If you are interested in the history of Quarter
Horses, then you should know the story behind Doc Bar, the most famous
Quarter Horse in American History. According to an article from Horse Channel,
Doc Bar began life in 1956 to ranch owner, Tom Finley. The hope was
that the chestnut foal would be groomed to be star racer. However, that
dream was short-lived when Doc Bar earned less than $100 on the
racetrack. Many would assume that the tale
of Doc Bar would end there, but quite the contrary. While Doc Bar was
not a racer, he ended up being an amazing halter horse, cutting horse
and sire. While he was not the typical Quarter Horse, he transformed the
entire breed.According to Western Horseman the
appearance of the horse shed light on his ability. The article
indicated, “He was deep through the heart, clean in the throatlatch, had
little fox ears, and a beautiful head that he probably inherited from
his dam's sire, Texas Dandy.” While the horse didn’t have the speed for
the racetrack, he moved swift enough to manage cattle. His mere 15 hands
allowed ropers to easily capture a calf without injuring themselves.
This shed light on how slight alterations in the breed could be
beneficial in both showing and working the animal.
Doc Bar went on to win 12 first-place and one second-place halter horse showing competitions. About.com
indicates that during Doc Bar’s brief showing career he won 10 grand
and reserve championships. Doc Bar was eventually sold in 1963 to Dr.
and Mrs. Stephen Jensen of Double J Ranch in Paicines, California for
$30,000. That was an enormous sum of money during this time!
It
was the strength, power, and ability of the horse that led to the
decision of using Doc Bar as a sire and since then, many breeders strive
to incorporate the Doc Bar lineage into their breeding program.
However, an article from B-Bar-C Quarter Horses
indicates that when halter horse competition began focusing on taller
horses, Doc Bar’s career as a halter horse sire was in jeopardy. That’s
when the owners decided to cross Doc Bar with two Poco Tivio Mares. The
result was an excellent breed of cow horses...MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment