20 minute read
Mares N More
By Larry Thornton........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
f you were a kid like me, you grew up dreaming of having a horse. Your dream was fed by TV shows like Fury the wild black stallion and his owner Joey. If you read the series of books about THE GOLDEN STALLION, the story of Golden Boy and his owner Charlie Iyou have another example that fed your dreams. We all may have dreamed of riding a great stallion to success, but one young boy did it. Jon Mixer, the son of Orren Mixer, the famous artist, did just that on the great Okie Leo at the World Series of 4-H and FFA Show in Dallas, Texas. It also shows Orren Mixer’s faith in Okie Leo, a little-known fact that this great stallion was his favorite horse. This is the story of how a boy and a famous stallion give us our Mare with More this time around as the foundation of the young boy’s breeding program.
We will let Dick Robey tells us how it all got started by fulfilling a boy’s dream, “Jon Mixer was ten, and Orren wanted to go to what they called the World Series of 4-H and FFA members.
It was at Dallas, and Orren wanted Jon to ride Okie Leo.” Yes, this was when the youth could show a stallion.
He went on with his story, “I wanted Jon to work with Okie, so we had him ride the horse. Jon rode him about ten times, and the weather got bad. I didn’t think anything about it until early one Saturday morning in December, and here comes Ole Mixer driving in with his trailer and Jon. It was raining and sleeting, and he wanted to go to Dallas. I said, ‘My God, Jon hasn’t ridden Okie in so long.’ Well, Orren wanted to go, so we loaded up and went. We liked to froze to death.”
“They had about 85 entries in it. So, I put a big ole coat on Jon to keep him from freezing. He was the 20th reiner, and Ole Mixer couldn’t take it; he goes out and wouldn’t stay in there. When the time came, I pulled that coat off Jon, and he ran the pattern. They had two judges, and when they finished running that pattern, you should have seen the trainers jerking those kids off those horses and go to tuning. It was obvious that someone was going to have to be really good or that reining was over. Jon won the class by 10 points.”
Here is how Jon Mixer recalls his ride on Okie Leo, “When the reining came up, we were all bunched up with 80 some horse in the ally way and when they called my number I blew in there full speed, sat him down, backed him up and set there with a loose rein for 4 or 5 seconds then started my slow small figure 8 then went into the large 8 with more speed when I came out and went to do my roll back I opened him up, went in and turn him back, and he came around so hard and fast it pulled my little butt clean out of the saddle. I grab the horn, threw my leg back over him, and opened him up for the second roll back. I was ready this time and grabbed the horn going into it and came out flying into my second stop, did my pivots, and walked to the judge.
Jon continued, “I rode back to where Dick was and apologized to him for losing my stirrup. Then they announced my score as 78, and I really felt bad and thought I had really let him down. Dick then told me that 78 was out of a possible 80. When it was
JET QUILLO
sor 15.2 1972 QUARTER HORSE #0844387
JET DECK MOON DECK TOP DECK
br 1945 b 1960 br 1950 MOONLIGHT NIGHT br 1940 EASY JET QUARTER HORSE MISS NIGHT BAR BARRED ch 15.2 1946 sor 1967 #0167014 ch 1950 BELLE OF MIDNIGHT ch 1943 QUARTER HORSE LENAS BAR THREE BARS PERCENTAGE ch 1923 #0573195 ch 1954 ch 15.3 1940 MYRTLE DEE blk 1923 THOROUGHBRED LENA VALENTI GRAY DREAM gr 1939 (USA) b 15.2 1946 PERHOBO b 1939 CHARLEVOIX PRINCEQUILLO PRINCE ROSE b 1928 ch 1953 b 1940
COSQUILLA
b 1933
