Old Sorrel and beyond

As we continue our ride through America’s past, we conclude our examination of King Ranch, the lynchpin of Quarter Horse History.

As we continue our ride through America’s past, we conclude our examination of King Ranch, the lynchpin of Quarter Horse History.

In writing the history of the Quarter Horse in EQUUS over the past two years, I have revisited many old-time Texas breeders and big spreads, such as the Waggoner Ranch and the 6666, known for producing superior all-around ranch horses and arena competitors. Yet for all the contributions made by others, the Quarter

Horse as we know it today would not exist had it not been for the breeding program initiated in the early 1920s by Robert Kleberg, Jr., of the King Ranch.

The largest ranch in America, the King operation comprises a vast empire of oil-rich, arable plowland and managed pasture stretching over 825,000 acres in South Texas. Kleberg was one of the first scientific horse and cattle breeders, and he and the King Ranch are credited with creating during the 1940s not only an entirely new breed of cattle---the Santa Gertrudis---but the Sorrel strain of the Quarter Horse (see “The Rise of an Empire,”

EQUUS 499, and “Great Horses by Design” EQUUS 500).

This article concludes our history of the King Ranch and marks the finale of the exploration of Quarter Horse history that we started in 2014. To mark this milestone, I will take advantage of a rare opportunity. It is rare because, thanks to Kleberg’s desire to educate other breeders and promote the new breed, during the 1930s and 1940s good conformation photographs were taken of the King Ranch foundation sire Old Sorrel as well as nine of his sons. Old Sorrel sired about 30 sons all told and photos were taken of most of them, but because most were taken from the front or rear they are not useful for quantitative conformation analysis.

We can also analyze Peter McCue, widely influential in the Quarter Horse breed and Old Sorrel’s grandsire. In addition, we can look at the broodmare Water Lilly and the best King Ranch “outcross” Quarter Horse, Little Joe.

By the fabulous Traveler and bred by Dow and Wil Shely of Alfred, Texas, Little Joe’s daughters proved to cross very well with Old Sorrel sons (portraits of other King Ranch broodmares and of Little Joe appeared in our last installment).

So widespread has been the influence of Old Sorrel and his get that chances are your Quarter Horse descends from him in at least one line. Even if Quarter Horses are not your thing, the breeding technique used by Kleberg is worthy of study. The many analyses presented in this article are a valuable tool for sharpening your “eye” for skeletal structure on the inside and bodily proportions on the outside. Measurements, portraits and comparisons presented in this article allow you to see the family resemblance in the sons and grandsons of Old Sorrel. They also make very clear how the King Ranch moved the Quarter Horse type away from long-bodied racehorses with a “downhill” body balance (red line in conformation analysis drawings) to horses with more compact, level conformation ideally suited to ranch work and arena performance.

SIRE, GRANDSIRE AND SONS

By all reports, Old Sorrel was a great cowhorse. A 1917 purchase bred by George Clegg, he eventually became the ancestor of every horse in Kleberg’s breeding program. Even today, every horse on the King Ranch traces back to Old Sorrel. Of all his sons, Macanudo (out of the mare Canales Bell) is the most like him in conformation, but we can go one step further: Kleberg and staff veterinarian J.K. Northway, DVM, also mention that

Old Sorrel was a fast racehorse. In this he harks back to his grandsire, Peter McCue, whom he also resembles.

The most obvious physical feature shared by these three horses is a long body; they “stand over a lot of ground.” A long body is structured by a long vertebral chain, and it’s usual for a horse that is long between withers and hips to also have a long neck. The vertebral formula from head to hips in horses is fixed at seven cervicals, 18 thoracics and six lumbars; when differences in length show up, it is due to changes in the fore-aft length of individual vertebrae.

The vertebrae do not all lengthen equally. Exactly which ones are longer has major impact on biomechanical function. Within the neck, it is desirable for the more anterior vertebrae to be longer, i.e., C1 through C4, but not C5 through C7, which structure the base of the neck. Lengthening the anterior part of the neck produces a longer, finer and more open throatlatch. By contrast, keeping C5 through C7 relatively short makes it easier for the horse to raise the base of its neck and to arch its neck in movement, a boost for every kind of athletic work. Lengthening this section lowers the attachment of neck to shoulder and body and produces structural “ewe neck”.

