|
J's Cricket
(Jo Ann) During World War II, when gas
rationing was in effect, horses became very, very popular in
Southwest Missouri. Living on a farm near Buffalo, MO
where my dad was a farmer, just as were his brothers and dad,
saddle horses were used a lot. I have been riding horses
the biggest part of my life. On the farm, I found that I
could get out, ride and help Dad and not have to stay in the
house and work. As a result, I became a very proficient
rider. Actually, I got into fox trotters because I had
always wanted a show horse.
|
|
|
When I was growing up, the American Saddlebred was the
dominant breed in this area. They were owned by people with more
money than we had. The fox trotter looked like it was beginning to
come on and it looked like a show horse I could afford as a young adult.
Essentially, that is why I got into fox trotters, they were a show horse
I could afford.
The first fox trotter I bought wasn’t a good buy so we sold him.
The one I bought next was very significant. Her name was J’s
Cricket. She was the mother of Zane’s Fancy Girl by Zane
Grey, Lad’s Special Promise by Zane’s Charming Lad,
Merry Poppins by Merry Boy Sensation, Sensation’s
Flame by Merry Boy Sensation and Cricket’s Classic
Melody by Missouri Outlaw C. (Cricket crossed well with every
stud she was bred to.) I bought J’s Cricket (by Champ
of the Hills out of Beauty) in 1969 when Jan and Julie were
eight and four years old. I thought I would have enough time to ride and
do some showing. The foxtrotters were really coming on strong
then. There was a show every Friday and Saturday and there was
lots and lots of interest in them.
I asked around and was directed to Mr. Kenneth Morrison of Humansville,
MO as someone who was reputable and could find me the kind of horse I
was looking for. What I wanted was a mare good enough to show.
This is how I convinced John, my husband, to allow me to get into the
horse business. "Just one mare, good enough to show."
So, we bought Cricket through Kenneth Morrison who didn’t own
her but had broken her and had trained her somewhat. The mare had
come from the Stockton, MO area.
We started showing her immediately and got along with her very, very
well. She was a natural fox trotter with a good, big flat foot
walk. Typical of the times, she didn’t shake her head like they
do now, but she wasn’t on the bit. I wouldn’t even have known
what being on the bit was. I showed her at the same time that
Elmer Hicks was showing Silver Bell and Gene White was showing Starlight
W. At Bolivar, there could be as many as twenty-six senior
mares in a class. This biggest class with the best horses in it
would be the senior mare class but I got along really well. I was nobody
and with a mare who was eight years old when I bought her. She had
never been shown and had already produced two foals. We just got
along wonderfully well. What I didn’t know, she just did naturally.
She was a show horse and you could just feel her come up as she came
through the gate.
I really appreciated people like Elmer Hicks. One of the
highlights still for me was one time at Mid-America when he was showing Silver
Bell, who was in my opinion one of the best fox trotters to ever hit
the ground, Elmer told me to get on her and ride. That was really
a thrill. I felt like I was being accepted and was somebody. Elmer
was helpful and encouraging if you knew the lingo. He would tell
you things in an off-hand kind of way so you would have to figure out
what he was talking about.
As time went on, we bought a daughter of Cricket’s who was a
yearling when I bought her mother. I then showed Diamond Lady
Cricket for awhile before passing her on to Jan.
I began to think about who I should breed Cricket to so I asked
Kenneth Morrison. Even though he had stallions of his own, he
said, "Well, a good mare like that needs to go to Zane Grey."
I pondered on that for a while and then asked another person whose
opinion I always appreciated, Phil Hendrix from Lebanon. He
thought that the Zane Grey cross would be a good thing to do so I
proceeded to plan to breed Cricket to Zane Grey.
The next spring, early one morning, I thought Cricket was in heat.
(I don’t even know how I knew she was in heat because we didn’t have
anything to check her with.) I called Dale Esther and told him I wanted
to bring my mare to Zane Grey and he said to bring her on.
By that time we had a trailer so we loaded her up and took her. It
was hard to get to his place if you were pulling a trailer by car.
We bred her to Zane Grey one time, brought her home and never
checked her. It was beginner’s luck.
The following spring Zane’s Fancy Girl was born. I was
looking forward to a gray like Zane Grey since J’s Cricket
was black. Here was this little brown filly that looked just like
a teddy bear. I was kind of disappointed so I gave her to Julie.
That was probably one of the best things I ever did because she and
Julie had a love for each other. Julie spent a lot of time playing
with her, gentling her and putting daisy garlands around her neck.
After we bred Cricket, we bought Blue Hawk from Bob and
Janet Burks for me to show. At that time, the money we paid for him,
$1600, was the most to our knowledge that had been paid for a gelding.
It was quite the talk. I started showing him and got along well with
him. Jerry Middleton had trained him and had shown him to the Three Year
Old Reserve Championship at Ava and that is how we got to know Jerry.
|