DUCHESS QUILLO THOROUGHBRED ROYAL TYPE BULL DOG sor 1962 (USA) b 1947
SUN CELTIC
QUARTER HORSE BANDIDO BRUJA EL BANDIDO ZANTANON #0587625 b 1957 b 1935 JEANNETT br 1927 ch 1931 ch 1917 b
PISTOL JERRY
sor 1977 QUARTER HORSE
KIDS MISS SUPREME
sor 1969 QUARTER HORSE LOMA LINDA JOE BOB
sor 1940 #0070439 sor 1948 GEORGIA LEE b 1930
THREE BARS PERCENTAGE MIDWAY
ch 1914 ch 15.3 1940 ch 1923 GOSSIP AVENUE ch 1918 KID MEYERS THOROUGHBRED MYRTLE DEE LUKE MCLUKE b 1911 sor 1963 (USA) blk 1923 CIVIL MAID b 1915 QUARTER HORSE MISS MEYERS LEO JOE REED II ch 1936 #0408509 ch 1949 sor 14.2 1940 LITTLE FANNY b 1937 QUARTER HORSE STARS LOU OKLAHOMA STAR b 14.2 1915 #0062508 b 1936 OWEN E ACTON MARE
QUARTER HORSE
OKIE LEO LEO JOE REED II ch 1936 sor 1956 sor 14.2 1940 LITTLE FANNY b 1937 SANDY SUELEO QUARTER HORSE SORREL SUE KING b 14.3 1932 1962 #0062301 sor 1944 TOMMY KING MARE QUARTER HORSE STAPLES BABE BILLY BOB FLYING BOB b 15.1 1929 sor 1958 b 1944 BILLY JACK b 1938 QUARTER HORSE TRIM PAT CHESTER B b 1938 12 Working Horse Magazine suMMer 2022 #0173554 sor 1953 PATTY B b 1943
Jon getting the famous trophy for the 4-H and FFA World Series Championship
Photo Courtesy Jon Mixer
Okie Leo and Dick Roby
Photo Courtesy Helen Robey
Jon on Okie Leo
Photo Courtesy Jon Mixer
all over, we had won it by 10 points over the 2nd place horse.”
Robey had an interesting postscript to the story, “Orren was so proud that he hauled that trophy to every horse place he went for 90 days. And then Orren said that the trophy went with the horse, so we got the trophy. When Jon was about 30, I finally gave him the trophy and the ribbon.”
The love Jon Mixer had for Okie Leo in his youth hasn’t diminished over the years. He still fondly remembers his days riding this great horse. Jon has now taken on the role of being a breeder, and he has built a small quarter horse breeding program around a mare named Sandy Sueleo, and he is seeing some interesting results these days through linebreeding to this mare about the versatility of the American Quarter Horse.
Jon recalls how he got Sandy Sueleo, “Dick Robey brought me a colt to break that was too small for him to ride. I got him going good, and he brought some people to look at him. They were so impressed with the way he handled and moved they bought him for a real good price to breed to their pony mares.”
“About a month later, Dick pulled in with a stock trailer and backed it up to the barn and unloaded this wild two-year-old filly. She had never been touched or messed with. Someone owed Dick some money and told him to come get this filly for payment. So, Dick backed up to his barn, and they drove her into the trailer. Dick gave her to me for starting that colt. I got her gentled down and started working with her. It wasn’t long before I started riding with a rope bosal George Garret had made for me.”
“I rode Sandy Sueleo for a few months and then started showing her. I took her to the Cowboy Hall of Fame Horse Show at the fairgrounds and entered her in halter, placed third, western pleasure placed 3rd or 4th, the reining placed 2nd, the barrels placed 3rd again, and the pole bending and won it. I was kind of disappointed that I hadn’t done any better. Now I look back and wonder how she was even able to place at all the way she did with only a few months of training riding pastures and county rodeos. If I would have known, then what I know now, she could have been a world champion.”
“I had been farming for our neighbor who had a large dairy. I was making a $1 an hour working from 6 in the morning till dark and used what I earned to haul my mares to AQHA shows. I met a boy who was the stepson of a man that worked for Dick, and he had been riding in high school rodeos. He entered us in an open rodeo at Owasso, Oklahoma.”
