Introduction  |  Conclusion  |  First Supreme Champion - Kid Meyers

What the Real American Quarter Horse Means to Me

from "The Real American Quarter Horse: Versatile Athletes Who Proved Supreme" ~ by Paul Mattson

Introduction

For sixty years or more I have been interested in horses, and because of that I have also been a student of horses whenever the occasion presented itself. My observations and intense studies over the years developed a picture in my mind's eye of the type of conformation I liked. To meet my requirements, this ideal type of conformation must first, and foremost, be an above-average all-around athlete. When I learned that the American Quarter Horse Supreme Champion had to meet my own criterion of a top horse, my studies were immediately focused on the 44 horses who had attained this title.

I studied the pedigrees of the Supreme Champions, and of several top sires of halter and cutting horses, such as Impressive, Doc Bar, and a few others. Ten years ago I put this information together in a pamphlet and called it "51 Top Quarter Horses." I thought about how great it would be to talk to the owners and trainers of these horses, and I very much wanted to see pictures of them. Would they look like my ideal type, I wondered?

Finally, in 1991 I found the time and energy to pursue this project in detail. I started calling owners, breeders and trainers -- anyone associated with these great horses. Because I felt that the World Show Superhorses and Amateur All Around Horses had also proved their supremacy as versatile athletes, I expanded my study to include them, as well. The results of over 300 phone calls and many letters were astounding. Wonderful, exciting stories, and great pictures came pouring in. It put me on Cloud Nine! These horses were all exactly my kind of horse! And the people who were involved with them shared my sentiments exactly!

What do these sixty three champions have in common? What do they look like? What is their conformation? How about their disposition? What makes them so special? How can they do it all! One thing for sure, it is a very special balance of many variables, such as physical condition, the right trainer, the availability of the right "Class A" shows when the horse and rider are ready, and so on.

The following pages (from The Real American Quarter Horse: Versatile Athletes who Proved Supreme) are quite revealing. They show averaged sized, free-moving athletes, with moderately muscled frames that promote a smooth ground-covering stride. They clearly appear alert and willing to perform, enjoying the partnership established with their riders. When you realize that these horses often perform in this manner right after coming off the race track or directly from the breeding barn, you begin to appreciate the tremendous disposition and temperament they have.

As you study the pedigrees, does it surprise you that they generally carry a high percentage of Thoroughbred blood?

During the formative years of the AQHA, breeders, for the most part, wanted to preserve what they called the "Steel Dusts," later referred to as the "bull dog" type. They considered these horses to already be a "breed" when it was determined that they sprang from common ancestors. In the Colonial days, these North American horses carried the blood of imported English Thoroughbreds that were crossed on native horses of various ancestry. From this stock developed both the distance horse and the sprinter (or short-horse, also referred to as quarter horses as early as the late 1600's). The distance horses were favored by the elite population in those days who eventually founded the American Jockey Club in 1873. The short horses were popular with the colonial farmers and tradesmen, who used them during the week and ran match races on Sunday. Both types sprang from the same foundation blood, which included Janus and Sir Archy.

Early proponents of the Quarter Horse who started the breed registry strongly emphasized the heavy muscling of these horses. Sometimes I think they over-emphasized it. If a little bit is good, a whole lot is much better -- or is it? I think the pictures in this book illustrate very well how much muscling an athlete can have without being muscle-bound.

Dan Casement, of Manhattan, Kansas, wrote many articles about the Quarter Horse even before the breed was established as a registry. In his writings, he definitely favored the "bull dog" type, yet he admitted that his favorite mount was a mare named "Gilpe". Gilpe was more than half Thoroughbred, sired by Free Hand (TB) by High Time, and out of a mare named Godiva, who was a daughter of The Senator, by Leadville (TB). In the article "Concho Colonel, His Life And Times" he wrote, "the lovely Free Hand mare, Gilpe, my personal mount today, is a granddaughter of this old horse (The Senator), which 26 years ago I disdained." (This article appeared in the American Hereford Journal, June 1, 1927, entitled "Steeldusts As I Have Known Them." by Dan D. Casement.

The Casement horses became my start with the Quarter Horse breed. I raised two colts in the early 1940's sired by The Deuce P-512 and out of my Morgan mare. Later I purchased the young colt Hill Billy, by The Deuce and out of Gilpe (the same mare as mentioned above.) Hill Billy became my favorite mount. Now I knew why Dan selected Gilpe as a favorite. In subsequent years, my Uncle Clay Van Horn and I purchased two full brothers to Hill Billy at Casement's annual sale.

One of the most exhilarating experiences in my life was riding Hill Billy across Flint Hills pastures, driving cattle. It seemed like he just floated over the very uneven terrain. I call it a Cadillac ride. Hill Billy was just one of many horses I have owned and raised over the years, all of which could give this Cadillac ride.