Quarter Horses do not typically present a high, arched natural neck carriage---that is more typical of Morgans or Paso Finos or American Saddlebreds. However, there is variability within the Quarter Horse breed related directly to intended use. Those bred for racing have downhill overall body balance and neck set on lower so that it appears to come “straight out of the front,” while those bred for ranch and arena work tend to have the neck set on higher and carried with more of an arch. Peter McCue, a three-quarter Thoroughbred, is definitely conformed for racing but is unusual in having the neck attached relatively high against a spectacularly long, laid-back and flexible shoulder. Old Sorrel shows just a shade more upright shoulder with the neck attached somewhat lower. This is improved in Macanudo and in Macanudo’s great-grandson Mr San Peppy.

Behind the neck comes the thorax, composed of two sections---thoracic and lumbar---either of which can be lengthened. Peter McCue, Old Sorrel and Macanudo all display an amazingly long thoracic span which is also very deep (brown line on analysis drawings). Their long shoulders thus have plenty of area over which to move, a major help in developing a long, reachy racing stride but good in almost any other type of athletic activity as well. Six generations downstream from Peter McCue, the body style is noticeably more compact in Mr San Peppy. Percentage-wise, the freespan of his back is actually longer than in his ancestors, but this is because his overall body length (blue line) is less, due to steeper pelvis and shoulder.

The neck and forelimbs are all suspended from the withers by means of strong ligaments, and high withers whose height is prolonged well to the rear---so that the neck appears to spring from the center of the back--is a major plus for athletic functioning. Peter McCue has a huge set of withers that give him spectacularly long “rein” (distance from point of breast to the point where the withers appear to blend into the back, purple line). Old Sorrel and Mr San Peppy are even better, and Macanudo is nearly as good.

Behind the rib cage, between the last rib and the hips, lies the lumbar or “loin span.” Lumbar vertebrae do not support ribs, so that when this section is long---as it is in most racehorses ---there is a functional tradeoff between flexibility and strength. Length in the lumbar section is a boost to racing ability because speed depends primarily upon the horse’s ability to flexibly coil and then uncoil its loin span. But the first half of this action--coiling---requires extraordinary effort if the horse must do it under the weight of a normal-sized rider and tack.

“Coiling the loins” is the basis

for the ability to collect, halt on the haunches, turn sharply, or “roll back”; coiling is the action that brings the hocks up under the body. In a horse intended for ranch work or generalpurpose riding, therefore, a long lumbar span is viable only insofar as the lumbo-sacral joint, the connection between the lumbar span and the sacrum behind, is strong. This is evinced primarily by breadth across the loins. The topline should be smooth rather than peaked or lumpy where it turns over the top of the croup from the back towards the tail, and the appearance of a “waist” should be minimal. The coupling itself should be set forward rather than to the rear. The strongest equine backs have all these features but also a noticeably shorter loin span than in Peter McCue or Old Sorrel.

In the King Ranch foundation bloodline there is an interesting progression with regards to the structure of the coupling: In Peter McCue it is purely of the racing type---long, rather wasp-waisted, and somewhat peaked. Old Sorrel represents an improvement, and Macanudo is a still further improvement. This is absolutely appropriate, because while the Klebergs and their friends may have enjoyed an occasional afternoon racing Old Sorrel at a local track, he was not promoted as a racing sire. Their intention was to use him to get good ranch horses, and the mares they selected for his cover, including Macanudo’s mother Canales Bell (“Sire, Grandsire and Sons,” page 86) did just that. Sixty years later, Mr San Peppy---a champion in cutting and sire of many arena champions, but not a racehorse---presents a stronger, more compact loinspan and coupling than any of his ancestors.

Pelvic length and the development

of the muscles of the hindquarters in these three stallions also present interesting contrasts. Here we need to be careful to distinguish bone structure from muscular development (taking into consideration the overall condition of the horse, in other words, how much fat he was carrying at the time the photograph was taken). Peter McCue is in racing condition---a body condition score (BCS) of 5, with no fat on him, ribs showing, and a high degree of muscular fitness. While they, too, are fit, Old Sorrel and Macanudo are a fleshier 6 BCS. Here again we get the same progression noted with regards to the coupling, with pelvic length increasing from Peter McCue and Old Sorrel to a spectacular 34 percent in

Macanudo. Mr San Peppy backs off from this a bit but still presents more pelvic length than his great-grandsires.

