owned by Crow Country Curly Horses Old West Curly Horses  stallions Native American History of the Warrior bloodline horses The Warrior Bloodline. Since Ernest Hammrich (Mobridge, SD) died, the Warrior bloodline horses have declined in numbers, simply because they are largely defined by the fact that he created them. Ernie originally bred pure Berndt horses (a Sioux Reservation Native American bloodline that traces back to the Sioux & Crow people). Then over the years to sustain the integrity of the small population, he began to add select foundation Quarter Horse bloodlines to those Curlies. On his deathbed, Ernie called me several times and worked out an agreement where I would continue his legacy to the best of my ability. He asked that I continued to call them the Warrior bloodline horses. He was also very supportive of my wishes to re-establish them on the Crow Reservation on their original old stomping ground of hundreds of years ago. And he approved of my breeding decisions regarding the horses he entrusted me with. I therefore inherited Ernie's breeding program which I wish to preserve to the best of my ability. The beauty & ultimate stock horse type Warrior Curly Horses are embodied in one of Ernie's greatest stallions he ever produced; *Seekers Warrior. *Seekers Warrior is a 1991 dun stallion. He is pictured above in March of 2006 at age 15. The bulk of his neck has increased and the size of his hindquarters and degree of muscle expression have decreased with age, but you can still see the beautiful head, heavy bone, sizey feet, correct conformation and the strong stock horse type he displays. This horse's pedigree is not pure Warrior bloodline; he also has a shot of the *Brown Holbrook horse in his pedigree; a wild Curly stallion out of the Austin Nevada wild herds that the Damele's used some - but phenotypically this horse is all stock horse in type - and genetically he is quite prepotent in reproducing his type & quality in his foals. He quite obviously reflects much of his old foundation Quarter Horse blood from generations back. We plan to collect and freeze semen on this great sire to ensure his exquisite influence of quality for generations to come. Old West Curly Horses has a few up & coming young stallion prospects that are linebred Warrior bloodline. One is an Oct 2004 red dun extreme Curly colt out of a prime daughter of *Seekers Warrior, sired by *Warrior White Sun, a son of *Bad Warrior himself. This colt, *Warrior Dun Battle, was born on the Custer Battlefield.  He is developing into a very nice sized colt, with a very stout, strong body conformation & thick muscling. He is very correct. He is an extreme (almost surely homozygous for curl) yet he has a decently haired tail even in summer months - not the common almost-naked tail that homozygous Curly Horses of western bloodlines typically possess. We call him *Dundee, and he and Dominic decided they belong to each other. The second colt is a 2005 sorrel, out of *Seekers Foxtail, an awesome daughter of *Seekers Warrior, (proclaimed by several old cowboys as possibly the best stockhorse type mare in the breed) and probably also sired by Teddy, or possibly by Warrior White Sun, although to look at him, he looks like a clone of *Warrior Big Red! A very thick, cherry red colt, with great character and the look of developing into a very big muscular boy as well. This colt will have a 13-14* pedigree, and is very linebred either way, so he should be a prepotent sire of quality. DNA testing will be used to establish his true pedigree if we end up breeding him. This colt has a lot of personality & character, and decided to belong to Fred the first time he worked with him. He has been trying to monopolize Fred's attention ever since. A third prospect is a 2006 dun colt. He is also an extreme, sired by Teddy, out of Teddy's fancy flaxen red dun granddaughter, *Warrior Mayme Maybe. She is a minimally expressed dominant gene Curly mare that probably inherited the slighter curl from *Bad Warrior. *Teddy, who I believe inherited a tighter curl from *The Brown Holbrook Horse, seems to have offset the minimal curly display in this foal. This foal has deluxe conformation, and if does not get too naked in the tail, or get too macho through the base of the neck, should be nearly perfect in conformation. A definite stallion prospect that we will keep our eye on. Outcrossing the tightly inbred Old Western lines: *Seekers Warrior's