with MoRe| Matlock Rose and the BuRnett Ranch MaRes

from Working Horse Magazine 2023 Spring Issue

Conditioning a Horse for Work after a Layoff

By Larry Thornton

hen the legendary trainer Matlock Rose and the famous breeder B. F. Phillips Jr came together back in the 1950s, it proved to be a very successful partnership in the show arena. A part of their original success came with a gelding named George Dun, the 1957 and 1958 AQHA Honor Roll Tie-Down Roping Horse. The Honor Roll title is now the High Point Award for the year. George Dun was a Waggoner-bred horse sired by a Burnett Ranch-bred stallion named Hollywood George by Hollywood Gold. The Burnett Ranch breeding in George Dun would be the beginning of several prominent show horses with their pedigrees based on the Burnett Ranch broodmare band and their association with Matlock Rose making them our Mares with More.

Another early success for them as a show horse was Goldwood, a 1954 palomino gelding. He was purchased by the Phillips Ranch and shown by Matlock and Phillips as well as his daughter Pam. Goldwood would earn a Superior in the AQHA with 65 cutting points. He also earned 9 halter points and 6.5 western pleasure points. He earned his NCHA Certificate of Ability with earnings of $5,358. He helped Phillips secure the 1966 NCHA Non-Pro World Champion cutting title. They were the 1966 NCHA Non-Pro Finals Reserve Champions. The other horse that helped Phillips earn his 1966 world title was Gin Echols, a daughter of Ed Echols trained by Matlock Rose.

Sally Harrison tells us in her book MATLOCK ROSE THE HORSEMAN that Goldwood was one of Phillips’s favorite horses. Pam also liked Goldwood and credited Matlock with her early start as a rider when she was five years old. She explained it this way to Harrison, “Next to my father, Matlock was my hero. Being a typical father, Dad would get frustrated and yell at me when I practiced, and I didn’t want to listen to him. But Matlock could say one thing to me, and I’d do it. I had the utmost respect for him. He gave me confidence.” She went on to explain that Matlock taught her things that when she applied them, the horse was better.

Goldwood was sired by Hollywood Gold, and he was out of Miss Buggins 86. She was sired by the Remount stallion Buggins, and her dam was one of the original Burnett Ranch mares known as the Joe Graham Mare. Goldwood was a full brother to Miss Hollywood, the dam of the great reining horse and sire Hollywood Jac 86.

Miss Holly Jo was another Burnett-bred mare that seemed to have come along with Goldwood. Miss Holly Jo won the NCHA Bronze Award, earning $11,846. She was an AQHA Champion with twelve halter points and 74 performance points with a Superior in cutting. When Phillips dispersed his performance horses in 1966, he kept six, and two of them were Goldwood and Miss Holly Jo. Gin Echols was the third one he didn’t sell. Her son Tanquery Gin would become an important sire for the Burnett Ranches. Miss Holly Jo was a 1948 mare sired by Hollywood Gold and out of Little Bay Ann by Joe Tom by Joe Hancock. Little Bay Ann was out of the Buggin 78 Mare by Buggins. The #78 mare is described in Ranch records as a Bay Mare with a small star that came from the New Mexico mares, the same as the Joe Graham mare. The New Mexico mares went to the ranch in the mid to late 1930s and formed what would become a major part of the legendary Burnett Ranch broodmares.

Matlock Rose rode Peppy San in the inaugural NCHA Futurity in 1962, taking home the Reserve Championship. Peppy San would go on to Canada and then return to the U. S. to win the 1967 NCHA Open World Championship with Matlock in the saddle. When we look at the pedigree of Peppy San, we see his Burnett Ranch breeding through his second dam Belle Burnett by Gold Rush and out of Triangle Lady 9, by Red Buck, giving him a direct tie to the Burnett Ranch. These four horses introduce us to the legendary trainer and his riding two very good Burnett Ranch mares.

Cee Miss Holly

Let us move forward to the 1966 NCHA Futurity with Matlock Rose back on a Burnett-bred mare finishing sixth with Cee Miss Holly. She was bred by the S. B. Burnett Estate and owned by Ray Pickard. She would earn $7,570 with a Certificate of Ability and her AQHA ROM with 28 cutting points. She would later become a broodmare for Matlock Rose and a foundation mare in his breeding program.

Cee Miss Holly would produce eight foals. Her first foal was Pep’s Holly by Peppy San. This mare would win the semifinals of the 1974 NCHA Futurity and place seventh in the finals. She would earn $6,376. Pep’s Holly is the dam of the APHA stallion Smokes Peppy San, a son of Smoke 49. Smokes Peppy San was a two-time APHA World Champion Cutting Horse. He was the winner of $8,830 in the NCHA. Genuine Peppy out of Pep’s Holly was the winner of the NCHA Bronze Award with earnings of $19,234. He is a legend in the Canadian Cutting Horse Association. He was the 1990 CCHA Open Champion, and his earnings in Canada are $21,477.10. He won the Canadian Super Stakes Sire Award three times and the Canadian Super Stakes Non-Pro Sire Award three times. He is in the CCHA Hall of Fame. Chickacee by Chickasha Dan was the next Cee Miss Holly foal, and this gelding earned $6,380.67 with 27 AQHA performance points with an ROM.

