King of the Quarter Horses
King of the Quarter Horses
King P-234 (Credit: AQHA file photo)
October 4, 2022 | News and Publications , Showing , Ranching , Foundation | Ranching , Ranching , Working cow horse , Showing , Reined cow horse
By Richard Chamberlain
Of the 6 million horses registered by the American Quarter Horse Association, there is one horse in particular–King P-234–whose AQHA registration number is usually recited whenever his name is mentioned. The “P” signifies that King was permanently registered, as opposed to “tentatively” registered, which was a registration category back when the stallion was registered in the 1940s.
King sired 636 registered foals that earned $156,132. While he sired a few racehorses, he is best remembered for producing horses with tremendous performance ability and cow sense. When the bay stallion died on March 24, 1958, he was on every halter and performance leading sire list compiled by AQHA at the time. For that, King was nominated to be among the first class of horses and humans inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1989.
Here’s the backstory on the King of the Quarter Horses, King P-234.
Son of Zantanon
King P-234 was bred by Manuel Benavides Volpe of Laredo, Texas, and was foaled in 1935, five years before AQHA was founded. He was the son of the Little Joe stallion Zantanon, the “Man O’War of Mexico,” so named because of his exploits on the Quarter tracks in the northern border country of that nation and in the southern border country of this one. Volpe also owned Zantanon, who was considered by many to be the best among several outstanding sons of Little Joe (who in turn was undoubtedly Traveler’s best son).
Zantanon was out of Jeanette by Old Billy, that paragon of South Texas short-horse sires. Old Billy was a son of Shiloh and out of a daughter of Steel Dust. Zantanon’s granddams on both sides were by Sykes Rondo, again going back to Old Billy through McCoy Billy. In other words, if Zantanon had not been a good horse, it would not have been because of his breeding–a more purple pedigree could hardly be dreamed up. Volpe bought him as an aged stallion long past his racing prime, days that had been filled with hard work and ill treatment. He had the intelligence, speed and endurance that are supposed to go with good breeding. More importantly, Zantanon had the prepotency to endow his get with the same. His progeny, Zantanon Jr, Ed Echols and San Siemon, all got their share.
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Zantanon (Credit: American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame) |
King got more than his share–and that partly by chance. Jabalina, King’s dam, was a hogbacked distaffer who was owned by a friend of Volpe. The friend’s wife was pregnant, and he wagered the mare against one of Volpe’s fat heifers that his wife would bear him a baby boy. The woman produced a girl, and Jabalina entered the broodmare band on Volpe’s ranch.
When she foaled a little bay colt, Volpe sold him for $150 to a friend, Charles Alexander. Alexander, as far as can be determined, ran the horse twice or so as a 2- or perhaps 3-year-old. The horse then known as “Buttons” fulfilled the promise of his pedigree and won his races.
From 'Buttons' to 'King'
“He was only rough broke when they ran him, I am told,” said J.O. Hankins in the November 1949 Quarter Horse Journal, “yet he did 200 yards in :11.4 and :11.5.”
Sometime shortly after those races, Byrne and Mary Elizabeth James of Encinal, Texas, saw the handsome young bay in Laredo, and for $325 became his new owners. Mary Elizabeth changed the colt’s name, saying, “Buttons, I’m changing your name to King, for truly you are the king of Quarter Horses.”
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Orren Mixer paintings of King P-234. (Credit: courtesy of American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame) |
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James, a rancher and professional baseball player, found recreation in tie-down roping, a sport in which he frequently contested at the ranch of Winn Dubose, a few miles outside of Laredo. James trained King for roping and general livestock work, and the stallion “took to it readily, as he has a natural love for stock,” according to an article in the December 1955 Quarter Horse Journal. When James was summoned back to New York by the Giants (a team that later moved to San Francisco), Dubose offered the ball player a profit of $225 over what he had paid for King and continued to use the 4-year-old on both calves and steers.
In the meantime, Jess Hankins (who later served as AQHA’s 13th president) of Rocksprings, Texas, was putting together a decent band of cow horses. Included among them was an exceptionally fine saddle mare whom Hankins allowed he’d like to breed if he could find a stallion of equal quality. One of his ranch hands told him about Dubose’s stud, and Hankins, with mare in tow, headed the 75-some-odd miles south to Uvalde.
