Old West Curly Horses
Preservation Project
the Warrior bloodline
*Seekers Warrior
14.3 hh - 1200#
Berndt - Bad Warrior bloodline
| The Warrior Bloodline.
Since Ernest Hammrich
(Mobridge, SD) died, Warrior bloodline horses have declined in numbers. 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. 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
proudly 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. 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. 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. 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 lighter 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. 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 quality & stockhorse type until *Rush River Slash became available. Inbreeding of 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. 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." 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. |
Original Native American History of the Warrior
Bloodline
Warrior Bloodline | Fredell
Bloodline
read Wagon
Wheel's Horse breeding & inbreeding page
"There's nothing like the outside
of a horse
to help the inside of a person."