The next performer out of Cee Miss Holly was Sanacee by Peppy San, and he was a three-time AQHA World Champion, once in the 1983 senior open and then as the Amateur World Champion in 1985 and 1986. He earned 99 AQHA points in the open and amateur with a Superior in the Open. He earned $42,196.13 in the NCHA with his Certificate of Ability. We see that two of Cee Miss Holly’s unshown daughters Cee Lena and Miss Cee Nita have carried on with this mare line. Cee Lena by Doc Olena was the dam of horses that have won $471,831.95. They include Cee Lena San, the 1984 Tropi- cana Four-Year-Old Open Champion; Peppys Deliverance, a PCCHA Year End Champion; Peppy Lena San, the 1986 NCHA Open Derby Champion as well as the 1987 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Open Reserve Champion and Mr Pep O Lena the 1985 Texas Classic Four-Year-Old Reserve Champion.

Miss Cee Nita was sired by Peponita by Peppy San. She is the dam of horses that have earned $253,359 including Hickorys Holly Cee by Doc’s Hickory. This mare was an AQHA World Champion Junior Working Cow Horse and an AQHA World Champion Senior Reining Horse, and an AQHA Reserve World Champion in Junior Reining. She has earned $161,422 and 109 AQHA performance points. She is the dam of horses that have won $583,635 including Hickory Holly Time the 2018 NRCHA Greatest Horseman winner with Kelby Phillips and ARC Catmando the NCHA Non-Pro Super Stakes Champion and ARC Hollys Chicadee, an NRCHA Non-Pro Stakes Champion. Hickory Holly Time is an NRCHA million-dollar sire with $1,567,673 in earnings.

Cee Bars Joan

In January 1969 Matlock made a trip to the Burnett Ranches’ and the Four Sixes to look at cutting prospects. He found Cee Bars Joan, and they would win the 1969 NCHA Open Futurity. An article in the March 1970 HORSEMAN by Jane Pattie titled “The Training of Cee Bar Joan” followed the mare to her championship.

Matlock first explained how they decided on the Cee Bars Joan, “We looked over the colts that they had and talked about their breeding. We decided on Cee Bars Joan, mostly due to her bloodlines. She is by Cee Bars and out of Holly Joanie by Hollywood Gold and out of a Poker Player mare. I have her half-sister, Cee Miss Holly, who is bred the same way, but out of a different mare Hollywood Gold mare.” He continued to explain that Cee Miss Holly had finished sixth in the 1966 NCHA Futurity, and they finished in the top twenty for the year. He also told that Leroy Ashcraft and her full sister Cee Holly Joanie were the 1965 AQHA High Point Junior Cutting Horse.”

Cee Bars Joan had been started by Sheep Marrow, and he told Matlock, “She had more cow than any horse he had ever ridden.” Matlock found that she had all the cow in the world, but she didn’t know what to do with it. So, he brought her on slow with lots of pasture riding.

With bringing Cee Bars Joan along slowly he was able to get what he wanted. He related the following, “My main problem with her was teaching her to control her energy. At first, I put her on a cow, and she was liable to jump straight up or miss her cow by 10 feet. I had to take hold of her natural way of doing away from her in order to get her controlled, but it came back to her. From then on, the more we leave her alone, the better she will be.” This was Matlock’s way of getting control and then allowing her to think for herself. When they showed up at the Futurity, she had never been in a place like Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, but with some riding, in the arena, she overcame her new surroundings to enter the go-grounds. They would mark a 213 and a 212 for 425 and entry into the semifinals. The day of the semifinals, Matlock took her home and worked her, and this set him up for a good run. Through this process, she was getting better, scoring a 217 ½ to win the semifinals.

So, following the pattern, they went back to Gainesville and did another work before the finals. Cee Bars, Joan, and Matlock would draw up first to work in the finals. They went out and scored a 219 and that score would hold up through 14 other cutters. Shorty Freeman would be the Reserve Champion with a 217 1/2. A funny thing happened in the trophy presentation. Ralph Gardner put a $100.00 bill in the trophy, and Cee Bars Joan found it tasty as she ate it. Matlock and Cee Bars Joan would earn $15,723 with the Futurity win. They would be the first to win the semifinals and the finals. She would add an AQHA ROM in cutting with 17 junior cutting points.

Cee Bars Joan would personify the kind of horse Matlock would want in his horses. A horse filled with cow!!!! She would live out her life on the Four Sixes as a broodmare to produce four performers in Prince Burk (ROM) with 12 open points with $2,400, earning the Certificate of Ability in the NCHA, Black Cream (ROM) with 11 performance points, Cee Bar Quixote with one AQHA point with $1,172 in the NCHA and Ginnin Joan with four AQHA points earning the Certificate of Ability with $5,107.