“Before we even stopped the truck, I knew I had found the horse to whom I wanted to breed my mare, and I also knew that someday, I was going to own that stallion,” Hankins said in an article in the September 1957 Cattleman. “I thought then, and I have thought ever since, and still think, he was the most magnificent horse I had ever seen.”
Dubose, though, also had a rather high opinion of the horse, not only because of his conformation and athletic ability, but also because of his disposition. King, he said, was a very gentle, nicely mannered horse, one who handled well and was unusually intelligent. That said, he didn’t want to part with King and refused Hankins’ first few offers. It took a year or so of bargaining, and $800, before Dubose finally agreed to let him go. One of the stipulations of the agreement was that Dubose would retain King until after he had ridden him in several upcoming ropings. The last two of those were on the Fourth of July in 1937 at Comfort, Texas, in the afternoon and Kerrville that night. Dubose delivered King to his new, and last, owner at 2 o’clock the morning of July 5.
Jess Hankins and his wife were well-respected ranchers in Rocksprings. Delivery of the bay stallion gave the townspeople something to talk about. As Garford Wilkinson wrote in the April 1964 Journal, $800 was a lot of money during the Depression, and when Hankins’ neighbors found out about it, they “shook their heads in disbelief. A man could buy a new car, equipped with a radio and a spare tire, for less than Jess paid for one horse. Friends predicted bankruptcy for the eldest of the Hankins tribe.”
One way to recoup his investment was for Hankins to increase King’s breeding fee. Dubose stood King for $10, and Hankins stood him for $15 the first season he had him. He upped the ante to $25 the next year. An article in the December 1955 Journal said, “When, on the next year, Jess raised the price to $50, there were predictions that he would lose all of his business. However, the next year, he upped the price to $100 and had to turn down mares.” The stud fee eventually reached $500, and though King was settling approximately 50 mares annually through artificial insemination, Hankins still had to refuse breedings.
King: Sire of Using Horses
The potential for propagation was not the only reason Hankins purchased King. The Rocksprings rancher has been described as “a using-horse man through and through,” and it takes a using kind of horse to work livestock in the limestone hills and draws of the rugged Edwards Plateau. 1937 was sunk deep in the abyss of the Great Depression, and though Hankins may have been a gentleman, he was certainly no gentleman rancher–his livelihood depended on what he could produce and sell.
“We had a combination ranch,” said Jess. His brothers, J.O. and Lowell, operated their own ranches nearby. “We ran sheep, goats, cattle and horses. We used King as a regular cow horse ’til I got to breeding him so heavy. He was just an old, gentle cow horse, as far as that goes. We cut (cattle) on him just a little bit, but not much. King never was really trained for cutting–he more or less reined. He was an awful good reining horse. And we roped on him quite a bit. King was a good ropin’ horse, but all the ropin’ I did was just playin’. I never was good enough at it to go out with those tough boys. Never was a hand to do something that I couldn’t make any money out of–had to make a livin’.”
By the end of the decade, King had acquired a reputation regionally as a sire. King’s first registered contribution to the breed was a bay filly out of Queen H, an unbeaten race mare by a son of Old Joe Bailey of Weatherford (more Steel Dust and Shiloh breeding, admittedly rather removed), who was owned by Hankins’ brother J.O. The filly foaled in April 1940 was the “ugliest thing I had ever seen,” declared J.O. Fortunately, she soon blossomed.
“Later on, when she had filled out a little, you would hardly have known her,” J.O. said. “In July, I took her to a colt show in Kerrville, and she placed first in her class. The following July, I took her to Stamford and, although she was only a yearling, she was named grand champion mare. I called her Duchess H, and she is one of the best matrons in my broodmare band today.”
It was not Duchess H, however, but her sister of the following year, Squaw H, who was to attract the first really widespread attention to the sire. As a youngster, Squaw H was good looking, and she was fast. She outran most of the horses in the country in match racing, losing only to the great Shue Fly by a half length.
Progeny of King P-234
Other progeny added to the successes. King’s daughter 89’er was a leading dam of race Register of Merit qualifiers. Royal King dominated in the cutting pens and began siring others to do the same. Then came Poco Bueno, who became his daddy’s only rival at stud, siring Poco Lena and Poco Tivio, and establishing a dominant line in halter and performance.
