A Tale

The Spanish Sulphur horses were found many years on the Mountain Home Range, Needles Mountain in Utah long before the BLM had ever been charged with managing them. I have heard some pretty interesting and a little far fetched stories of how some people came to find these horses.

One such tale came from a man named Clinton Galbraith. He is about 80 years old now and will talk to your heart's content about the Sulphur horses. He has gotten a little old now to breed them, but loves them so much that he still owns a few Sulphur horses despite his severe arthritis and among other health conditions. He once told me that Butch Cassidy had talked to him (if I remember right in the wilderness by a river) when he was just a little boy. Butch had told him about beautiful dun colored horses high up on a mountain. Clinton told me that Butch had described the horses so well to him that it took him 40 years to find these horses! Amazing! Now whether or not you believe Clinton's story is up to you, I would personally like to think it is real as it adds some really interesting history to the Sulphur. Either way, Clinton loves his little Iberian horses and only wants the best for the breed. He and Ron Rubidoux were the people that had originally started up the Sulphur Horse Registry back in 1998. The goal of the registry was to preserve the Iberian horses on the HMA. Later, other people took over the registry (or some will tell you that it was stolen from Clinton and Ron) in which they allowed all horses on the HMA to be registered despite their non Spanish or mixed Spanish conformation. That is one of the reasons I hadn't disclosed below as to why the American Sulphur Horse Association was started. To ensure that the original reason of why the Sulphur Horse Registry was started in the first place would be sustained through the ASHA.

Clinton was famous among Sulphur breeders for having the triple dorsal striped horses. You can see one of his horses pictured here. I am not sure who the horse is, but Clinton thought that the triple stripes made the horse better as well as double whorls. Old cowboy sayings I think. He sure is a great guy from when I talked to him. Most of his Sulphur horses now reside at Return to Freedom in Lompoc, CA.