The Pedigrees

Cee Miss Holly and Cee Bars Joan were sired by Cee Bars and out of Hollywood Gold mares. Cee Bars had come to the Burnett Ranches as an outcross to breed ranch horses. This has always been the goal of the Burnett Ranches to breed the best ranch horse they could to see that their cowboys were well mounted. The Burnett Ranch cowboys won the 2023 Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo “Best of the West” Ranch Rodeo. They were mounted on six horses and four of them trace in their tail female line or the bottom line in the bracket pedigree to a Cee Bars/Hollywood Gold mare. Cee Bars was ROM with an AAA rated on the track which is equivalent to a 95-speed index today. He had 31 starts in 1952 and 1953. He won four, was second in four, and third in three of his races. He set track records at Los Alamitos going 350 in:18.5 and at the Fairplex Park at Pomona going 330 yards in: 17.3. He earned $2,272. He was a son of Three Bars, who was a son of Percentage, and out of the mare Myrtle Dee by Luke McLuke. The dam of Cee Bars was Chicaro Annie C by Chicaro Bill by Chicaro. Her dam was Boots C by Redwood.

Cee Bars was purchased by the Burnett Ranch in 1956 from his breeder Franklin B. Cox. George Humphreys, the longtime Burnett ranch manager, described what he found in Cee Bars in the article “The Burnett Horses” in the February 1957 issue of THE AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE JOURNAL. “He handled perfectly. He reined well and he had a perfect movement and stop. He isn’t too heavily muscled,” Humphreys said of Cee Bars. Humphreys also related in the biography of the Burnett Ranches that appeared in the book “The Quarter Horse Breeder” (Compiled by Lindeman) that he’s, “one of the best-balanced horses I ever rode.”

When we step back and see the pedigree of Cee Bars Joan and Cee Miss Holly, they were more than paternal half-sisters sired by Cee Bars, they were more like 7/8th sisters. The only difference in their pedigrees is the tail female line or the mare family they came from in the Burnett Ranch broodmares band. You could tell what a horse came from by the number he got from his dam, and that allowed them to keep records on what a mare produced based on what her foals did.

Cee Bars Joan was from the 97 family. She was out of Holly Joanie by Hollywood Gold. The dam of Holly Joanie was Joanie James by Poker Player by Ben Hur II by Ben Hur. The dam of Poker Player was Miss Ollie by Tom (Scooter) and out of the Joe Graham Mare. The dam of Joanie James was the King O’Neill 97 mare by King O’Neill 2nd, and he was out of Duchess of Savoy. Miss Tommy 97 was the dam of the King O’Neill 97 Mare. She was sired by Tom (Scooter) and out of a Burnett Riding Mare. The Miss Tommy Mares registered with the AQHA were yearlings of 1934, and they were sired by Tom (Scooter). They were given the numbers 89 to 100 in the ranch numbering system. Cee Miss Holly was from the 82-mare family and out of Miss Poker Gold by Hollywood Gold. Miss Poker Gold was out of Miss Poker by Poker Player by Ben Hur II. Miss Poker was out of Salty Miss 105 by Salty Chief by Chief P-5 by Peter McCue. The dam of Salty Miss 105 was Miss Buggins 82. No one knows why Salty Miss got the #105. Miss Buggins was unregistered but was sired by Buggins (a remount stallion) and out of the #82 mare in the numbering of the Burnett Ranch mares. The #82 mare is described as a “dappled dun mare with black mane and tail and is further described as a “young mare” in the document that outlines how the mares were originally numbered. She was one of the dry mares on this list, and her pedigree is unknown at this point.

When Matlock bred Cee Miss Holly and her daughters to Peppy San and Peponita, he was bringing together bloodlines he had a great deal of faith in as “cow horses.” This is the mating that combined the blood of Joe Reed P-3 through Leo and Leo San with the blood of Gold Rush through Belle Burnett and Hollywood Gold, both by Gold Rush. Leo was sired by Joe Reed II by Joe Reed P-3 and out of Little Fanny by Joe Reed P-3. When we combine the Gold Rush blood in Peppy San and Cee Miss Holly, we have linebreeding to Gold Rush. We get a breeding pattern of 4 x 4 to Gold Rush in the pedigree of Peppy San with Cee Miss Holly and a breeding pattern of 4 x 5 to Gold Rush with Peppy San and the daughters of Cee Miss Holly.

When we look at the mating of Peponita by Peppy San and Cee Miss Holly, we get a breeding pattern of 5 x 4 to Gold Rush. Now let us look at Leo San, a son of Leo, and the mare San Sue Darks by San Siemon. This is what Matlock had to say about him, “He was a breeding horse the kind of horse that you could tell who the foals were out of by just looking at them and this is a great credit to the sire with whether that is good, bad or indifferent.” Matlock pointed out, ‘They were natural born cow horses. They wanted to work a cow.” He then summed up the Leo San/Hollywood Gold cross this way, “The only way you can keep one of them from looking at a cow was to turn his butt to them.”

Gold Rush has an interesting pedigree history that he brings to the cross. He was purchased as much for his color as his ability to sire ranch horses. He was a palomino. The palomino was popular in the late 1930 and early 1940s as parade horses, just as they are today. Anne Burnett Tandy and her then-husband James Goodwin Hall bought Gold Rush as a present for her father, Tom Burnett, to sire palominos. Sadly, Tom Burnett died before he could see the results of the planned program to breed palominos. But the pedigree of Gold Rush shows he was bred to be more than a pretty color.