With regard to the limbs, Old Sorrel steps in to create major improvement over Peter McCue in overall “bone” substance. Old Sorrel’s knees are also noticeably lower (the cannon segment shorter) than in Peter McCue; this improvement is perpetuated in Macanudo and in almost all Old Sorrel descendants many generations downstream. A number of Peter McCue sons have notoriously flat, thin-walled hooves, but this defect also is corrected in Old Sorrel and Macanudo, and this, too, appears to have held good through the decades, an apparent example of “breeding out” a functional weakness.

Peter McCue shows marginally the straightest hind limb of the ancestral horses, with Old Sorrel and Macanudo carrying more angle at stifle and hock. More recent Quarter Horse breeding has almost universally tended toward producing horses with straighter (that is, shorter) hind limbs, so that Mr San Peppy shows the lowest total hind-limb length of the group. Short hind limbs, especially where shortening is effected by shortening the femur, assists a horse in fast acceleration and is especially helpful where repeated fast starts and stops are called for, as in cutting or reining competition. As is typical of Quarter Horses generally, all of these stallions show short, somewhat upright pasterns both before and behind.

COMPARING SIRE, DAM AND SONS

Because there is a good photograph of the mare Water Lilly, we can analyze a King Ranch horse “family”---sire, dam, son, and grandson. To Old Sorrel’s cover, Water Lilly produced the colt Hired Hand in 1943. Considered by Bob Kleberg to be the greatest of Old Sorrel’s sons, Hired Hand was also his last. Kleberg said, “It was like magic again after 30 years.” In contrast to the long-bodied Old Sorrel, Hired Hand is much more compact with what is termed “punched up” conformation, almost pony-like though larger in scale. He is shorter coupled than either his sire or dam, with a somewhat upright shoulder and big, powerful hindquarters. His high withers are fronted by a very pretty neck and excellent head. His forearms are long, the knees set low, and he shows adequate bone substance, better before than behind.

The powerfully built Water Lilly is by Yellow Jacket and a sire-line descendant of Lock’s Rondo. She is out of a nameless part-Thoroughbred Waggoner mare who likely traces to Traveler, as Water Lilly shows the characteristic “coon” tail garnished at the top with white hairs and rabicano-type white ticking over the rib cage and flanks that Traveler consistently threw (Hired Hand also has the “coon” tail). Water Lilly was the most valuable broodmare owned by the King Ranch during the

Bob Kleberg era, presenting huge foalcarrying capacity. She has sprint-racer conformation, standing rump-high with a downhill body balance and with the sprint racer’s typically short thighs. It is from his dam that Hired Hand inherits lighter bone and a more upright shoulder, but it is from her also that he gets big hindquarters with great muscular development across the “britches” and gaskins.

The King Ranch made extensive use of Hired Hand cover, registering 72 of his fillies along with some 60 colts. Of the females, 54 were retained for use in the breeding program as were seven of the males; the rest were either given away or sold. When Old Sorrel died in 1945 at the grand old age of

40, Kleberg replaced him with Hired Hand, his plan being to use this horse to fix “type” and quality. Denhardt reports that this decision “probably did more for the uniformity, quality and type of the King Ranch Quarter Horse than any other decision made after …. the Old Sorrel was purchased and the program started.”

Hired Hand was used extensively on descendants of Old Sorrel, and we are lucky to have a usable photograph of one such stallion, Hired Hand’s Cardinal. This horse is out of Listona Azule by the Old Sorrel grandson Peppy (page 93). Kleberg described Hired Hand’s Cardinal as “essentially flawless” and I agree; he is not only redolent of Quarter Horse type, but nearly as beautiful to look at as my favorite of the Old Sorrel sons, Ranchero. This is not too surprising as Listona Azule is a granddaughter of Ranchero.

PLEASING TO THE EYE

Beauty in Quarter Horses is in most cases, I think, largely in the eye of beholders who especially fancy a masculine, muscular look. The Quarter Horse is historically a “using” breed, coming from racing roots and bred by the King Ranch for outdoor work, with priority on durability, soundness, hardihood and a levelheaded temperament. Kleberg’s writings give no indication whatsoever that he had the production of “peacocks” in mind. Nonetheless, he brought well-structured stallions and mares together, and the almost inevitable side effect was the production of some very harmoniously proportioned animals that are, in fact, beautiful.

