OLD SORREL AND HIS KNOWN SONS

Old Sorrel sired 31 sons of which I have record. Ten of these

(32 percent) have uncertain birth year; 7 (23 percent) have unknown dam, 11 (35.5 percent) have unknown damsire, and 7 (23 percent) have completely unknown parentage. It was not generally customary in the early half of the 20th century to keep close record of the parentage of horses intended only for use on ranches, especially if they were geldings. When King Ranch management realized in about 1923 how good a horse Old Sorrel was—a realization that dawned at about the same time that Bob Kleberg

Jr. initiated the King Ranch Quarter Horse breeding program—then closer track was kept and from that point most of Old Sorrel’s covers and the birth year of his foals are known. No male horse of completely unknown parentage was retained by King Ranch for breeding purposes.

Many of Old Sorrel’s sons are out of mares by Little Joe or one of his sons. They made good cowhorses and were very well-liked by riders and trainers. These include Boiler Maker, Lucky Strike, Sancho, Silver King, Smoky, and Tomate Laureles. Sometimes a sire’s true potential does not show up for a few generations. For example, Boiler Maker, who sired only a few progeny (but out of the best mares the King Ranch had to offer him), may not seem very successful compared to more prolific sires Tomate Laureles, Silver King, Little Richard or Cardinal, but through Boiler Maker’s daughter Gallina Avada came a whole line of “Gallina” broodmares, covered generation by generation by Wimpy, Peppy, Pep Up, Peppy San Badger and Mr San Peppy to produce, from the 1970s onward, a cloud of top-class broodmares for the King Ranch and other owners. Many of these mares were themselves top performers in racing or cutting before going to the breeding shed.