“I told Dad I was going to watch him ride. My truck was down, so dad took me to his house and dropped me off; the last thing he said before he drove off was, don’t get hurt. I won 2nd in the bull riding that night and got $148, that was more than I could make in two weeks farming. So showing horses went on the back burner, and I was going to rodeos every weekend. The next spring, I graduated and became the show cattle herdsman for KerMac Angus Ranch. That fall Black Watch Ranch (The biggest registered ranch in the world) offered me a job managing a division in Kansas. So, I went to Kansas and used that mare as a ranch horse.”
Okie Leo sired Sandy Sueleo. He was an AQHA Champion son of Leo, and he was out of the mare Sorrel Sue by King P-234. He has become a legend in the annals of quarter horse history. He earned his performance ROM with 20 halter points, 16 cutting points, 57 reining points, and 15.5 western pleasure points. He earned his NCHA Certificate Ability with over $1,000 in earnings. He earned his Superior in reining by winning 50 of 55 reining classes he entered.
The dam of Sandy Sueleo was Staples’ Babe by Billy Bob, who was by the sire Flying Bob a son of Chicaro and the Cajun-Bred race mare Zeringue’s Belle. She was sired by Dewey and out of Walla by War Eagle. The dam of Billy Bob was Billy Jack by Ace Of Hearts II and out of Lady by Ace Of Hearts. Ace of Hearts was sired by the Duderstadt Horse by Sykes Rondo. Duderstadt Horse was out of a daughter of Old DJ. Old DJ was the broodmare sire of Joe Reed P-3, the double grandsire of Leo, and the sire of Okie Leo.
Trim Pat was the dam of Staples’ Babe. She was sired by Chester B by Chubby, a son of Midnight, and he was out of Fourth of July by Bobby Lowe and the mare Old Mary. Old Mary was the dam of Yellow Wolf. Joe Bailey was a full brother to Bobby Lowe, and this makes Fourth of July a full sister in blood to Yellow Wolf, a prominent sire for the Waggoner Ranch. The dam of Trim Pat was Patty B by Hooper’s Pat. The dam of Patty B was a daughter of Chubby, which gives Trim Pat a breeding pattern of 2 X 3 to Chubby. The dam of Chester B was the Old Vaughn Mare, a mare with more. Chester B is a full sister to Miss Chubby, the foundation dam whose daughters and granddaughters produced the Supreme Champions Goodbye Sam, Leo Maudie, Joe Fax, and Fairbars. Joe Fax is double bred to Miss Chubby as his sire is out of a daughter of Miss Chubby.
Now we will let Jon continue about how he started breeding Sandy Sueleo, “Later I bred her to a stud I was training for a friend. That colt broke his leg in the pasture. Jerry Wells had just made Kid Meyers the 1st Supreme Champion, and he gave me a breeding, that got Kid’s Miss Supreme. Dad was painting and promoting Goldseeker Bars and got a breeding to him, and I got another filly.” The filly Kid’s Miss Supreme marks the beginning of the Sandy Sueleo and her influence on the Jon Mixer bred horses.
Kid Meyers, the first AQHA Supreme Champion, was sired by Three Bars. He was out of Miss Meyers, an AQHA Racing World Champion. The sire of Miss Meyers was the great Leo by Joe Reed II and out of Little Fanny. They were both sired by Joe Reed P-3. The dam of Miss Meyers was Star’s Lou by Oklahoma Star P-6.
We will let Jon continue his story, “Kid’s Miss Supreme produced my stud Pistol, Jerry, by Jet Quillo. I was at Bob Sutherland’s dispersal sale and saw Jet Quillo and really took a liken to him. He sold for a lot more than I could afford, so I kept track of him. A couple of years later, when he came off the track, I made a deal with his owner to breed two mares to him, and I got the foal out of Miss Supreme, and he could have the other one. I wanted a horse that could win on the track and make an allaround performance champion. That’s where Pistol Jerry came in.” He added, “When I rode him, I could feel Sandy Sueleo in him.”
