Mares N More

By Larry Thornton

he story of Nancy Squaw and Miss Paulo’s 45 is an interesting piece of quarter horse history as they both appear in the pedigree of Miss Jim 45. Miss Jim 45 was a great halter horse that has been considered by many to be the greatest halter mare of all time. She set a record in 1970 for earning the most points in a single year as a halter horse.

She went to 153 shows with 139 firsts and 12 seconds, earning 436 points, earning the AQHA High Point Halter Horse title. Her total career shows 642 halter points, winning 230 of her 250 shows earning 176 Grand Championships and 33 Reserve Grand Championships. Our look at these two mares in the pedigree of Miss Jim 45 makes them our Mares With More for this issue. But Miss Jim 45 wasn’t the only success experienced by these two mares.

Nancy Squaw and Miss Paulo’s 45 were brought together by Jim Nance of El Reno, Oklahoma. Jim Nance had a long and illustrious career as a breeder, showman, and judge. Jim bought Nancy Squaw in about 1952. She was sired by Cuter McCue. Cuter McCue was sired by Little Fort. His dam was a mare by Midnight. The dam Nancy Squaw was King’s Squaw by Little King. Little King was sired by Joe Bailey P-4. Red Rose was the dam of Little King, and she was sired by Grano de Oro. Grano de Oro was a full brother to Joe Moore. Oklahoma Squaw was the dam of King’s Squaw. She was a daughter of Oklahoma Star P-6. Whitey was the dam of Oklahoma Squaw. Her sire was Little Earl Jr. The dam of

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Whitey was Pet Dawson.T Nancy Squaw was bred by Percy Jones. Jim officially showed her one time, earning a first in the class and two AQHA halter points. We’ll let Jim tell us how he bought her, “I bought Nancy Squaw from Percy Jones down at Davis, Oklahoma when she was a two-year-old. She had never had a rope on her. So, I went down there and roped her with my roping horse, and I’d pull her about 30 or 40 feet, and she’d go down. I’d let her up, and she’d go down again, and I’d get her up again.” “Finally, Mr. Jones said, ‘I’m sure glad you paid for her because I think you’re going to kill her. Well, I got her home, and I started riding her, and in about three days, I was riding that mare anywhere I wanted to go. She never did give me any trouble, and she was one heck of a mare.” The purchase of Nancy Squaw took a turn or twist at this point. Here is how Jim told the story, “When I bought Nancy Squaw, the fella sold me the mare with a guarantee. So, when he called to ask if I was satisfied with the mare, I said ‘Yes, but I needed a Breeder’s Certificate. He replied, ‘A Breeder’s Certificate!’ Yes, the mare was in foal. That is when she had her first foal Dusty Squaw.” Here is the rest of the story, “What happened was when Nancy Squaw was about 14 months old and running in the pasture with

MISS JIM 45 rd dun 15.2 Hd. & 1375 lb. 1966 QUARTER HORSE HANK H KING

ch 1942 b 14.3 1932

ZANTANON JABALINA

ch 1917

br 1920

HARLAN

QUARTER HORSE QUEEN H

DAN 1

buck 1951 #0002154 ch 1936 NAIL QUARTER MARE QUARTER HORSE DIXIE BEACH BEETCHS YELLOW JACKET YELLOW WOLF sor 1920

buck 1912

JIM HARLAN #0032232 buck 1930 buck 1922 MARE BY YELLOW JACKET ~1909

br 1960

QUARTER HORSE

#0123993 QUARTER HORSE MAYFLOWER #0002692 b 1915

CUTER MCCUE LITTLE FORT 1 NAIL DRIVER 1 SNIP 7 BLACK BOB 1

1900

pal

b 1939 br

LUCINDA 1

NANCY SQUAW QUARTER HORSE MARE BY MIDNIGHT sor 1951 #0001155 gr QUARTER HORSE KINGS SQUAW LITTLE KING #0055368 sor 1945 ch 1938

