Linny–I have had a Stormin Fever, and he is super athletic but a lot of horse (hot). I’d take a look at another Stormy Atlantic in a moment if one was listed by me!
Nancy
That is interesting to see the range, thanks for posting.
Mine is a Stormy Atlantic as well. Rangier though–17h, largely leg.
I have a gelding out of D’Wildcat (out of Forest Wildcat) and he is very nice, very mellow and a nice mover. He is still pretty young but so far he is the quietest TB I have had. I don’t event and I’m not sure he would have the gas, he is really mellow and very sweet. When he first came a year ago I had to hand walk him for 2 weeks straight and he was fine with it, not spooky.
I agree with looking at the horse in front of you.
I have one by Cat Thief. Tall, rangy, leggy, very exuberant, athletic and slightly ADD. Haven’t ridden him much yet, just getting restarted…here’s to hoping I survive :winkgrin: Love to hear about everyone else’s.
I found my second OTTB 3 years ago and I knew nothing about bloodlines. I went to see him, he was a tad shorter than I wanted but while I was talking to the owner, he came over and push his head into my chest. I brought him home. I read his jockey club papers once home and I then starting researching. He is a Storm Cat grandson and I adore him. I have taken him cross country, jumpers and dressage. He does it all and does it very well. He does get bored and if that happen, then the attitude starts but as his human, I need to keep things fun and interesting. I have taken him in many jumping and dressage clinics and he is always game for new stuff. The second year I had him, I took him to a Bill Woods dressage clinic and we had not even begun to really work on our dressage until this clinic. By the second day, he was light, round and moving forward. By the third day, other riders were telling me I need to start showing dressage! He just learns so quick BUT he does need to buy into it. You have to be an active thinking rider, he is not a packer.
I have had so much fun with him and have learned so much, even though I have been riding for 40 years, that I went and brought another Storm Cat grandson home. I picked up my 3rd OTTB right off the track. Met the trainer and everything. This Storm Cat grandson raced for 7 years. Now he is adjusting to his new life and it has been wonderful to watch him. When I brought him home, yes-loads of attitude, but after 2 months, he is now as sweet and friendly as my other gelding. They are very smart and I think they just want to know that you are on their side, then they give it all to you. I did not have this same type of connection with my now retired 17 year old OTTB, but these Storm Cat boys seem to really want to bond.
Very interesting, Linny.
ALL of the SC’s you have listed have one or more big sport horse names through their dams. Giant’s Causeway and Forestry have the best sport horse dams, but every one of them has a “name” sport horse influence there which has nothing to do with SC.
Coincidence? I don’t think so.
And, of course, the dams of all your SC’s grandsons have equal genetic weight in creating the athelete in fron of you.
I certainly do not dislike SC. The TB breeder inside me adores him, and most of his sons. – I just think he gets too much credit where credit may not be due, in the sport horse world.
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I think this is a very good point, about TB bloodlines in general, not just Storm Cat. One specific name in the pedigree really can’t be ANY more than 50% of the individual horse–and that’s just sire and dam…the farther back you go, it gets less and less.
I’m to the point where I don’t really even look beyond the 3rd generation, because beyond that is pretty watered down and hard to attribute any particular qualities to a way-back ancestor. I think we tend to pick out names we recognize back in the 4th+ beyond and give undue credit to them, when there’s likely more influence from the 1st/2nd/3rd dam whose name is a nobody (but perhaps she was a nice, sporty individual). Depth of pedigree is always good, but it starts with Mom & Dad. 
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Which are the good sport lines in Stormy Atlantic? I know the sport horse world is pretty anti Seattle Slew, but I don’t know the others as well. Thanks!
Since Storm Cat was an elite stallion, he was bred to very high quality mares for most of his career. His first books of mares were not as special because he entered stud, not as a “potential star” but as a fast 2yo who didn’t train on well and as a son of Storm Bird, not a well known US stallion.
Everey generation removed from a given horse alters the impact. It’s easy to use terms like “sireline” and to follow the impact of stallions because they have numbers in their favor. Also, there are probably hundreds of other SC sons out there who are in small enough venues that they are not bothering with listing in the B-H Stallion Register. Some may be lovely stallions, others not so much.
You really do have to look at the horse in front of you. Once that is done, look at the breeding and see what the horse gets from who. The horse that JBRP had by Forestry was his spittin’ image. He was out of a Dynaformer mare but in looks and demeanor, I didn’t see any Dynaformer. (Now, I spend only part of a day with him, but I did what’s him free jump for the first time ever, and saw him being handled and loved on by an army of strangers. All this 4 days from the track.)
My OTTB is from a Storm Cat son, True Confidence- damsire is Fappiano.
Here’s my horse’s pedigree:
http://www.pedigreequery.com/brents+choice
My horse is REALLY athletic. We don’t event, he’s my ranch horse. I did event in a former life, though, and this horse has more athleticism, jump, and movement than anything else I ever rode.
He was spoiled by some kids, and the Storm Cat temper tantrum can come out. After three years, it is finally waning, but boy has it been persistent. I’m lucky to have cattle work to do with this horse, because he is SO interested in figuring out what we are doing and helping get it done. If we drilled a lot of dressage, he would have been really, really hard to turn around mentally.
I’d not do any SC grandget again if the horse had been spoiled by poor handling. Maybe unraced, or off the track having been successful and sound, but definitely not having been through several hands. And I’d also make sure there were some big sporthorse influences elsewhere in the pedigree!
