cassie

SMF Cast a Spell on Me "Cassie" is a 2008 bay leopard purebred Appaloosa filly. Everyone who sees her is blown away by her, horse people and non horse people alike. Friendly, inquisitive, gentle, sweet, intelligent, and playful are perfect words for her - and that's just the brains! Cassie also has fantastic conformation, a stunning head, beautiful movement that ranges from great suspension and animation to smooth as silk, and a pattern that just won't quit. Cassie is easy gaited, performing mostly a running walk but also a fox trot on occasion, making her a six speed model when you count the gallop!

Her sire is our stallion NorthStar Bright Sun, and her dam is NorthStar Black Magic an easy gaited black noncharacteristic Appaloosa mare owned by Kyle and Sue Magnuson of NorthStar Appaloosas. Click here for Cassie's pedigree.

The genetics of it all....

Cassie has not been tested yet for her colors, but since her sire is homozygous for agouti/bay gene (tested A/A) and her dam is not a carrier of agouti (black horses are all a/a), we know that Cassie A/a. Since Cassie's sire is heterozygous for extension/black (E/e) and her dam is E/e, Cassie could be either homozygous or heterozygous (E/E or E/e) for extension and we won't know until she's tested or has a substantial production record. She will be able to produce both black and bay foals and possibly chestnuts too.By the presence of all those spots, we know that Cassie is definitely a carrier of the leopard pattern gene and also heterozygous for the leopard complex gene, the gene that gives Appaloosa characteristics.

We aren't a competitive family, so our horse activities are simply what give us pleasure - working with them, teaching them new things, trail riding, and whatever else we decide we want to do from the back of a horse. Our small children already are plotting on where they want to ride Cassie, and she might end up being a 4H horse at some point. In the meantime, I can't help but cheer every time I work with this filly, as she is exactly what I want to produce in my program - a whole package horse of brains, beauty, performance, and potential. I can't help but think that I can do any activity I want with her, and she will always succeed.