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Appaloosa
Sires of the Palouse Country
and the Men Who Rode Them
By George Hatley
as published in The Western Horseman, March 1954
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In every breed of livestock developed in a specific area, the men and the sires of that area who influenced the breed become of interest. With Appaloosas it has been possible to talk to some of the owners and breeders of foundation sires, and people who knew them.
Seeking information about Appaloosas from old-timers in the Palouse country, I was most often referred to the following men: Sam Fisher, an aged Nez Perce Indian who lived at the mouth of the Palouse River near Lyons Ferry, Wash.; the Lamb family at Central Ferry, Wash, owner of the stallion Knobby; Floyd Hickman of Almota and Colfax, Wash., breeder of Dan, Old Blue, and the Tobys; and Faye Hubbard, a rodeo cowboy who rode the Appaloosa stallion Rex.
Sam
Fisher was a straight, lean horseman from
the family of Nez Perce occupying land north of the Snake. They have been
considered by some writers to be a separate tribe, being referred to as Palouse
Indians. Not being of Chief Joseph's band, it is doubtful if many of their
people joined in the war of 1877, and thus their horses remained intact.
I visited Sam Fisher in the summer of 1946, but he was not feeling well so I stayed only a short time. The next summer, Dr. Francis Haines and I visited him. He was then said to be 98 or 99; and, other than suffering some from a toothache (he still had a full set), he was in fine spirits. Despite his advanced age, he seemed very glad to talk to us about his breed of horses. He said he once had many Appaloosas, and that his family had always had Appaloosas.
Some people argue for and believe in some particular pattern of markings or color phase of Appaloosa as though it was the orginal and only true pattern. We asked him about patterns before there was any influence from horses brought in by settlers, and he said, "Some few spots, some white (some Appaloosas become nearly white in old age), some many spots." He also made gestures describing the spots. This statement proves that there has always been variation in Appaloosa markings from slightly mottled roans to very colorfully marked horses.
The Indians were very fond of the colorfully spotted ones, and even had a ritual for the mare to go through during at least two stages of pregnancy which would further insure a nicely marked foal. He became unusually enthusiastic when he told us about the "medicine" used for raising good Appaloosas. First he explained that you should mate the most desirable mare with the most desirable stallion. He then gestured by putting his fingertips together with his arms about six inches from his belt to describe a mare showing first signs of being with foal. This was followed by gestures and descriptions in Nez Perce of the ritual the mare was put through. Then he said "Just before mare have colt," and made a wide circle with his arms indicating the final stages of pregnancy, followed by the gestures and descriptions of the second ritual the mare was to go through to insure a well-marked foal. Then he concluded by saying "If everything right, it work"
We were interested to know to what extent the Nez Perce differentiated the Appaloosas from other horses, and wanted to know if there was a word in their language for Appaloosa. This was a rather difficult task; for, although Sam Fisher could understand and speak some English, he could not readily see that we wanted a Nez Perce word for something we were both using the commonly used word for. We were finally successful. The Nez Perce word for Appaloosa is Maumin, pronounced "Ma-meen." The Nez Perce word for the paint or pinto horse is Tam-sel-peen, showing that the two horses were not confused with one another.
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The Nez Perce differentiated the Appaloosas from other horses |
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Nez
Perce for Paint or Pinto |
Nez
Perce word for Appaloosa |
Blood relation is claimed much longer among Indians of the Palouse country than would be claimed by you or me. Fourth or fifth cousins or great grandnephews are claimed as relations. Joe Garry, whose father claimed distant relation to Sam Fisher, recalled him coming to visit his father and giving him a present of two or three horses. However. the hoses were not Appaloosas. Could it be that he had "giving horses" the same as we have "trading horses"?
In describing the relative value of the Appaloosa in comparison to other horses in language we could all understand, the Indian said," One Appalousy - one truckload of other horses."
The blood of his horses is still strong in many of our present day Appaloosas bred in the western portion of the Palouse country. His stallion Rex and the mare Lucy, dam of Old Blue, were bred by Sam Fisher.
Toward the end of the conversation he seemed to sum up his career with this statement, "Once much grass, many horses, many cattle, many fish - have money then - now, no grass (due to overgrazing and farming of wheat land), no horses, no cattle, no fish, no money."
Sam Fisher died in 1948 at near the century mark.
* * *
Floyd
Hickman had an unusually
early introduction to horses. He does not remember when he learned to ride, but
during a heavy snow that chocked the winter range in the Snake River canyon
during the winter of 1906, at 12 years of age he was helping his uncle push out
cattle. The canyons are usually open all winter with only and occasional skiff
of snow lasting a few days, with cattle seldom having to be taken in to feed.
"I don't know how the little fellow stuck it out," his uncle said.
"Snow was more than belly high in places and it was all we could do to push
them through it."
Floyd
always did like Appaloosas, but his first step in the breeding program of his
own did not develop until years later when he decided to ride his red roan
Appaloosa mare, Spot, 40 miles down the Snake River to Central Ferry to breed
to Chet Lamb's widely-known Appaloosa stallion Knobby.
