Skippers Lad - born in 1952, and said to be 15-2. He was every bit of 15-2 or more. Sire, Skipper W, dam Miss Helen by Plaudit. He was bred and raised by Hank Wiescamp. Hank bred him to some mares and sold him as a mature stallion to the Furbushs Elm Wood Ranch north of Denver, near Broomfield, Colorado. Skippers Lad was a little different from other Skipper W sons. He looked like an ideal steer roping horse. He had lots of substance, was big and had very correct sound legs. His neck had a little different set. Hank liked a slight dip in front of the withers. He was a shiny dark chestnut. This is a reject photo that was never used. They liked the straight left side shot and a right 3/4 rear shot better all taken the same day. I always dealt with Lee Furbush, I believe the daughter of the older Furbushs who owned Elm Wood Ranch. They had a huge Spanish contemporary ranch style home on top of the largest hill east of Broomfield. The view was awesome of the Rocky Mountain front range. It looked like they had bought 3 ranches, one south of the mansion, and another across the road north east. Their places were irrigated with great grass. They did everything a lot like Wiescamp with natural pasture breeding. Before I started going to Elm Wood to take photos of AAA Scottish, Skippers Lad and their other assortments of Wiescamp breeding, they had payed a visit to Alamosa that put a smile on Hanks face. He had sold them about 70 mares and several stallions. He fought them off his very top stuff, but they had enough genetics to raise some really fine horse flesh. Bill and Terry Hendricks managed Elm Wood. Bill was a long tall drink of water. Terry was a tight twisted blond gal who had a good way with a pleasure horse. The first time I saw her she was a little pregnant. Not a problem. She was riding in AQHA shows and performance showing. No judge seemed to place her down due to the condition. They went to a show every weekend and we did too. Then I see her at a show and she just barely could fit in a saddle. Terry was really huge in front with more than a full saddle, if you know what I mean. She was still showing horses in performance classes and acted like nothing was going to happen. Then, like a shooting star, the following week she is competing with a papoose carrier on her back and circling the arena, riding pleasure. I said, this is quite a woman, then she told me her maiden name was Dickinson. I spent hours trying to identify a family relation, but couldnt. Bill and Terry held horses for me at Elm Wood. Once I remember Bill just laid down on the lawn and said he was tired. I waited, and in about a half hour he got up and slowly went on with the process. What else could I do? Lee commissioned me to do a painting of Skippers Lad in front of the big house. It was a pretty area and easy to enjoy as I did the painting. Skippers Lad is most famous for siring Skipa Star. Progeny of Skipa Star earned 10,975 AQHA points. That was a good enough place to hang your hat. He sired a lot of other good horses, but nothing could top Skipa Star. DD
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 02:15:58 +0000