Kleberg was deliberately trying to bring stallions to mares who complemented them structurally, and the

results show his genius at making such matchups. He had many excellent mares to choose from and they deserve major credit, because wherever foals are produced who are superior to their sire, it can be for no reason other than the influence of the dam. Many of the mares who produced beautiful foals for the King Ranch (and ranches and farms everywhere) were never even given names, but in terms of genetics they are actually more important than the sires because all the genes in the foal that govern growth and production of the proteins and enzymes that structure the body are “extranuclear” and come exclusively from the dam.

The Old Sorrel son Solis came out of a part-Thoroughbred mare known only as “Mother of Solis”. She was sired by Martin’s Best, a grade Thoroughbred produced by the King Ranch whose name shows up in many of their pedigrees. Solis is one of the most influential Old Sorrel sons, particularly with respect to his ability to get good broodmares. However, Solis also sired some important sons, including Ranchero ---the most beautiful Quarter Horse I have ever laid an eye on.

Ranchero is the product of inbreeding---out of the mare Borega, one of Old Sorrel’s daughters. Borega is out of a nameless “King Ranch mare” who was probably part-Thoroughbred but might have had some Mustang or Morgan in her. Ranchero presents a near-level overall body balance, a crucial improvement over Solis who is markedly rump-high. Beyond that, Ranchero has a wonderful deep, laid-back shoulder and a lovely arched neck perfectly attached to high withers. His quarters are ideally sloped, with full, harmonious muscular development across the

britches and gaskins. He has excellent “bone substance,” long forearms, well-structured and large hocks and knees, substantial ankle joints, and strong, open hooves. This is a stallion that would look and function well in any company, by which I mean not just cutting cows in “western” tack but going over jumps or performing pirouettes in English equipment, or even in singleton harness.

Kleberg authorized a second round of inbreeding when Ranchero covered one of his own daughters, Panda de la Tordia. Her mother was Panda de Tordilla by Old Sorrel son Babe Grande, one of the most interesting of the King Ranch stallions. Bob and nephew Dick Kleberg, along with Lauro Cavazos, Sr. and other Kineño riders who test-rode him considered Babe Grande rather heavy in hand, slow and somewhat ponderous in movement although very powerful. Probable cause for this lies in Babe Grande’s own ancestry; his mother, sired by Hickory Bill, came of Anson stock and I think it likely she carried a certain amount of Suffolk Punch blood (see my review of William Anson’s breeding program in “Hard Times Bring Big Changes,” EQUUS 496).

The result of Ranchero’s cover of Panda de Tordia was Rey del Rancho, a horse with an enormous hindquarter. A very smoothly conformed and useful individual, nonetheless he does not quite come up to his sire---but how can a breeder improve on what is already perfect? It is clear from the history of all breeds that once a very beautiful or very functional horse has been produced, it is difficult to find a mare that will complement him and one must look to the grandsons or even farther downstream before a horse of equal perfection will again appear.

Wimpy, the very masculine and muscular stallion who the Klebergs named with the same wry humor as they had Babe Grande, became the first horse registered with the nascent American Quarter Horse Association when he won the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show held at Fort Worth, Texas, in 1941. Wimpy is out of Panda, yet another Old Sorrel daughter, she out of a nameless daughter of Hickory Bill. Roan in color, this mare was foaled a decade after Anson died and dispersed his herd, was not bred by him, and therefore probably carried no draft blood. Wimpy is conformationally much like Solis, with hind legs that carry a lot of angle although less rumphigh. He has shorter cannon bones and a more blocky body style than his sire.

The Klebergs bred Wimpy to Pesetita, another Old Sorrel daughter. Pesetita’s dam is Peseta by Cardinal, a son of Old Sorrel and thus Wimpy’s great-uncle. From this rather tight inbreeding came the beautiful Bill Cody, who because of his symmetrical conformation and evident stock-horse “type” became the AQHA’s first real poster-boy for the new breed. Unbeatable in halter competition, Bill Cody was also a champion in cutting. To my eye he improves on Wimpy in several ways, with a lighter and more flexible neck, high withers and superb neck-to-shoulder attachment. His back is short and strong, and he has a lovely, broad, well-chiseled head. The pelvis is steeper, although no shorter than Wimpy’s. Bill Cody stands higher on his legs like his grandsire Solis, but nonetheless has good “bone” substance and good, big, wide-open feet.

