The American Sulphur Horse Association was formed in 2003 to protect, promote, preserve and educate about the rare and beautiful Spanish American or Iberian American Sulphur Horse. The Association was formed when it was noted among many Sulphur horse lovers, there wasn't a registry that wanted to preserve the Iberian American Sulphur Horse. These horses lived, high in the Utah Mountains, breeders, preservationists and Sulphur horse fanciers, realized that the Spanish Sulphur Horse Herd are the most pure Ancient Spanish of all the wild horses - undiluted by modern domestic horse genes. No one disputes the rarity and uniqueness of the Sulphur horses or that they have genetically tested to belong within the Colonial Spanish breed group, an incredible discovery after hundreds of years since the Spanish Conquistadors brought them to our shores.
Expert after expert have reconfirmed just how special and irreplaceable the Sulphur horses are. Sadly some breeders realized that non-Spanish horses can wander into the Sulphur HMA and were being registered as "Sulphur horses". These facts caused great concern with breeders who saw the captive gene pool no longer being a reliable way to protect the Spanish horses. Some of the Sulphur horses being bred and registered in captivity were degrading into very obvious non-Spanish types.
This spurred a small group of people passionate about saving the Sulphur horses to take action and in 2003, ASHA with it's standard and decided to register only Spanish type horse, was born. They soon saw a huge need to start an Association to preserve, promote and protect these rare and beautiful animals before it was too late.
ASHA is doing what all of the experts told us to do a long time ago with these horses. That is to have a breed standard and breed for type, temperament and conformation. With the help of Dr. Gus Cothran from the Texas A&M, Equine Blood typing and Genetics, ASHA can now also offer owners of registered Spanish American Sulphur Horses that opportunity to test their Sulphur horse to see if their horse carries the Iberian/Barb markers. Genetics
The following pages will have information on the Association, the Registry and what the American Sulphur Horse Association's goals are in preserving, promoting, protecting and educating people about the Spanish/Iberian American Sulphur Horse.
The Association:
The American Sulphur Horse Association (ASHA) is a non-profit organization that exists to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the Spanish/Iberian American Sulphur horse, in cooperation with Utah's Cedar City Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to enhance the wild herds of Iberian mustangs which currently inhabit the Mountain Home Sulphur Herd Management Area. Founded in 2003, ASHA was formed to support the true Spanish American Sulphur horse breed.
ASHA is a full-service breed Association and Registry for owners of Spanish American Sulphur and Half- Spanish American Sulphur horses. ASHA looks forward to welcoming new members and their horses into the ASHA Sulphur registry! ASHA is comprised of 5 departments that strive to accomplish the mission; Administration, Membership, Marketing, Publications and Registry.
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