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The Sellman Foundation Breeding

It has often been pointed out that Richard Sellman began the greater portion of his huge Texas breeding program with daughters of his foundation stallion, Major Gordon 4924, foaled about 1880, and indeed these are the roots of many of the mares Roland Hill acquired from him. Sellman's own words recorded in Volume III of the Morgan Register, "Major Gordon has fine style and action, was owned by me from 1886 to 1899 when he died." Volume I of the Morgan Register was not even published until 1894, six years after Sellman acquired this horse, and, up to that time, there was no Morgan Register. Major Gordon came from Kentucky, and although his dam was untraced, the pedigree behind his sire was especially strong and of special significance to the foundation of the Sellman, and later the Hill, breeding programs, as we shall presently show.

Major Gordon was sired by Young Octoroon 1715, he by Octoroon 302, son of Goff's Comet 297 by Chittenden County Morgan 296, a son of Putnam Morgan 33, who was by old Woodbury. Putnam Morgan was out of Nancy, a daughter of Chanticleer who was shown by Joseph Battell in Volume I of his American Stallion Register to be one of the earliest own sons of Justin Morgan. Chittendon County Morgan was also inbred Morgan, being out of a daughter of old Bulrush by Justin Morgan, and second dam of a daughter of Justin Morgan.

The dam of Goff's Comet was a daughter of the famous Thoroughbred racehorse American Eclipse, who traced his male line through imported Diomed to the Byerly Turk, the same as Justin Morgan did, and who traced his extended pedigree to a remarkable number of the same horses found in old Justin's pedigree as given by Battell in Volume I of the Morgan Register.

The Canadian Morgan Influence

The dam of Octoroon was by Drennon, son of Davy Crockett, and second dam by Bulrush. Battell found strong evidence of Davy Crockett belonging to the Dansereau family of pacers in Canada. Battell collected extensive information on these horses in Volumes I and II of the Register, as well as Volume I of his American Stallion Register, which points overwhelmingly to inbred Morgan origin. The dam of Young Octoroon was by old Joe Brown, another son of Davy Crockett.

In brief, the Dansereau program was built around a famous broodmare, Jeanne D'Arc, who was certainly a double granddaughter of old Justin. She was bred to the original Tom Hal, also a son of old Justin as shown by strong testimony of those who knew the horse, and the dates and location he came from. This family was extensively inbred to form a high percentage pacing Morgan family. This blood appears strongly behind all of our western working Morgans, and is further reinforced through the blood of the great Lady De Jarnette, another strong factor behind the Hill Morgans as will presently be shown.

A careful study of Volume IV of the Morgan Rester reveals a startling piece of information previously overlooked. Major Gordon has just more than 30 daughters, who Sellman recorded names for. Of these named daughters, 11 are daughters of one of Sellman's original foundation mares - a daughter of Octoroon 302! This means that a significant portion of the Major Gordon daughters were not just out of Morgan type range mares as has long been supposed, but were in fact linebred mares of fine old Morgan blood.

The Stallions of Amboy

In searching out the kinds of horses he needed for his Texas ranch, Sellman discovered the small town of Amboy, Illinois, a precious gold mine of rich old Morgan blood, where virtually the entire community was involved in breeding Morgan horses. Among the treasures Sellman found here were the tree stallions Major Antoine, Gold Medal, and The Admiral. Of all the Sellman sires, The Admiral was used most extensively.

Then followed the typical pattern of old Sellman breeding. These Major Gordon daughters were bred to either Major Antoine or Gold Medal, a pair of 3/4 brothers tracing back to Black Hawk. The next step was a cross to The Admiral, a son of the great Jubilee De Jarnette, thus bringing in the influence of powerful Lambert blood and of Lady De Jarnette, widely acclaimed to be the most beautiful show mare in history.

