The Pelton Equestrian Experience

10/27/2022

The US Army bought Comanche in St. Louis, Missouri in 1868 when the horse caught the attention of Captain Myles Keogh of the 7th Cavalry. He therefore bought it as his personal mount. In September 1868, when the Army fought with the Natives on the plains of Kansas, Comanche was wounded. His wounds were found only after returning to camp. Keogh admired the horse’s courage, and after that, he gave him the name Comanche.

In June 1876, all but Comanche were killed in the battle of Little Big Horn. The horse received seven bullet wounds, had arrows sticking out of him, and lost a lot of blood, but survived. Comanche died in 1891 and was given a military burial.

10/14/2022

In an effort to continue protecting the welfare of the American Quarter Horse, the American Quarter Horse Association is enhancing an industry-leading performance alteration testing program at the 2022 Farnam AQHA and Adequan® Select World Championship Show. Read more here ➡ www.aqha.com/-/performance-alteration-testing-procedures

10/09/2022

RIP. Cool stud.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce that our senior sire WR This Cats Smart, has died due to complications of colic. This horse has been a blessing to our family and it has been a true privilege to be part of his story. There are many people that have been involved with his success, including Tim Smith, Dustin Ewing, Glenn Blodgett, 6666 Ranch team and many others. As we reflect on his life, we find it a real compliment that breeders shared our faith in his ability as a sire and bred some of the best mares in the industry. We are sure the impact he has made in the industry will be felt for years to come. ─ Arthur and Catherine Nicholas.

For a complete press release, please visit https://tinyurl.com/yuptx7ek

07/25/2022

Legendary.

Every year on my mother's birthday I post this photo of her jumping a jeep at New Canaan Mounted Troop, New Canaan CT. She would have been 94 today.

My mother was Shirley Self Brotherhood.
Her mother was Margaret Cabell Self.
Mindful Horsewoman is Logan Darrow, still riding at 71 but not anything like this!

Taken in 1951 BCR (before crest release).

07/10/2022

Late star actor James Caan was former PRCA competitor. Read more here>>> https://bit.ly/3AziTms

06/15/2022

Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo performer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes hired him to take a load of horses to California.

"I'd been making a dollar a day as a cowboy, and my first check in Hollywood was for $300. After that, you couldn't have driven me back to Oklahoma with a club."

He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne, Gary Cooper and James Stewart. He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.

During the making of "Rio Grande" (1949), Johnson and Ford had a brief verbal argument. All seemed well afterward, and nothing further was said of it, so Ben assumed it was completely blown over. However, Ford didn't use Johnson again in another picture for 14 years, when Ben played a small role in "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964). Johnson's lifelong friend Harry Carey Jr. said he believed the reason was that when Ford was casting "The Sun Shines Bright" (1953), Johnson's agent heard that Ford wanted him for the role, called Ford--without Johnson's knowledge--and demanded a hefty salary. Outraged at having been squeezed like that, Ford held it against Johnson, and used that and the argument they had during "Rio Grande" as an excuse not to use him again. They did manage to maintain a friendly relationship nonetheless.

Johnson initially turned down the role of Sam the Lion in "The Last Picture Show" (1971) when it was first offered to him by Peter Bogdanovich because he thought the script was "dirty," and he did not approve of swearing and nudity in motion pictures. Bogdanovich appealed to Ford, who got Johnson to change his mind as a favor to him. With the permission of Bogdanovich, Johnson rewrote his role with the offensive words removed. Johnson went on to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing the role.

From his Oscar speech: "What I'm about to say probably will stir up a lot of conversation around over the country. There's something I'd like to leave in everyone's mind throughout the world: This couldn't have happened to a nicer feller. Thank you." (IMDb/Oscars.org)

Happy Birthday, Ben Johnson!

06/07/2022

Meet Joan Sinclair. She is one of the best horse and cattlewomen in the High Country and at the age of 83, she is still at it. She has lived on the same ranch since she was six weeks old! She says riding horses is better than walking and we agree! http://www.facebook.com/ABCRural/videos/156388118364...

03/08/2022

International Women's Day, and a woman with a filly that changed Arabian horse breeding globally forever.

*Rifala (Skowronek x Rissla by Berk), six generations of Crabbet Park breeding, being handled by Baroness Wentworth, Judith (Wilfrid Scawen Blunt x Lady Anne Blunt), photo taken in the early 1920's at a horse show in England, photographer unknown, legacy immeasurable.

We'll start with *Rifala, maybe not as solid in the body as her full sister, Reyna, who was exported to Spain for the Duke of Veragua, but Lady Wentworth's pick of the two and the one she chose to show.

Among her many titles won in Great Britain, *Rifala won the Royal Show Gold Medal as a weanling in 1922, the First Prize at Horsham as a yearling in 1923 and the Sussex County Show Silver Cup the same year. She would re-enter the show world, after a 10 year hiatus and a change in continent, to be named 1933 National Champion Mare at the Nationals held in Nashville, under the ownership of her second owner, the Selby Stud.