Gold Rush was bred in California by C. B. Lowry. Lowry bred a Sorrel Mare (breeding unknown) to the stallion Caliente. Caliente was a palomino son of Del Rey. Del Rey was a noted stock horse in the early days of the California reined cow horse world. Del Rey was the foundation sire of the Dwight Murphy palomino breeding program at Santa Barbara, California. The Murphy palomino breeding program started with Del Rey being crossed on a group of mares called the Marfa Mares. These mares were bred and sold by the W. B. Mitchell Ranch of Marfa, Texas, to Murphy in the mid1920s. The Mitchell Ranch was a quarter horse breeder that favored palominos. W. B. Mitchell was the first President of the Palomino Horse Breeders Association. He was an active association member until his death in 1943.

Del Rey was foaled in 1918. His sire was a thoroughbred named Swedish King, who was sired by Rey El Santa Anita. Rey El Santa Anita was bred by Lucky Baldwin at his Santa Anita Ranchero. This famous Ranchero developed into a top thoroughbred nursery that was named after his daughter Anita. This breeding program bred many top runners, including four winners of the American Derby, including Rey El Santa Anita. He then developed a racetrack on his Ranchero, and today we know that track as the famous Santa Anita Race Track, the home of the tracks’ signature races, the Santa Anita Derby G1, and the Santa Anita Handicap G1.

The Santa Anita Ranchero was home to other horses that figure into our story. A Thoroughbred named Lantados was bred by Baldwin. He was also foaled in 1918. Lantados sired Red Lantados. Red Lantados was bred by Baldwin and used by Mitchell in his breeding program. Lantados was sired by Cruzados and out of Feranda by Rey EL Santa Anitia. Red Lantados was the sire of the Mitchell stallion Sappho Jr and Sobre. Red Lantados was out of a daughter of Rey El Santa Anita, giving him a breeding pattern of 3 X 2 to Rey El Santa Anita, the sire of Swedish King, the sire of Del Rey.

The dam of Del Rey is a mare we know today as Queen. She was a Palomino mare. Her breeding is listed as unknown, but it was believed that she came from a ranch in Utah. Del Rey was also the sire of El Rey de Los Reyes, the first horse registered in the Palomino Horse Breeders of America and the Palomino Horse Association. El Rey de Los Reyes was bred by Dewight Murphy. I want to thank our Australian friend Mike Boardman, a pedigree enthusiast and horse breeder, for this information on Baldwin.

The one criteria we see in the horses Matlock Rose rode is that he always looked for that natural-born cow sense that made “cow horses” with a great desire to work a cow. The kind of cow he found in the Burnett Ranch bred horses from their famous broodmare band.

Diagnosing Back Pain in Horses

By Heather Smith Thomas......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ack pain in horses can be due to a multitude of causes. There are many types of back injuries in horses, including acute (that show up suddenly) and chronic problems, and and repetitive injuries due to use of the horse. Any of these can hinder a horse’s ability to perform. Back pain may also be secondary to some other problem that is causing the horse to move differently. Thus the first priority when confronted with a horse exhibiting back pain is to determine the cause and then try to eliminate or treat it.

DIAGNOSIS - Bruce Connally, DVM (an equine veterinarian with a sports-medicine practice in Colorado) says it’s not always easy to pinpoint the cause of back pain, to know whether the pain originates from a back injury or is secondary to a problem elsewhere in the body. Back pain may also be mistaken for lameness if the horse is moving differently because of the pain.

“The problem could also be in a foot or leg; back pain is secondary to the lameness and we have to find the cause of lameness. Sometimes the cause is elusive. We might do a flexion test on a hind leg and the horse tests positive so we think it’s the leg. But flexion tests also put a twist on the back. It can be challenging to arrive at an accurate diagnosis,” he says.

Tia Nelson, DVM/farrier in Helena, Montana says that a horse with back pain usually presents as a horse that just isn’t competing as well as it should—a bit “off” in performance, or reluctant to do its job. “Sometimes what we think might be back pain is actually something else. So we usually start with a complete lameness evaluation to make sure the feet are in good shape and comfortable, because if the feet hurt, there are often some compensatory issues in the neck or back,” she says.

“We try to figure out what is going on, before we start any kind of treatment. We do a lameness evaluation, using hoof testers, watching the horse walk and trot, take a thorough history from the owner, asking when the problem started, what the horse does for a living, etc. If there is something obviously wrong with a foot and you block it out and the pain is resolved, we assume it’s not a back problem,” says Nelson.

“Sometimes we never do figure out exactly why the horse is sore; it’s challenging because the horse can’t talk and tell us. Identifying the cause is always the first goal, and then making a treatment plan based on what you find. I always want to know what I am treating before I start. Otherwise we might mask the pain with treatment. With less pain, the horse performs better, and we might think we solved the problem, and then the horse re-injures himself because he puts more stress on t“Many horses with back pain respond to touch/pressure along the back, if you palpate the lumbar muscles,” says Connally. “These horses will either tense up to try to protect themselves from that touch, or sink downward to try to get away from it. Some will tense upward if you touch the tips of the spines of the vertebrae. This might be indicative of kissing spines, where the spines of the vertebrae are bumping against each other,” he says.