Headlight Morgan

Then Sellman brought in the Woodbury stallion, Headlight Morgan, bred by the Morgan Horse Company of Carpenter, Illinois. Although orphaned as a colt, which stunted his growth somewhat, Headlight still attained good size and was the widely respected sire of more than 200 foals. He was chosen by the Morgan Horse Club in 1900 as the best representative of true Morgan type.

Rosie O'Neill, breeder of old-time Morgans in Darby, Montana, reports that Headlight Morgan was reputed to have a 22-foot stride from a flat-footed start, while the great racehorse Man O' War's stride was estimated at 25-28 feet in full stride.

Rosie owned for many years the great stallion El Spartez 12019, who was out of the prolific Hill-bred broodmare Princess Spar 05284 and sired by El Cortez 8076, formerly called Hiebert's Challenge, which Roland Hill had purchased from Kansas. Princess Spar was a very pretty dark chestnut mare, about 15 hands and 1,000 pounds, compactly built with lots of corded muscle and excellent bone. Foaled in 1938 she lived for a remarkable 31 1/2 years, outliving Roland Hill himself by nearly 15 years, and produced 17 foals. These are among the historic Hill bloodlines chosen by Rolie Jean Graye to continue her breeding program at Graye-Hill Morgans.

Red Oak

Finally, Sellman used the Government stallion Red Oak 5249 by General Gates out of the intensely bred Woodbury line mare, Marguerite 01635. Although owned by the U.S. Government and kept at its farm in Weybridge, Vermont, Red Oak was, in fact, bred by Joseph Battell. As a yearling he was exhibited at the Middlebury County Fair with 20 other colts of the same age, and won first premium. The U.S. Government purchased and sent him to Weybridge shortly after this, until he was sent as a five-year-old to the state agricultural college in Amherst, Massachusetts. A good-looking bay of splendid size, Red Oak stood 14.3 hands and weighed nearly 1,100 pounds. Marguerite, the dam of Red Oak, was sired by White River Morgan 482, a strong Woodbury line, and both she and her sire carried close crosses to Black Hawk through the dam lines.

White River Morgan 482, registered on page 724 of Volume I of the Register, is the same horse as Ely's White River Morgan 5464 on page 394 of Volume III. The same information appears in both places, but the horse was registered twice and given two numbers as Battell apparently never caught the discrepancy. White River Morgan's picture appears on page 395 of Volume III. This blending of carefully chosen lines ultimately set the stage for the pattern Roland Hill and the Horseshoe Cattle Company would follow.

KEY SELLMAN MARES

Some daughters of Major Gordon out of the mare by Octoroon who played an integral role in Hill breeding include Belle Gordon, whose daughter Kitty Antoine produced a whole family of Kitty mares; Black Star Gordon, dam of Pauline A, who produced the Addy mare line; Mollie Gordon, who produced the Duchess mares and Puss, dam of Kitty E; Black Bird, dam of Bonnie A.; and Caroline Gordon, dam of Florie A.

Among the daughters of this mare and Major Gordon who became especially significant to the Hill program as well as to later western-bred Morgans were Snip, who produced at least eight daughters including Bossie A, dam of the good producer Roboss; and Lulu Gordon, dam of at least five foals including Lulu Antoine.

Roboss

Roboss 04179, a Red Oak daughter, produced the two full sisters Roberta Ro and Bessie Ro by Querido. Bred by Roland Hill, these two brown mares were owned by the Horseshoe Cattle Company and used extensively for breeding. The pedigree of the magnificent buckskin champion reining stallion Primavera Valdez, owned by Carol and Bob Simpson of Prima Kosta Rancho in Yuba City, California, shows a most remarkable illustration of the influence of these two Hill-bred mares.

Roberta Ro is the third dam of Valdez, thus representing the strength of his tail female line. Roberta Ro is also the third dam of Valdez's sire, Primavera Vaquero, this representing his tail line as well. Meanwhile, Bessie Ro also appears twice in this pedigree. She produced Ro Mac 9409 by Gay Mac 7988. Primavera Vaquero is a double grandson of Ro Mac. Further Hill breeding is incorporated with Valdez's broodmare sire line going back through the striking palomino Tio Lalo to Hill's great sire Sonfield 7952 and the lovely Helen Mala 05199.