THE BROODMARE SIRES

Some stallions, while they may perhaps sire a good son or two, become known more for their production of broodmares. Little Richard, foaled in 1922, was the first Old Sorrel son kept for breeding purposes by King Ranch. He was out of a nameless, mostly-Thoroughbred mare from the Lucky Mose band whose heritage otherwise is unknown. He shows very balanced conformation, an excellent shoulder, well-carven head, and plenty of “bone” substance. He has a long pelvis and stronger, shorter back and loin coupling than his sire. Little Richard sired about 10 sons on mostly non-King Ranch mares purchased or leased by Kleberg. These included Hot Shot by Zantanon; Mary Lacy by Rattler (a great-granddaughter of Harmon Baker and Big Jim); Miss Z.O. by Little Mike (a Billy Sunday and 1890 Texas Chief granddaughter); Reina by Little Hickory (a Harmon Baker son) and Kari by Billy Clegg (a Harmon Baker and Yellow Jacket granddaughter).

Little Richard’s best son, however, is Peppy (f. 1934), who came from his cover of China, a King Ranch mare by his half-brother Cardinal. China was out of a mare by Brillante, a Thoroughbred remount stallion. Peppy presents racing-adapted physique with downhill

The Quarter Horse is historically a “using” breed, coming from racing roots and bred by the King Ranch for outdoor work with priority on durability, soundness, hardiness and a level-headed temperament.

body “slashing” hindquarters along balance. with shoulder high typical He withers, has and of the racehorses, powerful an long, elegant neck By report, and good Peppy “bone” had a substance. charming, friendly level-headed nature; and he kind, was and cool, so calm, naturally a favorite because easy to handle and ride. The “downhill” build did not prevent high collection (see photo of him exhibiting natural passage under rider in our last installment, “Correct Horses By Design,” EQUUS 500). Peppy was the first stallion campaigned extensively by King Ranch in arena competition, where he won in both halter and performance events.

I would love to be able to show readers some of the excellent mares sired by Little Richard, many of whose names show up repeatedly in King Ranch pedigrees, but this is not possible because in many cases no photograph was ever taken. About 10 percent of the approximately 70 fillies sired by Little Richard were bred by outside clients, especially Tom Waggoner (see "The End of the Open Range," EQUUS 498). All the rest were retained in the King Ranch remudas, fair indication of the value of Little Richard in Kleberg's eyes.

Some Old Sorrel sons made smaller overall contributions to the King Ranch program. An example of this is Charro, who is out of Toalla by the grade Thoroughbred Martin's Best. Like his half-brothers Solis, Little Richard, Cardinal, and Tino, he was seven-eighths Thoroughbred. His conformation, however, tilts more toward the Quarter Horse with a very large pelvis, a somewhat upright shoulder, a heavier neck and

shorter cannon bones. A very balanced individual, Charro was used by the King Ranch from 1936 to 1941, siring 10 fillies and three colts, of which one was kept entire and later sold. A majority of Charro’s get were Thoroughbred in type and these were sold. In the autumn of 1941 Charro himself was sold to the Remount Service of the Peruvian army.

Tomate Laureles (f. 1927) is the

Old Sorrel son who produced the most broodmares. A handsome individual, he stands a little higher on his legs than his sire. A good-bodied horse with a strong, high back and strong coupling, he has a long neck and a pretty head. This stallion was out of a mare known only as “the Dock Lawrence mare,” whom breed historian Bob Denhardt describes as a “crack” Quarter Horse adept at all types of ranch work. Tomate Laureles was the horse that convinced Kleberg of the desirability of the Old Sorrel-Little Joe cross, for “Dock” was by Tom Thumb by Little Joe and out of a mare by Hickory Bill. The first stallion with more Quarter Horse than Thoroughbred ancestry to be used in the King Ranch program, Tomate Laureles was at stud for 20 years from 1929 to 1949. Fifty-one of his fillies were retained in the breeding program. According to Denhardt, 17 of his colts were gelded while four were left entire and then sold; none of his colts were used in the King Ranch program.

A GOOD HORSE IS ANY COLOR

Encouraged by the results obtained in the first decade of breeding the Sorrel strain, sometime in the late 1930s Kleberg decided to go one step further. “So long as I was going to ‘fix’ the physical type,” he said, “I decided that I might as well go ahead and fix the color, too.” The color Kleberg preferred was any shade of sorrel or chestnut. This meant that no matter how good a colt from their breeding program might be, if he were bay or palomino or grulla or dun or “paint,” he would be sold or given away. This in turn created a great opportunity for buyers who lived in other climates, worked their horses on other substrates, or wanted a stallion primarily to get foals for arena competition.

