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literally go where a cow couldn’t. Also, if you could push him off into the river and take him by the tail, he would swim you across the river at any point where the bank was not too steep or mucky for him to get out. These ponies were not particularly fast, but their main contribution was their cow sense and their endurance.”
Tucker noted further the original Mustangs (which escaped from Cortez in Mexico) were a Western descendant of Spanish horses. These were mated with the American Quarter Horses. The resulting horse had speed, stamina, and
an “inborn cow sense.” Thus, through selective breeding, the Quarter Horse evolved.
“The Quarter Horse is easy to spot,” remarked Tucker. “He has a distinctive and easily recognizable head which reflects alert intelligence. It is not the tallest horse there is, but is broad of brow between the eyes, and has small, sensitive ears. He has a short muzzle, large nostrils, and a firm mouth. His jaws show granite-like strength. He has a clean throat latch and a medium, slightly- arched neck with strong, sloping shoulders. His back is short but full, and he is powerful across the kidneys.
“This horse is great in strength, start, stop and maneuverability,” Tucker added. “He has broad, deep, heavy-muscled rear quarters, full at the thigh.”
Tucker can talk for hours about his experiences with Quarter Horses, in general. But a certain twinkle comes to his eyes when mention is made of Little Dick Priest and of the history which surrounds this “special horse.”
Go Dick Go is the favorite of owner Raymon Tucker
Dick courtin’ Blonde, Spring 1967
It was on January 28, 1942, scarcely a year after Wimpy became the first animal recorded in the registry launched by the American Quarter Horse Association, when Henry
O. Partin and Sons of Kissimmee, Florida, registered Kip, a chestnut stallion that had been bred by W. T. Wright of Alice, Texas, deep in the heart of the Lone Star State’s running horse country.
“Kip was raised by Will Wright,” said Tucker, “and Mr. Wright was the next door neighbor
to Ott Adams. Walter Hudgins acquired Kip
for Geech Partin and sent him to Florida in a load of registered Brahman calves. According to
Geech, the calves ate all the hair off Kip’s tail en route to Florida.”
The advent of Kip into the Peninsula State brought a strong bloodline. Kip was by Pal O Mine and out of Sorrel Mare. His sire carried the genes of Billy Sunday, Dora Du Mar, Horace H., Little Joe III, Traveler, John Crowder, Peter McCue. From his dam came the lineage of Ace of Hearts II, Hickory Bill, Sorrel Stallion, Little Joe and Crowder Mare, among others of early prominence.
Raymon Tucker bought Kip from Geech in 1945 and used the aging horse primarily for working cattle. Although Kip stood for a number of years, Tucker says he didn’t know of the horse’s ability as a stallion until after the horse died in 1953.
While still owned by Geech Partin, Kip was bred to a big sorrel mare called Wally. From this mating came a chestnut sorrel colt named Adios Kip, later sold to Joe Priest of Tallahassee, Forida, who used him for the multiple purposes of working cattle, match racing and breeding. Adios Kip later went to a breeder in Louisiana.
Among mares bred to Adios Kip was one
called Dixie Britt, owned by Mark Britt of Winter Garden, Florida. Dixie Britt was out of the Thoroughbred mare Singing Girl, a campaigner of some repute, who was by a sorrel running stallion called the Massaro Brothers Steel Dust. There are some who say that Dixie Britt closely resembled the noted Maddon’s Bright Eyes, one of the four steeds clocked going 220 yards in :12.1.
It was from the mating of Adios Kip and Dixie Britt that Little Dick Priest arrived on the equine scene in 1945.
Little Dick Priest sold as a two year old at a sale in Orlando in about 1946 to a horseman from south Florida, and a little later the once world champion barrel racer, Jane Mayo, went to Florida and offered to trade a Cadillac for him.
Go Dick Go and Raymon Tucker
SPEEDHORSE, September 2019 203
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM FEBRUARY 1973 ISSUE
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Little Dick Priest with Fancy Blonde.