The American Saddlebred: February 2015

Friday, February 27, 2015

2/28/15 Winter Hell

Anyone who lived through the winter of 2014 remembers the incredible amounts of snow we had here in the Great Lakes area. I’d hoped for a better winter in 2015, but this was the year of extreme cold. There was bitter cold everywhere, ridiculous amounts of snow in the Northeast, snow cover on over half of the US, the Great Lakes were frozen solid, and there were ice storms from Texas to the Carolinas. Anyone with an unheated barn dealt with frozen buckets, snow drifts near the doorways, and layers upon layers of clothing to keep warm despite negative temperatures and arctic wind chills. Deanna Miller calls it winter hell, and there isn’t a better term for it. So this week’s theme salutes all those horses with names like frozen, blowing, cold, winter, drifting, arctic, frosty and hell.

A Winter’s Day

f. 1994 sired by Blackberry Winter and was owned at one time by Snow White Enterprises.

A Winter’s Tale

f 1994 also sired by Blackberry Winter

Beware of Black Ice

f.2007 sired by Nocturnal x Over Ice by the Coal Train.

He sired a number of “icy” colts like Ice Patches, Glacier, Ice Ship and Crystal Clear Ice.

Blackberry Winter

f 1976 sired by Oman’s Desdemona Denmark X Social Hour by Stonewall Supreme

Bucardi on Ice

f. 1997 sired by CH Buck Rogers X CH Icicle by Chubasco

Ensign's Storm Warning

f. 1952 sired by Ensign Kirby by Cameo Kirby X Meimohala Born by Cameo Kirby

His daughter Tropical Gale was the dam of Chubasco.

Frosty Highland

f. 1952 sired by Highland Born X King’s Oddity by King’s Genius

CH Frosty Naranda

f. 1991 sired by Chubasco X CH Naranda by Fire Lane

Frosty Shamrock

f. 2003 sired by Shamrock Santana X Rich Returns by Royal Return

Frosty’s Winged King

. 1975 sired by Frosty Highland x The Winged Princess by Wings Over Jordan

Helluvanight

f. 1971 sired by Shoreacres Anacacho Genius X a daughter of Denmark’s Bourbon Genius

Miss Snow White

f. 2006 sired by Bucardi on Ice X Miss Esmerelda by Sovran’s Impresario.

Her sire Bucardi on Ice was out of CH Icicle

Presumably she was named for her color, and not that her breeder Deanna Miller loves snow!

She’s Snow Angel

f. 1991 sired by Snowy River by Chubasco

CH Snow Fooling

f. 1988 sired by Chubasco out of Perfect Model by Mr. Magic Man

This talented mare showed in 3 Gaited, Show Pleasure, 3- and 5-gaited Country Pleasure,

Pleasure driving and Park divisions.

Snow Job

f. 1977 sired by Supreme Sultan X Frosty Donna by Frosty Highland

Another versatile saddlebred that showed in 3 gaited classes, pleasure, fine harness and western pleasure.

Snow Spangle

f. 1966 sired by Denmark’s bourbon Genius X Sunshine Society Sue by Society Rex

She is the 2^nd dam of Phi Slama Jama and 3^rd dam of Winsdown Hi Octane

Stars over Snow

f. 2013 sired by Extreme Sport X New York Trust by I’m a New Yorker

She gets her lovely gray coat from her daddy.

Winsdown Frozen

f. 2014 sired by Winsdown Westinghouse X Promised Rose by Promise Keeper

Probably named for the Disney film.