Kleberg’s sister Alice had married neighboring rancher Tom East, Sr., and the couple managed the San Antonio Viejo Ranch, part of the Santa Fe division of the King Ranch. Like his father before him, East had a fancy for duns and grullas, so the grulla Old Sorrel son Smoky went to him. He bred Smoky to some Old Sorrel daughters along with a number of King Ranch mustang mares. Smoky also got a good book of mares from local ranchers. In the early 1940s East sold Smoky to the Wardlaw Bros. Ranch in Del Rio, Texas, where he covered mostly Thoroughbred

No matter how good a colt from the breeding program might be, if he was not sorrel or chestnut he would be sold or given away.

mares. Smoky is the taproot of the Wardlaw Brown and Yellow Wasp Quarter Horse lines.

Unfortunately I cannot present an analyzable photo of Smoky, but two other Old Sorrel sons---Silver King and Lucky Strike---were widely advertised because they were sold to outside breeders. Lucky Strike, a 1935 colt with very masculine type, was out of the mare Panchita Kleberg by Pancho Villa by Little Joe. She was out of a mare by Governor Jester, a Thoroughbred tracing to the very substantial and valuable Matchem family.

Lucky Strike presents wonderful “bone” substance. He has a very deep chest and a shorter back than his sire, and beautifully formed hindquarters. With rather straight hind limbs (open angles at stifle and hock), he also has a more upright shoulder than Old Sorrel. A sorrel, Lucky Strike came before Kleberg’s decision to retain horses of that color, and he was sold as a 2-year-old to W.A. Northington of Egypt, Texas, who provided him a book of about 35 different mares through a dozen seasons at stud, during which time he got about 28 sons and 35 daughters. Most of them were bought by ranchers looking for working geldings, though an entire son went to California and several more went to ranches in Texas. The King Ranch bred the mare Peaches (by Grano de Oro by Little Joe) to Lucky

Strike and stood the resulting colt, Schenk’s Lucky Strike, for several seasons, thus demonstrating Kleberg’s desire to go back to Old Sorrel blood. However, none of Lucky Strike’s get or grand-get were

incorporated into the King Ranch Quarter Horse breeding program.

Silver King, a 1937 Old Sorrel son, was out of the nameless “George Clegg Mare no. 3,” she by Sam Watkins by Hickory Bill and out of a nameless mare by Little Joe. Despite his name, “Silver” was bay in color with a white sock on his left hind. After Macanudo, Silver King is the stallion that most resembles his sire: He has the long neck and back, substantial rump, clean shoulder, deep chest and a very similar head. Silver

King improves on his sire in having the hind limbs a little straighter or less “angulated.”

Because of his color, Kleberg sold this horse to Double Diamond Ranch in Reno, Nevada. Silver King’s first foal crop for them came in 1941, and over a heavily advertised 22-year career at stud he sired 277 foals. These came of the cover of about 125 different mares by a spectrum of sires encompassing almost every major Quarter Horse bloodline.

Happily, good photos exist of three of Silver King’s 76 sons: Cowboy’s Dream (1946), Phantom King (1948) and Roan Silver (1962). Of the three, Cowboy’s Dream most resembles his sire, while Roan Silver cleaves to the same shorter-backed, deepbodied conformation displayed by other Old Sorrel grandsons such as Hired Hand’s Cardinal and Ranchero and horses that came from them.

Phantom King, however, throws back to Thoroughbred in conformation, standing much higher on his legs. He has a very shapely pelvis and the Thoroughbred’s typical long, “dry” or “slashing” shoulder.

Neither Phantom King nor Roan Silver left many offspring, but Cowboy’s Dream had a big book during the 1950’s and 1960’s and sired 35 sons and at least 50 daughters, with 6 earning AQHA championships or arena “Register of Merit” designation in roping.

I encourage all interested students of the horse to study and compare the many conformation analyses presented here, because in our next installment we’ll be moving on to take a look at another great American horse breed, the American Standardbred.

Standardbred conformation is unique and distinctive, as is their way of going---and quite unlike the Quarter Horse. The roots of both breeds extend back to the English-Irish Hobby but soon after arriving on these shores their histories diverge. Stay tuned as we trace more fascinating hoofprints through time!

My thanks to James Clement III (current head of the King Ranch horse breeding division) and Lisa Neely (King Ranch archivist) for assistance in obtaining a copy of the only known photo of Solis, from which the portrait in this article was made.