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I wouldn’t avoid looking at a prospect just because it’s related to SC. At this point, the other influences are likely much more important, and of course, every horse is different regardless of lineage!
Here is my grand baby:
http://www.pedigreequery.com/geoni
He makes faces at me sometimes but is sweet and quite level headed. Short coupled, nice fancy gaits and very easy going to anything you point him at. He’s only done one baby event but was quite perfect. He’s schooled novice xc and has no spook in him. He’s about 15.3, very petite build and a few months of vacation later he still looks lean and fit as if just off the track.
Not to entirely hijack the thread but anyone have comments about Noble Causeway offspring? Son of Giant’s Causeway (earlier mentioned SC son so i’m not too terribly off topic)…i’ve come across quite a few and have mixed feelings on them…just curious what the pedigree gurus thought
Storm Broker son
I had a Storm Cat grandson by Storm Broker who was cold backed and once BUCKED A SADDLE OFF by bucking so hard he burst the billets ! Was short coupled, very sound and tough, dabbled in endurance on him bc his back condition was better the fitter he was kept. Was anxiety ridden in the bnarn, couldn’t be left alone and made me swear off TB’s for the near future, sorry, good luck with yours !
I just put a deposit on a With Distinction colt out of a Coxs Ridge daughter. Supposed to be a big Labrador Retriever kind of guy. Hoping it will be so. Distinctly Donovan:
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e110/KPWebb/Donovan1.jpg http://www.pedigreequery.com/distinctly+donovan
Finding Stormy Atlantic offspring off the track is a real treat. I pay attention to all of those.
Besides that, I don’t really care for the line.
I’ve only known two Storm Cat offspring. (Small sample, I know.) I was given one off the track. The trainer’s parting words were, “Keep his attention.” Boy was that good advice. This guy was ‘quiet’, but seemed to always be looking for an opening. I always had the feeling that he was trying to out-think me. He just wasn’t what I wanted to play with, so gave him to a friend who took him to a trainer. He bucked the trainer off twice in the first couple of weeks. The second one is not mine, but at our barn. Very opinionated, the kind of horse you don’t want to get into an argument with. I’m looking for another OTTB, but pass by when I see Storm Cat in the pedigree. Maybe unfair, but I don’t need to go through that again.
My theory is that the attitude comes from Terlingua. I say this because I have a Wheaton mare and a Just a Cat gelding
Maria Canela http://http://www.pedigreequery.com/maria+canela2
Forgotten Cat: http://http://www.pedigreequery.com/forgotten+cat
Both of these horses started out very difficult but once we got past that they proved to be good athletes. At first I thought the attitude came from Alydar because both of mine have Alydar, but when I heard Storm Cats have similar attitudes I thought that maybe the attitude came from Terlingua since all three horses share that mare.
Anyone have any thoughts on that idea?
I work in the TB industry and you couldn’t pay me to own a Storm Cat. (No offense to those of you with good ones) The mares I have dealt with, and there have been quite a few, are generally nut jobs who will flip over with the slightest provocation. Where the males may be incredibly smart, making them tough rides, a lot of the mares are just fragile minded. I’m sure some of it comes from improper handling, but there’s a definite trend and most of them come with “warning labels”. He’s also known for throwing crooked knees, wich the TB farms then correct surgically. It may never cause a problem, but personally, I’d steer clear of a horse who wasn’t born straight.
Again, not trying to bash any individual horse, but the Stormy Atlantic yearlings I’ve dealt with lately have made a very bad impression too. I think a good SC is probably good in spite of, not because of the SC blood.
[QUOTE=SEPowell;6632151]
Both of these horses started out very difficult but once we got past that they proved to be good athletes. At first I thought the attitude came from Alydar because both of mine have Alydar, but when I heard Storm Cats have similar attitudes I thought that maybe the attitude came from Terlingua since all three horses share that mare.
Anyone have any thoughts on that idea?[/QUOTE]
It’s so hard to generalized based on so few horses, but I have usually heard good things about Alydar for sport, so perhaps it is SC’s dam and not sire that that comes from.
My SC grandson (the Stormy Atlantic I mentioned earlier on the thread) was not the easiest off the track. Not the worst, but a smart guy, who tended to use that to escalate instead of cooperate. He outgrew that pretty quickly–he’s quiet and reliable now, but I can imagine programs that wouldn’t have worked for him at that early stage.
My Alydar grandson http://www.pedigreequery.com/sad+sack is a mystery. He has a very strong sense of self and a real presence, brave, tremenous jumper, but challenging/unrideable in a way that makes him seem in pain. I did every diagnostic and never really found much (totally clear bone scan, age appropriate mild changes on x-rays, etc.), then gave up and retired him. The general veterinary consensus is that his issues are mental and not physical. But I don’t know whether the issues are related to breeding, or environment.
Sorry that probably wasn’t helpful at all on the Alydar part.
I have 2. Storm Cat off springs. I would not trade them for anything else not even a Warm Blood.
I went looking for a Storm Cat breeding when I decided to get a OTTB. We found our first at Penn National. He is wonderful and would be a great Eventer. We do Jumpers. Nothing bothers this horse, no jump to big or scary for him. After seeing this we went lookin for another. The same thing except the second one can be a Medal contendor in the Equitation class or Dressage.
These 2 geldings are well behaved on the ground. When we take them to the Horse Shows they are gentleman. I guess we got lucky.
They are out of the same stallion A.P Indy