He made the ride, and the
next year his mare foaled, but the foal was sired by a young half draft stallion
he had used to try the mare. The draft stallion had gotten the mare while Floyd
was in the house making final preparations to ride to Central Ferry. During
those years, service fees were not collected until the mare dropped her foal.
"I not only got a colt I didn't want," Floyd said, " but I also
had to pay the service fee, because she did have a colt."
The
next year another ride was made to Central Ferry. No mishap occurred and the
following year Spot foaled a fine stud colt they named Dan. He proved to be an
excellent foundation sire. They called him Dan, Little Dan, or Dan Patch. 
He was
no relation to the Standardbred - he was black in front and the patch was
simply descriptive of the patches of black on his white loin and hips. Dan
weighed between 950 and 1,000 and stood around 14-3. He was a good traveler and
a fine stock horse. Spot was very gentle and had a good disposition- the
children later rode her to school. Floyd placed a premium on the Appaloosa's good
disposition.
After the Christmas eve of 1924, Floyd demanded considerable more in saddle horses than most cattlemen. On that Christmas eve, the Hickman family were expecting guests; and, in order to have a Christmas tree for the children, Floyd got on his horse and rode to an abandoned farmstead to cut the top of the tree the brittle, frozen limbs snapped. He fell, crushing his right knee. A strong west wind with the mercury at eight below zero gave him little hope of surviving until someone came. A fence separated him and his horse, so he pulled himself backward by his hands to the door of the old shack. The door was frozen shut, so he tried to cut around it with his pocket knife. The blade broke.
He would have probably frozen there at the door had it not been for his childrens dog. The dog had been coddled by the children, even being rocked in a doll cradle, so Floyd called the dog up to him and held him close to his chest. He was found by a brother, Clare, and an uncle, Elmer Hickman, who saw that he could not be moved on horse back, so one of them rode to a neighbor's Clay Barr, for a sled. The men were not long getting back to him with the sled and a pint of whiskey. he emptied the bottle; and after they got him home, the doctor arrived and administered enough morphine to put two ordinary men to sleep. Evidently the two types of pain killer did not react well, as he was pretty violent for a few days. It took nearly three weeks to slowly thaw the crushed leg. Toward spring, his leg was amputated near the hip. The first thing he said to Dr. Bryant after coming out of the anesthetic was, "Will I be able to ride?"
"You'll be able to ride a horse" the doctor assured him. "It's you left leg that counts." Floyd did ride - about five years later he won a keg race (a race that demands fast dismounting) at the county fair.
His artificial leg may have saved his life at one time. He got off his horse near a spring and got a drink. As he started back to his horse, he heard a rattler and stopped until he made sure he knew where it was. In a second, he heard something peck at his right leg, and looked down to see that he was holding the rattler down with his foot while it was striking his leg. "I don't know how long I held him there," Floyd mused. "We were both sort of trapped." Finally Floyd thought of his pliers, fished them out of his pocket reached down and crushed the rattler's head. As the jaws of the pliers came together, he said, "Sorry, mister, wrong leg."
Getting back to his horses, his second sire was Old Blue which was sired by Dan and out of a mare named Lucy bred by Sam Fisher. Lucy was a red roan Appaloosa that stood around 15-1 and weighed around 1,100. When he first bought Lucy, she had a filly at her side which was chestnut with large white spots over the loin and hips. Both were kept as broodmares as long as they lived.
Old
Blue had the most use as a sire of any of Floyd Hickman's stallions. Old Blue
was black with white over the loin and hips and later turned blue in front. He
was foaled around 1930; at maturity he stood about 15-2 and weighed around
1,100. He was very well put together, and was undoubtedly the most popular sire
in the Palouse country, judging from the demand for his service. During one year,
Old Blue stood to 109 mares outside his own band. The following year he was paid
for 77 foals; some were never paid for. He did not collect the service fees
until a live foal was dropped.
In Old Blue's time, Floyd kept three stallions - a Shetland, a Shire, and an Appaloosa - and hauled them together in a large three-horse trailer. Three stallions in a trailer give most people visions of a battle royal. In addition to stallions being required to get along with each other or with geldings, all horses which he used were required to jump into his trailer or pick-up from the ground. This was practiced because during much of the year when horses were used in the cattle operation it would be to slippery to back up to a bank to unload, and there might not always be a bank.
The
third stallion in Floyd Hickman's program was Toby I.
He was a smooth,
attractive horse that stood about 15-2 and weighed around 1,100. He was dark
blue roan, white with black spots over the loin and hips. He was sired by Old
Blue in about 1935 and was out of an Appaloosa mare named Trixie. Trixie carried
the brand of a man named Lee who lived at Dayton Washington. Trixie had an
exceptionally fast getaway and was raced considerably in relay races in the
northwest. She was considered by Floyd to be one of his best broodmares he ever
owned. Her foals proved her value, because out of 14 foals only one (which was wire
cut) brought less than $100. Over $100 during hard times was good money for a
horse.
