96 EQUUS 498 AUTUMN 2019
Rondo). Her third and best-known
stallion was Dash for Cash, another
seven-eighths Thoroughbred (sire
line Three Bars–Touchstone, damsire
line Black Toney–Himyar. His Quarter
Horse ancestry encompasses the King
Ranch stallions Peppy and the Old
Sorrel and the Louisiana stallions
Hondo and D.J.).
The 6666 today is one of the largest
Quarter Horse breeding operations
in the world, standing no less than 16
performance stallions and five race
stallions and maintaining a herd of
several hundred valuable broodmares.
They cooperate in production and
sales with both the King and Triangle
ranches. Significantly and laudably,
all these breeders now test for genetic
diseases, avoid breeding carriers to
each other, and inform purchasers of
the genetic status of their produce.INTO THE 21ST
CENTURY WITH THE
MATADOR RANCH
Henry Harrison “Hank” Campbell
came to Texas in 1854 from North
Carolina, and in partnership with four
other investors in 1879 founded the
Matador Ranch on a claim near Ballard
Springs. The ranch soon grew to hold
40,000 head of cattle on 100,000
acres of land and controlled another
1,500,000 acres of open range. In
1882, the Matador was purchased by a
Scottish syndicate, although Campbell
continued as ranch superintendent
until 1891.
In 1902, the corporation acquired
the 210,000 acre Alamositas Ranch
west of Amarillo and began leasing
additional pastures in the Dakotas,
Montana and Saskatchewan. In its
heyday in the 1920s, the Matador
owned 90,000 head of cattle and879,000 acres in Texas alone. But as
cattle prices declined and no oil was
struck, the operation shrank until the
corporation was liquidated in 1951.
The Texas properties were broken up
for sale, and a large chunk was picked
up by Fred C. Koch, co-founder of Koch
Industries, Inc. He bought rights to
the Matador’s famous Flying V cattle
brand and the “50” horse brand and
has subsequently guided the Matador
into the future, breeding top-quality
Hereford, Charolais and Black Baldy
cattle while winning industry praise
for excellence in range management.
In the early 1970s, Matador Ranch
revived its horse-breeding program
under the direction of then-president
and general manager John Lincoln.
The ranch purchased a group of Sugar
Bars-bred mares and a stallion and
then developed a breeding program
focused on producing dependable
ranch horses able to deal with daylong
outings over rolling, rocky terrain,
while also demonstrating the ability to
handle cattle.
In 2013 the Matador won the AQHA
Best Remuda Award. The Matador
Quarter Horse breeding program is
founded upon the blood of Hollywood
Gold, Royal King (1943, by King P-234
and out of Rocket Laning, a mare of
Yellow Jacket breeding), and Peppy San
Badger (1974, sire line Joe Reed and
The Old Sorrel, out of Sugar Badger,
who traces back to Harmon Baker and
Peter McCue as well as the 6666’s Grey
Badgers). Their younger sires include
High Brow Hickory and his son High
Brow Cat (1983 and 1988, respectively,
representing Doc Bar, Leo, Poco Bueno
and Blackburn-Yellow Jacket).
Their program also includes Dual
Pep (1985, a son of Peppy San Badger
out of an inbred Doc Bar mare) and
Playgun (1992, representing on the topside Sugar Bars and the very beautiful
King Ranch sire Rey del Rancho,
with Doc Bar and King P-234 on the
distaff). Although some of these sires
(particularly Peppy San Badger) have
produced multi-champions in cutting
and reining, the Matador values them
primarily because they have the
conformation and disposition to “stay
employed on the ranch.”
In the past two decades, the Matador
has embraced the concept of employee
safety, in the conviction that this in
no way conflicts with cowboy ideals of
courage and true grit. Part of the safety
program is an ongoing development
of employee skills through various
horsemanship clinics that teach
cowboys how to start and handle
youngstock using enlightened and
systematic methods. This has resulted
not only in fewer injuries to man and
horse alike, but it gives management
and employees the opportunity to make
great working ranch horses out of
good livestock.
This approach has, of course, also
paid off in terms of competition;
Matador-trained cowhands have
successfully competed in Stock Horse
of Texas, Ranch Horse Association
of America (RHAA), Ranch Cutting
Horse Association (RCHA) and AQHA
Versatility Ranch Horse events,
qualifying numerous horses for
national finals. The Matador approach
bodes well for a bright future in which
sound, substantial and good-minded
horses are paired with people of all
walks of life who honor the West’s
cowboy heritage and want to learn
how to handle horses, train and ride
them in a way that brings out their
best potential.
Next: At the Sign of the Running W:
The King Ranch Contribution to Quarter
Horse History