Jet Quillo would go to the racetrack to win five of 17 starts with earnings of $2,573. He earned his racing ROM with a 91-speed index. He was shown at halter in two AQHA Shows, earning three AQHA points and standing Grand Champion both times. His sire was Easy Jet, the AQHA Racing World Champion, and leading sire. Easy Jet was sired by Jet Deck, and he was
out of Lena’s Bar by Three Bars. Jet Quillo was out of Duchess Quillo by Charlevoix, a Thoroughbred by Princequillo, and he was out of Royal Type by Bull Dog. The dam of Duchess Quillo was Bandido Bruja by El Bandito by Zantanon the sire of King P-234. The dam of El Bandido was Jeanette by Harmon Baker by Peter McCue. The dam of Bandido Bruja was Loma Linda a mare bred by R. L. Underwood. Her sire was Joe Bob by Joe Reed P-3, and his dam was Diamond Oakes by A D Reed by Peter McCue.
Jon continues about what he found with Pistol Jerry, “I started him on the ranch, and he was such a performance horse I almost didn’t run him but then remembered my goal and got him ready to run. We had put up a new gate, and the hired help left it opened, and he got out one night and ran through a one barb wire electric fence and all most cut his front leg off. That set him back almost a year, so I didn’t get him to the track until the fall of his three-year-old year. Two weeks after he got there, he ran his first race and won by two lengths with an 85-speed index.”
“I brought him home from the track the next year, and I started showing him in reining that fall. I went to shows in four states, and he was undefeated. That January, he was circuit champion reining horse at the Flatland Circuit. That spring, I started showing him in working cow horse and heeling, winning several circuit all-around championships. By summer, I started showing him in heading. That January, my goal was to win the All-Around; by June, I raised my goals to win championships in the four classes I was showing him in. Reining and working cow horse were in the same category, and heading and heeling were in another, so I put him in the pole bend at a show for third category points, and he won it. At the end of the year, he won championships in 3 of the four classes and reserve in the one and the all-around in both the Kansas Quarter Horse Association and Northeast Kansas Quarter Horse Association.”
Pistol Jerry shows the versatility of the Mixer line of horses. He earned his racing ROM with one win in three starts and an 88-speed index. He was ROM in the arena with three points in heading, six points in heeling, one pole bending point, six reining points, and eight working cow horse points for a total of 24 points. He won eight of the ten AQHA working cow horse classes he entered. He amassed over 255 state points, winning his state All-Around titles.
Pistol Jerry the sire had only 34 foals with only one performer in the AQHA. That foal is Pistol Packin Anna with 22 AQHA points in the open, amateur and youth with an open ROM. Many of the performers sired by Pistol Jerry were rodeo horses in roping and barrels and jackpot ropers, where earnings and title wins are hard to document, which includes Sans Rusty Bullet, a PRCA Barrel Horse at rodeos like Cody, Wyoming, and Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Jon continued his story about the next foal from Sandy Sueleo, “Matlock Rose was standing Peppy San, and he wanted to breed an Okie Leo mare to him. So, I did and got Sueleo San. Matlock offered me $25,000 for her when she was born. Man, that was a lot of money for a young broke cowboy, but I turned it down. So, he said, bring Sandy Sueleo back, and he’d buy the next one; I did, and they got her bred on her foal heat. They vaccinated her for something, and she had a reaction to the vaccine, and it parallelized her, and they had to put her down.” That orphaned filly was San Sueleo (Peppy San X Sandy Sueleo X Okie Leo).
He continued, “Dick had a mare that lost her foal, so I brought San Sueleo home and put her on his mare. By then, I had started the American Beefalo Producers and had bought my own ranch. That filly grew up on the ranch, and I had just got her started good and turned her out to pasture to freshen her up when she stepped on a locust thorn and ran it through her foot; it crippled her, so she became a broodmare. Her best offspring was Latchit San.”
