Foundation Dams of the American Quarter Horse

by Robert Moorman Denhardt

Most Quarter Horse breeders and breed experts believe that in the production of great Quarter Horses one should never underestimate the importance of the dam. They are convinced that, in the long run,"the distaff side of the pedigree is the one to watch." They agree that one reason for the eminence of the Quarter Horse in racing, show, arena, and breed competition is the quality of the dams who helped found the breed and give it the unique conformation and blazing speed on the short track.

This book, filled with treasured anecdotes and track legends, will join its companion volume on the sires as an indispensable source for Quarter Horse breeders, owners, and racetrack and rodeo enthusiats, as well as for historians of the horse and its role in the Americas.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1982

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review of the first paperback edition. It was the last book by historian and Quarter Horse enthusiast Robert Moorman Denhardt. He would die about seven years after this book was first published. He did a lot of pioneering work establishing pedigrees and tales of "short horses" or Celebrated American Quarter Running Horses ... which, for the most part, were all Thoroughbreds. About 95% Thoroughbreds. I think in this whole book, there were only about five confirmed non-Thoroughbreds mentioned (two Arabs, a Chickasaw Indian pony, a "draft horse" and at least one Standardbred.)

Anyway, this book was written to supplement two of Denhardt's previous books, Foundation Sires of the American Quarter Horse and The Quarter Running Horse. Ideally, you need to read both of these to figure out what's going on. At the very least, you need to read the latter. There is a lot of repetition between this book and the older books, although Denhardt seemed more relaxed this last time and fired off some sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek comments. Unfortunately, there are no illustrations this time around.

After a short history of the short horse, there's a bit detailing the most significant horses state by state. But the vast majority of this book is an alphabetical list of all the mares that contributed to the making of the modern American Quarter Horse (modern being post WWII.) Sometimes not much is known of the mare other than her name, races won and foals produced. Sometimes, less than that.)

And here I have to stop to warn you that this is 99% about Quarter Horse racehorses, not Quarter Horses in general. This is because there's much more reliable information about racehorses than any other kind of horse. Races made more than one periodical, sometimes even court cases. Stud advertisements often listed pedigrees and major accomplishments.

In contrast to Western Horseman Publications' Legends series, Denhardt's books are decidedly lacking. However, at the time they were quite extraordinary. They also wound up being source books for the first books in the Legends series. This book in particular was extraordinary in that it looked at mares and not stallions. It wasn't until study of DNA made breeders realize that females weren't just ovens to make babies. It was thought that males contributed entirely to characteristics of the offspring.

Denhardt states that Quarter Horse breeders knew that good mares were just as important as good stallions to make good foals, but doesn't really prove this assertion. Many of the mares listed weren't even named. They're just listed as daughters of So-and-so, or given her owner's name.

Speaking of names, the names of early Quarter Horses were incredible. Some were given rather unflattering names like Bear Meat or Short Beer. There's also Damit -- careful how you spell it, since this way is an instruction for beavers and not a swear phrase. Black horses tended to be christened with the n-word. My favorite in this book?

Butt Cut.

(So named because of a barbed wire scar on her rump.)