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The Pride Piper,
1979-2007,
was
a direct son of the incomparable Pride of Midnight H.F., certainly the
dominant Walking Horse sire of the modern era, and out of an Ebony's
Senator mare. Although he recently passed on his influence at Absaroka
Tennessee Walking Horses is very much alive, manifesting itself in his
son “Pride,” in the many wonderful daughters we’ve kept as broodmares,
and in the minds of all fans of the truly natural Tennessee Walking
Horse. His get cross mountains, work cattle, and star in light-shod
shows.
"Piper" was bred by Don Bell and owned for the first fourteen years of
his life by Steve and Mary Jane Wirts, standing on their farm near
Washington, Indiana. Reserve Lite Shod champion in the National
Celebration when he was seven, Piper had by then amassed model, lite-shod,
and plantation championships and was proving himself an exceptional sire
of natural, beautiful colts. His athletic ability was astounding. His
colts tend to be large with good bone, yet elegant refinement, nice
dispositions, and petite, beautiful heads. Piper's progeny are known
nationally and in Europe. A son, Pleasure’s Pot O’Gold stands in
Belgium:
www.pleasuregaits.com/potterENG.htm.
[papers] |
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| Piper's Pride of Absaroka
is the result of twenty-one years of breeding. The story of this
young stallion with knockout looks and regal presence started with our quest
for outstanding mares. We found a foundation mare directly by Mack K.'s
Handshaker out of a mare by Merry Boy that was carrying a foal by a Rodger's
Perfection stallion. The foal born was Absaroka Midnight Mack, the
"stud colt" of my book Sketches from the Ranch: A Montana Memoir.
We also purchased a direct daughter of Sun's Delight named Delight's Peggy
Sue. Unfortunately, both "Mack" and Peggy Sue came to untimely deaths,
but not before producing perhaps our very best mare, Absaroka Suzy.
After Mack's death, we purchased The Pride Piper, and of course bred him to
Suzy, resulting in Piper's Pride of Absaroka.
Pride is 15.2 and has every conformational
asset we’ve ever wanted:
extremely short back, laid-back shoulder, Piper's muscular hindquarters and
shoulders, and an ultra-natural running walk. My personal training project,
Pride has become a ranch stallion, beautiful enough for the show ring but not
above doing honest work checking the cows during calving. He won five
ribbons at his first show, the day after bringing our cows down from summer
range, and has been used for rigorous mountain rides, where his gaits smooth
mountain trails into magic carpets. Stud fee is $500 with live foal guarantee. [papers] [additional picture] |
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Absaroka Silver Dollar
is the result of another quest. I admired the noted stallion Silver
Design, and not only for his beautiful dappled grey color (though I
certainly have a weakness for grey) but for his beautiful conformation. I
was also told that Silver Design, though shown as a built-up horse, was
extremely natural in gait. I purchased two breedings by shipped semen to
Silver Design, asking stallion manager Carl Thompson about his first
choice of mares to breed to the stallion. "Those by Another Masterpiece,"
he answered, "and I know you've got one." He was referring to our beloved
mare Star Wars, who he'd met years earlier (and tried to buy) on a trip to
Montana. We got two wonderful horse colts from Silver Design. The
second, from Star Wars, is Absaroka Silver Dollar, a laid-back dappled
grey, stocky and powerful yet loose in gait. Dollar was extremely easy
to train and under saddle exhibits a powerful running walk and rocky chair
canter. Finding anything that can spook him is a challenge. Dollar is
primarily pasture bred and is gentle toward mares, foals, and visiting
guests. A powerful 15.2, Dollar weighs approximately 1100 pounds and
sires large foals. Stud fee is $500 with live foal guarantee. [papers] [additional picture] |
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Bubba the Gaited Jack.
Bubba the Gaited Jack
arrived at the ranch two years ago from Stepping Out Farms in Tennessee and is
proving to be just the sire sought by us and Billy Oley, M.D., our partner in
our new gaited mule enterprise. Purchased to meet the growing demand for gaited
mules, Bubba is registered with the American Gaited Mule Association and stands
approximately 55” tall. A jack this size normally throws saddle mules plus or
minus an inch of the height of the mare. Bubba can perform an amble, a foxtrot,
and a running walk, and he took to saddle training quite readily. Our trainer
Travis Young even rode him out last spring to check our calving cows!
Mules by Bubba and TWH, Foxtrotter, and Paso mares are automatically eligible
for registration in the American Gaited Mule Association. Additionally, we’re
told by Bill Moore of Stepping Out Farms who has many years of experience
breeding gaited mules, that it’s common to get a gait from non-gaited mares such
as Quarter Horses. Bubba’s first progeny (spoken for) are Ruthie
(black and tan out of a grey mare) and Homer (sorrel out of a sorrel roan mare),
shown below. Both exhibited deep-nodding running walks from day one. Several
mule foals will be available for purchase in ’09. Stud fee for Bubba is $500,
and shipped semen is available. |
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