from the Philmont Ranch of New Mexico. When the Philmont Ranch was donated to the Boy Scouts of America, the Plaudit mares became available. Wiescamp bought them in lots of six retaining some and selling the rest to pay for all of them. Plaudit the Quarter Horse was sired by King Plaudit, an army remount Thoroughbred stallion sired by Plaudit, the 1895 Kentucky Derby winner. The Thoroughbred Plaudit was sired by Himyar, who was the sire of Domino, another influential sire of Quarter Horses. The Old Fred blood in the Quarter Horse Plaudit came from his dam Colorado Queen. This buckskin mare was sired by Old Nick by This shows a young Peter McCue. As an aged stallion he made his last Old Fred. Thus the Skipper W cross contribution to the breed by nicking with his distant relative Old Fred on Plaudit mares has the blood afto produce some great Quarter Horses. finity of Old Fred. This photo Courtesy of The AQHA Hall of Fame and Museum. sire of Printer II who was the sire of Missouri Mike, who sired Missouri Rondo. Missouri Rondo was the sire of Black Ball the sire of Old Fred. The horse we refer to here as Old Cold Deck was sired by Steel Dust, or a son of Steel Dust. The other Cold Deck or Martin’s Cold Deck as he was called was sired by Old Billy by Shiloh and out of Ram Cat by Steel Dust. The infusion of Peter McCue came about when Roberds’ neighbor and friend, Si Dawson, bought the stallion and brought him to Colorado. When Dawson left to work as a ranch manager in South America, he left Peter McCue with Coke Roberds.
Skipper W was sired by Nick Shoemaker, a stallion that Wiescamp bought and made his senior sire. When Nick Shoemaker died unexpectedly, he used his son Skipper W. Nick Shoemaker was sired by Nick by Shiek P-11. Shiek was sired by Peter McCue and out of Pet by Old Fred. The dam of Nick was Sylvia by Bob H by Old Fred. The dam of Nick Shoemaker was Slipalong Continued on page 42...
Peter McCue was bred to daughters of Old Fred producing horses like Shiek P-11. The P-11 means that Shiek was one of the Studbook foundation sires that were given numbers 2 through 19 in Volume One of the AQHAssociation Studbook. Hank Wiescamp’s goal was to build a line of horses by linebreeding back to Old Fred. One of the successful crosses he used to achieve this was breeding Skipper W to daughters of the quarter horse Plaudit. He purchased the daughters of Plaudit THE WORKING HORSE • SPRING 2011
Santa Maria was one of the great daughters of Plaudit to have a large impact on Hank Wiescamp’s breeding program. Photo Courtesy Of The AQHA Hall of Fame and Museum. Page 39