The breed
The foals are the prize.
We breed certified Rocky Mountain Horses on SE 37th Road in Bushnell, between Lakeland and Ocala. Dolan Ranch was established in 2021. I bought my first of the breed in 2016. We breed for larger horses 15 hands and up, with a low daisy-cutter gait and a puppydog husband-horse look with a temperament a family can love.
These horses grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky. Old Tobe, Sam Tuttle's stallion, set the type we still love, and most horses in the book still carry him. In 1986 the association opened the registry so that easy gait, that kind eye, and that willing mind would stay the breed.
The gait
The breed standard asks for a natural lateral amble: four hoofbeats in an even rhythm, started by a hind leg, with little knee or hock action. The speed can change. The rhythm does not. You sit a glide instead of a bounce, so a long day still ends with a horse you want to get back on tomorrow.
The mind
The gentle mind is part of the breed, not a lucky extra. The association's own definition, the one filed for the breed name, is a horse of medium height, with a broad chest, an ambling four-beat gait, a gentle temperament, and a solid color. One horse can pack the trails, mind his manners at the gate, and be the horse a child or a brand-new rider trusts.
The look
The picture most people know is a chocolate horse with a flaxen mane and tail, the silver gene on a black coat. Bay, black, buckskin, and other solid colors are in the standard too. White stays modest: none above the knee or hock, and only a limited marking on the face. Height runs from 14 to 16 hands. We breed toward the bigger, upstanding end of that range, the husband-horse look with a low daisy-cutter way of going.
The numbers
The Livestock Conservancy's 2026 Conservation Priority List places the Rocky Mountain Horse in its Threatened group. That group is for breeds with fewer than 1,000 U.S. registrations a year and an estimated world population under 5,000. The RMHA database held more than 25,000 registered horses as of August 2019, counting every entry since 1986, including horses no longer living. The horses alive and breeding are the scarce ones. Certification keeps the type honest: a horse has to show the gait, the build, and the mind before it is accepted as breeding stock.
Samson is the heart of the barn, a silver bay from 2009 with the old names we are proud of: Sewell's Sam, Maple's Squirrel, Yankee (Ragtime), and Broken Bone's Sam's Son. He stands here for live cover and frozen semen, a limited book, and only non-silver mares. Beside him are Latte, BB, Val, and Lacey.
Silver bay. Certified. Tested EE Aa ZZ. 15.2 hands on the stud list. Our foundation sire.
Stud record and breedFee, methods, mare care, and the association's note on his bloodlines, written out beside the link to rmhorse.com.
Open the stud entry
Buckskin, 15.2 hands. Certified 2014. Inbreeding 3.52%. Dam of Milton and Samsons Silver Mocha. Foal due in March.
Breed and foals
Black, 15.1 hands. Foaled 2020, certified 2023. Inbreeding 14.41%. Ours on the registry. Foal due in February.
BreedGrullo, 14.2 hands. Foaled 2012. Dam of Firefox. She is with us. Foal due in January.
BreedBlack, 15.0 hands. Foaled 2020, certified 2024. Inbreeding 6.58%. Foal due in October.
BreedMilton is a silver buckskin, cream and silver together, and he is in Kentucky at Longhorn Valley Farm (LHVF) getting his training and his show miles. We foaled him here. He is still young for certification, and that is exactly where he should be.
Foaled here 8 October 2024. Inbreeding 9.67%. Now at Longhorn Valley Farm (LHVF) in Kentucky for training and show experience.
His breed
Cream from Starbucks Latte and silver from Samson. That pairing is what makes a silver buckskin. Latte's other Samson son, Samsons Silver Mocha, barn name King, is with his new owner, Margaret Selby.
Latte's recordFour foals are on the way, and they are the prize. Val in January, BB in February, Latte in March, and Lacey in October. We will name the sires when we are ready to.
These are Samson foals who grew up here and now live with families who love them. The links are for the breed record, not a sales list.
Silver bay out of RVF's Layla. Foaled 25 February 2025. Rehomed with Ann Simonsen. The public registry still lists us until the transfer posts.
His record
Barn name King. Silver bay out of Starbucks Latte. Foaled 1 June 2022. Silver Z/N. Now recorded to Margaret Selby.
Where he wentFirefox is here only because he is an international champion and Samson's son. We did not foal him here. David Shewmaker foaled him in Kentucky on 2 May 2016, a silver dun out of DJ's Velvet. Claudia Depew stands him. His 2025 RMHA stud listing records three Country Trail Pleasure titles: International Grand Champion, International Stallions Champion, and High Point Champion. His dam, Val, is with us now.
The stud page says Samson has sired more than 25 foals nationwide. The full list lives on the RMHA offspring page.
2026 is the Rocky Mountain Horse Association's 40th year. The International that year was the 38th annual show, September 2 through 5 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Milton was in Kentucky with Longhorn Valley Farm (LHVF) for training and show experience. The articles and the session videos are on the show page.
More of the barn will land in this gallery as we add pictures. Until then, Facebook is where the day-to-day life of the horses is.
Photographs of the barn will be added here.