Here are some of the great horses of the past that are in our horses pedigrees.
El Alazan Viejo. It translates as “the old sorrel.” The stallion without an official name was the cornerstone of the King Ranch’s breeding program.
The stallion matured to 14.3 hands and possessed a wonderful balance, conformation and temperament. Kleberg soon discovered that Old Sorrel was a quick, natural cow horse, and said, “(The stallion) was the best cow horse I ever rode.”
Peter McCue had many grandsons and granddaughters, but none ever did more for the Quarter Horse breed than old Midnight.
Midnight got his name because he was so black as a foal. He died almost pure white, as is common for gray horses. As a mature horse he stood 14-2 and weighed 1,150 pounds
Walter Merrick bought his last horse colt and called him Midnight, Jr. With him he won sixteen straight match races. Midnight, Jr., was out of a Billy the Tough mare.
The easiest way to find out if you had a fast horse was to run it against Grey Badger II. The gray machine seldom lost and was the gauge against which the fastest horses at 220 yards were tried.
Born on May 5, 1941, on Walter Merrick’s Oklahoma ranch, Grey Badger II was sired by Midnight Jr and out of Grey Annie by Billy The Tough. The gray colt traced twice to Billy The Tough, which explained his playful antics when it came time to be saddled. Grey Badger II bucked off Merrick and a few of his family members before he was considered broke enough to race.
Sold in 1945 to Oscar Cox and Willie Shrum, Grey Badger II continued racing for several more years, even racing against his own get. One such foal was the classy Badger’s Grey Lady, who set five track records and won 26 of her 36 starts. Other foals produced by the tough, gray stallion were AQHA Champion Wyoming Badger, AQHA Champion Figa Hancock and Grey Badger III. Two daughters of Grey Badger III produced Two Eyed Jack and Peppy San Badger.
A 1945 sorrel stallion by Nick Shoemaker out of Hired Girl by Cowboy, Skipper W was bred and owned throughout his life by H.J. “Hank” Wiescamp.
Skipper W grew into a well-proportioned stallion standing about 15 hands and weighing 1,300 pounds, with speed and athleticism that he still passes on.
Skipper W sired 132 foals that were registered with AQHA, an untold number of other horses in other registries and quite a few with no papers at all. Of those in the AQHA Stud Book, 73 were performers, including 58 that earned 1,392 halter points, 27 with 586.5 performance points, and 13 that became AQHA Champions. The stallion also sired three race winners.
“Usually a stud becomes better known as a sire of sires or a sire of broodmares,” said Hank, who entered the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1994. “Skipper W turned out to be a sire of both. Skipper W flat out-produced himself. I don’t know any other way to put it. When I bred him to a mare, he consistently sired a foal who was better than both he and the mare.”
Without a shadow of a doubt, Three Bars has had the greatest impact on the Quarter Horse breed of any horse in history. Some might dispute this statement, but not very many. Just take a look at Three Bars' record as a sire. Whereas most great stallions dominate just one phase of the industry, Three Bars forever left his mark in racing, halter, cutting, and other arena performance events.
Photos of what some called the "Cinderella Horse" show that Three Bars, in terms of conformation, was himself very close to the kind of animal many western horse breeders have been working toward. He stood fifteen hands, one and three-quarters inches in height and, by Sid Vail's estimate, weighed from 1,160 to 1,25, depending upon the time of year. Stan Snedigar recalls that Three Bars as a young stallion, weighed perhaps 1.050 pounds in racing condition.
However, the key to Three Bars' greatness came not merely from his physical appearance nor his speed on the track. It came rather from that special and elusive magic breeders call prepotency. It was his magic—this ability to gather the best that was in him and plant those qualities in his offspring—that made Three Bars the architect of the modern Quarter Horse.
Buster Welch, long tied to the Peppy strain of horses, once said that Mr San Peppy out-sired himself with “Little Peppy.”
Peppy San Badger, a son of Mr. San Peppy, is the second all-time leading sire of cutting money earners.
Little Peppy is known by most for his exceptional cutting abilities in the arena and out with the herd. It was those moves that rendered him a standing ovation after winning the 1977 NCHA Futurity. The Futurity championship was only the beginning, however. He then won the 1978 NCHA Derby, was the 1979 Reserve World Champion, and also won the 1981 NCHA Finals. Throughout his show career, the stallion accumulated earnings of $172,710. He then followed in the footsteps of his sire, Mr San Peppy, into the NCHA Hall of Fame in December 1980.
Besides his accomplishments in the cutting arena, Little Peppy was the all-time leading sire of NCHA competition cutting horses until he was surpassed two years ago. However, his offspring continue to keep his name and the famed King Ranch in the limelight.
Little Peppy's bloodline remains predominant in the remuda at King Ranch, and the legendary horse will continue to have an important role in King Ranch's future breeding program.
"He was a gift, you know," said King Ranch Quarter Horse Manager Cody Crider. "You can plan and breed all you want, but you won't get a horse like this 'on purpose,' even though we will all keep on trying."
Jetalito walked onto the Paint Horse scene at a time when breeders were looking for size and athletic ability. The stallion’s 15.2-hand frame, long necked, smoothly muscled frame – a reflection of his thoroughbred ancestry – fit the bill. As his sons and daughters (and eventually, his grandsons and granddaughters) racked up championship after championship, it became clear that Jetalito’s lean, clean look was no passing fad: The stallion’s influence on the Paint Horse Breed continues to this day.
Sire of 313 offspring, 115 point earners that've earned 4,076 points in halter and 7,487 points in performance.
A lifetime leading sire of halter and performance horses, ROM earners, superior halter horses and APHA champions
Blackjack dealers pull cards off the top of the deck. For the players, the card could be a low card or the ace they need. For J. B. Ferguson, Top Deck (TB) was the ace he needed to win the game.
Top Deck (TB) was foaled in 1945 on the King Ranch. The colt was sired by Equestrian and out of River Boat, by Chicaro. The colt boasted such ancestors as Equipoise, Man O'War and Sir Gallahad III. Bred to run, Top Deck was unable to race due to an injury.
Robert Kleberg Jr., president of the King Ranch, either sold or gave the 2-year-old to Ernest Lane, of Odom, Texas. No one is sure which story is true. Either way, Lane bred Top Deck to a few mares. One of the mares was owned by J. B. Ferguson of Wharton, Texas. The mare, Skippy F, foaled Stardeck F, winner of the Texas Futurity and a AAA runner.
In 1952, Ferguson bred another mare to Top Deck, and the following spring, the mare foaled a roan colt. As a yearling, Go Man Go showed great promise as a racehorse and Ferguson decided he needed Top Deck. So in 1954, Ferguson paid $20,000 for the brown stallion. A huge sum in those days, but Ferguson had a feeling about the Thoroughbred.
Top Deck stood at Ferguson’s ranch from 1954 through 1959, and the rancher had trouble booking the stallion. Ferguson advertised the stallion’s successful offspring, Stardeck F, Amber Star and Moon Deck, all AAA offspring. He also listed all the good AA runners by Top Deck, but it did not help.
So in 1960, Ferguson leased the stallion to A. B. Green of Purcell, Oklahoma. Top Deck was moved to Green’s ranch, where he became an overnight success. Around 1962, Green bought half-interest in the stallion.
Top Deck sired 405 foals. Of these, 228 earned Registers of Merit, five were world champions and earned 15 world championships. Among the noted get of Top Deck were Go Man Go, Top Flight, Decketta, Barbara 3 and Moon Deck, sire of Jet Deck.
The stallion died in 1965 at 20. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1990.