Winter Carnival

f. 1979 Supreme Sultan X CH The Carnival Queen by Flashy Bourbon Peavine

Winter Sultan

f. 1983 sired by Winter Carnival X Symbolette by Status Symbol

Winter Winds

f. 1962 sired by Americus Denmark X Rare Rose by Colonel Sport

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

2/22/15 500 Likes

The American Saddlebred Blog began a little over 2 years ago, but on January 1st, 2014, my daughter created it's Facebook page. I had previously resisted having a personal Facebook page, so I wasn't all that familiar with how it worked. Yeah, I know, I must be from the 1800's. Anyway, she explained that you can "Like" a picture, a post, or in my case, the blog's page. She clicked on the button, and Bam, the Blog had it's first like. She sent an invite to my girlfriend who started the Saddlebred journey with me in 1971 and Bam, there was Like #2. Now what? I hadn't had a personal page, so I couldn't solicit my friends. So at the end of each blog post, I asked people to check out the Facebook page and like it. And I waited. Within a few days, my third Like came in. I was surprised to see a pretty well known Saddlebred exhibitor's name. Slowly, the names kept trickling in. Most I didn't know, but occasionally I would recognize the name. One day, when the number was hanging around 50 likes, Deanna Miller liked my page. I'm not sure what she did, but within a week or two, my number had tripled. From there it has been steady growth from lots of places in the US, Canada, South Africa and elsewhere. Many names I recognize, including breeders, trainers and exhibitors. Many I don't, so they are simply Saddlebred enthusiasts and fans of the breed. 500 isn't a huge number, but the audience is somewhat specialized, so thank you to all who helped reach the milestone.

I searched for 500 on the ASHA website. There is a horse named The Five Hundred, but sadly, no picture to share. He was a grandson of CH Wing Commander and Society Rex, and was bred by Emerald Farms in Dublin, Ohio,, so he could have been a good one. Instead, here are some interesting pictures to use for this weeks post.

Stonewall King

The usual picture of Stonewall King has him standing with owner

Murray Cason. This head shot is a little different.

Stoney Burke

This grandson of Stonewall King showed in the parade division in the 1960's.

A post on parade horses is in the works.

As Beauty Does

Harlem Globetrotter

Marc of Charm

Supreme Heir

What do these last four have in common?

They all share an important female ancestor who will also

be featured in an upcoming post. Make that posts.

She is my all time favorite broodmare.

Sovran's Impressario

This handsome black grandson of Supreme Sultan and Starheart Victory

stands at stud in Ohio.

Lady Virginia

Here is a top show mare of the 1930's who was purchased by

Spindletop Farms of Lexington Kentucky.

This blog loves to showcase old time show and breeding horses.

Mystery Mare

This lovely mare will probably always be a mystery.

Her rider appears to be Chester Caldwell and

the setting is the 1930's, but little else is known.

Meadow Mist

f. 1930 Bourbon Star by Bourbon King out of Princess McB by Rexall Prince by Rex Peavine

2nd dam by Bourbon King.

She is pictured here with Dr. Robert H. Elrod in 1936 or 1937.

Here is another picture of Meadow Mist with Dr. Elrod at the

Carranor Show in Perrysburg, OH in the late 1930's.

Just look at that crowd. Horse shows were great entertainment.

This is a close up of the same photo. Although Dr. Elrod was alone at his

end of the ring, he knew exactly where his competitors were as he came out of the turn

at the rack.

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Saturday, February 14, 2015

2/15/15 The strange tale of Miss Frisco Gaines

Miss Frisco Gaines was a Saddlebred mare born sometime in the late 1920's. I came across her a few months ago and noticed the problems she had, but didn't really think much about it. Last week, when posting about the saddlebred stallion San Juan, I came across her again and gave it a little more consideration. So what's her problem? This poor girl has five different registration numbers with ASHA. While looking at San Juan's breeding information on ASHA, I noticed that he had been bred to a mare named Miss Frisco Gaines a number of times. I knew she had four colts by San Juan, but when I brought her up from San Juan's page, it only listed a colt or two. Click on a different link, get different results. Hmmmmm.

So I entered the name Miss Frisco Gaines into the search field on ASHA, and this is what I got. When you click on each one, there is different information, but it's definitely the same mare.

913522	MISS FRISCO GAINES	M	N/A	-
987125	MISS FRISCO GAINES	M	N/A	-
987126	MISS FRISCO GAINES BY A PEAVNE 4092	M	N/A	-
987127	MISS FRISCO GAINES BY AL PVNE 4092	M	N/A	-
987128	MISS FRISCO GAINES	M	N/A

Under the first entry, registration # 913522, her pedigree shows she is sired by All Peavine out of a daughter of San Francisco, with no further info about San Francisco. She was the dam of two mares, San Serene foaled in 1938 and San Angela foaled in 1939, both by San Juan.

