Page 50 - NMHBA_Winter2022

DelRae and Robert Driggers with Czars First.
Driggers is right about Warren Shoemaker’s influence on the Quarter Horse development. His horses and cattle carried the Bar O brand. He grew up in New Mexico and worked as
a cowboy until he saved enough money to
buy his own ranch. He became involved with “quarter-type” horses in 1932 when he bought Nick, a Palomino stallion, and 10 mares from
a ranch in Colorado. They were all linebred to Peter McCue and Old Fred. His target was to produce individuals that could grab hold of a racetrack, lay down patterns or stand at the end of a show line in the arena, while also able to tough it out in daily ranch work.
He hit the bull’s eye with names such as Nick Shoemaker and Maddon’s Bright Eyes. Nick Shoemaker sired Skipper W who, in turn, started a whole new Quarter Horse family. Shoemaker’s fingerprints are still visible on the early Quarter Horse foundation.
“My dad, brother, and I raised a lot of Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds back then. I didn’t leave the Bar Y until 1970 and went into partnership with a business friend to buy
my first racehorse, a Thoroughbred mare,” Driggers remembered.
There are a couple other qualities about horse folks we didn’t mention earlier. They’re flexible. They’re resilient. They can take a punch square on the chin. They fall and get up, ignoring the small but steady trickle of blood dripping into their shirt collar. That’s why you should never rush to count them out – of anything. Even Driggers tried to cover too many bases.
“I got my trainer’s license in 1980,” Driggers recalled. “I honestly loved training, but I could never be consistent in devoting all my time to it. The cattle market broke in the mid-1970s and drove a lot of the big operators out of business.
“I owned a wheat farm at the time. I tried to keep it leased out so I could pay attention to my training. Then the people leasing it would leave and the farm would be in a mess. I’d go over and get it back in shape, neglecting my horses. It just didn’t work. I couldn’t be responsible for both at the same time, so I let the training go.
“I finally sold the farm in 2003 and started claiming a lot of horses.”
Perhaps the most momentous event of Driggers’ life happened in 1983 when he married DelRae.
“We wouldn’t be where we are with the horses if we didn’t have DelRae in the picture,” he said. “She’s every bit as important to our operation as I am. Nine years later, in 1992, I got Major Rime (Rime-Mary Major, Easy Toro). Before then, I don’t think I even knew what a good horse looked like. He honestly changed my life and how I looked at my horse business.”
Major Rime was one of those horses that people make a special trip to the racetrack to watch and cheer. He was the only foal from Mary Major, who died when Major Rime was only
two months old. Being an orphan didn’t seem to bother the sorrel, who won his first start and faced the All American Futurity with a seven-for-seven record; entering the AAF finals starting gate as the top qualifier and favorite to win.
Major Rime wasn’t originally nominated to the Futurity, which meant Driggers handed
48 New Mexico Horse Breeder