QUARTER HORSE OKLAHOMA SQUAW #0051007

PAULO

gr 1936

BOLO

b 1948 b 1944

MIDNIGHT

gr 14.2 1916

MARE BY YELLOW WOLF buck

JOE BAILEY

ch 1919

RED ROSE 1 OKLAHOMA STAR

sor 1932

b 14.2 1915

WHITEY 1 HOBO LOMA

gr b 1940

b 1921

PAULOS DANDY QUARTER HORSE PAULITA b 1954 #0031147 b 1931

QUARTER HORSE DUCK WING BILLY WAGGONER MISS PAULOS 45 #0056255 b 1946 buck 1942

dun 1961

QUARTER HORSE

#0223791 QUARTER HORSE POLLY 4 #0015327

L H CHOCK KING

sor 1944 b 14.3 1932

CHOCK LADY 45 QUARTER HORSE MISS ALICE dun 1955 #0009319 blk 1937

QUARTER HORSE LADY BLACK 45 BLACKBURN #0064361 dun 1944 dun 1927

PAUL ELL ADALINA 2 BILLY VAN HELEN JO CHIEF

ZANTANON JABALINA COLT BY BROWN JUG ESCOBA YELLOW JACKET SISS

br

pal 1936

b 1937

br 1917

ch 1917

br 1920

br 1924

rd dun 1908

b 1920

main photo |

This photo shows where Miss Jim 45 got her conformation

Photo Courtesy Jon Mixer right photo | Jim Harlan the sire of Miss Jim 45

Photo Courtesy the Author’s Files

left photo | Miss Jim 45 with Keith Nance at the age of two Photo Courtesy the Author’s Files

her mother, her sire was turned out with the mares. He did this to check to see if the mares were in foal. He did this in the winter. She was just a young filly, but she became in foal to her sire Cuter McCue.”

The foal from this accident was Dusty Squaw, and she became an instrument in the next phase of our story. Jim recalled this part of the story this way, “I started cutting on Nancy Squaw, and she made quite a cutting mare. Then I bred her to Leo San at Mr. Dark’s over at Wetumpka, Oklahoma, and that is how I got Leota San.” Jim traded Dusty Squaw for the breeding to Leo San producing the foal Leota San.

The AQHA shows that Jim showed Leota San in halter, earning ten halter points in aged mares, broodmares with three grand championships. She then became a broodmare for Jim, “When she was a three-year-old, I bred her to King’s Pistol. Then I took her and bred her to Sugar Bars, and she had a chestnut sorrel stud colt. Then I bred her to Harlan. Then after that, I bred her to Jim Harlan.

The Leota San chestnut sorrel colt brings Miss Paulo’s 45 into our story. Here is what Jim had to say, “Well, I had that chestnut stud colt by Sugar Bars and out of Leota San. We named him Leo Sandy Bar, but we called him Wobbles. When he was about 18 months old, a fella came in here with a little dun mare in the trailer. She came from the Waggoner Ranch, and they wanted to trade. Well, I got Wobbles out and let them look at him, and they wanted to know how I would trade with them. So, I told them how I would trade, and we made the swap. I think I got $500.00 to boot.”

He continued, “This little ole mare had hair on her like an angora goat. Bob Robey came down that evening to look at the mare, and he saw how she was bred, and he said, ‘Jim, you ought to be in prison down there at McAlister, Oklahoma for stealing this mare.’ I thought then I had really gotten the best deal, but then she raised me four champions by three different studs, and that is how I got Miss Paulo’s 45.”

Miss Paulo’s 45 was a 1961 dun mare bred by the Waggoner Ranch of Vernon, Texas. Her sire was Paulo’s Dandy, a son of Paulo by Bolo by Hobo. Hobo was sired by Joe Moore, the full brother to Grano de Oro. These two full brothers were sired by Little Joe and out of Della Moore. Paulo was out of Paulita. Paulita was by Paul Ell by Hickory Bill. Paul Ell was out of Baby Ruth, a full sister to Jenny, dam of Little Joe. Adalina was the dam of Paulita. Her sire was Little Joe, and her dam was Black Bess. Paulita was also the dam of Hobo.

