AQHA Hall of Fame Inductees and Merle Wood Humanitarian Award Winner Honored

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Hall of Fame Inductees

The 2014 American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame inductees were honored at the Hall of Fame Banquet on March 9 at the 2014 American Quarter Horse Association Convention in New Orleans.

“We are pleased to honor the 2014 American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame inductees,” said Don Treadway Jr., AQHA executive vice president. “These men and these horses have served the Association in different ways on their way to making history.”

The men joining the Hall of Fame are Leroy Webb of Tucumcari, New Mexico; Ken Mumy of Metamora, Michigan; the late A.B. Green of Purcell, Oklahoma; and Donald “Curly” Smith of Grass Valley, California.

The horses are the 1955 stallion Mr Bar None; the 1961 mare Miss T Stuart; the 1979 mare Dashingly; the 1949 stallion Leo San; and the 1982 stallion Mr Conclusion.

The Hall of Fame in Amarillo is the repository of the breed’s history. Inclusion in the Hall of Fame is the highest honor AQHA can bestow.

“We congratulate these new members of the Hall of Fame and thank them for their work in improving our Association,” Treadway said.

The Record-Setter
Mr Bar None was foaled in 1955, sired by American Quarter Horse Hall of Famer Three Bars (TB) and out of the Moco Burnett mare Murl L. He was bred and owned by June and Zelma Jeffers of Wagoner, Oklahoma.

When Mr Bar None hit the track in 1957, he set a track record, and he kept getting faster from there, becoming the champion racing 2-year-old colt for the year. In 1958, he was the high money-earner, champion stallion, champion 3-year-old and world champion racing Quarter Horse. In all, he earned $72,125 on the track, defeating such famed horses as Clabber’s Win, Go Man Go, Vandy’s Flash, Dividend, Clabber Bar, Double Bid and Vanetta Dee.

After his racing career finished, Mr Bar None retired to the breeding shed, where his get earned $1.157 million. Three of them were champions: Bar None Doll, Mr Juniper Bar and Bayou Bar.

The Broodmare
In 1961, a dun mare was foaled on the Stuart Ranch in Waurika, Oklahoma, where she would live her entire life. Her foals and their foals, though, would go on to win World Championships, points and fame in all the different disciplines that American Quarter Horses are known for.

Miss T Stuart was bred and owned by R.T. “Bob” Stuart Jr. She was by Breezy Buck and out of Pretty Sally by Big Shot Dun.

Miss T Stuart’s 20 foals earned 801 points. After retirement from the show ring, her daughters produced athletic horses that could succeed in the show ring as well as on the AQHA Best Remuda Award-winning ranch. They produced the earners of world championships, reserve world championships and the 1995 AQHA Superhorse, Genuine Redbud.

The Millionaire 
The 1979 mare Dashingly won $1.754 million on the track during her Quarter Horse racing career, one of the richest mares in AQHA history and one of the few racing millionaires who earned that much money without winning the All American Futurity.

Dashingly was bred by Muriel Hyland of Lake Hughes, California, and was by Dash For Cash and out of the mare Dee Mount by the Thoroughbred stallion Killoqua. During her race career, the sorrel mare was owned first by then-15-year-old Windi Phillips and later by J.E. Jumonville Jr. The mare was trained by American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame member Bubba Cascio. At the time of her death, she was owned by J. Baxter Brinkmann of Dallas.

She was the 1981 AQHA racing champion 2-year-old filly. In 1982, she became a Superior racehorse, and in 1983 – her best year of racing – she was an AQHA Supreme racehorse, racing champion aged mare and world champion racing American Quarter Horse.

The Sire of Sires
Before there were American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame stallions Peppy San and Mr San Peppy, there was their sire, Leo San.

The 1949 stallion by Leo and out of the San Siemon mare San Sue Darks was bred by H.H. Darks of Wetumka, Oklahoma. Leo was owned by Gorden B. Howell of El Paso, Texas, who bought the horse as an 8-year-old because he wanted a horse that traced to the Quarter Horse bloodlines he liked best.

Howell’s broodmare band, including the dam of Peppy San and Mr San Peppy, Peppy Belle, were all chosen to complement Leo San. In turn, Leo San sired foals that earned 3,168 points in AQHA competition. His foals won in the show ring, on the racetrack and in the cutting pen, and were shown in every AQHA event. He died in 1968, but more than 30 years later, Leo San was still among the top 10 paternal sires of AQHA horses.

The Sire of Champions
Within a year of his arrival on earth, Mr Conclusion started making his mark in the halter pen. The 1982 sorrel stallion won the yearling class at the 1983 All American Quarter Horse Congress. In 1984, he was reserve world champion 2-year-old stallion.

In 1986, Mr Conclusion was the world champion aged stallion, the same year that the first of his progeny earned a world championship.