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King’s only rival at stud was his own son, Poco Bueno. Poco Bueno sired the legendary Poco Lena and Poco Tivio. The stallion is shown here with Pine Johnson. (Credit: AQHA file photo) |
There have been so many top horses that trace to King–horses that shape the breed–that there is no way possible to discuss most or even a substantial minority of them. Tom B, Old Taylor, King’s Joe Boy, Black Gold King, L H Quarter Moon, King’s Pistol and Cactus King are but a few of the get who, through their performance and prepotency, lifted King to the zenith of fame. Later generations have kept him there, including Joe Cody, Blondy’s Dude, Cal Bar and Peponita. King sired a total of 648 horses, 217 of which entered AQHA performance events (including racing, youth, etc.). Of those, 20 became AQHA Champions. King’s daughters produced 50 AQHA Champions and 31 AAA runners.
King had not been idle while all that was going on. Back before Squaw H ever took to the tracks, Hankins had realized the importance of making his stallion known. Though King already had a decade of life under his girth by the time the first AQHA shows were organized, he proved himself showing against much younger horses. He placed first and stood grand champion at Abilene, Texas, in 1941, and recorded seconds that year at Stamford, Eagle Pass and Fort Worth. The following spring, he was named grand champion stallion at San Angelo.
The Disposition of a King
King’s age might also have put him at a disadvantage in performance competition, but he had proven himself on the ranch. Still, Hankins wanted to prove him in competition with others, so he saddled him at Abilene in 1941 and at Fort Worth in 1942. The bay stallion won the champion stock horse stallion title at Abilene; and won a first in the daily reining contest, with a second in the finals, and a second in the cutting contest at Fort Worth. Hankins then retired King from competition, believing the winnings were enough to show people that his stallion’s conformation and athletic prowess were of a caliber meriting reproduction. Hankins was right–both were, and people could see it. King also had the kind of disposition Quarter Horse breeders strive to reproduce.
“He was an awful good-natured horse, a very obedient horse,” Hankins says. “That was just about it. He never did give me any trouble anyway. Anybody in the world who could lead a horse could handle him. When I took him to ropings, I’d walk him up and tie him right between other horses, geldings and mares. If he acted a little fidgety, I’d just holler at him, and that’d be all of it.
“I used to turn him loose in the yard a lot of times–let him graze on that good grass. I’d be sitting out on the lawn, and he’d come by and nuzzle around, smell my coffee cup. After a while, he’d walk to the fence and look around, and then I’d go put him back in his trap.”
In Reynolds’ article in The Cattleman, he wrote, “When host and hostess and their guests gather in the lawn chairs with their coffee cups, King will saunter up and join the party, one of the most-admired of all those present, and as well behaved with a gentlemanly dignity as anybody there. The fence around the lawn is only about 3 feet high. King never attempts to get over it to join the mares and foals that graze right up to it on the other side, but he will try the latch on the gate, and unless it has been made secure, he will open it and walk through with all the stateliness that becomes the character of an elderly patrician of the Quarter Horse blood.”
King died of a heart attack on March 24, 1958.
“In appearance, he was just about the ultimate in what a Quarter Horse is supposed to look like,” wrote Jack Widmer, who visited King shortly before the stallion’s death, in the June 1958 Western Livestock. “He had an exceptionally fine head, well-set ears and a neck that belonged to the rest of him rather than being an after thought, as was the case with so many stallions. He was surprisingly sound and had small, well-formed feet. True, he was low in the back–not surprising for his age–but he still showed terrific strength of muscle and good coupling.”
Reynolds’ summation in The Cattleman probably says it best: “His sons are certainly among the breed’s favorite sires, and his daughters are almost priceless.”
Even now, many generations later, he still stands out as royalty.
Preserving American History: American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum
Celebrating and preserving the history of the American Quarter Horse, the horse that built America, is the mission of the Hall of Fame & Museum is a program of the American Quarter Horse Foundation, the charitable arm of the American Quarter Horse Association.
For many people, walking through the doors of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum in Amarillo, Texas, is the first step to discovering their passion for the horse. It serves as a place where inspiration is just a moment away and allows visitors to experience the joy our horse provides.