Friday, July 25, 2014

7/26/14 Whyworry Who?

7/25/14  Last month, I had the good fortune of receiving some old photo albums from Ottawa Creek Farm.   I was thrilled to receive these treasures and started turning the fragile pages, looking at page after page of stallions, show horses and prospects.  There were even some broodmares with their foals.  Luckily, many pictures were labeled.  If they hadn’t been, most of these horses would have been forever anonymous since there is no one left to identify them.  My first two horses came from Ottawa Creek Farm and I have studied some of the old bloodlines from the farm and am familiar with many of the names.  About halfway through the first album, I spotted two photos of a broodmare and her foal.  They were labeled “Whyworry Chieftess and Nola’s Genius, 1943”.  Whyworry Chieftess!  I instantly recognized the name as one of Dr. Elrod’s old broodmares from the 1940’s.  I tried to get my husband excited about my discovery, but apparently he didn’t find it as fascinating as I did.  Within an hour, I emailed her picture to someone who was just as excited as I was, and that same day Whyworry Chieftess had her picture on the ASHA website. 
Whyworry Chieftess and Nola's Genius, 1943

So who was she?  Her name probably didn’t jump off the page for many other people like it did for me, but this mare has some very important descendants in the Saddle horse world.  Of course, Whyworry was the farm name of Mrs. Lurline Roth of San Mateo, California.  Mrs. Roth owned, among others, CH Sweetheart on Parade and CH Chief of Longview, both World’s 5 gaited Grand Champions in the late 20’s and early 30’s. There are dozens of Saddlebreds with the Whyworry prefix that were bred by Mrs. Roth, and she continued breeding Saddlebreds, including Hall of Fame Broodmares and Champions, until the year before she died at age 95 in 1985.  I was reasonably sure that Mrs. Roth bred Whyworry Chieftess, especially since she was sired by Chief of Longview, so I contacted the American Saddlebred Museum.  Here is the response:

The mare was bred by Mrs. Lurline Roth of Whyworry Farm and foaled in May 1930. She was sold to Roger Selby of the Selby Shoe Company, Portsmouth, OH in May 1932. He bred her and raised several foals out of her. Whyworry Chieftess was then sold to Hugh White of Zanesville, OH on November 11, 1941. He sold her to Dr. Robert Elrod in July of 1943. Looks like he raised about 6 foals out of her. There is a notation that her 1948 foal died while being registered so he got a refund. Dr. Elrod sold her to Clyde A. Richardson of Columbiana, OH in December 1949. 

It all makes perfect sense.  Mrs. Roth used the services of Nola Minton, of Minton Hickory Mountain Stables, to handle the breeding career of Chief of Longview.  Although Mrs Roth lived in California, Chief of Longview was most likely right in Barbourville, Kentucky much of the time, due to his showing schedule and stud service.  Whyworry Chieftess was probably born at Minton Hickory, and her dam, The Mountain Girl, may have even come from there.  Roger Selby, her second owner, was also the owner of King’s Genius during the same period he owned Whyworry Chieftess.  Her first five foals were sired by CH King’s Genius.  Her next two foals were sired by The Genius, who was also owned by Hugh White during the time he owned Whyworry Chieftess.  On to Ottawa Creek Farm, where she produced four foals by Dr. Elrod’s stallions Grey Mac and Jean LaFitte.  Finally, she was sold to Clyde Richardson and had her last foal by Richardson’s Pot O’Gold at age 21. 
CH Chief of Longview, sire of Whyworry Chieftess
driven by Mrs. W.P. Roth

Whyworry Chieftess’ most famous offspring was a King’s Genius son, Blazing Genius of Happy Hollow.  Born in 1940, he was a well-advertised stallion who sired a fair amount of colts. One of his best was CH Precious Possession.  One of his daughters, Tommy’s Lovely Pride, was a show mare that later produced 13 foals.  One of those colts was the stallion, Pride of Ridgefield. 
Blazing Genius of Happy Hollow
f. 1940, King's Genius X Whyworry Chieftess

CH Precious Possession
f. 1953, Blazing Genius X Anacacho Denmark's Cloud by Anacacho Denmark
He was shown by Joan Robinson Hill after CH Beloved Belinda's retirement.
See Joan's famous gray in part 1 of the post on Glorious Grays.

