Storm Cat offspring

[RenaissanceMare]

Hello…

First post and hopefully will be informative! I keep my horse at a low key co-op stable and a new boarder just came with an OTTB. We have another woman who has OTTBs there and they are lovely. New board’s horse is tall, black and gangly, has been off the track for over a year but I guess hasn’t really done much, she mainly focuses on lunging and parillie (sp?) games which he seems totally uninterested in, and when she lunges him he looks like a bike going around a tight turn!

Anyway… I think she knows he’s not coming along the way she wants but she does always say when someone offers help or makes a suggestion is “he’s a storm cat baby” like that justifies his lack of ability to do anything. He’s a gelding so he can’t be bred to pass down the lines, I don’t really see the big deal. Will his Storm Cat father (or grandfather i’m not sure) lineage kick in and make him an amazing hunter horse?

[beowulf]

Good luck with the SC baby!

[Foxtrot_s]

‘He’s tall and gangly and been off the track a year’- could be he’s only three and needs more time and fitting up. Running around on the end of a string doesn’t help him balance if it’s done wrong.

[RenaissanceMare]

he’s 7

[RenaissanceMare]

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;3144463]
‘He’s tall and gangly and been off the track a year’- could be he’s only three and needs more time and fitting up. Running around on the end of a string doesn’t help him balance if it’s done wrong.[/QUOTE]

he’s 7

[SteeleRdr]

@beowulf;3144459

Hmm. I dont know much about her horse, but I’ve found Storm Cat offspring to be little pieces of work. They can be talented, but for some reason all of the Storm Cat horses I’ve worked with have been rude/uninterested/obnoxious, and the owners are too disgusted with themselves for buying horses they knew they would have trouble with to do much about it.

I disagree with this assertion about Storm Cat decendants. I have had several that I’ve worked with and all have been great and turned into very nice hunters. Three of which foxhunted for atleast a season, if not more. SC is known to throw shorter, less sound, difficult horses, but if he’s off by more generations I’ve found they are awesome, but again slow to mature. Mine have all been grandsons/daughters and have been sweet, tall, very sound, and all really came into their own at 5-6. I think her using “he’s a Storm Cat” is a bit of a cop out, especially for a 7 year old, if she’s trying to just say he’s slow to develop.

[Laurierace]

Not relevant to this post really, but I bet he isn’t even a Storm Cat. Most likely a Storm Cat grandson, so the influence could be coming from any number of places including a trainer who doesn’t know how to handle him.

[Saskatoonian]

Well, my 4 year old SC grandson (today’s his real birthday!) is also tall and willowy (nothing gangly about him), and left the track a bit over a year ago. That’s where the resemblance ends - he’s so unreasonably good about everything (W/T/C, groundpoles, hacking alone and in company, starting to jump) that I have to remind myself how young he is.

Hope things turn out well with the new boarder.

[hookedoneventing]

I have a Storm Cat grandson as well…He definitely fits the tall dark and handsome…he is 5. Not at all gangly, as a matter of fact most people mistake him for a warmblood…he is extremely athletic, built uphill, overall a very nice looking horse, I have been very pleased. I will say he is ultra-sensitive and is maturing very slowly, but to be honest if that is what it takes for him to develop I wont rush him…I have just sent him to an ULR eventer for one month of training and the quote I had was that he was “one of the nicest young horses they had worked with in a long time, the whole package”, so whether or not this is part of the Storm Cat line or just him in general I am not complaining, but I have heard many people say the line is very athletic, very attractive and yes can be very sensitive…

[SleepyFox]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;3145248]
Not relevant to this post really, but I bet he isn’t even a Storm Cat. Most likely a Storm Cat grandson, so the influence could be coming from any number of places including a trainer who doesn’t know how to handle him.[/QUOTE]

Well said, Laurie! :yes:

The typical (note I said “typical” not “all”) Storm Cat is shorter and kind of stocky. Storm Cats do have a reputation for being sensitive and difficult to work with. How true is this? I dunno. Of the Storm Cats I know, none are horrible to deal with.

[LaurieB]

I echo what Laurierace said too. Storm Cat is famous even among people who don’t race TBs. The fact that his stud fee was $500,000 for years and that much of the book STUD was written about him gave him a lot of name recognition. Could be this woman simply latched onto the name to make her horse seem more important.

A couple of years ago at the barn where I kept my riding horse, a woman showed up with a 3 year old TB that she said was by Fusaichi Pegasus. She had plans to make him a Grand Prix jumper and her excuse for his incredible lack of manners was that “FuPegs are hard to handle”. She also mentioned casually that he’d run in the Breeders Cup Juvenile the previous year. OK, it was an eventing barn and I guess she wasn’t expecting anyone there to be familiar with racehorses.

