Lowdown Son of A Gun, Pt 1
I hate being pregnant. It doesn’t feel magical to me. It made me feel weak and powerless each time but worse the second time. I almost died the first time and anxiety of that carried into the second. I love being able to do as I please when I please and that’s just not always possible. While pregnant with my second child, we moved. I don’t handle change great to begin with but I loved my home. I was both excited, filled with dread and very pregnant. I use to joke with Grant that our prenuptial agreement was he would never move me north of I40. I hate the cold and I felt genuinely terrified of living in a 5-10 degree temperature shift. To say the least I was struggling.
When we moved a long time family friend offered me 7 mares. I knew Jeff Ellis from my childhood. I went to junior rodeos with his boys. He always had nice horses.. always. I recall sitting in a side by side with him when he offered them to me…and Grant… of course. I asked 2 questions, are they bred and are they registered. I trusted his opinions on their quality. I didn’t need to see them or know more. So I graciously, excitedly, accepted them. I had always wanted to raise baby horses. I have only ever successfully raised one.. I have only ever had one mare to breed.
The idea of them alone gave a pregnant melancholy me something to look forward to. I loved going to feed them, watching their bellies grow, anticipating what they would have and when they would have them. Soon the question of what was I to do with them became an obsession of mine. It was December and I had some time to figure it out… but I like to figure it all out now… like right now.
My first thought was to buy contracts to various friends studs I knew of and have a menagerie of babies I specifically picked the sire to match the dam. Brilliant! Except they are a little wild and haven’t been haltered in years and I have no idea when they are due and I have a baby due of my own in May. So obviously that’s not going to pencil out.
Then it hit me like a bowling ball to the face…. Buy yourself a stud dummy. So as my father in law likes to say, “I took to the dark web.” All of my mares bloodlines are old school time capsules that highlight size and bone. I knew I wanted to add in more mainstream cow lines. So first I thought of my most favorite horses.
I remember clearly looking outside and seeing Grant’s grey horse. We bought him at the age of 4 from Grant’s brother. His name is TR an abbreviation of the legendary ranch he hails from, The Tongue River Ranch. He is by one of their ranch studs who is a grandson of Real Gun who is by Playgun. This horse has guts. He is strong, smart, willing and above all else has heart. I love him.
My second favorite ranch horse we have is Seven S Pistol Grip aka Pistol. He was bred and raised on the equally legendary Stuart Ranch. He is out of a daughter of Real Gun. I also simply adore this horse. He is often calmer and sweeter than the aforementioned TR but still as reliable. After that I knew I wanted a son of Real Gun if I could find it. So, I started to search.
After about 1 Billion horse ads.. I found him. Not a son of Real Gun but a son of Playgun. On page 87, a 10 month old ad for “Playgun Stallion” appeared. I collected necessary information from the ad, I pulled progeny reports, I pulled ownership reports, I pulled everything. Then I called…. Jk I texted.. I am a millennial. He had a very small earning report, he had only sired 118 foals at the age of 18. To put that in some perspective Metallic Cat sired over 100 last year alone. So laws of averages… who knows if he is a producer… who knows anything.
The owner informed he bought him from “some cutting horse trainer around Weatherford, TX after he sustained an injury and would not make the futurity.” Per the AQHA report I knew the cutting horse Trainer was Johnny Mitchell but this was in 2007. Who knows if they recall… they have had a ton of horses since but I knew them kind of. I met them one summer while at my father In laws. I knew I could get in contact with him but felt dumb calling a $5 Million dollar trainer about a horse he owned 15 years ago, that I, a barrel racer, nobody, wants to purchase off the abyss of Ranch World Ads. So I didn’t call.
When Grant got home, I explained my productive casual afternoon and that I wanted to buy, Lowdown Son of A Gun sight unseen, fertility tested, could be here January 5th, was at some point ridden by Johnny Mitchell, 2004, bay, stallion. Shockingly enough, I think he saw my anxiety riddled pregnant self and he agreed. Also…we had to find something to breed the mares back to.
We welcomed him home, January 5th, and he was turned out in early April with his mares.
I wouldn’t think of it again until the middle of June on a front porch.
To be continued.
