Falabella Breeders & Owners Society

The Falabella Breeder's Digest:

The American Livestock Breed Conservancy

www.albc-usa.org

The American Livestock Breed Conservancy known as the ALBC is a non-profit organization established in 1977, dedicated to the conservation and promotion of breeds of cattle, goats, horses, pigs, sheep and poultry now threatened with extinction.

The ALBC publishes an annual Breeders Directory listing members who are raising conservancy breeds of livestock and poultry. The membership is working together and shares a common interest in conserving these valuable breeds of animals for the future. For further information on the ALBC, please visit the website listed above.

Falabella Breeders have long been aware that the Pure Falabella Miniature Horse is rare. There are less than 1,000 Pure Falabellas registered FMHA, compared to the over 200,000 American Miniatures. Many Falabellas have been crossbred with Shetlands and American Miniatures, and if preservation is not done to save the pure horses, this unique breed and its history will be lost.

At our AGM the membership voted to apply to the ALBC to have the Falabella Breed officially accepted as a Rare Breed. A census report is enclosed to determine the number of Falabellas being used for breeding. The ALBC will be reviewing the Falabella in January or February of 2003.

ALBC Categories:

Critical: Fewer than 200 annual North American registrations and estimated fewer than 2000 global population.
Rare: Fewer than 1000 annual North American registrations and estimated fewer than 5,000 global population.
Watch: Fewer than 2500 annual North American registrations and estimated fewer than 10,000 global population. Also included are breeds with genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited geographic distribution.
Study: Breeds of genetic interest but either lack definition or lack genetic or historic documentation.
Recovering: Breeds which were once listed in one of the other categories and have exceeded the Watch category numbers but are still recovering.

ALBC Criteria:

The breed must be true genetic breed. The Falabella is a true bloodline breed. All horses must be able to trace their ancestry back to the Falabella Ranch in Argentina.
The breed must have an established breeding population in North America since 1925 or imported since 1950. The first Falabellas were imported by the Regina Winery of California in the 1960s.
The breed must have at least three breeding lines in North America . Three popular breeding lines are La Ruina, Chianti, and Boones HFS Macho to name a few.
The breed must have at least 20 breeding females in North America. The Society is currently conducting a Census Report to determine how many Pure Falabella Breeding mares exist between the ages of 3 and 20.
The breeders must be located in at least five different locations in North America. There are dedicated Falabella breeders located in Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Washington, New York, USA, and Ontario Canada.
There must be an Association of Breeders. A Breeders Association was established in 2000 known as the Falabella Breeders and Owners Society, for the purpose of promoting and preserving the Falabella.

A list of other horse breeds recognized by the ALBC is listed below for your interest.

Critical	Rare	Watch	Study	Recovering
Akhal-Teke American Cream Caspian Cleveland Bay Exmoor Florida Cracker Mountain Pleasure Spanish Mustang Spanish Barb Suffolk	Canadian Dartmoor Hackney Horse Lipizzan Rocky Mountain	Clydesdale Friesian Gotland Shire	Dales	Belgian Percheon