Duck Wing was the dam of Paulo’s Dandy. Her sire was Billy Waggoner by Billy Van by Cotton Eyed Joe. Cotton Eyed Joe was sired by Little Joe and out of Black Bess. Black Bess was sired by Warrior and out of Jenny. Thus, we see that Black Bess and Little Joe are half brother and sister. Helen Jo was the dam of Billy Waggoner. Helen Jo was sired by Waggoner. Polly was the dam of Duck Wing. Her sire was Chief P-5 by Peter McCue. The dam of Miss Paulo’s 45 was Chock Lady 45. Her sire was L H Chock by King P-234. Miss Alice was the dam of L H Chock. She was sired by Colt by Brown Jug. Escoba was sired by Little Joe and out of Black Mabel. Lady Black 45 was the dam of Chock Lady 45. Her sire was Blackburn by Yellow Jacket. Blackburn was out of Siss by Peter McCue.

An added note about the chestnut sorrel stud colt—Jim went to the mailbox one day and got his copy of the EASTERN/WESTERN QUARTER HORSE JOURNAL, and here is what he found, “When I got back to the house, I told my wife that Wobbles was on the cover of the EASTERN/WESTERN QUARTER HORSE JOURNAL. She said, ‘He can’t be. I heard he was killed in a trailer accident.’ I opened it up, and he was the leading sire of hunters and jumpers on the east coast. So, I guess that deal broke both ways.” Leo Sandy Bar had become a prominent English pleasure sire while owned by Jon Riker of Southbury, Connecticut. Leo Sandy Bar went on to be a significant sire for Jon Riker. This great stallion sired such noted horses as the AQHA Champions Dandy Bar Riker, Danny Riker, Day Money Riker, Elcapitan Riker, and Frank Riker.

The next Nancy Squaw foals were Nancy Scooter by Red Scooter and King’s Okie by M&M’s Major’s Mangum. Nancy Scooter and King’s Okie were both halter point earners earning one point each.

The next stallion to enter the picture was Harlan. Jim developed a very practical practice of going to see each stallion he bred to. Here is how he explained what he looked at when seeing the stallion and why Harlan stood out as a sire. He stated, “I had been around looking at horses, and I was the kind of person that if I went to look at a stud, I wasn’t interested in the stud as much as what his babies looked like. I saw more uniform colts, and every one of them had the darndest rear end on them you ever saw in your life.”

He added, “You know what got me started with Harlan more than anything was Bob Robey’s mares. Bob had 15 or 20 good mares, and they were all different bred mares, and every one of those babies looked like carbon copies out of that horse. That is the reason I got so interested in Harlan.” Jim would later join the Harlan Syndicate to become a part-owner in the horse with Bob Robey, Carl Mills, and Harold Hudspeth.

Thus, Harlan became the sire of Nancy Squaw’s next foal. The foal born was Jim Harlan. This 1960 bay stallion became a special contributor to our story. It started when Jim began to show his new stud colt. Here is what happened, “I didn’t think much about it at the time; I thought he was a good-looking stud colt. The first time we showed him was over at Hydro, Oklahoma, and then a week later, we took him to Mountain View, Oklahoma, and he started winning everything we could get him to.”

“Then I took him to Elk City as a yearling, and he was a good-looking son of a gun,” added Jim about the start of the yearling campaign. “Cecil Gillespie was there, and he was one of the biggest horse traders at that time.”

“When he saw the colt, he said, ‘What would you take for him?’ I said, “I would take $1,100 for him.’ Well, he said, ‘Would

Miss Paulo’s 45 and one of her foals Photo Author’s Files

Miss Sangaree as a two year old

Photo Courtesy Jim Nance

This photo of Miss Jim 45 Working Horse Magazine spring 2022 51speaks for itself Photo Courtesy Jim Nance

you take 1,100 bushels of rye for him?’ I said, ‘What in the world would I do with the rye?’ He said, ‘You could sell it.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do anything like that.’ He said he was going to his banker and see if he could get the money to buy this colt.”