Tommy's Lovely Pride
f. 1960, Blazing Genius X Tommy Lee by Pride of Lovely Point

Pride of Ridgefield
f. 1969, Ridgefields' Genius X Tommy's Lovely Pride

Pride of Ridgefield was bred by Charles Bartush of Texas, who owned his sire, Ridgefields’ Genius, for the last decade of the old sire’s life.  Mr. Bartush continued to own Pride of Ridgefield for the first twenty years of his life.  In the years from 1974 thru 1990, Pride of Ridgefield sired about two dozen colts.  Luckily for him, he was purchased in 1990 by Louise Gilliland of Winsdown Farm in Oklahoma.  Already 21 years old, he lived until he was 27 and sired another four dozen colts from 1992 until 1997.  Lucky for us, he sired some very good colts while at Winsdown.  They included Winsdown Hi Octane, the striking gray stallion who lead the futurity colts sire rating for a number of years, and Winsdown Black Gold, another handsome stallion who sired some nice colts.  Others he sired included CH Winsdown Sweet Oil, Winsdown the Prize, Winsdown Oil Town, Genius in Motion and Preaux.  Those were sired while at Winsdown.

Winsdown Hi Octane
f. 1992, Pride of Ridgefield X Jammin' the Blues by Admiral's Windjammer

Winsdown Black Gold
f. 1994, Pride of Ridgefield X Make Believe SLS by The Silver Lining

 Although Pride of Ridgefield didn’t sire many colts in his first twenty years, one was a gem.  CH The Karankawa Chief was foaled in 1981.  He was gelded at age two and turned out with a bunch of mares.  One of those mares, a 2 year old named Wild and Lovely PH turned up pregnant.  When she produced her colt in 1984, credit went to a stallion named Admiral’s Windjammer by CH Courageous Admiral.  As late as 1990, the pedigree still showed Admiral’s Windjammer, but DNA proved his sire to be The Karankawa Chief.  The name of this colt was none other than Phi Slama Jama.

So all those cute Phi horses like CH It’s Phi Day, Clari Phi, Beautiphi, CH Ampli-Phi, Slamtastic, CH Inphallible and CH Phi’s Phortune Teller trace back to Whyworry Chieftess.  Hopefully now you understand why I was so excited to spot her photo. 

CH The Karankawa Chief
f. 1981, Pride of Ridgefield X Dear Miss Allison X Denmark's Bourbon Genius
He only sired one colt.

Admiral's Windjammer
f. 1982, CH Courageous Admiral X Lady Bird Empire by Anacacho Empire
He didn't sire Phi Slama Jama, but he did sire the dam of Winsdown Hi Octane.

Phi Slama Jama
f. 1984, CH The Karankawa Chief X Wild and Lovely PH by Hide-a-way's Wild Country

One other interesting thing to note.  Phi Slama Jama and Winsdown Hi Octane not only have the same sire line, their dams were from the same tail female line.  Phi’s dam, Wild and Lovely PH was out of Snow Spangle, 2nd dam Sunshine Society Sue.  Hi Octane’s dam, Jammin’ the Blues (by the way, she really was sired by Admiral’s Windjammer) was out of a Flashdance P/H, 2nd dam Snow Spangle.  

Whyworry Chieftess

CH Chief of Longview
Independence Chief
McDonald Chief
Rex McDonald

Lady McClelland 

Flora H
Harrison Chief

Kate

Myrtle Dickey (BHF)
Bracken Chief
Harrison Chief

Kit

Bess V
Waits’ Indian Chief

Dau of Harrison Chief 

The Mountain Girl
Mountain Dare
Chester Dare
Black Squirrel

Nannie Garrett
Dinah Rose
Sharon Rose

Rover

Lula Chief
Montgomery Chief
Bourbon Chief

Annie C.

Elsie Owsley
Red Squirrel
Lula Carden

Another picture of Whyworry Chieftess and Nola's Genius

 Time for some big thank you’s, first to  Kim Skipton for helping to clarify the owners of Whyworry Chieftess , Louise Gilliland for having so many pictures of Winsdown ancestors available, Brad Elrod for sharing the old albums and most importantly, to Mrs. Robert Elrod Sr. for carefully labelling so many photos so many years ago.  

