western riding is a style of horseback riding which evolved from the ranching and warfare traditions brought to the Americas by the Spanish Conquistadors, and both equipment and riding style evolved to meet the working needs of the cowboy in the American West...

.