The Camarillo White Horse is an American breed known for its iconic dominant-white coat. It is named after the Camarillo family that developed it, and is the official horse of the town of Camarillo. It is also one of the only two horse breeds that come solely in dominant white (the other breed being the American White Horse.)

Sultan, Adolfo, and the birth of the Camarillo White:
The foundation sire of the Camarillo White Horse is a dominant-white Spanish Mustang called Sultan. He was bought by the Californian breeder Adolfo Camarillo, who recognized the possibility to use the stallion to breed white horses. His endeavor succeeded, and he managed to create a small herd of white horses became known as Camarillo White Horses.

Starting from the 1930s, Camarillo Whites were taken to participate in various parades in California, and the breed became famous. The Camarillo family kept and managed their herd in their farm, until 1987 when Adolfo's daughter, Carmen, passed away, and the horses were auctioned to various breeders.

Establishing the Camarillo breed:
The lack of an appropriate breeding program led to a decrease in the numbers of Camarillo White Horses. In order to save the breed from extinction, a couple of breeders located and bought some of the horses that belonged to the original Camarillo herd, and started to breed them.

In 1992, the breeders established the Camarillo White Horse Association to ensure the preservation of this breed. In order to avoid too much inbreeding, they also bought some Andalusians, Standardbreds, and more recently, Morgans and Peruvian Pasos, which they crossed to their Camarillo Whites.

The Camarillo White Horse today:
Today, the breed still remains rare, with only 17 Camarillo White Horses existing in 2020: 16 in California, and one in Oregon. Just like their ancestors, they are still used in parades. When they are not parading, these all-around horses are used for a variety of disciplines.

Interestingly, some Camarillo White Horses are gaited although it is rare.

The secret behind the Camarillo's white coat:
Camarillo Whites carry a unique dominant mutation in the KIT gene, which is called W4. This mutation prevents the development of melanocytes, which are the skin cells that generate the skin's pigment (color.) This results in a pink skin (the skin itself is colorless, the pink color is derived from the blood vessels underneath it,) and white hairs.

Similar to other dominant-white mutations, two copies of the W4 mutation are lethal for embryos. This means that all Camarillo White Horses are heterozygous for W4.

Breeding and the Non-white Camarillo:
Because Camarillo Whites are heterozygous for W4, crossing them together can result in a non-white (ww) foal. In order to avoid the lethality of this mutation, many breeders prefer to cross their white horses with no-white ones.

Non-white foals that are born out of those crosses are registered in a sub-registry for non-white Camarillo horses, and can serve as breeding stock for breeding white Camarillo Horses. While non-white Camarillo Horses are allowed to be crossed with white Camarillos, they are not allowed to be crossed with non-white Camarillos.

Conformation:
There is no set conformation standard for the Camarillo White Horse, but there are plenty of official pictures of those horses. In Horse Isle, we based the conformation of the Camarillo White Horse on those pictures.

Camarillo White Horses have a light head with a straight profile, large nostrils, and upright ears. The neck is long and connects to prominent withers. The croup has a steep slope, and the overall frame of the body is rectangular.

The mane is usually short or medium in length, although in rarer cases it can grow long. The tail, however, is usually long and can grow thick.

Performance metrics:
The following are the: range, average, (SD), and MOE of performance metrics of ordered Camarillo White Horses in Horse Isle (not bred ones). In rare cases, horses might have metrics outside of the range. Breeders can produce horses that are beyond this range.

Speed: 16.0-17.2, 16.5 (0.3), 0.05.
Sprint: 52-65, 58 (3), 0.58.

Accel: 0.85-1.04, 0.94 (0.05), 0.01.
Decel: 0.94-1.09, 1.02 (0.03), 0.01.

Jump: 5.19-5.46, 5.31 (0.05), 0.01.
Pull: 2.07-2.65, 2.38 (0.13), 0.03.

Turning: 49.39-63.46, 56.30 (3.06), 0.6.
Reverse: 2.6-3.1, 2.9 (0.1), 0.02.

Stamina: 50.46-54.63, 52.43 (0.84), 0.16.
Reaction: 0.66-0.77, 0.72 (0.03), 0.00.

Coats & Height:
Coat: always dominant white.

Height: 15.1hh to 16.1hh.