The breeding of Primavera Valdez, masterminded by Dick Nelsen, is a delightful example of the strength of Hill foundation breeding. The expectations of such breeding have been fully borne out of Valdez himself, his achievements, and his offspring.

Bessie Ro also produced two full sisters to Ro Mac: Flika, the dam of Muscle Man; and Bess Gates, the dam of Dapper Dan. These great western working sires were both bred by J. Clark Bromiley and sired by Trilson, who was out of the lovely Sonfield daughter Roseta May 06207, bred by the Horseshoe Cattle Company. These foundation bloodlines are still being carried on by Castle Morgans, owned by Rhonda and Bill Rayn of Dixon, California. Rhonda is a granddaughter of J. Clark Bromiley. Muscle Man was retained as a sire by Bromiley, while Dapper Dan became the foundation sire for Fran Kellstrom's Kellfeet Morgans.

Lulu Antoine

Lulu Antoine was the dam of Baby Girl, who produced Raven Chief, carrier of the sole surviving thread of the Bulrush sire line of Morgans. She also produced the Headlight Morgan son Alkadaza 6606, the sire of two important Hill foundation mares, Camille 04097 and Alkali 04077. Camille produced the family of lovely Blossom mares prized by western breeders. The Camille line is the tail line of Rolie Jean Graye's foundation stallion Trix Hill, whose pedigree is a beautiful illustration of the culmination of the entire Hill breeding program.

Alkali became the dam of the Hill-bred mare Leora 04756 by Querido 7370. Leora produced Gold Dollar 8006, and he in turn sired the noted Kings River Morgan 11133, a productive California sire. These are among the bloodlines Rolie Jean Graye has retained in continuing the 75-year-old tradition of the Hill family's Morgan breeding program.

SIRES OF THE HILL PROGRAM

Querido

Querido was valued especially for his sweet temperament, and perhaps this had something to do with his name, which means "beloved" or sweetheart" in Spanish. Doubtless Roland Hill named this horse, as he chose Spanish names for many of his horses and the Government never did.

Few photos of this horse were ever taken, and those that were simply reflect a casual snapshot of a hardworking range horse "in the rough," which some have glanced over too quickly, failing to recognize the stallion's real quality. The compact beauty of his more famous brother Mansfield was never captured in these photos, but Querido was by no means coarse. Rather, his more rugged appearance reflected his life on the range. Careful study of Querido's pictures shows a wonderful quality of bone and muscle, a strong short back with powerful shoulder and hindquarters, good length of neck with exceptionally clean throatlatch, and a fine straight head with a gentle and wise eye. Pictures of Querido daughters show a remarkably uniform group of mares of great Morgan type and beauty.

After Querido had sired 151 foals, and his daughters made up the bulk of the broodmare band used by the Hill family and the Horseshoe Cattle Company, he was sold at 14 years of age to Andrew Carter of Kamuela, Hawaii. After looking around, Roland Hill purchased Sonfield (Mansfield x Quietude) in New England in 1939.

Sonfield

Sonfield was a chestnut marked with a star and distinctive strip that spread over the end of his notes in a triangular fashion. He was a typey, compact, muscular Morgan, whose bright eyes peering out from under his long, thick, wavy foretop gave him a lively, cheerful countenance, reminding one distinctly of his great ancestor, Sherman., the best-known son of old Justin, from who Sonfield descended in direct male line. He was the kind of horse who filled the eye of the best known horsemen and cattle ranchers throughout the country, and was often featured in the pages of Western Horseman and the Western Livestock Journal - including being on the cover of the May 1940 Western Horseman in full color, just one year after Roland Hill bought him. This was quite an honor for any horse, and would never have been accomplished had he not quickly proven his ability as a using cowhorse and passed the judgment of knowledgeable horsemen who fully understood and appreciated this horse's quality and conformation.