What can one say about *Rifala? She founded a dynasty of breeding stallions through her sons; Image (by *Mirage) at the Selby Stud, Rifage (by *Mirage) at the Van Vleet Stud, Phantom (in-bred by her own son Image) at Gainey Arabians in Minnesota and that father/daughter mating that resulted in the "sterile stallion", *Raffles (Skowronek x *Rifala by Skowronek) who was brought back to fertility by Jimmie and Thelma Dean and changed the course of breeding Arabians for several decades here in the US.

*Rifala produced one daughter, Ragala by *Mirage, but her influence is still felt today through hundreds and hundreds of descendants (some not even owned by Dick Hasbrook), and *Rifala's legacy is guaranteed for generations to come.

Now, onto Lady Judith Wentworth. What can one say, other then she has influenced Arabian horse breeding on every continent and virtually in every country that breeds Arabian horses today. There are only two breeding groups, the straight Egyptian group and the Davenports, who are immune from her influence. She brought Skowronek (Ibrahim x Jaskolka by Rymnik) to the Rodania, Dajania, Sobha, Bint Helwa and Makbula mare lines at Crabbet Park. To frame this into a perspective we all can appreciate, there would be no Michalow, Tersk, Yeguada Militar, Janow, and the list goes on and on.

No Cal-Poly, no Lasma, no Varian, no Mulawa, no Haras Mei Lua, no Om El Arab, no Halsdon. In 2022 terms, no Scottsdale Arabian Show Junior, Senior or Yearling Champions would have been crowned that weren't directly influenced by Lady Judith Wentworth.

What can one say about Judith Wentworth that hasn't already been said? She was quirky, brilliant, stubborn, sneaky, impeccable at judging horse flesh and impeccable at making breeding decisions. She was as complicated as she was brilliant. She could have taught at "Master Class" in horse marketing, long before that was even a term.

As a business woman, she would do (and did) whatever necessary to keep the doors open Crabbet Park, through good times and bad. Smart, savvy and sophisticated, few business leaders today could hold a candle to Lady Judith Wentworth. So, on International Women's Day, my hat’s off to your legacy, Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton and the legacy of yours that continues to thrive and prosper today.

Jim Robbins for We LOVE Arabian Horses, celebrating women around the world today and every day and remembering that one special moment I sat at Lady Wentworth's writing desk, a treasured memory to this day.

VISIT 🌿 https://welovearabianhorses.com

02/24/2022

10/28/2021

Good generals and good horses have the same loyal, confident qualities, though. 🧐

09/24/2021

07/06/2021

Yay!!

07/03/2021

Yes. Yes. Yes. So much yes!!

Morgan Stallion Debuts in National Reined Cow Horse Competition

By: Stephen Kinney, Editor, The Morgan Horse

Pictured: Westwind Otto and Zane Davis

A charismatic Morgan from generations of Western ranching bloodlines is challenging the Quarter Horse stronghold of Reined Cow Horse competition.

Bryan Blatt’s homebred palomino stallion, Westwind Otto (Sweet’s Baybarry x Westwind Eyelash), made his May 30th debut at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Regional Show in Nampa, Idaho. The competition involves three aspects: cow work, reining, and fence work—where the horse guides a cow down a fence and back. He scored a 71 and 72 in reining and finished seventh his first time out in the open hackamore event.

Blatt says of watching Otto in his first competition, “When the horse came out I said to myself, ‘Here we go.’ There is more to do, but it was the result of 20 years' work.” Blatt cites historic Morgan Working Western bloodlines in his horse’s pedigree, with ancestors like Archie O, Steve Reeve’s Desert Sands, and old Sellman Ranch blood.

Westwind Otto is trained by the accomplished Western horseman Zane Davis, who claims more than $1.8 million in lifetime earnings in the high stakes cutting and reined cow horse sports. “Zane loves the horse, and he loves Zane,” Bryan says.

Davis acknowledges that Reined Cow Horse competition is “custom made” for Quarter Horses, but is finding a lot to like with the Morgan in his string. “I’ve found him to be very good-minded and trainable…with the ability to read a cow. I’m very impressed with the Morgan’s good bone structure and natural soundness.”

Currently, owner and trainer are deciding whether Otto will stick with hackamore competition or move forward to bridle work. He will compete again in 2021. “I’m committed to taking him as far as he can go,” Bryan says.

05/28/2021

Love this

In Texas, a giant Buffalo Soldier in clay is readied for West Point. Sculptor Eddie Dixon has created a towering Black horseman for the U.S. Military Academy.

05/09/2021

Too good not to share.

04/05/2021

They are always teaching us if we just stop and listen every once in a while.