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The Working Lines | Music Mount
By Larry Thornton ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... ave you ever said or heard someone say, “If you open a dictionary and look up the definition of what a quarter horse is, you’ll find a picture of such and such a horse?” Well that is the thought that came into my mind when I looked at the history of Music Mount. Music Mount was foaled in 1944 on the ranch of his breeder J. W. Shoemaker of Watrous, New Mexico. Shoemaker sold the colt to Herman and Helen Snyder of Pendleton, Oregon in 1946. Music Mount went on to be a proven show horse and sire for the Snyder’s. He was there senior sire from 1946 to 1970. A look at this stallion will show us why his picture could be used as an example of the definition of a quarter horse. THE SHOW RECORD The show record of Music Mount is somewhat sketchy as much of his career in the arena was prior to the AQHA keeping show records and points earned. It has been stated that as a halter horse he was Grand Champion every time he was shown. An ad in the August 1949 issue of THE QUARTER HORSE JOURNAL verifies his cre-
dentials as a halter horse with good quarter horse conformation. The ad indicates that he was shown four times in 1947 standing Grand Champion Stallion each time. He was shown one time in 1948 and he was the Grand Champion stallion at that show. The picture that accompanied the ad shows him standing Grand Champion at a show in Pomona, California. The official AQHA show record indicates that Music Mount was shown three times in cutting earning seven points receiving a Register of Merit. He was also shown in NCHA sanctioned cuttings earning $537.99. His last year shown was in 1953. An unidentified ad indicates that he was the champion cutting horse in the Northwest Cutting Horse Association in 1953. THE PEDIGREE For Music Mount to have his picture in the dictionary by our definition of a quarter horse, he must have the pedigree of a quarter horse. J. W. Shoemaker was an AQHA Hall of Fame breeder and a part of a line of Hall of Fame breeders that perpetuated the blood of Old Fred, the great foundation sire found in the pedigree of Music Mount. The other Hall of Fame breeders that will come into the pedigree history of Music Mount
are Coke Roberds, Marshal Peavy and Hank Wiescamp. The line of Old Fred breeders begins with Coke Roberds, a Colorado breeder that owned Old Fred. As the story goes Roberds saw the flashy Old Fred hitched to a freight wagon. Roberds needed a new herd sire as his good stallion Primero, a thoroughbred was killed in a train wreck. He secured the stallion as his herd sire. Old Fred was a palomino with a lot of white. At one time it would have been considered excessive white and he would have been turned down for registration in the AQHA. Old Fred was sired by a horse named Black Ball. Black Ball was reportedly foaled in 1888 in Lockwood Missouri. He was bred by Alex Choate. He was sired by Missouri Rondo a son of Printer II by Old Cold Deck. Old Cold Deck was sired by Steel Dust or a son of Steel Dust as reported by Victoria Short in her book UNREGISTERED FOUNDATION SIRES OF THE AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE. Old Cold Deck stood in Missouri. The dam of Black Ball was a mare known as Nan. Nan a black mare was sired by a Standardbred and out of a Standardbred mare. The dam of Old Fred was a palomino
....................................................................................................................................................................................................... Music Mount Photo Courtesy Nancy Brown | story of this photo can be found on page 44
32 Working Horse Magazine 2018 March