“Sometimes we take x-rays of kissing spines. On some of those horses you can see the spines touching each other, but can’t find any sign of pain caused by it. Just because the horse has kissing spines doesn’t necessarily mean they are making the horse hurt. This complicates the diagnosis because pain may be coming from something else. If we just look at the x-rays and assume we’ve found the problem, we may be wrong. If we use the x-rays to make a diagnosis of kissing spines, we should also use local anesthetic to try to block that area, to be sure that the block makes the horse hurt less, and that the x-ray is appropriate.”

Back pain is often due to something we can’t see anatomically, while in some cases it is obvious if the horse has a hump in his back or a crooked back. “If you stand behind and above some of these horses (maybe standing on a fence), you might detect a crooked spine,” he says. If there is no obvious abnormality, however, this makes it harder to diagnose.

“Today we are more able to diagnose things like sacroiliac joint issues with bone scans, or use injections into that area to control pain and the horse does better. Sometimes we only diagnose this on a post-mortem exam,” Connally says.

Dr. Jenny Johnson (Oakhill Shockwave and Veterinary Chiropractic, Calabasas, California--near Los Angeles) has been an equine veterinarian for 35 years, but in the past dozen years has specialized in shockwave therapy and chiropractic care. She often uses these techniques to help horses with back injuries. Johnson says proper diagnosis of the source of back pain is essential for a successful treatment plan.

She works with many upper level performance horses about once a month, depending on their competition schedules, to keep them at peak performance. For most of them, she is doing regular maintenance, but says it is not uncommon to find back pain in these horses. Her practice consists of hunter/jumper, dressage horses and western performance horses.

“All the performance horses I work with, despite being in different disciplines, push from behind. They must be able to engage their hind end. To achieve engagement and power of the stride, the abdominal muscles contract, the hind limbs come up underneath the horse, there is flexion of the pelvis and lumbo-sacral spine, and the potential energy created is transferred as kinetic energy forward through the spine. If a horse has back pain, he is unable to do this very effectively; the pain makes him reluctant to fully use his body. There is resistance to the flexion of the pelvis and flexion of the lumbo-sacral spine and thus to the transmission of energy forward, and this affects performance,” she explains.

“Through my chiropractic work on a horse, I can often identify back pain before the owners or riders do. Primary back pain can result from a variety of issues, including kissing spines and muscle strain or sprain. Secondary back pain is frequently thought to be result of hock or stifle pain. In the case of secondary back pain, it is essential that the primary source of pain is identified and treated as well as the back pain. Treating either without the other will not result in satisfactory resolution of the back pain. To be effective in treatment, it is also essential that we consider the horse as a whole, and not just an accumulation of parts. This is especially true when addressing back pain,” she says.

“One of the most common ways to identify back pain is via palpation of the back. Owners, grooms or trainers may report that the horse is sensitive when they brush the horse or put the saddle on. Palpation can help locate the sore areas, when the horse flinches or tries to resist touch in that area. Back pain may present as a performance issue: the horse may not push from behind the way it used to, may not round over jumps, may not come through a dressage movement, or may not sit down on the haunches to stop and turn (if it’s a western performance horse), the way he needs to,” says Johnson.

“With advanced imaging modalities such as MRI, nuclear scintigraphy, digital radiography, and ultrasound we are able to identify more clearly and specifically the areas of lameness in horses. With these methods we can identify areas of pain in the back related to abnormalities such as kissing spines, inflammation of the sacroiliac joint, muscular pain, as well as identifying other sources of pain that may be contributing to back pain,” she says.

“We can use a combination of digital radiography and scintigraphy to evaluate the back to see if kissing spines are present and if they are potentially active. Some horses with kissing spines have no pain. The range of how it affects horses is quite dramatic—from nothing at all to making the horse dangerous to ride, and everything in between—and sometimes in the same horse.”

Identifying the pain, addressing other components of the horse’s comfort, such as hind limb issues, as well as identifying any underlying cause to the back pain, is crucial. “We have to look at the entire animal. It’s important to watch the horse on a lead shank and a longe line, and also under saddle. Frequently you won’t be able to see what the problem is until the horse is doing what he’s supposed to be doing for his job,” Johnson says.

By Larry Thornton

oco Stampede was foaled in 1952 at the Three D Stock Farm in Arlington, Texas, owned by his breeder E. Paul Waggoner. He was sired by Poco Bueno and out of Pretty Rosalie by Pretty Boy. He would be purchased by Mrs. G. F. Rhoads as a yearling. He was trained and shown for most of his career by Jack Newton. Poco Stampede was bred to be a show horse. Poco Bueno was an outstanding show horse, in which Mr. Waggoner built a breeding program around this great stallion.

Poco Stampede followed in his sire’s footsteps and proved to be an outstanding show horse that carried a rumor in some circles that he wasn’t sired by Poco Bueno but sired by the legendary cutting horse Jessie James. Both of these stallions were owned at one time by Mr. Waggoner, and at one point, they were at the Three D Stock Farm at the same time. Let’s see what we can find about this, but first, let’s look at Poco Stampede to see what kind of individual he was as a show horse.

The appearance of Poco Stampede in the show arena came in the era of show horses that were shown simultaneously in halter and performance. It was common to see horses shown at halter in the morning and then performance classes in the afternoon. Many times, a horse would be shown in multiple classes like reining and western pleasure during the afternoon, with the cutting the last class of the day. It was a special time, and many great horses from this era formed the foundation of our horses today.

