The Missouri Fox Trotting Horse was developed because early Ozark Mountain settlers needed a special horse that was able to handle the rocky, hazardous terrain that they called home. Innovative Ozark horseman developed the ultimate, sure-footed, smooth-riding saddle horse from the laterally gaited breeds such as the American Saddle Horse, Standardbred, and Tennessee Walking Horse, and crossed them with good, hard-trotting breeds such as the Morgan, Thoroughbred and Arabian horse breeds. These efforts resulted in an extremely comfortable, intelligent, and beautiful horse that was hardy enough for the cattle rancher, yet stylish enough to ride to town with pride. This easy, ground-covering gait called the Fox Trot has made them a favorite mount of the U.S. Forest Service, field trail competitors and long distance trail riding. The Fox Trot is basically a diagonal gait like the trot, but the horse appears to walk with his front legs and trot with his hind legs. Because of the back feet"s sliding action, rather than the hard step of other breeds, the rider experiences very little jarring action and is quite comfortable to sit for long periods of time without posting or standing in the saddle. Remarkably, this breed has this gait naturally with no special shoeing or training. In 1948, The Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association was formed to preserve this true all-American horse and promote the breed s popularity. Today, there are more than 47,000 registered Fox Trotting Horses found across the United States, Canada and many foreign countries. As pleasure riding continues its rise in popularity, so does the Missouri Fox Trotter.