Salikan Stepper

Native origins

The Western Steppes of Salike are home to a breed of wild pony known for it's long flowing mane and unique gait. The Steppe Pony has roamed the vast shrubland since before The Great Quake and herds of thirty to forty are not an unusual sight to those who live and travel upon the steppes. Ranchers tame the studry ponies for use as light pack and cart animals, and their gentle natures make them excellent mounts for children. In the wild they display a unique high stepping trot when they are trying to impress or just having fun. It was this unusual gait which first caught the eye of Salikan horse breeders several hundred years ago and statred the process of interbreeding.

Selective breeding

The Steppe ponies were too short for normal riding by fully grown adults, however their unusual trot had attracted the eye of hose breeders and owners alike. Over the course of a hundred years various other breeds of horses were bred with the Steppe ponies in order to achieve a full sized horse which could dsplay the same gait. Eventually breeders settled on the Nysadan Warmblood as the perfect breed to achieve their aims. The Salikan Stepper, as they were named, was registered as a standard breed and soon they were in high demand.

A valuable resource

The Salikan Stepper has been a good source of income for Salikan horsebreeders for a couple centuries now. It has become a favourite of the wealthy when they are riding out for special occaisions, and also for the house guard of several nobel house within Kessemel. Since the Steppe pony can only be found on the western Steppes of Sailike, horsebreeders from the city are able breed the finest examples of this fine riding horse. There are some breeders outside of Salike who have managed to breed some good bloodlines, but the best undisputedly come from Salike.

Geographic Distribution

• The Western Steppes

Felitass Gradiner was the first person to suggest using the Nysadan warmblood as possible breeding stock with the Steppe Ponies. The daughter of a wealthy and highly respected horsebreeder, she developed her fathers keen eye for horsflesh, and showed a keen fascination in the pony's unusual gait.