“I bred to Latch On Quick, and she had Latchit San. I broke her to ride, and she made a real performance horse. My wife at the time considered her as her horse. I bred her to Pistol Jerry that spring and turned her out. I sold Latchit San to a 14-year-old girl to make a barrel horse. Two years later, that little girl started thinking about boys and forgot about barrel racing. I went to her mother and bought the mare and her yearling colt, Sans Rusty Bullet.”
Latch On Quick was a home bred by Orren Mixer’s Circle M Ranch. He was sired by Night Latch by Bar The Door by Three Bars. The dam of Night Latch was Time Beat by Time Prince. Her dam was Anni Bomar by Dick McCue by Jack McCue. The dam of Annie Bomar was Reckless Ann by Jack McCue. Jack McCue was sired by Peter McCue. The dam of Latch On Quick was Donna Fay by Moco by Adam by Joe Moore. The dam of Moco was Jo Mo Ca by Joe Moore. Joe Moore was sired by Little Joe and out of Della Moore, the dam of Joe Reed P-3, which makes Joe Moore and Joe Reed P-3 half-brothers. The dam of Donna Fay was Sans Adonna by Leo San by Leo, who was sired by Joe Reed II and out of Little Fanny both by Joe Reed P-3. V’s Adonna was the dam of Sans Adonna, and she was sired by Oklahoma Star Jr by Oklahoma Star P-6. The dam of V’s Adonna was Adonna by Bert P-227. Donna Fay was a founding mare for Orren Mixer. She was the dam of horses like Sinto Win, the dam of the Mixer bred Miss Zan Mixer, an AQHA Superior Halter Horse, and AQHA Champion sired by Zan Parr Bar.
Jon recalled Latch On Quick this way, “Latch was probably the stoutest horse I ever rode. I roped a bull that weighed over 2000 pounds and drug him to the trailer on him; he had no quit. I match raced him on the track, and he was never beat. I won rodeos and jackpot team roping all over Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri.”
“In 1983, I haul him to some AQHA shows in the area, and he won state championships in heading, heeling, and working cow horse and was a world show qualifier. I didn’t go to the world, though. I wish I would have sent him to a racehorse trainer because he was fast. He had a big heart and would never quit you. He was so smooth moving you could lope across the pasture and drink a cup of coffee and never spill a drop. He loved working cattle and roping. Anyone could ride him.”
The yearling foal was Sans Rusty Bullett (Pistol Jerry X Latchit San X Peppy San), and Jon will tell us about him, “I started Sans Rusty Bullet then sold him to a friend for a roping horse. He roped on him a couple of years, and then his wife started running barrels on him and was winning everything in the area. They were at a barrel race, and a lady asked what they would take for him, and he just popped off and said $20,000, and she said she’d take him. Her husband was a PRCA team roper, and she wanted a horse to compete in roping and barrels.
They left on the 4th of July and went to Greeley, Colorado. She couldn’t enter because she hadn’t filled her permit. They went on to Cody, Wyoming, and she won it, and that filled her permit, so she went on to Cheyenne and placed there and at several others. By the time they came home, she had won enough to pay for him and was offered $40,000 and turned it down; later, she was offered $75,000 and turned it down.”
Next time we will continue the story of Sandy Sueleo and how she has become the foundation of Jon Mixer’s linebreeding program to Okie Leo.
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.
Pistol Jerry on the track
Latch On Quick and Jon Mixer
May 28 SaleResultsJ
$34,000.00
High Seller
Hip 196 • SPOOKS NIFTY DUN, 2015 Buckskin Gelding by Haidas Lil Gun x Nifty Tivio Cloud Consigned by Garrett Oland agent for Karla Lyons • Buyer Steve Kitchen
$28,000.00 $27,500.00
Reserve High Seller
Hip 181 • SHINES FLASHY 2018 Sorrel Gelding by Shine Chic Shine x Spooks Stylin Consigned by Leroy Yoder • Buyer Carl Knox
3rd High Seller
Hip 115 • SUPER SHINEY GUN 2018 Palomino Gelding by Shine Chic Shine x Super Smokin Cady Consigned by Pond Hill Performance Horses • Buyer Estevan Castillo
