Cotham Dare was a horse that could fox trot! No, not a trick horse but one of the first of a new breed – the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed. But he was born in the Jackson Purchase!
He was bred by N. D. Cotham of Mayfield, Kentucky and was born on May 9, 1941. Although he was a registered American Saddle Bred stallion, a breed created by horsemen in Kentucky, when he was taken to Missouri, he was also registered in the Fox Trot association on conformation and gaits in 1948. His registration papers shows he was the great-great-great-grandson of the immortal Black Squirrel, an American Saddle Bred stallion.
Fox Trotters have an “extra” gait, like the Tennessee Walking Horse and the American Saddle Bred, called a “fox trot”. This specific “fox trot” is a four beat gait in which the front end of the horse appears to be walking and the back end trotting. Because at least one foot of the horse is on the ground at all times during the gait, it produces a smooth ride without any bouncing of the rider.
A dark red sorrel with a very faint star (“had the prettiest head”) and two white hind feet, small – a little over 15 hands, short back, lean neck, slanting shoulders, Cotham Dare “took the eyes of many people wherever he went.” Well mannered, strong and with a cool head, he was ridden easily by women in parades and shows.
Bred to local mares, he was a potent stud and became one of the foundation sires of the Fox Trotting Breed. The Dare line was known for its conformation, good disposition, beauty and natural fox trot. Cotham Dare’s fox trot was also described in those days as “cap tracing”. Cap tracking is when the horse’s back hooves disfigure (step in) their front track whenever they foxtrotted giving the rider a very smooth ride.
His owner of 7 years described him thus: “His disposition, I could talk from now until doomsday and I couldn’t tell you how good his disposition was and how smart he was. We had him in a five or six acre patch and I would put him up every night. One night he started to the pond and he stopped to look at me. I saw he had started to get a drink, so I said, “Okey, go ahead and get a drink then come on”. That’s exactly what he did. It made you think he understood exactly what you said to him.”
Cotham Dare died in 1954 in Missouri. His picture and story are in the Museum of the Missouri Fox Trotting Breed Association in Ava, Missouri and on the Internet.
(Information for this posting taken from the official registration papers of Cotham Dare of both the American Saddle Horse Breeders’ Association and the Missouri Fox Trotting Breed Association, from the book, Fox Trot Trackings, by Nadine I. Moeller (Light Graphics, June 1986), Internet at www.allbreedpedigree.com/cotham+dare and www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Fox_Trotter)