The old photo album was labeled with white ink.
Mrs. Elrod is pictured on the right.

Please be sure to visit The American Saddlebred Blog's Face book page and like it!

For more photos of Grey Mac and Winsdown Hi Octane, look at the posts on glorious grays posted earlier this month and the first week in August.
 There is also a post on Minton Hickory Farm and Miss Nola posted June 15, 2014.  

Editor's note, 8/17/14:
Last weekend, there was an estate sale at Ottawa Creek Farm.  Since my daughter got married on Saturday, I couldn't attend until Sunday.  One item drew my attention, and that was an oil painting of a    
3-gaited Saddlebred that hung in the living room.  It was Ottawa's Supreme Command.  
He wasn't one of the horses I was familiar with, but my daughter bought the picture for me anyway.  
When I looked him up on ASHA, I couldn't find him at first because 
he's registered as Ottawas Supreme Command. 
 His dam?  None other than Whyworry Chieftess!


Here are some of her other offspring
Genius Chief by King's Genius
Nola's Genius by The Genius
Ottawa's Royal Rage by Grey Mac







Friday, July 18, 2014

7/19/14 Glorious Grays Part 3, Stallions

7/19/14  For the final installment on grays, here are some gray stallions born after 1950.  Some are still standing at stud today, so if gray is your pleasure, check them out.  This time they are in chronological order.  Scroll down towards the bottom to see who is available.


Frosty Highland
f. 1952, Highland Born by American Born X King's Oddity by King's Genius
2nd dam by Silver Mac who was pictured in part 1
Frosty Highland stood on the West Coast and sired a large percentage of
gray offspring including his daughter Bobbi's Victory Empress (BHF)

CH Lucky Cuss
f. 1954, Silver's Choice X Senorita San Pedro by San Pedro
He was a talented 5-gaited show stallion who earned his CHampion status
and sired a couple of  CHampions himself.

Society's King Again
f. 1957, Artistic King by Nawbeek's Highland King X Society Ann by Society Rex
His gray dam was pictured in part 2 of Glorious Grays



Blue Fortune
f. 1973, Beau Ander Commander by Beau Fortune x Passing Romance
His dam, Passing Romance, was the gray daughter and granddaughter of
Indian Penny by Kalarama Colonel. 

The Silver Lining
f. 1977, CH Yorktown X Frosty Fawn by Faustiana's Top Brass
He was renamed for one of his owners, Silver Lining Stable
and he sired a number of good show horses.

Our Grey Dawn
f. 1983, Hell Cat's Reveille by Broadland's Kilarney X Chocolate Kiss by Noble Kalarama
He is pictured above at age 15 and as an aged stallion directly below. 
He had two crosses to Kalarama Rex on his papers and passed away last year at age 30.
His dam was grey and got her coloring from the Grey Eagle - Lee Rose McDonald line.
Hope to have a picture of her soon.  Our Grey Dawn was the beginning of a
long line of gray studs for his owner, The Long Grey Line Farm.
The farm name is purely coincidental to the color of the horses!

General Withers
f. 1990, Our Grey Dawn X Glorious Twigg by Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
His dam gave him another cross to Kalarama Rex.

Winsdown Hi Octane
f. 1992, Pride of Ridgefield X Jammin' the Blues by Admiral's Windjammer
His 1st through 4th dams, all gray, were all pictured in last week's post.
Sadly, he is no longer with us, but he is represented by a lot of gray offspring in the show ring.
He is also represented by his non-gray son, Winsdown Westinghouse.
His owner has a good article about the gray gene on her website with many more pictures .

Pacific Mist
f. 1993, Out Grey Dawn X Konda Gale by Misty Assignment
Here is another stallion with three close up crosses to Kalarama Rex.

Scotland's Silver Fox
f. 1997, The Kentucky Count X Scotland's Gralynn tracing to Nancy Highland's Chief.
Silver was a racking horse before retiring to stud in Missouri.  His grand-dam was born at
Ottawa Creek Farm just a mile south of my home, and she was sired by the same
sire as my Buddy.  Here are two pictures of Silver, whose coloring traces back to his
great grandsire, Frosty Highland, who is pictured at the top of this post.

