We started our fox trotter herd in 1997 with Dallas J, then age 17 and recently gelded. Dallas is by Zane's Diamond J out of Lady Sue. He stood in Wyoming until he was 15 and is said to have over 300 get. Almost every fox trotter I have met in the west has Dallas on his papers. I fell in love with Dallas and foxtrotters as a breed, and decided to raise a colt. Or two.

I bought one of Dallas' granddaughters, Footloose Foxy Lady, who was the spitting image of Dallas in looks and mellow temperament. When I discovered Midnight Sass (1984), a rare own-daughter of foundation stallion and Mack K's Yankee, I jumped at the chance to bring home this living legacy. This double-bred Midnight Sun mare had been shown in 2-gait on the MFTHBA circuit and then turned into a broodmare in Arkansas. So, we ended up with two really fine mares.

Sassy is a powerhouse of a horse, with huge gaits and a spirited, go go temperament. She's is a glider with brakes. My husband Ben always said she was the best ride on our place. Her performance comes from the Yankee, walker-like conformation: a longish back adding length to the stride, and heavy head on a delicate neck which acts as the counterbalance that produces the big gait. After he dismounted from his first trail ride, Ben exclaimed, wow! she must be 16-H, but he was surprised to note she's a petite 15-H.

Sassy's sire, MFT foundation stallion Mack K's Yankee (1964-1986), was double-registered MFTHBA and TWH. He was a powerhouse of a stallion, and passed his excellence along to his progeny, many of which became champions. There are two photographs of stallions in the MFTHBA's HQ in Ava, MO. One photo is of Mack K's Yankee.

Sassy's dam, Midnight Magic who goes back to Midnight Sun, also produced WGC Red Man, rounding out the champion bloodlines.

Contrast the Dallas J bloodline: short-coupled, with a refined head and neck tending towards QH in conformation, plus an easy-going temperament. Dallas has a wonderful flat foot walk that makes you feel like you are floating along at the speed of a QH jog. In fact, he's happy to just dog-walk, which is perfect for rough trail riding with QH buddies — although a little on the ho-hum side. Comfortably and handsomely ho-hum is Dallas in a nutshell. Ditto for granddaughter Foxy except that she's younger and more energetic than old gramps, and you can get Foxy into a perfect foxtrot when you want to show her off. (Pic of Foxy foxtrotting)

In the back of my mind I knew I wanted to join these two extremes and produce the perfect, medium-gaited-medium-conformation cross, but this ended up taking another four years to bring about.

Before Pappy came into the picture, my choice of cross for our Yankee mare was multiple world grand champion, Southern Sunrise, perhaps the most exceptional MFT stallion alive today. Sunrise is famous for producing champion-quality get with an exceptionally natural foxtrot and workable temperament. Sunrise has sired more amateur-trained-and-ridden champions than any other MFTHBA stallion. We had his semen shipped out from MO. As promised, Sassy's 2002 Sunrise filly, Yankee's Sunrise Sonata "Soni", slips easily into a foxtrot with gaits almost as big as her dam's, but more relaxed.

I learned about WGC Black Cloud C. when I kept bumping into folks who were looking to buy his offspring. Black Cloud is well known for passing on his calm temperament to his get. Fortunately for us, there was a stallion, Cloud's Jubalation, sired by Black Cloud out of a Black Cloud daughter, located in nearby northern California. Jubal is 75% Black Cloud by blood, and he's an amber champagne, my first exposure to the champagne gene. I bred maiden Foxy to Jubal because I wanted the easy gait and calmness that Black Cloud is famous for, and not for the champagne gene. I expected a black foal.

It came as quite a shock the morning I found Foxy suckling her new foal — a pale gold champagne stud colt, Black Cloud Squadron "Pappy." And this started a new love affair with the magical champagne gene.

Black Cloud Squadron "Pappy" has grown into an exquisite, shimmering pale gold stallion with the Dallas J/Black Cloud calm temperament. His mellowness, refined head and compact build made him the perfect cross for our Yankee mare, Sassy. In 2004 we bred Pappy to Sassy, and in 2005 to Sass and tow other mares as tests — all long gaited, longish-backed mares. We did not breed him in 2006 as we awaited the results. His four colts born in 2005-06 turned out to be outstanding; their owners couldn't be more thrilled. His elegance, refinement and gaiting ability were passed along every time.

Pappy and Sassy produced for us one gold champagne colt, 2005 gelding Cloud's Waves of Grain, and a 2006 yearling chestnut/sabino filly, Yankee's Sweet Harmony.

When my health started to prevent me from continuing to ride and raise horses, my initial reaction was to make things simple by cutting Pappy and selling him as a gelding. Pappy's trainer, Ken Siefer in Sequim, WA, talked me out of it. Ken said in all his career he's never tried to talk a client into not cutting a stallion, usually it's just the reverse. Pappy was the only intact trainee he ever felt was worth standing. He went on to say Pappy is a real head-turner, a pleasure to work with and a favorite with visitors to his barn.

And this brings us to the present. Here again are links to Pappy's and Sassy's pages, and pages for their three offspring.

To the top of the page & links.