I was 30, with a 5 acre piece of ground in Maryland. I had some “free”, old horses and my blacksmith was Charlie Smith who eventually went on to become a national professional reining champion. He knew I wanted a “good” horse, and in December 1977 he brought over a stunning red chestnut mare, clipped and braided, and left her with me. He refused to tell me anything about her, didn’t know her age, no papers, didn’t even know her name. “Trust me” he said. $700. My husband didn’t even know I was getting this horse.
So I tell him no go until my vet looks at her, that’s ok with him. My vet by the way was James Morgan, who eventually went on to become the amateur reining champion.
Its freezing cold, the mare is clipped, and by the time Jim Morgan sees her she is sick, sick, sick, with what we called “shipping fever”.
She went on to recover, I gave Charlie Smith $600 dollars, and for 25 more years I had the best family horse ever. But I never found out anything about her. Dr Morgan who raised quarter horses said he thought she was a foundation QH, with hugh jaws. She had a big white face and four high white stockings above the knee, which in 1977 made her ineligible for registration as a QH, and she could only be registered as a paint. She was also too placid and non-reactive to be a good reining horse, which made her a wonderful family horse.
I met Garvin Tankersley, Jr., through our bank. He had some of his step-mother’s Bazy Tankersley’s Arabians and in 1980 I bred that mare to one of his stallions, and got my dream horse for the next 25 years.
But where did the QH come from? Who clips and braids a horse in December and puts her in a trailer for hours or days? I wondered if he stole her, maybe an auction, maybe a western show in Oklahoma??
