Page 78 - SPEEDHORSE April 2018

In the development
of their ranch horses,
King Ranch imported horses from around the country but none of them represented the cow horse they wanted. That changed in 1916 when Caesar Kleberg went
to the ranch of George Clegg (pictured). Clegg was a racehorse man and calf roper. He owned and raced the stallion Little Joe and purchased the stallion Hickory
Bill. These two stallions were considered “short horses,” a type that would officially become the American Quarter Horse in 1941, and represented the bloodlines that helped King Ranch develop their ranch horse.
Gideon K. (Legs) Lewis to build a cow camp on Santa Gertrudis Creek. King would buy the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis, a Mexican Land Grant, and the Santa Gertrudis de la Garza Spanish Land Grant. These two Land Grants became the nucleus for King’s Rancho Santa Gertrudis. King would build on these two land grants, forming what became, after his death, the King Ranch.
Records indicate that Captain King was interested in livestock improvement from the beginning. He introduced Durham bulls to breed to his Longhorn cows, improving the meat quality of his cattle. He would buy what is called “American” bred horses from around the country to improve his ranch horses.
In his book THE KING RANCH, Tom Lea shows how important good horses were because of the prices Captain King paid for them. Lea quoted the following from the King Ranch leger books, “Mustangs were cheap: ‘March 9, 1854, 18 mares at $6.00, $108.00.’ ‘Captain R. King for 10 mares, 2 horses and colt paid for by him Nov. 9, 1854, $68.00...”
Lea then adds the following about the better horses, “From the very beginning, entries in the account book indicate that King was buying not only the cheap and plentiful mustang stock, but stud horses of real quality for up-breeding purposes and for use under saddle and harness. He liked good horses, and he himself used that kind.”
The leger book entries tell us that it was common for him to pay anywhere from $100.00 to $300.00 for a good “American” bred horse. One of the “American” bred horses he bought he paid $600.00 for, twice the amount he paid for the Santa Gertrudis Land Grant. The sorrel stallion was listed in the leger book as “Whirlpool at Lott’s.”
Richard King married Henrietta Chamberlain in 1854 and they settled on the Santa Gertrudis Creek in December of that year. The King Family would grow, with five children born to the couple: Henrietta, Ella, Richard, Alice and Robert. (Richard King continued to develop his ranch until his death in 1885, and Mrs. King was then given the responsibility of continuing Richard King’s Ranch. She died in 1925 after a long life on the ranch.)
A lawyer named Robert J. Kleberg Sr., of the law firm Stayton and Kleberg, won a case against King and Kenedy in the courts of Texas. The loss prompted King to hire this law firm, marking the start of the next phase of the King Ranch. When Richard King died, Mrs. King brought Kleberg in as ranch manager and he served the ranch as both a financial advisor and in the day-to-day management of the ranch.
Kleberg continued improvement of the cattle with the introduction of Shorthorn and Hereford bulls. He worked to improve the availability
of water through the development of artesian
wells. Kleberg is credited with recognizing the tick as the cause of what has become known as tick fever in cattle and was instrumental in the fight against tick fever, implementing the use of dipping vats to kill the ticks.
Robert J. Kleberg married the King’s daughter, Alice, in 1886 and it was through their family that the King Ranch continued to develop. The Kleberg’s would have five children: Richard, Henrietta, Alice, Robert Jr. and Sarah.
Richard and Robert Jr. grew up learning how the ranch worked under the tutelage of ranch manager Sam Ragland and the Kleberg cousin Caesar Kleberg.
Richard Mifflin Kleberg (Dick) pursued a law degree and became a lawyer. He became instrumental in representing the ranch in various activities, including their membership in associations like the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raiser’s Association. He took on a political career, representing Texas in the House of Representatives serving seven terms in Washington D. C.
Robert Justus Kleberg Jr. (Bob) went to the University of Wisconsin School of Agriculture in preparation to come back and work on the ranch. His studies were cut short in 1916 when his father became ill and he returned home to help manage the ranch.
When Bob came home, three projects took on a significant role in the future of the ranch. The projects were the development of the
Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle, the Old Sorrel line of Quarter Horse, and the King Ranch Thoroughbreds. The interesting part is that two of these enterprises concern horses, and that tells us how important horses were to Richard King’s Ranch.
The King Ranch had imported horses from around the country, but none of them came
to represent the cow horse the ranch wanted
to develop. That all changed in 1916 when Caesar Kleberg went to the ranch of George Clegg, a racehorse man and calf roper. He had owned and raced the stallion Little Joe and had bought a stallion named Hickory Bill. These two stallions introduce us to the “short horse,”
a type of racehorse that would officially become the American Quarter Horse in 1941. These two stallions represent two of the Quarter Horse bloodlines that would help the King Ranch develop their ranch horse.
Caesar Kleberg brought home a sorrel colt by Hickory Bill and out of a mare that we know today as the Dr. Rose Mare. Hickory Bill is by Peter McCue, a horse noted for his speed and a Quarter Horse foundation sire. The Dr. Rose Mare has an unknown pedigree, but it is believed she was a Thoroughbred mare from Kentucky.
The sorrel colt by Hickory Bill and out of the Dr. Rose Mare grew to be the best cow horse the ranch had ever used. He had the speed, cow sense
76 SPEEDHORSE, April 2018
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