Noble Heritage Praetorian
f. 2002, Periaptor X Moet by Attache
His dam Moet was pictured in last week's post.  This picture was snapped at
the 2009 All American Cup Stallion Summer Tour, so he probably isn't this color anymore.
This is a gorgeous shade of dapple gray!

Extreme Sport
f. 2002, Gift of Magic tracing to CH Rick Rack X Angel's Delight S.L. by Starheart Victory
This handsome stallion gets his gray coloring from his dam, who was a full sister to
CH The Connoisseur.  That horse was pictured in last week's post, part 2 in the series on grays. 


Caisson
f. 2004, General Withers X Carolina Waltz tracing to The Genius
Caisson also has three close crosses to Kalarama Rex.
Both his sire and dam were gray, and both could trace their
gray coloring to Grey Eagle by Lee Rose McDonald.

A Sterling Design
f. 2007, Wild Sterling X Silver Lining's Singing in the Rain by The Silver Lining
This handsome silver stallion gets his gray from both sides.  His dam's sire The Silver Lining 
is pictured in this post and his sire's side gets the gray from Shamrock's Misty Flyte, just like 
Absolutely Fabulous and A Magic Surprise pictured in last week's post. 

The Grey Prince
f. 2008, General Withers X Carolina Waltz
He was a full brother to Caisson pictured above, but sadly has passed away.
Caisson is still available at stud.



Eidolon
f. 2009, How Fortunate X Yarbrough's Strawberry Delight by Town Square by Yorktown
This handsome devil is the youngest of all our grays, so is still displaying much of his dark coat.
His dam produced another gray colt, making Eidolon a half brother to the 3 gaited & Park winner,
Paranormal.  His father, How Fortunate, sired the handsome black fine harness
winner, Follow the Sun.  Eidolon is bred and owned by Robb Warsing and available at stud.

Next week will look at that broodmare from 1943 that got me started searching the grays.
It has been fun and I know I missed a lot of gorgeous, glamorous, glorious grays.



Below, I pasted the very eloquent words of Martha Utley Aitken, owner of
Our Grey Dawn, upon losing him last year.  No one could have told a more heart felt story on the passing of her wonderful stallion:

"Our Grey Dawn is dead, just shy of his thirty-first year. You know, when it comes to horses, only someone who has walked the path before can understand the loss of a friend. I closed Grey Dawn’s eyes for the last time when I found him, but this morning I have to deal with removing him from the stall and getting him buried. We had fog last night, which froze on everything.  Now it is a winter fairyland, which is very unusual for us. Our Grey Dawn was orphaned at three days of age. When we carried Chocolate Kiss by Royal Kalarama, to the burial site, it was a beautiful sunny day.  From out of nowhere, a rain cloud appeared and it showered on us for maybe 30 seconds. I always felt like it was the Heavens crying with us over the loss of the magnificent mare. It would follow that the farm would be covered with frozen tears this morning over the loss of her son."






























Saturday, July 12, 2014

7/12/14 Glorious Grays Part 2

7/12/14  Last week featured beautiful gray horses which were foaled prior to 1950.  I had such a good time looking for gray horses, that this topic is going to be stretched out into 3 weeks.  There were just too many gray horses from 1950 to the present to include all in one post.  I sent a few requests to some nice folks about using including current horses and luckily I received an overwhelming positive response, so next week will feature grand gray stallions, some that are currently available at stud. For right now, let's take a look at some mares and show horses.  They are sorted alphabetically rather than by age or family.   
CH A Magic Surprise
f. 1995, Belle Reve's Voodoo Magic X A Special Surprise by Stonewall's Genius Beau
This special gelding has been showing in western pleasure for over a decade
and is still showing at age 19.


CH Absolutely Fabulous
f. 1991, CH Summertime Colors X A Summer Surprise by Shamrock's Misty Flyte
An absolutely perfect name for this gorgeous fine harness world's champion.
Absolutely Fabulous and A Magic Surprise both inherited the gray coloring from 
Shamrock's Misty Flyte.