Mr Conclusion was by Conclusive and out of Miss Amber Charge by Otoe Charge. He was bred by Mark Toteff and James Evans of Stockbridge, Michigan. During his show career, Mr Conclusion was owned by Edgewood Farms Inc. of Pilot Point, Texas. At the time of his death in 1998, the stallion was owned by Roger Perry of Lexington, Kentucky.

His foals in total earned 47 open, 45 amateur and 30 youth world championships, as well as 88 reserve world championships. Along the way, they collected 48,763.5 points in all divisions of AQHA competition.

The Cowboy
American Quarter Horse breeder Leroy Webb grew up in the cow camps of New Mexico and West Texas before becoming a cowboy himself.

Webb worked for Hall of Fame member Hank Wiescamp for 10 years, showing Wiescamp’s horses at AQHA shows and taking them to a higher level. He later became a horse trainer on his own and made many AQHA high-point horses and world champions. He has been a mentor to many top trainers.

A book by Davis L. Ford, “The Last Cowboy,” documents Webb’s life.

The Race Secretary
Donald “Curly” Smith loved American Quarter Horse racing. Starting as a jockey’s agent, he later became a saddling paddock judge before going to work in the racing office, eventually becoming the racing secretary at Los Alamitos Race Course and later the director of racing for the track.

He served on the AQHA Racing Council and racing committee, and is remembered by the racing industry as being strict but fair and playing a critical role in promoting and regulating American Quarter Horse racing.

“I have frequently, when faced with a difficult situation, asked myself, ‘What would Curly Smith do?’ ” said Scott Wells, president and general manager of Remington Park Racetrack in Oklahoma City. “In most cases, that process has led me to good decision-making based on fairness and all available facts.”

The Racer
From his Green Pastures Ranch in Purcell, Oklahoma, oilman A.B. Green raised and raced some of the most famous horses of their day, with four of them inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame: Miss Meyers, Barbara L, Miss Olene and Go Man Go.

Green was the owner and breeder of the first AQHA Supreme Champion, Kid Meyers, a son of Miss Meyers. After Green’s death in 1969, his son, Bruce, continued raising and running his horses in his name.

Green and Kid Meyers have been inducted into the Ruidoso Hall of Fame where Kid Meyers’ son, Mr Kid Charge, won the All American and Rainbow futurities in 1971 and made Green the 1971 leading AQHA racing breeder by money earned.

The Past President
Ken Mumy of Metamora, Michigan, was elected to the AQHA Executive Committee in 2004 and served as president in 2008-2009.

The lifelong horseman and American Quarter Horse exhibitor began his service to AQHA long before that, when he joined the AQHA Membership Services Committee in 1993. He became a member of the board of directors in 1996.

During his term on the Executive Committee, Mumy worked to maintain AQHA’s formal ties with state, regional and international affiliates.

AQHA News and information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHAnews on Twitter, watch the AQHA Newscast and visitwww.aqha.com/news.

Betty Flarida Receives 2013 Merle Wood Humanitarian Award

Betty Flarida of Springfield, Ohio, received the 2013 Merle Wood Humanitarian Award from the American Quarter Horse Foundation March 14 at the 2014 AQHA Convention in New Orleans.

Flarida has always been “all in” when it comes to horses and youth and giving back to the industry.

A youth adviser for the Ohio Quarter Horse Association from 1998 to 2008, Flarida helped the Ohio youth team qualify for the All American Quarter Horse Congress and Built Ford Tough AQHYA World Championship Show.

In the years when Flarida didn’t have immediate family at the Ford Youth World, she and her husband, Bill, helped with many activities and stayed for the full show, serving as counselors, mentors and cheerleaders.

Flarida was a member of the AQHA Youth Activities Committee for 14 years, from 1995 to 2009, attending all committee meetings, some twice a year, in a generous donation of time. In 2008, Flarida was named the AQHA youth adviser of the year.

Flarida was also a horse-show mom for her own sons, Mark, who is now a farrier and two of them, Shawn and Matt, are now professional horse trainers. These days, Flarida is cheering on a grandson who is a horse trainer and another grandson who is just getting involved in youth activities.

The Merle Wood Humanitarian Award is presented each year to an individual whose outstanding voluntary service has been marked by actions or deeds that have enabled young people to experience positive opportunities and or activities involving the American Quarter Horse. A multitude of service activities will be considered and is not restricted to any one type of action or deed involving youth.

Established in 1997 in honor of the late Merle Wood, an AQHA honorary vice president, this award is designed to recognize an individual who exemplifies an ethic of meritorious kindness and benevolence in providing opportunities for all young people to be involved

The deadline for nominations for the 2014 Merle Wood Humanitarian Award is May 1, 2014. For more information, call 806-378-5029 or email foundation@aqha.org.

For more news on the Merle Wood Humanitarian Award, visit www.aqha.com/merlewood.

AQHA News and information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHAnews on Twitter, watch the AQHA Newscast and visit www.aqha.com/news