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Southern Horseman
01/ 1997
Larry Thornton
When you study many of the famous breeding programs in the Quarter Horse industry, you learn that these breeder have developed a standard in their mind of how they want their horses to look and perform. They have an ideal in mind and they work to get that ideal in their breeding program.
This is how Hank Wiescamp put it, "I've tried to raise what I call model, useful, versatile horses and I call them Quarter Horses. I have my own kind, my own type in mind and they are a family of their own." Wiescamp set his ideal or type by linebreeding and inbreeding to Old Fred and his descendents. Old Fred was the ideal in his mind.
Dan and Carol McWhirter of Doniphan, Nebraska have set an ideal in their mind of what a great pleasure horse should look and work like. they have set out to breed that type of individual. The horse the set the ideal in their mind was The Big Investment, "...16 hands and a striking, absolutely beautiful animal."
The Big Investment came into the McWhirters' life when Pam Snow, a close friend of Carol's approached them about finding a horse her brother, John Hilton, could buy as an investment. Dan and Carol set out looking for the right horse. They felt that the best investment would come by buying a stallion.
Dan and Carol had heard about The Big Investment and went to Kansas to look him over. They found "a big, pretty horse that was the type that would do the hunt seat and the western."
Although The Big Investment had a limited show record, he seemed to give the McWhirters confidence that they had found the right horse. Here is how Carol put it, "The Big Investment was 16 hands and a striking, absolutely beautiful animal. He was such a unique mover. He was very unique in the business. He was a completely different style of mover."
Carol added, "We were confident we could see from the beginning he was prepotent. His colts all looked alike, real pretty headed, real pretty over the back and real pretty in the front legs. A little bit upright in the pasterns but beautiful in their tailset. They looked like cookie cutters, all standup pretty colts in the same mold."
With the search over, the negotiations completed and the addition of another partner in Mary Lou and Thurman "Dutch" Gay, The Big Investment Syndicate was formed. Darrell Saul of Des Arc, Arkansas later signed on as a partner in the syndicate.
Let's examine the pedigree history of The Big Investment to see where this Quality may have come from. The Big Investment was bred in Kansas by Don Fritzler. He earned his ROM with 11 western pleasure points. His sire was The Invester and his dam was The Country Girl.
The Invester was a top show horse in his own right. He was an AQHA Champion that was Superior in halter. He earned 53 halter points, 8 reining points, 9 western pleasure points, 2 cutting points and 2 hunter under saddle points.
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