CH Callaway's Chandelle
f. 1980, CH Will Shriver X Callaway's Cardinal by Kate's Scoop
This Callaway Hills' bred champion traced her gray gene back to Grey Eagle.
He was pictured in last week's post.


Camilla Fox
f. 1982, Grape Tree's Fox x Supreme's Silver Mist by Stonewall Supreme
This mare gave her coloring to several offspring and grandcolts thru
her daughters Moet and Attache's Galatea.
 


Denmark Courageous
f. 1955, Ridgefields Denmark X Blue Seas by Captain Courageous



CH Divine Asset
Attache's Royal Assets X Step-N-Time Venus by Steppin' Stuff
His 2nd dam was gray CH Venus in Gray and his gray ancestry
travels straight down his tail female line.


Duke's Wild Honey
f. 1952, Duke of Stonewall X Lady Gracious by the Passing Show
She was the dam of Classic Stonewall.


Flashdance P/H
f. 1983 The Golden Parader X Snow Spangle by Denmark's Bourbon Genius
Her gray daughter and dam are also pictured in this post.


Gay Feudist
f. 1957, Gay Kalarama X Adrienne Feudist by Brilliant Recovery
Both his sire and dam's sire were by Kalarama Rex,
and his gray coloring traces back to Lee Rose McDonald pictured last week.



Grey Flare 
f. 1951, Kalarama Flare by Kalarama Rex x My Charm by Chester Style


Heirrison Ford
f. 2001, Supreme Heir x Chandellay by Captain Conestoga,
2nd dam CH Callaway's Chandelle pictured above.
He's pictured here being shown at Devon by a hunter/jumper rider.


Jammin' the Blues
f. 1986, Admiral's Windjammer x Flashdance P/H by The Golden Parader
She was the dam of the beautiful Winsdown Hi Octane


CH Jessie Cole
f. 2004, The Gallant Confederate x Make Believe SLS by The Silver Lining
His grandsire The Silver Lining will be pictured next week.


Leland's Blaze of Glory
f. 1956, Leland Stonewall X Priscilla Tucker by Rex Shannon
No one in his pedigree is confessing to be a gray,
but his granddam was named Snowball McDonald.


Paranormal
f. 2005, Deep Blue X Yarbrough's Strawberry Delight by Town Square by Yorktown
He has a half brother who is a gray stallion in next week's post.


CH Revolver
f. 2000, Sultan's Great Day X Attache's Galatea by Attache
His 2nd dam is Camilla Fox pictured above.


Rose of Windhaven
f. 1998, Winsdown Hi Octane X Rullah Highland Dawn by Supreme Rullah
This pleasure mare often shows in the saddlebred hunter division.


CH Shellcrest's Top Secret
f. 1968, Ridgefields' Secret X Miss Lucille by Night of Folly
His 2nd dam, Hi Dixie (BHF) was gray and also produced the gray mare Society Ann.
Society Ann was pictured in last week's post.


Snow Job
f. 1977, Supreme Sultan X Frosty Donna by Frosty Highland
One of the original Shatner Western Pleasure horses, his gray coloring traces back to Silver Mac, shown in last week's post, thru his grandsire shown in next week's post.

Snow Spangle
f. 1966, Denmark's Bourbon Genius x Sunshine Society Sue by Society Rex
Her daughter Wild and Lovely PH was dam of Phi Slama Jama.
Her daughter Flashdance P/H is pictured above.


CH Sterling Performance
f. 1969, Civil Rights X Lizanda by Conowingo's Dark King
Lizanda was 2nd dam of Supreme Hi Lite. 


Sunshine Society Sue
f. 1950, Society Rex x Katherine Grey by Douglas Chief
Her daughter, granddaughter & great granddaughter are all pictured here.


CH The Connoisseur
f. 1977, Starheart Victory X Tallahanna Angel by London Masterpiece
His gray coloring traces directly down his tail female line to an unregistered mare.
Three years of French in high school and I still can't spell this word!



Wild Rose Gray
f. 2003, Winsdown Hi Octane x Special Moments by Now and Forever by Flight Time
Another pretty gray by Winsdown Hi Octane, she's shown here side saddle.

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