San Angela
f. 1939 sired by San Juan out of Miss Frisco Gaines

Registration # 987125 lists absolutely no pedigree for her at all, but she is the dam of three geldings. Lee's Last, foaled in 1934 by Lee Rose McDonald, Grey Beau, foaled in 1943 and sired by Grey Mac and finally Ottawa's Highwayman foaled in 1944 and also by Grey Mac.

Registration #987126 lists her as "Miss Frisco Gaines by A Peavne 4092", but no info on her pedigree. That incarnation is the dam of Royal San by San Juan, foaled in 1936.

Royal San
f. 1936 sired by San Juan out of Miss Frisco Gaines

Registration #987127 lists her as "Miss Frisco Gaines by Al Pvne 4092", but again no info on her pedigree. This time, she is the dam of Frisco Girl by Grey Eagle that foaled in 1937.

Registration #987128 (interesting how these last four are in consecutive order) lists her sire as All Peavine and her dam as a daughter of San Francisco, but this time San Francisco also has his pedigree listed. This registration number actually has her most complete and correct pedigree. Her foal listed under this identity is San Frisco, foaled 1935 and once again by San Juan.

San Frisco
f. 1935 sired by San Juan out of Miss Frisco Gaines

None of the entries listed a birthdate for Miss Frisco Gaines. Sometimes it listed a partial pedigree, sometimes nothing at all. Under each different registration number, she produced at least one colt. Piecing it all together, this much is certain. She was sired by All Peavine, a stallion foaled in 1906 whose last registered colt was born in 1929. Her dam's sire, San Francisco, was foaled in 1921, so she would probably have been born sometime between 1927 and 1929.

Miss Frisco Gaines M	All Peavine 1906	Rex Peavine 5/3/1899	Rex McDonald	Rex Denmark
				Lucy Mack (BHF)
			Daisy 2D	Peavine 85
				Mollie 2D
		Lucy Wells 1883	Peavine 85	Rattler (501)
				Pekina (TH) (BHF)
			Daughter of Denmark (Warren Harris')	Denmark (Warren Harris')
				Daughter of John Nosley
	Daughter of San Francisco M	San Francisco 5/1921	San Vicente	Rex Peavine
				Undine
			Black Belle	Rex McDonald
				Belle Of Pike
		0000000	-	-
				-
			-	-
				-

She is a decidedly Denmark bred mare.

Now it gets even more interesting. Four of her colts were by San Juan who was sired by San Vicente and out of Black Belle. So that makes him a full brother to San Francisco, right? Wrong. Both were foaled in May of 1921, so San Francisco was the original name of San Juan. His name was changed in 1924. San Francisco is only listed as siring one colt, the dam of Miss Frisco Gaines. So Miss Frisco Gaines was bred to her grandsire on four occasions. The other four times she was bred to Lee Rose McDonald or two of his sons. She always produced Denmark bred colts as well.

So why care if her record gets corrected? This mare has current descendants. Lots of them. And good ones, too. Sometimes the ASHA records from that period are a little murky, but Miss Frisco Gaines deserves better. She deserves to have her record corrected.

While I have no picture of Miss Frisco Gaines, I do have pictures of three of her colts by San Juan. Of the eight foals she produced, four were geldings and four were fillies. Of the fillies, two reproduced in a big fashion. San Angela had ten colts and San Serene had thirteen. San Angela has descendants born as recently as 2003, however, Miss Frisco Gaines' most prolific line come through San Serene whose daughter Blessed Damozel was the dam of CH Ronald Reagan. He in turn sired breeding stallions Rocky Reagan and Whyworry Reagan. One of Ronald Reagan's daughters was the Hall of Fame Broodmare, Denmark's Radiant Society. She has produced eighteen foals including Champions Be Happy, Rejoice, the Great Gaspar, Simbara's Audacity, The Radiant Prince, Simbara's Samba Jamba, and WGC A Sweet Treat. I guess that makes Miss Frisco Gaines a pretty important mare.