You know, it just might seem kind of strange for me to make a comment like, "I did not worry about what Hill Billy looked like." If he can give me a superior ride and excellent performance, his "looks" just have to be all right. However, his looks happened to suit me to a "T". I wanted to keep him as a stallion and raise more horses just like him.

My efforts were foiled. Orville Burtis of Manhattan, Kansas, was one of the original Quarter Horse inspectors. He did not approve the registration of Hill Billy as a stallion, "He looks too much like a Thoroughbred," Orville said.

Dan Casement favored the stocky, well-muscled, short-eared horse, while his "personal mount" was over half Thoroughbred. My own "personal mount" was a son of Dan's personal mount, but Orville rejected him because of his Thoroughbred appearance. It all became a little confusing, and frustrating. Sure it did -- and I very reluctantly had my favorite horse gelded -- but my vision of the ideal horse was unaltered. Now, fifty years later, time has proved that the only thing wrong with Hill Billy is that he was years ahead of his time.

In my early twenties I had a rather rare opportunity to observe U.S. Cavalry horses at Fort Riley, Kansas. In fact, I had tried to join the U.S. Cavalry -- but they wanted me in the U.S. Army Air Corps. They didn't want to "lose" me to some other service, and I didn't want my mother to sign for me, so the Armed Services gave me board and room for a few weeks while waiting for my 21st birthday. During this waiting period at Fort Riley, I couldn't be "ordered" to perform any duties, as I had not been sworn in.

It sure made me feel good. Never missing an opportunity to study horses, I sat on the curb every morning and watched the mounted columns of four marching down the street for two hours. In the afternoons and evenings I toured every barn and "judged" every horse in the stalls. At that time there were 5,000 horses and mules at the Fort, although not all were stalled in the barns and ridden every day. My impression of those horses is quite clear. Most were of the Thoroughbred type, standing about 15-2 or 3, and weighing about 1100 pounds. About ten percent represented the heavier muscled "quarter" type, about the same height, but weighing about 1250 pounds, and they were my favorites. Because the Cavalry selected for the athletic, sound, easy-riding horse with good temperaments, they were somewhat similar to the present day all-around Quarter Horse.

On August 4th of 1941 of that year I joined the Army Air Corps and stayed with that outfit until October 15, 1945, a few months following the end of World War II. During that span of over four years, I lost touch with the civilian world. Also, I lost touch with the world of horses.

Times were different then. Literature about horses was quite rare. Books about training horses were not available to me. Horse events in my world amounted to small local clubs putting on shows and rodeos. In my neck of the woods, cutting horses were used for "cutting the critter out of the herd" and "keeping him out of the herd." I had never seen the sport called a cutting contest, and had never actually read anything about it.

With that as a somewhat feeble attempt to justify my being so naive about the subject of a cutting contest, I proceeded to learn about the sport and to see how my horse could perform by entering Hill Billy in the first cutting horse contest held at The American Royal in Kansas City.

I never, ever, saw one of these contests before in my life. As it happened, I was the very first contestant to be called for the elimination trials. There were so many entries that the numbers had to be pared down with elimination trials. That meant I was on my own. A slim Texas cowboy on a short heavily-muscled brown horse was assigned to haze for me and I was to haze for him. Hill Billy and I were going "great guns" and I was beginning to think, "This is terrific!" -- when I pulled a technical error which eliminated us. The Texan went on to great heights in the cutting horse world after I first met him at that contest. He was none other than Pine Johnson, mounted on the very famous cutting horse, Poco Bueno. I've often wondered what he thought of the green pair he helped that day in Kansas City!

Many times since that experience I have thought about conformation as it relates to performance. I surely rated the performance of Poco Bueno as tops -- but, believe it or not, I always thought I would rather ride Hill Billy. Poco Bueno was approaching the "bull dog" type, but had a little flatter muscle and more agility than the true "bull dog". Billy was taller, representing the stretchier, ground-covering type. I appreciated and respected both, and concluded that the two types would make a good cross.

Somehow, God gave me a great gift of imagination. Sometimes it works me into very awkward situations, but for the most part it gives me great joy. I can picture myself riding a winner in a cutting horse contest; a top-notch super performing Three-Day-Eventer; on a Flint Hills trail ride; watching my winning horse at the race track; catching a calf in record time at a contest. Readers, it is your turn to imagine all of these things for yourselves. I've supplied you with ample "ammunition" for "dreaming on." But, on the serious side, the following pages document, in words and pictures, the outstanding records set by Quarter Horses who have attained the AQHA's highest awards.

These special horses deserve to be recognized as a group, and I feel greatly privileged to be able to present this information to others who share my admiration for them. To me, it is a great tribute to all of the horses, as well as the people associated with them. It is here for you to enjoy and study to your heart's content. The facts about these horses are preserved for the sake of history; a very unique group of versatile athletes who proved supreme -- the "real" American Quarter Horse.

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Copyright (c) 1990 Paul Mattson.  All rights reserved

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Introduction  |  Conclusion  |  First Supreme Champion - Kid Meyers