But Poco Stampede was a little different. He was shown at halter in the morning, and then cutting was his only performance class. He was shown in halter and cutting as a twoyear-old, something virtually unheard of today. His AQHA record shows that he was taken to five shows in 1954. His first show listed was a cutting at Paducah, Texas, earning his first cutting point. He was shown in the two-year-old stallion class at Stamford, Gladewater, Odessa, and Abilene that same year. The AQHA doesn’t show how he placed, but he earned one point at Stamford, one point at Gladewater, two points at Odessa, and two points at Abilene in halter. He was shown twice in cutting, once at Stamford, earning one point, and at Gladewater, earning two points. This gave him a record of six halter points with four cutting points as a two-year-old.

The AQHA show record for Poco Stampede stands at 104 AQHA halter points earning his Superior with 21 Grand Championships and 10 Reserve Grand Championships. He earned 379 AQHA performance points, all in cutting, earning his Register of Merit and a Superior in cutting. He was an AQHA Champion. He was the AQHA High-Point Open Cutting Horse in 1957 and 1958. His NCHA show record shows that he was the NCHA Open World Champion Cutting Horse in 1959, the NCHA Open World Champion Cutting Horse Stallion in 1959, the NCHA Open Reserve World Champion in 1958, and the 1958 NCHA Open World Champion Cutting Stallion. He was in the NCHA Open Top Ten in 1957, 1958, and 1959. His NCHA earnings stand at $39,939.37, giving him the NCHA Certificate of Ability, NCHA Bronze Award,

NCHA Silver Award, and that gave him a membership in the NCHA Hall of Fame.

Jack Newton told Mark Herra in the article “Poco Stampede” in the November 1960 HOOFS & HORNS magazine why he found Poco Stampede to be one of the best horses he had seen. Newton said that Poco Stampede was an easy horse to train, but he was hard to ride because he was “very quick and strong and tries his very hardest when after a flighty Hereford.”

He clarified his thoughts this way, “He has been a good horse all the way. He started out good and got better every year. He has a lot of heart and tries much harder when the going gets rough. You don’t have to ask anybody about him… just look at the records. I think they are the best you can find.”

He continued, “One of the major things I like about him is that we never did take him to a show just to show him at halter. We took him to cutting contests. If there was a halter show there, too, we showed him at halter. Well, he beat the halter horses and turned around and beat the cutting horses. What else can you ask of a horse?” Newton recalled one cutting that told him he had a special horse. It was a cutting at Stamford, Texas, and he recalled what he saw that day in Poco Stampede, “It was the best cutting I ever saw. Bar Maid worked first and did a good job and it looked like Poco Stampede just figured what he had to do to win and did it. He was just a three-year-old, and I knew that day that he had what it takes to make a champion.”

One of the things that goes with pedigree research of the older horses that originally formed the registry is “who sired who,” and this often led to a mystery that often accompanied the history of that horse. We find some of the early horse’s pedigree is disputed. This kind of situation goes back to these early years as pedigrees were often remembered from memory. Plus, it depended on who you were listening to and what they had seen and/or been told. Then you would talk to someone else, and they had a different version to report, which kept the confusion going with the parent verification.

The beginning of the American Quarter Horse Association brought some order to pedigrees. But sometimes discrepancies in a pedigree got traction despite what it said in the AQHA Stud Book.

The pedigree of Poco Stampede is one of those examples as to how it can get confusing despite what was written in the Stud Book. Over the years, I have visited with a number of people and, on several occasions, was told that Poco Stampede was sired by Jessie James. They truly believed what they were telling me. One of them was the son of a man that, at one time, owned Jessie James. So, is Poco Stampede sired by Poco Bueno or Jessie James? Let’s see what we find. Our look will begin with Matlock Rose at the Three D Stock Farm. Rose was given the job of training Jessie James while he was there. But he never showed him as he left to ride for Lester Goodson. Then in 1950, B. D. “Ben” Fussell bought Jessie James, and he hired Matlock Rose to ride him. Rose took Jessie James on the road in 1951 to become the NCHA Open Reserve World Champion Cutting Horse.

While at the Three D Stock Farm, Jessie James sired two foals when bred to Pretty Rosalie. They were RL Banjo Eyes in 1947 and Jessie Rose in 1951. The 1951 breeding season saw Pretty Rosalie bred to Poco Bueno for the first time with Jessie Rose at her side. That was the year Jessie James was on the road with Matlock Rose, and the next year she produced Poco Stampede, who was foaled in 1952. I think this mystery is solved!!!

The Right Pedigree

We have seen that Poco Stampede was a great show horse; now, let’s look at his pedigree to see where that performance came from. The story of his sire Poco Bueno begins with his purchase by E. Paul Waggoner from his breeder Jess Hankins. The sale took place at the Hankins Brothers sale on October 22, 1945. Poco Bueno was a yearling, and Waggoner paid $5,700 to get the colt, which was a large sum of money for an unproven Quarter Horse yearling. Waggoner bought another colt that day named Sundown for $4,100. He changed his name to Beaver Creek, and he became an important sire on the Waggoner Ranch in Vernon, Texas.

