Amaretto Breedables Customer Connection

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a species of deer native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. This includes both sedentary and migratory populations. Herd size varies greatly in different geographic regions. The Taimyr herd of migrating Siberian tundra reindeer in Russia is the largest wild reindeer herd in the world, varying between 400,000 and 1,000,000. What was once the second largest herd is the migratory boreal woodland caribou George River herd in Canada, with former variations between 28,000 and 385,000.

Male and female reindeer can grow antlers annually, although the proportion of females that grow antlers varies greatly between population and season. Antlers are typically larger on males. In late autumn or early winter after the rut, male reindeer lose their antlers, growing a new pair the next summer with a larger rack than the previous year. Female reindeer keep their antlers until they calve. In the Scandinavian and Arctic Circle populations, old males’ antlers fall off in late December, young males’ fall off in the early spring and females’ fall off in the summer. In traditional Christmas legend, Santa Claus’s reindeer pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to good children on Christmas Eve. So based on the timing of when the male antlers fall off, is it possible that ALL of Santa’s reindeer are actually female? What about Rudolph? A possible answer…while most male reindeer shed their antlers before Christmastime, the antlers of castrated male reindeer fall off at a different time. So, Santa’s reindeer could be female or castrated males. Watches as the guys cringe a little LOL.

In 2010. the very first year of Amaretto Horses, they released the first Christmas LEs, which included the Reindeer Horse. These horses could be born with any combination of traits from version 1.3 and below. The coats and eyes on these could NOT pass.

These LEs proved so popular that in 2013 Amaretto brought them back in the 2010 Retro Limited Editions. For 24 hours starting December 20th Amaretto Retro Edition 2010 & 2011 Throwback Packs were sold. The Reindeer eyes on these COULD pass. What made these even more special were the hidden surprises they held. By breeding any of that year’s holiday horses (2012, Retro 2011 or Retro 2010) to each other you could unlock these hidden surprises, red, green, pink, or blue bridles.

Then in 2016, we got an actual reindeer!.The 2016 Christmas LEs included Santa’s Reindeer, which had the Reindeer Games eye!. The coat on this LE did not pass, but the eye COULD pass. They were also hiding something surprising, the Overo Berry coat!

These LEs are so unique, I bet there are still long time breeders out there holding onto them. Maybe if you have been good, you can see them pulling Santa’s sleigh. Merry Christmas and Happy Breeding!