When bred to the daughters of Querido, Sonfield produced ideal using stock horses who were in high demand throughout the country. Sonfield was the primary sire for the Horseshoe Cattle Company for nearly 12 years, until Roland Hill suffered his first stroke in 1950. Sonfield was sold to Roland's brother, Russell, who owned him for four years, and after passing through one more owner Sonfield was eventually purchased by the Leo Beckley family of Mt. Vernon, Washington. Sonfield spent the last ten years of his life with the Beckleys, continuing to serve as a using stock horse on their large Oregon cattle and sheep ranch, and siring another 54 foals for a total of 275, more than any other living Morgan sire at that time. Remaining bright and active all his life, Sonfield finally passed away at the grand old age of 32, his blood having a great influence, especially upon the western and sport Morgan. Many discerning Morgan breeders of today still prize the blood of Sonfield and appreciate the fine qualities he unfailingly passed on to his descendants.

Easter Vermont and Stormy E

Easter Vermont 9804 and his son, Stormy E 14305, were the last sires used by the Horseshoe Cattle Company. Easter Vermont was an attractive chestnut with a large star bred by Jack Davis of Arcadia, California. He was sired by the showy Jubilee King son Red Vermont 7893 and was out of Nona 06452, who traced straight to old Bulrush on both the top and bottom of her pedigree. He was sold to Allan T. Olson of Perkins, California, in 1955, then purchased by Roland Hill's son, Elmor, in 1957 as breeding sire for the now much smaller but continuing Horseshoe Cattle Company.

According to research by the late Leo Beckley, the bulk of that operation, including some 4,000 cattle, was sold for more than $1 million shortly after Roland Hill's death. So great was the reputation of the Hill family operation that it was resold six years later, without mention of cattle included, for more than $2.5 million. The nucleus of the Horseshoe Cattle Company itself, however, was retained by the Hill family, most particularly the carefully developed bloodlines of the using Morgan ranch horses. Elmor, having been placed as superintendent of the company by his father some years before, chose the stallion Easter Vermont because he embodied both in his own physical quality as well as in his bloodlines, all the elements that had proven successful in the Hill operation for years.

Although he had been used as a ranch sire, prior to his purchase by Elmor Hill Easter Vermont had produced only one registered offspring and, according to AMHA records, sired 37 more for the Horseshoe Cattle Company, his last being Patchett Hill 26022, foaled in 1973. Out of Starlette B 017193, Patchett Hill went on to become sire for Lowell Hughes's Caduceus Morgans in Iowa.

Stormy E 14305, foaled in 1960 out of the Sonfield daughter Nancy's Charm 07055, was the final breeding sire used by the Horseshoe Cattle Company after Rolie Jean Graye's parents, Jean and Dick Dickinson, had taken over the operation. Storm E produced 11 more offspring, several of whom were used by Rolie Jean as foundation stock for her Graye-Hill Morgans including her senior sire, Trix Hill 26023. He also sired the brown stallion Roland G Hill 24538, an active using stock horse and foundation sire for Laurence Personeni of Nevada City, California.

TRAITS OF HILL-BRED MORGANS

The Hill Morgans were in high demand because they were proven. They were also very successful in competition because they were bred to perform. Their natural ability, combined with their steady work schedule, made these horses easily able to compete in cutting, reining, and other competitions when there were asked.

The true old western-bred Morgan had to have a lot of fire and mettle to be able to get their work done, and the Hill Morgans were no exception.

Roland Hill chose the Morgan breed because they had the strength and endurance, the speed and agility, the soundness, and the fire and mettle that was yet contained and biddable to be able to do the job at hand. This was the true heritage of the old-type Morgan, and the reason that the diligently selected Hill bloodlines have endured and are still honored by Morgan breeders throughout the country today.