The Blue Stallion

This story was written by Ron Roubidoux about one of his favorite stallions. Sorry, but there are no pictures that I have found of this famous stallion.

"Every horse breed has its stories of legendary stallions, stories handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, stories immortalized in print, and stories held sacred in the hearts of individuals who possess or have lost a favorite stallion.
 
Since I started investigating Spanish Mustangs, I have come across manysuch stories whether they be in a BLM herd like the Kigers that is mistakenly touted to be "the most pure herd of Spanish Mustangs existing in the wild today" or the authentic Spanish Mustangs found in the Spanish Mustang Registry. The books I have read, like The Mustangs by 2. Frank Dobie, carried fascinating, romantic stories of legendary stallions of the past. Probably the most touching stories, to me, are the ones I have read in the SMR's Annual or were told to me by SMR members I have met. Then there are the untold stories that I can only see in the gleam of a person's eye, when they are showing me their favorite stallion, a gleam that comes from pride found deep in the heart. I may not be told, but I know there is a story there. Every owner of such a horse has a story, and that is as it should be.

As for me, my heart lies with the Sulphur horses. During the past couple of years I have devoted much of my time to the horses, to a point that they have almost become an obsession, and in doing so I have collected my own personal stories of the Sulphur stallions. Though some of these stories have a good outcome and others don't, I would like to share them with you.

When I first found out about the Sulphur horses, and decided I wanted to adopt some from the BLM, I was told of a slate grullo stallion that was caught with a bay mare, dun yearling filly, and dun filly foal. At the time, the BLM in Utah made their comparisons of the Sulphur horses with the Kigers of Oregon, and they said this stallion was as good if not better than anything in the Kiger herd. They raved about him, some saying he was two horses in one. I have yet to meet a BLM man that has seen him, and who doesn't have something good to say about "the blue stallion". They branded him number 596, and later returned him to the Mountain Home Range. They felt he was much too good a horse to put up for adoption, and wanted to keep him with the wild herd. This was during the summer of 1992.

In mid-July, the bay mare and two duns were taken to a satellite adoption held at Logan, Utah, along with forty horses from other herds. I was there with my eye on the grullo's three. No one else knew the story of the mare and her two foals, nor was there much interest, specifically in Sulphur horses, at the time. I noticed that a number of people had the dun yearling written down as their first choice, probably because of her color. At the BLM adoptions, people wanting horses must be pre-approved, and when registering for the adoption, they write their name on a ticket that is then dropped into a bucket. The tickets are later drawn from the bucket, one at a time, lottery style, and the name is called out. The first name called gets first choice of one horse and so on until all the horses are gone. Each horse has a tag tied to its neck with a number on it. The person whose name is called, calls out the number of the horse he wants, unless it has already been taken, in which case a second, standby choice can be made. All I wanted were horses number 595, 597 and 594 and there were over sixty people registered to draw for horses. The BLM man drew the first name, which starting with Ron, and stammered on the last name starting with an R. I called out "Roubidoux, 595!" The dun yearling filly was mine. The bay mare, 594, and her foal, 597 were being adopted as one, since the foal was too young to be separated from her mother. Eight names later and she still hadn't been taken. Then my daughter's boy friend's name was called and we got the mare and foal.

I later found out that 596, his mare, and the dun fillies were all blood typed. I telephoned Dr. Gus Cothran in Kentucky, and he confirmed that the two fillies were the daughters of 596, the grullo stallion. All four horses also had good Spanish markers.

After the adoption, my family and I went on a vacation. As soon as we returned home I telephoned the BLM to find out if they still had 596, as I wanted to get some pictures of him, but they had taken him back to the range the day before. I was able to get copies of a few pictures that the BLM had taken, and that was all.

The following winter the BLM was capturing horses on the Mountain Home Range and almost caught 596 a second time, but he jumped one of the trap wings, taking a couple mares with him. That was the last time he was seen. I hope he is still alive and well on the mountain, and someday I may be privileged to see him there for myself. Every time I go to the Mountain Home Range I hope to see him, but it is like looking for a needle in a haystack, because of the heavy stands of pinion-juniper. Maybe that's why they call the Mountain Home and Indian Peak Ranges of the Sulphur Herd Management Area, the Needle Range."