Poco Bueno had a show record before the AQHA started tabulating points. He was a noted halter and cutting horse that won the Grand Champion Stallion title at some of the biggest shows, including the Fort Worth Stock Show, Denver Stock Show, and American Royal in Kansas City. He won the Grand Championship at Denver twice, one of only two stallions to do that in the early years. He was actually retired and came out of retirement to be one of the first AQHA Champions after the AQHA started keeping points in 1951.

He earned 37 halter points and 8 cutting points to get his Championship. He earned his AQHA Championship in 1953 and his ROM in 1957. He was an NCHA Certificate of Ability winner in the NCHA. The sire of Poco Bueno was King P-234, one of the premier sires in the Quarter Horse industry whose blood has become so important that it is still relevant today. King P-234 was a son of Zantanon, the famous Mexican racehorse that earned the nickname “Man 0’ War of Mexico.” Zantanon was a son of Little Joe, by Traveler. The pedigree of Traveler was unknown. The dam of Zantanon was Jeanette sired by a horse named Billy, by Big Jim. Big Jim was sired by Sykes Rondo. Little Joe and Jeanette were out of the daughters of Sykes Rondo. Sykes Rondo was a son of McCoy Billy. McCoy Billy was a son of Old Billy. Little Joe’s dam, Jenny, was by Sykes Rondo, was a double-bred Old Billy mare. Her dam May Mangum was sired by Anthony, a son of Old Billy.

The dam of King P-234 was Jabalina by the Strait Horse, a son of Yellow Jacket. Yellow Jacket was sired by Little Rondo, by Lock’s Rondo. He was out of the Barbee Dun by Lock’s Rondo. Yellow Jacket’s double grandsire Lock’s Rondo was by Whalebone by Old Billy. His dam was Mittie Stephens, a daughter of Shiloh Jr., by Shiloh. Yellow Jacket’s double breeding to Lock’s Rondo gave King two more crosses of Old Billy. Jabalina was out of the Bay Quarter

Mare. Some pedigree researchers believe that the dam of the Strait Horse was a daughter of Traveler and that Jabalina was out of a mare they call the Bay Quarter Mare by Traveler. The presents of Yellow Jacket in Poco Bueno’s pedigree is interesting because he was one of the stallions used extensively in the Waggoner breeding program. So when Poco Bueno went to the Three D’s Stock Farm, he was crossed back on Waggoner Ranch mares carrying the blood of Yellow Jacket.

Poco Bueno was out of Miss Taylor. Miss Taylor was a mare that Jess Hankins had bought in South Texas from Alonzo Taylor. Jess Hankins described her this way in our 1989 interview, “She wasn’t an outstanding-looking mare. She was just a good smooth mare that had good colts, and she had proof of that.” He continued, “A lot of people had mares that were as good a looking as she was. But she was just one of those that throw’d back and bred good foals.”

Miss Taylor was a daughter of a horse called Poco Bueno. The Stud Book and some pedigree authorities listed this Poco Bueno as Ponco Bueno. To save on confusion, I will refer to this Poco Bueno as Old Poco Bueno. Old Poco Bueno was sired by Little Joe by Traveler. Miss Taylor, being a granddaughter of Little Joe, adds two more crosses of Old Billy to Poco Bueno’s pedigree. This also makes Poco Bueno double-bred to Little Joe. Old Poco Bueno was out of Virginia D, a mare of unknown breeding. Miss Taylor was out of the Eads Mare by Hickory Bill. Hickory Bill was the sire of Old Sorrel, the foundation sire of the King Ranch breeding program. Hickory Bill was a son of Peter McCue. Peter McCue was sired by Dan Tucker by Barney Owens. Barney Owens was a son of Old Cold Deck, a son of Old Billy. This gives Poco Bueno a breeding pattern of 3 x 3 to Little Joe, a breeding pattern of 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 to Sykes Rondo, a breeding pattern of 4 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 4 x 4 to Traveler, and a breeding pattern of 7 x 8 x 7 x 7 x 8 x 8 x 7 x 7 x 8 x 8 to Old Billy a son of Shiloh and out of Ram Cat by Steel Dust.

It was noted earlier that Waggoner had opted to build a breeding program around Poco Bueno, and the program proved very successful. It didn’t take Poco Bueno long to put his ability and strong pedigree to work building a reputation as a breeding horse in the NCHA and AQHA. Poco Bueno became a leading sire of ROM with 84 and 36 AQHA Champions, leading both lists for several years. His foals earned 21 Superior halter and Superior performance awards. Beginning in 1951, Poco Bueno had one or more foals in the NCHA Top 10 every year through 1962. In addition to Poco Stampede, his NCHA Hall of Fame members include Poco Lena and Poco Mona. His Bronze Award winners include Poco Tivio and Poco Bob.

One of the key ingredients in this plan was mares by the Waggoner Ranch stallion Pretty Boy. Pretty Boy was bought by the Waggoner Ranch and used as a sire of ranch horses. The Poco Bueno foals out of Pretty Boy mares include Poco Lena, Poco Champ, Pretty Pokey, Pretty Boy Pokey, and Poco Tip, all AQHA Champions.