When Trixie became to old to rough it during the winter, she was given to a cousin who raised two or three additional foals. She was about 27 years old when I saw her. She was a bit more angular, due some to age, than most Appaloosas, and weighed around 1,050, standing 15-1. She was a dark red roan in front, white with chestnut spots over the loin and hips. In asking Floyd about her racing, he said she was loaned out every fall for several years to some people who made the circuit to all the county fairs and races in the area. Then he sort of grinned and said, "I suppose the best thing you could say about her speed and getaway was that during prohibition a bootlegger used her to deliver bottled whiskey."
Floyd considered Toby I the best stock horse he ever owned. He was a handy rope horse and really tops for cutting, Floyd said, "You could go into a herd and cut out what you wanted and put it where you wanted it - you didn't have to think for him." Toby I was a versatile horse, and has competed and won in about every kind of performance class made. He constantly won the working stock horse classes at Sandpoint, Idaho, and neighboring shows. At the First National Appaloosa Show At Lewiston, Idaho, in 1948 he was the top money winner of the show. After this show, he was retired.
There are many reasons why people like Appaloosas. Floyd likes them for their performance, temperament, and disposition. Floyd said, " You could get one in, ride him five or six times and sell him as green broke. That's not the way with a lot of horses nowadays-they require a professional trainer and a year's training. Appalouseys have feet like a mule. Their feet and legs stand up in the rocks, and they know how to handle themselves in the breaks and canyons." Floyd stayed on his Appaloosa regardless of how steep the country and how narrow the trails. A man who used to ride with him in the rough country said, " Whenever Floyd would free his wooden leg from the stir-up, I'd get off and lead my horse."
Having produced over 300 head of Appaloosas, no one person is as widely known in the Palouse country for his horses as Floyd Hickman.
* * *
Faye
Hubbard was a
cowboy to whom the rodeo set from 1925 to 1940 needs no introduction. regardless
of whether you met him at Colfax, Van Nuys, Miami, Calgary, or Madison Square,
you likely still remember him. he hit the top of his rodeo career in 1939 when
he was champion bulldogger.
He started rodeoing and stock contracting at a tender age, and kept it up until a back injury slowed him down. During 10 years of his stock contracting he rode an Appaloosa stallion named Ole Rex. This stallion bred by Sam Fisher and was foaled about 1928.
He stood around 14-3 and weighed around 1,050. people who attended rodeos in the northwest during that period remember Rex quite vividly. Rex was shipped with the bucking stock when they were moving from one rodeo to another.
Since the rodeo string was shipped over quite a large area of the northwest and Canada, the blood of Rex was likewise well distributed over a wide area. Like most Appaloosas, Rex was a versatile horse and was used for about everything a saddle horse can be used for. "We ran wild horses with him in Oregon, 'dogged off him in Canada, roped off him all over the country - he was all around useful." Faye said, "He was as tough as he was good looking," Faye remembered. "We used to drive horses from Wilcox to Hay, Wash. (40 miles), in less than a day, and he'd still be going strong."
Rex died in 1945 at the age of 28 on Fernie Hubbard's ranch at Harrison, Montana. He sired six foals his last year.
Folks around Hollywood still remember the Faye and Kay ranch at Van Nuys. While in Hollywood, Faye did some doubling and stunt work in westerns. He also finished horses. "I'll bet some of those Appalousey's we've been seeing in movies the last couple of years trace to Rex," Faye said.
Next to rodeoing, cougar hunting was Faye's favorite sport. Faye said, "It takes a sure footed horse with plenty of wind to follow cats in the country they have a habit of living in." Regardless of where Faye happens to be living, you will find an impressive array of cougar rugs on the floor and walls, and a good story to account for every one of them. "Hound-dogs are like horses," Faye once said, "You've either got 'em in your blood or you haven't."
Most every cowboy feels a little sentimental about one particular horse that he has owned - some horse that won him a lot of money, or got him out of a tight spot, or just an all around, good, useful horse he rode for a long time. With Faye Hubbard, that horse was Rex. In the fall of '47, I rode over to Potlatch, Idaho, where George Adair and Clyde Spencer were putting on an amateur rodeo. Faye Hubbard was judging and Larry Daniels was announcing. It was about time for the entry and introductions, and Faye walked up to me and said, "George, I'd feel very much obliged if you'd let me ride your Appalousey in the entry-- just for old times."
I have never seen an old cowboy look any more proud and pleased than Faye did as he paraded across the arena, paused, and then charged up to the grandstand when his introduction was made. As he rode back, stepped off, and dropped the reins, a few tears slid down his cheeks, and he said, "I just rode Old Rex - same rein, same walk." "Well, maybe you did in a way," I answered, "this old horse's grandmother and Rex came from the same place."
George
Hatley’s extensive involvement with the ApHC ranges over 40
years. Hatley served as
Executive Secretary for the ApHC for 31 years. He published the first stud book, became the first editor of the
Appaloosa News, worked to develop the Chief Joseph Trail Ride, and was a
manger for the first National Appaloosa Sale and the first National
Appaloosa Show. He bred
several well-known horses, one being Apache Double, and a successful
racing competitor.