Jim continued, “Bob Robey was with me, and I told him let’s get out of here before this guy buys my colt. We went home, and Cecil never did come back.”

“I was showing him just about everywhere, and I went down into Arkansas,” related Jim about a couple of events in the life of Jim Nance and his colt. “B. A. “Barney” Skipper that had Poco Lena was there. He and his wife tried to buy the colt. I told him I wasn’t interested and that I didn’t want to sell the colt.”

“I had heard about this colt down in Texas called Leo’s Sonny San that J. C. Thompson had. So, me and the wife were sitting here one evening,” I said, “let’s go to Cyril, Oklahoma, and show the colt. George Tyler was the judge. George was from Texas, and Thompson was from Texas. It was the yearling stud class. I was one of the last to come into the arena, and there was about fourteen or so in the class.”

“I trotted up to George, and he said, “Go up there and get on top of that sorrel colt at the head of the line and you and he can get acquainted. He’s been looking for you. So, I went up there and on top of that sorrel colt.”

Jim continued, “The man with the sorrel colt was J. C. Thompson, and he said, ‘J. D. Tadlock told me about your colt when he saw him in Arkansas. He told me that I had better stay away from your colt. He said he’ll beat you every day of the week.”

Jim asked Thompson if he wanted to look at the colt, and he took hold of Thompson’s colt to let him take a good look. Jim stated that when Thompson moved around the colt, “he said, ‘Everybody said he was tough and he’s just as tough as he was supposed to be.”

The next stop for Jim Harlan was the State Fair of Dallas, Texas. Jim recalled the show this way, “There were 32 colts in the class, and J. C. and I were down on the far end with our colts. Well, this Judge from California was judging the show, and so he pulled a bunch of them out and had Matlock Rose on top and all the top boys in that line. He came back down on our end. He pulled Leo’s Sonny San and sent him across the arena to put him at the back of that line.”

He continued, “Well, I thought this is it for me, and about that time he walked past us, and he said, ‘Tell you what you take that seal brown colt to the front of the line, and you’ll be the top.’ You talk about an old country kid feeling bigger than the world. It felt good leading him up past Matlock Rose and all those top hands.”

“Mr. E. C. Johnson of Longview, Texas and his trainer Jack Peek were at this show. Well, a few days later, they called and asked if I would sell the colt. I said I would, and he bought him.” Harlan. Jim Harlan would become the AQHA Honor Roll (High Point) Halter Stallion in 1962. He was an AQHA Champion and a Superior Halter Horse. He earned 170 AQHA Halter points and 13 performance points. Jim Harlan went on to be a good sire with foals like Sabrina Lee, an AQHA Superior Halter Horse with 264 points. She earned a Superior in western pleasure, and she was the 1971 AQHA High Point Western Pleasure Horse and the 1971 AQHA High Point Youth Western Pleasure Horse. Sabrina Lee is a member of the NSBA Hall of Fame. Some other Jim Harlan performers include Jim So So, Superior Halter Horse, Magnolia Cara, Superior Youth Showmanship, and Wild Jim Harlan, Superior in the Open and Youth Western Pleasure.

Jim sold his colt, but he reserved two stud fees per year to the stallion. Jim continued telling what happened this way, “The first year I took Miss Paulo to Jim Harlan and got her bred. I thought she was in foal, but she wasn’t. I was in the Harlan Syndicate, so I took her and bred her to Harlan. She had a buckskin filly. This filly was Miss Stingaree.”

Miss Stingaree was the Oklahoma High Point Yearling and Oklahoma High Point Two-Year-Old Filly. Her performance awards include the High Point Junior Reining Horse in Oklahoma. She became an AQHA Champion and a Superior Halter Horse in the AQHA. He earned 63 halter points and 20 performance points.