Pretty Boy was sired by Dodger. Dodger, in turn, was sired by Harmon Baker by Peter McCue. The dam of Dodger was Froggie by Joe Collins by Old Billy. The dam of Pretty Boy was Little Maud by Tip by Jazz by Harmon Baker. This makes Pretty Boy 2 X 4 line-bred to Harmon Baker. The dam of Little Maud was Bess by Gardner. The dam of Pretty Rosalie was a Waggoner mare whose breeding was unknown.

The Poco Bueno mating with Pretty Rosalie reinforces the success Poco Bueno had with Pretty Boy mares. Pretty Rosalie foaled six foals by Poco Bueno. In addition to Poco Stampede, she foaled Poco Pine, Poco Paul Dee, Rosy Poco, Poco Fay, and Poco Shirley. Poco Stampede was the first Pretty Rosalie sired by Poco Bueno. Rosy Poco was next, and she earned only 1 halter point in her show career. She was the dam of three-point earners, including the AQHA Champion Martin’s Jessie by Jessie James. This stallion earned 27 halter points and 116 performance points with a Superior in cutting. Rudy Buck was another point earner out of Rosy Poco and sired by Pretty Buck, a son of Pretty Boy that stood with Poco Bueno at the Three D Stock Farm. This makes Rudy Buck 2 X 3 inbred to Pretty Boy. The third point earner out of Rosy Poco was Poco Roundup by Dividend. This horse earned six halter points.

Poco Pine followed Rosy Poco, and he was not to be outdone as he became an AQHA Champion with points in halter, pleasure, and cutting. Poco Pine was a noted halter horse that retired from halter competition with 50 Grand Championships and a Superior in halter with 135 points. His performance appearances were limited, but he won the Junior Cutting at the Fort Worth Stock Show in 1958 with 32 in the class. He earned 17 performance points in the arena. Poco Pine went on to become an all-time leading sire with 37 AQHA Open Champions, 4 Youth Champions, 15 Superior Halter Horses, 39 Superior performance horses, and 84 ROM performance horses. Poco Pine is the broodmare sire of the great AQHA leading performance horse sire Zippo Pine Bar.

Poco Fay and Poco Shirley followed Poco Pine as the next two foals by Poco Bueno and out of Pretty Rosalie. They were foaled after Paul Curtner purchased Pretty Rosalie and her colt Poco Bueno colt Poco Pine in 1954. Both of these mares were unshown in the AQHA. The last foal in this group was Poco Paul Dee, also bred by Paul Curtner. Poco Paul Dee was an AQHA Champion with 41 halter points and 22 performance points.

Food For Thought

A little food for thought on the mystery of who sired Poco Stampede, and this may be one reason why some may have thought Jessie James was the sire of Poco Stampede. As we have seen, Poco Stampede was actually the third foal out of Pretty Rosalie. The first two were RL Banjo Eyes and Jessie Rose, both by Jessie James while he was still owned by Waggoner. RL Banjo Eyes earned 13 performance points and her ROM in the arena. She was the dam of three-point earners. They were King Crow Bar, with one halter point; Blond King, with 5 halter points and 1.5 performance points and Poco Jessie, an AQHA Champion by Poco Bueno. Poco Jessie earned 19 halter points and 89 performance points with a Superior in cutting. Jessie Rose was unshown but the dam of two-point earners. They were Poco Imprint and Poco Rose Snip, both by Poco Bueno. Poco Rose Snip earned five halter points, and Poco Imprint was an AQHA Champion with 22 halter points and 45.5 performance points.

Here is an interesting side note on Pretty Rosalie and Jessie James. Jessie James has long been considered a great cutting horse, a legend in the arena. But as a sire, he has not proven to be more than just an average horse. But when Jessie James was bred to Pretty Rosalie and her daughters, he sired some of his best. The success of Jessie James and Pretty Rosalie seems to carry over into the foals sired by Poco Bueno and out of the Jessie James/Pretty Rosalie mares. Maybe that further adds to the confusion of who sired Poco Stampede.

Poco Stampede was a great show horse. He was sold in 1963 to A. F. McDavid of Brooker, Florida. He sired just 152 AQHA foals with 59 performers that earned 1,587 points in halter and performance. He sired 22 ROM performers with four AQHA Champions, and four of his foals earned six Superior Awards in the open and youth divisions. His point earners include Stampede Pete with 682 points with Superiors in open western pleasure, youth western pleasure, youth showmanship, and youth western horsemanship. He was an AQHA Youth Performance Champion and an open AQHA Champion. His daughter Duchess Ann was a Superior Cutting horse with 172 performance points and 11 halter points. His daughter, Stampede’s Fame, was an AQHA Superior halter horse with 69 halter points. The other three AQHA Champions were Muncho Stampede, Stampede Star, and Whimsey Bonita.

Now we know the story about Poco Stampede and the mystery of his pedigree. The sad part is that he didn’t get to sire more foals. But he was truly a great show horse that followed the idea of form to function as a halter horse and its impact on a horse’s performance. Isn’t that what the American Quarter Horse is all about?

About the Author |

Larry Thornton is a Pedigree Analyst and freelance writer for Working Horse Magazine, Speedhorse and Quarter Horse News. Thorton started his writing career in 1984 with his first article being printed in the Speed Horse Magazine. He was also an Agriculture Instructor for 37 years.