Shoemaker Skipper W Bloodlines, Inc.

Home	Officer's Message	Members	In the Spotlight
From the Back Porch	What's Happening	Bits & Pieces	Stallions
Horses For Sale	Horses From The Past	Brags	Contact Us

Spotlight Archive

Spotlight on Our Member!

Paula Wilson and Michael Ryan
Wilson Ryan Quarter Horses, Ava, Illinois

Welcome to Wilson Ryan Quarter Horses, my name is Paula Wilson. Mike and I are located in Southern Illinois about 80 miles southeast of St. Louis, MO. The Shawnee National Forest is located in this part of the country and covers approximately 277,550 acres; this makes for some beautiful trail riding scenery. However, at this point we don’t spend much time trail riding…we are still building on our new place.

We purchased 75 acres, built a stallion barn, a new home with attached indoor arena including stalls, and hopefully a facility to ship semen. This has all taken place since May of 2000. With Mike and I working full time jobs, building on the place and taking care of the horses it sure doesn’t leave time for much else. But one day we will be finished and we will be able to relax… yeah right.

Horses have always been a part of my family, starting with our 1^st pony. I was 9 months old and the pony was kept in the front yard of our house surrounded by a white picket fence. From there I started trick riding at age 9, I performed in a Junior Rodeo that my family were co-owners in, and at the age of 13, I started taking in outside horses to break, just to make extra money.

Knowing all this, Mike graciously took all the baggage along with me. He is the chief builder, manure shoveler and horse hauler. It’s always a joke when people ask how we met. I tell them we bought drugs together…but we did. We were both employed by a local Drug Enforcement group in the 80’s. I am now in my 16th year as a Trooper for the Illinois State Police and Mike has been in law enforcement for 18 years, he is employed by the Jackson County Sheriffs Department as a Detective. Our jobs sometimes make for interesting conversation around the barn….

Seven Rings by Skippers Ring

As when Mike was assisting in a homicide investigation involving Rafael Resendez Ramirez, (Angel Maturino Resendez), the "Railroad Killer". Anyway, let’s talk horses.

As I was growing up, my father only had a few stallions. The first was a chestnut stallion named Mego Kid. His sire, Amigo Man, was bred by Mr. R.L. Underwood of Wichita Falls, Tx. (Of Dexter and Buddy Dexter Fame). Mego’s pedigree included such horses as Golden Chief and Dexter. Mego was never advertised or bred to many outside mares as Dad used him mainly as a pickup horse in the Rodeos, but we do still have one young mare with his bloodlines. Later Dad bought a 3 month old Red Dun colt; Skip Sundowner, a grandson of Skippers King and Skipper’s Lad. Skip is now 20 years old and runs in a small pasture behind their house. He’s just another member of the family.

Growing up, I remember my dad always talking about "the man in Southern Colorado" who had those Skipper Horses. As I got older I learned more about "That Man" and the legacy of his horses. The halter winners, AQHA champions, AAA running, roping and cutting horses. As my Dad always said, those horses could do it all. That is what drew us to the bloodlines. And that, is what we strive to raise. As Mike says, if you’re going to do it, you might as well look good doing it. My immediate family has had Wiescamp bloodlines throughout the years, including daughters and granddaughters of Skip N String, Skippers Jr and Skipadooette. So it is no surprise Mike and I chose to focus so heavily within these bloodlines.

Regretfully we did not get to meet Hank, we were planning a trip to Southern Colorado when we read of Hank’s passing. But we did attend Hank’s dispersals and then later Larry & Charlotte’s sale. We purchased a few mares each time. We do have a small operation, but now our horses are all solid Wiescamp, 8 of the 13 breeding age mares are branded, being daughters of Skippers Ring, Spanish Fine, St. Bond, Bright Passion, Skipody, Smooth Sill and Skips Quillo.

We are proud of the mares we have acquired in such a short time. But our 1^st branded mare has left an everlasting impression on us; Scotch Court, a daughter of Skip Sir Bar x Scotch Pasa x Scottish. We lost her in January 2001, a deep blow to Mike and I as we had been through a lot with her. However, she gave us two very fine colts, Skipsinfinitynbeyond our young stallion, and Sheskippinthescotch a 98 sorrel filly who will eventually be placed in our brood mare band.

As you can tell we are not in the showing end of horses very much. We have shown in the past when we had "Buzz" (Skipsinfinitynbeyond) on the road. He was the open and amateur circuit weanling Champion at the Illinois State Fair (DuQuoin). And as a 2 year old he took Amateur Grand Champion Stallion. Someday we hope to continue that end of the business, maybe with a colt out of our branded stallion, Smooth N Fine (Spanish Fine x Smooth Maiden), we have very high hopes for him. Smooth is very good minded and easy to handle. His gentle arrogance is typical Wiescamp. Our oldest colts by him are just yearlings and we are very pleased to say the least!!!!

We currently stand 4 stallions to the public. Smooth N Fine, Skip Sundowner, Skippers Shiloh (St Shiloh x Skippers Recourse), a young palomino who’s potential we think is limitless, and Skipsinfinitynbeyond by World Champion Beyond Reality.

You can check them out at our web site http://www.wilsonryanquarterhorses.com. Let us know what you think. If you are ever in the area stop by, or just give us a call, we love to talk horses.

THANKS,
Mike and Paula