Ronald Reagan

f. 1966 sired by Stonewall's Beau Peavine out of Blessed Damozel,

2nd dam San Serene, 3rd dam Miss Frisco Gaines

Denmark's Radiant Society (BHF)

f. 1977 sired by CH Ronald Reagan X Denmark's Society Sue (BHF)

WGC A Sweet Treat

f. 1992 sired by Merchant Prince X Denmark's Radiant Society (BHF)

CH Be Happy

f. 1985 sired by Mountain Highland Majesty X Denmark's Radiant Society (BHF)

CH Rejoice

f. 1989 sired by Merchant Prince X Denmark's Radiant Society (BHF)

CH The Great Gaspar

f. 2000 sired by Merchant Prince X Denmark's Radiant Society (BHF)

Seaforth's Billion Heir

f. 2002 Supreme Heir X CH Rejoice

Simbara's Rio Bravo

f. 2008 Castle Bravo X Simbara's Special Someone,

2nd dam Denmark's Radiant Society (BHF)

Other Champions tracing back to Miss Frisco Gaines through other lines include

CH Shamanic Dream, CH Harlem's Jamaican, and CH Simply Blues.

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Saturday, February 7, 2015

2/8/15 San Juan

San Juan was a stallion born nearly a century ago, so he never appears in today's Saddlebred registration papers. In his day, he was a sought after stallion of almost pure Denmark breeding. My friend, Dr. Robert Elrod Sr., was a fan of this horse, and owned several broodmares by San Juan that he bred to his stallion Grey Mac. He also owned a number of San Juan's get that he showed. This is quite natural since San Juan was owned for a time by James Marker of Blendon Farms in Columbus Ohio, which was where Dr. Elrod purchased his stallion Grey Mac. While scanning some of Dr. Elrod's horse photos, I came across a two page pamphlet dedicated to San Jaun. There were also a couple of nice photographs of San Juan, thus he became the topic of the week.

The pamphlet was apparently written by Mr. Marker, his owner from 1931 until the early 1940's, as an advertising brochure. One side had his photo and pedigree, and the other side contained a write up of his credentials. Someone had done some serious pedigree research, and this in the day before the ASHA data base of pedigrees. It states that he traced 15 times to Old Highlander, 7 times to Grey Eagle, 10 times to Gaines' Denmark, and 5 times to Black Squirrel. This is some very old research, but remember, San Juan was born in 1921 and this pamphlet must have been from the 1930's. Rex McDonald appeared twice on his pedigree, as his dam's sire, and also as his great grandsire on his sire line. Also appearing on his registration papers were Rex Peavine, Chester Dare, Black Squirrel (3 times), Squirrel King and Peavine 85.

The brochure refers to the fact that the stallion had only been shown by his amateur owner, Mrs. A.W. Pike of California, and yet he amassed an enviable show record and defeated some of the best horses showing in California. His get showing in California were consistent winners. The brochure also stated that it was predicted that San Juan would out rival Rex Peavine as a sire of great show horses. It admired his natural saddle horse trot, perfect natural high action all around while using relatively light shoeing. He has a "finer head and longer neck than any saddle stallion now living." He can also trot or rack a mile in 2:20. "In conclusion, I (James Marker) might say he has a combination of speed, finish, and action blood lines unequaled by any present day stallion and unexcelled by an former star."

To learn a little more about San Juan, I looked him up in Susanne's Famous Saddle Horses. Interestingly, quite a bit of her info was taken from the pamphlet. It referred to the same pedigree research, tracing to Old Highlander, Grey Eagle, etc. Susanne also pointed out that in 1932, he trotted a 2:20 clip under a stop watch. She must have had a long conversation with his proud owner, Mr. Marker.

Susanne did have some earlier info on San Juan, who was bred by Mrs. Charlotte Anderson of Pleasanton, CA and purchased by Mrs. A.W. Pike in 1922. Mrs. Pike showed him with great success until she was no longer able to ride when struck by illness in 1930. While she was away, someone sold the horse to Mr. James Marker of Columbus Ohio. He had a major breeding establishment at his Blendon Farms, and also stood the stallion Lee Rose McDonald. Mr. Marker stood San Juan for nearly a decade, but finally dispersed his horses at a sale in 1939. He retained the stallion, who was 18 years old at that time. Several years later, he was repurchased by Mrs. Pike and sent back to California where he lived out his days.

Among his get were Kitty O'Shea, Tiger San, Royal San, Dark McDonald, Don Juan, and Peavine Laddie. Mr. Marker's claim that he would out rival Rex Peavine as a sire of great show horses didn't come true, and although San Juan appears in the pedigrees of some of today's horses, he did not rival Rex Peavine in that regard either. However, he was a very nice horse and a handsome individual.