Jim took Miss Paulo back to Jim Harlan in 1965 and got Miss Jim 45 in 1966. Jim could tell she was special from the beginning, but she came with a slight problem. We’ll let Jim explain, “When she was born, her hind feed didn’t track with her front feet. She had laid in her mother, and she was twisted, and I was scared to death she would be that way the rest of her life.”

“I took her, and her mother back to Johnson’s so that the mare could be bred back,” recalled Jim about getting the mare back to Texas on her foal heat. “I would call every other day about my filly because I really did like this filly. Finally, Jack Peek said, ‘Quit worrying about that mare. She is straight as a string.”

Miss Jim 45 was straight as a string, and her show career got started when she was a yearling. Jim related, “She pretty well beat everything coming and going.” This included such shows as Oklahoma Halter Futurity, and she was the High Point Oklahoma Halter Filly as a yearling and two-year-old.

Miss Jim 45 was transferred to a new owner in February of 1969. Jim explains how it all came about, “Miss Jim 45 was actually my son, Keith’s mare, and he was going to school in Stillwater at the time. Well, Matlock Rose and George Tyler came in here and said they wanted to buy my mare. I said Ok, but I would have to call my son and get his ok. Keith was on his way back to school. So, I called him, and he came right home.”

Jim continued, “When Keith got back, we sat down from about 9:00 that night until about 2:00 that morning until he decided to sell the mare to George and Matlock. You know he never looked back or regretted selling her.”

Miss Jim 45 went with Rose and Tyler, and then she was purchased by Frank Merrill. Merrill would show the mare during 1969, and then in 1970, he had Stretch Bradley showing Miss Jim 45. Jim recalled this about Miss Jim 45 and her travels with Stretch Bradley, “I have to admire her when Stretch Bradley was showing her for Frank Merrill. Stretch was hauling Blue Siemon for George Tyler. I used to laugh when Stretch put Miss Jim 45 in the trailer and then turned Blue Siemon loose, and he would go get in the trailer with Miss Jim. They were a pair; when you went to lead her off, she would go to nickering for Blue Siemon. They were attached to each other.

Jim reflected on a couple of interesting things about Miss Jim 45. The first has to do with her attitude on life, “Miss Jim 45 was the type of mare or horse with a special type of personality and for Miss Jim 45 that was to be just as happy as she could be. If she was here today, she would be just as happy in this living room as she was at a show.”

The other thing Jim recalled was her athletic ability, “I broke Miss Jim when she was a two-year-old, and it bothers me a whole lot because this mare had every type of movement. She was a natural athlete. It always hurt me that the mare was never given a chance to perform. It is my opinion she would have been one of the top performance mares in the nation if she had been given a chance.”

Frank Merrill sold Miss Jim 45 to Michael Mulberger of Scottsdale, Arizona. She would later return to Jim Nance’s barn for a short time, but Mulberger decided that he wanted the mare back in Arizona. She would live long enough to produce only one colt, and then she died.

But the death of Miss Jim 45 is not the end of our story. Jim went back to Jim Harlan in 1966 and got a colt this time. Mr. Jim 45 was born in 1967. He would become the 1972 AQHA High Point Reining Stallion and the fifth-place finisher in the High Point award overall. He earned nine halter points and 53 performance points. Miss Paulo followed up with two more point earners in Miss Harlan 45 and Mr. Harlan 45, both by Harlan. Miss Harlan 45 earned 19 halter points, and Mr. Harlan 45 earned 13 halter points and one performance point. The next point earner was Super Girl 45 by Rancho Cutie. This mare earned 1 AQHA Halter point.

The last foal out of Miss Paulo was Impress Forty-Five. This 1977 stud colt was sired by Impressive. Impress Forty-Five was the 1978 AQHA World Champion Yearling Stallion. He was also third in the 1977 AQHA World Show Weanling Stallion Class.

The bringing together of Nancy Squaw and Miss Paulo’s 45 through Jim Nance has left a legacy in the AQHA Hall of Fame through Miss Jim 45 that will live for many years to come. It is this legacy to the quarter horse that has made Nancy Squaw and Miss Paulo’s 45 our latest Mares with More.