daughters are impressive Curly mares. Old West Curly Horses has kept together a band of *Seekers Warrior daughters that are continuing his influence of high quality and old foundation stock horse style. These daughters were without a Curly stallion of equal quality & stockhorse type until *Rush River Slash became available. Breeding the 2 lines are the basic plan, and then mating back pairs that are unrelated to re-establish higher numbers of strong using Curly stockhorses. This then, is the plan - - to cross *Slash on these great *Warrior bred mares, and in these foals, will be preserving the last and best quality Western Curly Horses left alive. Inbreeding:  The Wagon Wheel Ranch says, "Inbreeding is a dirty word in the vocabulary of many horse breeders (due to a lack of knowledge, and/or listening to those who have no more knowledge of genetics than themselves). However, a study of the pedigrees of many great horses will reveal their inbreeding. Some of the great horse breeders had formal training in genetics (those in charge of the Robert Kleberg, Jr. era of quarter and thoroughbred breeding at the famed King Ranch, for example), but many of them learned to inbreed through experience, and acute powers of observation (the Hankins brothers, Jess, Lowell and J. O.; Guy Ray Rutland, Walter Merrick and Hank Weiscamp, for examples). A study of the pedigrees of the horses bred by these men, and others, quickly reveals careful inbreeding which resulted in the Peter McCues, Old Sorrels, King P-234s, Leos, Easy Jets, Skipper Ws and other legendary sires."     "Theodore" or "Teddy Bear" in his smooth summer coat. © 1998 Sorrel     *Seekers Warrior, ICHO-94D, ABCR-1533 14.3+ hh - 1200# Bad Warrior & Native American bloodlines color gene code: Aa, Ee, Dd; heterozygous Curly        This 1991 stallion is very impressive in person. Once you see him, you won't forget him. He gathers admirers whenever we have visitors or whenever he ventures out in public, although that isn't often. He displayed in 2002 at the Montana Horse Fair, where he behaved like the intelligent gentleman he is among hundreds of other stallions and mares, on Father's day (in June). Halters with stud chains were required on the grounds, and we had the chain hanging loose (we had to borrow it; we don't own one.) At the same time, the dominance and self-confidence this horse has is remarkable. He is a free ranging herd stallion here on the ranch, most of the time.  He is just a fraction under 15.0 hh, and 1200#, the most powerful horse you could imagine without being coarse. He is heterozygous for black, agouti, dun & curl; he produces all colors including duns, grullas, and red duns.       "Teddy" has converted many horsemen that have seen him, into Curly Horse "believers." Foundation Quarter Horse breeders are especially impressed with this stallion.       His foals are widely accepted, not only in the Curly Horse world, but by the horse industry in general. He is a true & consistent improver of quality.  His curly foals are exceptional Curly Horses. One daughter, *Grulla Vaquera Lark, exported to Austria, (owned by Curlies Austria) is the highest scoring (inspected) Curly mare in Europe at this time. Even his smooth coated foals are impressive horses that compete in stockhorse classes at local shows and win.       Like many range stallions, this stallion will not accept new mares after he is banded up for the summer, therefore he is not offered at stud to the public. This horse has a 13* pedigree. © 2003 photo by Celenia, CA   © 1997 Sorrel                                                               © 1999 Sorrel                          We plan to collect this stallion in the future to store a bank of frozen semen. This will be a "preservation project" of the Old West Curly Horses syndicate. Old West Curly Horses is working on a Curly Horse Hippotherapy riding program; "Teddy" has several daughters in our breeding program to support the hypoallergenic horse portion of that "kid project." Sire  *Sage Seeker Sire  *brown Holbrook stud Sire  unk range stud Dam  unk *range mare Dam  *grey Damele mare Sire  unk range stud Dam  unk *range mare Dam *Warriors Berndt Sue (the best Curly mare I have ever seen) Sire  *Berndt range stud Sire  *Berndt range stud Dam *Berndt range mare Dam *Miss Berndt Warrior Sire  *Berndt range stud Dam *Berndt range mare back to bloodlines © Old West Curly Horses. Est 2006. All rights reserved.