J’s Cricket was raised by Wendell Cully of Stockton and we purchased her through Kenneth Morrison of Humansville.  Kenneth had trained Cricket and believed that her combination of natural fox trot and dependable disposition would make her an excellent choice for us.  He was certainly right. She made a perfect first show horse, but more importantly had the natural abilities that would be passed on to future generations.  We never imagined that we would ever be involved on a scale like this.

Cricket had a genetic capability to cross wonderfully with several great stallions.  She produced many outstanding foals, several of which formed the core of our broodmare program.

These mares proved to not only be successful performance horses, but also to be able to pass their wining characteristics on to following generations.  They are:  Zane’s Fancy Girl -1977 Reserve World Grand Champion (by Zane Grey), Lad’s Special Promise -1980 Three Year Old Futurity Champion (by Zane’s Charming Lad), Sensation’s Flame -1985 Mid-America Ladies Champion (by Merry Boy Sensation) and Cricket’s Classic Melody (by Missouri Outlaw C.).

The cornerstone for our second major bloodline is Pride’s Bronze Spirit, the 1981 Reserve World Grand Champion (by Pride of Princess).  She was purchased as a two year old in 1977 from Ronnie Sprague of Buffalo and had been raised by Martin Poole near Windyville, MO.  This amazing buckskin mare added her unique color as well as outstanding ability to the gene pool.

It is these mares that are responsible for our whole breeding program.  Their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters exemplify the traits and abilities that we are constantly striving to maintain.  Hopefully, the following chart will clarify the family relationships:

J’s Cricket

A. Zane’s Fancy Girl

1. Sheer Elegance (M) (by Merry Boy Sensation)
    a) Pride’s Top Brass (S) (by Bronze Pride)
         1996 Reserve World Champion Amateur Three Year Old

B. Lad’s Special Promise

1. Outlaw’s Gold Strike (S) (by Missouri Outlaw C.)
       Purchased by Ray and Phyllis Pridgen in 1989
2. Traveler’s Red Alert (S) (by Missouri Traveler E.)
      1995 World Grand Champion
3. Promises,Promises (M) (by Missouri Outlaw C.)
4. Special Pride (M) (by Bronze Pride)
      1997 Reserve World Grand Champion Senior Amateur

C. Sensation’s Flame

D. Cricket’s Classic Melody

Pride’s Bronze Spirit

A. Bronze Pride (S) (by Missouri Outlaw C.)
       1992 Reserve World Grand Champion

B. Lots of Spirit (M) (by Missouri Outlaw C.)

C. Pure Bronze (S) (by Missouri Outlaw C.)
       1995 Reserve World Champion Senior Model

D. First Alert (M) (by Traveler’s Red Alert)

E. Bronze Alert (S) (by Traveler’s Red Alert)
       1997 Three Year Old World Champion - Open

F. Spirit of the West (M) (by Traveler’s Red Alert)

(Jo Ann)  Something most people don’t think about is that Bronze Spirit’s (by Pride of Princess S.) and Special Promise’s (by Zane’s Charming Lad) sires were full brothers.  We have been in the great position of having a Zane Grey daughter (Fancy Girl), a Pride of Princess daughter (Bronze Spirit) and a Zane’s Charming Lad daughter (Special Promise).  There were very, very few Pride of Princess mares and we didn’t appreciate the Charming Lad mares enough until they started producing as broodmare.

These three mares have been the basis for our breeding program.  This has given us an extremely strong foundation to work from.  It has been truly amazing and rewarding to watch the evolution of these bloodlines through the generations.

What has also been even more rewarding is watching the effect the horses had on Jan and Julie as they were growing up.  The horses became a great equalizer.  Having the opportunity to ride these great horses as been a wonderful confidence builder for them and has led, in many ways, to their success as adult women.  I can honestly attribute a great deal of what they learned about life to the these fox trotting horses.