QUARTER RUNNING HORSES, TOM HALS, AMBLING THOROUGHBREDS— AND GOOD MIXTURES

This reconstruction of Young Roebuck, foaled about 1810, has been made from a contemporary painting by William James Hubard. Young Roebuck is by Old Roebuck, a Thoroughbred (see accompanying pedigree), and was bred on the Virginia plantation of General John Hartwell Cocke Jr., A personal friend of Thomas Jefferson, Cocke was one of the first to sound the alarm that the easy-gaited Thoroughbreds of the Colonial era were fast disappearing. This horse is almost certainly an ancestor of the Saddlebred progenitor Varnon’s Roebuck, foaled shortly after the Civil War in Missouri, but the Roebucks, heavily inbred to *Janus, are also important ancestors of the Quarter Horse. This horse represents a nice blend in conformation: Note the exceptionally muscular build, deep chest and powerful hindquarters combined with a beautifully carried neck, substantial bone and well laid-back shoulder.

Most Thoroughbred imports to the American Colonies were ambler-gallopers, and despite General Cocke’s concerns, such horses continued to be bred until just before the Civil War. Van Meter’s Waxy 1863 and the much earlier Stump the Dealer 1825 are on the Saddlebred progenitors’ list. This reconstruction of Stump the Dealer is based on a portrait of his ancestor, the imported stallion *Medley, sired by Gimcrack. These horses were bred primarily for heat racing— very long distance “stayers” who contributed bottom as well as beauty to their get. Note the somewhat delicate build and downhill body balance typical of horses bred for racing rather than for the saddle.

This reconstruction of the “original” Maryland Tom Hal, who may have been foaled in Vermont in 1808, is based on a photograph of one of his descendants. As explained in the article text, there is a good deal of confusion surrounding the Tom Hals so that, for the moment at least, we have to regard them all as more or less interchangeable, or in other words, similar over time. Many were roaned sabinos as this reconstruction shows. In conformation, they are somewhat similar to the Roebucks although generally lacking *Janus in the pedigree.

The Saddlebred and Quarter Horse share many of the same ancestors, so it is not surprising that in the early days, there were amblers who looked like Saddlebreds but others that looked like Quarter Horses. This is my reconstruction of the very important Quarter Horse progenitor Traveler, made from a photograph taken in Texas in about 1888. Traveler not only had “loud” coloration—the same roaned sabino or rabicano very common in the Tom Hal horses—but he also has obvious “saddler” conformation. Traveler’s sire and dam are unknown but it is known that he came to Texas from east of the Mississippi, either Missouri or Kentucky.

An old-timey horse that is one of the author’s favorites is Bonesetter, foaled 1871 in Tennessee. During his lifetime famous for speed at the trot in harness, he sired numerous Standardbreds in the 2:30 list as well as a dozen horses considered to be Saddlebreds. Bonesetter’s pedigree is an almost even blend of ambler-galloper Thoroughbred with Morgan, with a dash of trotter-galloper thrown in through the well-known *Messenger. He was a big, handsome, proportionate and well-balanced horse and represents what I consider to be classic (and highly desirable) saddle horse conformation.