Page 79 - SPEEDHORSE April 2018

The success of the King Ranch line breeding to Old Sorrel can be seen in horses such as Wimpy P-1 and Peppy P-212, both of whom earned their Grand Champion Stallion titles at the Fort Worth Stock Show. Wimpy was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1989 and Old Sorrel was inducted in 1990.
Wimpy P-1, who was the 1941 Grand Champion Stallion at the Fort Worth Stock Show, earned the #1 in the AQHA Stud Book.
Old Sorrel
and ability the ranch was looking for in their using horses. He was never given a name other than “the sorrel,” and today we know him as Old Sorrel.
Bob Kleberg had found his ideal cow horse, so he set a plan in motion to perpetuate the blood of the Old Sorrel. He put together a
good set of ranch mares to start the process
of breeding the next generation of Old Sorrel horses. A number of these mares were known on the ranch as the Lazarus Mares.
Texas businessman Sam Lazarus was a racehorse enthusiast. He invested a great deal
of money to both raise and race horses. When Texas outlawed racing, Lazarus sent horses to
St. Louis, Missouri, to race and soon found that outsiders didn’t fare well. This forced him to get out of racing and sell his racehorses. His research
The speed of Peppy P-212, who won 1940 Grand Champion Stallion at the Fort Worth Stock Show, was an important part of the King Ranch program.
and the reputation of the King Ranch prompted him to try to sell his mares to them. He offered the ranch a set of mares that had a little age on them to serve as broodmares.
Caesar Kleberg was given the task of evaluating the mares, and he found great quality but felt the price would be too high for what they would be used for on the ranch and he turned them down. Lazarus countered with an offer of $100.00 per horse. The ranch bought the mares and two stallions. Lazarus had one stipulation, however, that the horses produced could not be raced or registered. So, the Lazarus Mares became King Ranch broodmares and their pedigrees have been lost for the most part.
The next step Bob Kleberg put in motion was inbreeding and line breeding to Old Sorrel.
He put together sons and daughters of Old Sorrel for the program and many of these horses were out of the Lazarus Mares. One of the Old Sorrel sons used in this program was Solis, who is out of a Lazarus mare.
The attempt to perpetuate the blood of Old Sorrel was successful through inbreeding and line breeding. The program was highlighted
in the JOURNAL OF HEREDITY in August 1946 in the article “The Development of a Superior Family in the Quarter Horse.” The article, written by Robert J. Kleberg Jr. and A. O. Rhoad, summarized the structure of the program and how it worked.
They reported that the original idea of breeding Old Sorrel back to his daughters was unsuccessful. They did find what they were
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© King Ranch © King Ranch