It didn’t take me two seconds to get online and look that stuff up. Guess what? No FuPeg, no BC Juvie. And as far as I know he never became a Grand Prix jumper either. :lol:

[BansheeBreeze]

the only Storm Cat son I ever worked with was an absolute ox of a horse. He hurt several people just by having no sense of self preservation whatsoever. He would fall down, flip over, run you over, run over a stack of straw bales, etc etc. He was a tank! He’d be very quiet in the stall and then on random occasions would attack his groom. He was also the fattest, bulkiest, laziest racehorse I’ve ever seen, we had to take the throatlatches off all his bridles because none of them fit.

[Hocus_Focus]

I have no comment regarding your horse, but whenever I hear the name Storm Cat, it raises some curiosity. I own a tb mare who raced, nothing too outstanding made some money retired sound. She had four foals two were by the Storm Cat son, Rocket Cat. Her other two thoroughbred babies were by another quite known stallion who stood at Bridlewood in Ocala. I don’t have his info here so will not say his name as I don’t wish to misrepresent. At any rate. Not much claim to this thread, but I like to keep my ears open and hear if any of her offspring did anything. Three made it to the races and one, her Rocket Cat son, a gelding, won a race last year in Boston area.

So getting to the point, I would love to know a bit about her offspring and where they ended up. Mare’s name is Matt’s Princess. This mare has the best temperament and I would be very surprised if she produced an unruly foal.

I have used this mare to produce Olenburg foals. Her second is coming this year. She is not world class but a good all around mare type.

[poneegirl]

I have had the pleasure of working with 6 horses who have Stormcat as the grandsire. They have all been well behaved and lovely to handle. I found that much of the personality comes from the mare side. They have been nice to break and I would certainly buy them for a riding horse if they are to fail at the track since they all have good common sense and move well.

[fleur_de_duc]

I just bought myself a storm cat grandson (daddy is tomorrow’s cat). He fits the tall, dark, and handsome profile to a T a solid 16.3, jet black and general a beauty to look at. He looks just like his daddy ;], right down to the little star…

but anyways (sorry for that brag, im just very happy w/ him) I have noticed some of the typical SC tendencies in him. He is very sensitive, and I mean VERY! He hates to be rough handled, and gets very flustered if he is. He can be very stubborn at times, and he knows how big he is and how he is much stronger than I am, but still remains respectful 98% of the time (we are working on the rest). But Tommy is VERY athletic and a general pleasure to be around. He never raced, he just doesnt have the get up and go in him (obviously that gene got lost somewhere in the making:lol:). He is pleasant to my other horses and is always a happy camper in general.

I have worked with/ridden a few other SC baby/grandsons & daughters and have defiantly felt the wrath of SC through some, but the majority were a pleasure to be around.

[elmerandharriet]

I had a son of sc he was very sensative just like everyone else said he hated when he was handled rough and hated men but i dont blame that on the sc i blame that on some man that mishandled him on the track (my guess) he was tall, hill, stout, and fearless under saddle. The only thing about my sc son was he was a loner and hated being out with other he refused to go out with others he would charge the fence… Overall i would buy another sc in a heart beat! when i was looking for my last ottb i looked at alot of sc babies or grand babies but i ended up with a favorite trick mare out of a thirty six red mare she is super nice and easy in every aspect where as my sc was a little more difficult in some aspects but i still would get another!

[Acertainsmile]

I have dealt with more than my share of SC offspring…yes, they can be quite the handful when they are youngsters, but so can other babies with different lineage…

I do have one (a grandson) that is now being retrained to do the hunter/jumpers… sensitive/emotional would be an understatement…but WOW, is he athletic!

Patience, and more patience is the key, along with a nice, slow education process.

[Jessi_P]

Reg I sent you a PM about Matt’s Princess.

[Roney]

I have a Storm Cat grandson, and while we’ve had our share of difficult/stubborn times, I’ve never once thought to blame it on his lineage - that’s a poor excuse. Difficultness can come from a thousand different things - in our case, it was also a result of some physical issues that we discovered.

That being said, I can’t even IMAGINE doing Parelli with him! :lol::lol: That would go over like a load of bricks…

[Acertainsmile]

I am not a Parelli follower, however, my friend who had my horse for the winter (he has an indoor, I do not) did do Parelli with this horse…I have to admit, that I was more than impressed…it really seemed to boost his confidence, which was really lacking. He even stands quiet while the rider is “roping” those giant Parelli balls off his back!