We registered her
as Baby Doll McCue
APHA 10,357. She
was actually a
sabino with a bald
face, white legs,
white belly and
small white spots
up her hip areas.
When she was five
years old Dad and
I called Hank
Wiescamp wanting
to breed to his
stallion Skip Hi,
APHA 8. He said he
would and we
hauled her to
Alamosa, Colorado
as soon as
possible. When we
arrived Hank told
us he didn't know
why he told us he
would breed our
mare over the
phone because he
never bred outside
mares. But because
he told us he
would,
then he
would
do
it. Hank
really liked Baby
Doll and tried to
buy her from us,
but we wouldn't
part
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Baby Doll McCue and
Skippa Rope at a few hours
old.
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with
her. The next
spring she foaled
the colt we called
Skippa Rope. The
first time Hank
saw
"Rope"
he said we were
lucky. "You
could breed horses
your entire life
and never get one
that good."
Hank saw him
several times and
each time tried to
buy him. Once he
told me to
"name your
price". He
was not for sale
though and never
would be.
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"If
you like a
horse at 4
months
you'll
like him
at 4
years.
Don't look
at him
in-between"
~ Hank
Wiescamp ~
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Skipa Rope
winning a reining
class
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| Rope
was a natural on
his leads and the
sweetest horse to
be around. He was
willing to do
anything for you
and very athletic.
He became an APHA
Champion, sire of
Champions and
National
Champions. Through
the years he sired
160 colts, 155
spotted paints and
only 5 solids.
People would bring
mares to us who
couldn't seem to
produce color. He
very seldom let
anyone down. He
was not a very big
horse, 14.3 hands
but he really
threw a lot of
size into his
colts. Dale and
Jean Fell bred a
14.1 hand AQHA
palomino mare to
him hoping to get
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Skippa
Rope at the heels
and Skipover heading
the steer.
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small
paint for Jean to ride. The colt,
Sky Roper, a palomino tobiano grew
to be 15.3 and became a National
Champion jumping horse as well as
earning a superior in jumping and
amassing a total of 1639 points in
his career - 120 halter and 1519
in various performance events.
Fly Skip Fly, a chestnut tobiano
stallion owned by APHA's past
president, John and wife Anita
Hertner, also out of an AQHA mare
was another of Rope's get we were
extremely proud of. He became a
superior in halter and a superior
All-Around and produced 115 get.
"Fly" earned 316 total
points with 52 in halter.
A local ranchhand from Last
Chance, Colorado, (who's name now
escapes me) wanted to breed his
unregistered sorrel quarter type
mare to Skippa Rope. We decided to
go colt for colt, he would get the
first colt and we would get the
second. The mare had a sabino colt
for him and the next year had a
tobiano filly I named Roper's
Calcutta, for us. I traded the
filly to Dad, Arlin Messler, for a
horse trailer he was letting us
use. He in turn sold her. Roper's
Calcutta became APHA's National
Champion Working Cowhorse 2 years
in a row. She produced, among
others, Bonnie Smoke, the Number
One National Reining Cowhorse
Association's All Time Leading
Producer. Five of her foals
together have earned $130,097
along with numerous Cowhorse,
Cutting, Hackamore and Reining
Futurities and Championships.
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Spicy Sullivan, AQHA
Appendix mare at 2 years
old. Dam of Roper's
Sullivan.
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A
quarter horse and
thoroughbred breeder
in our area, the
family of James
"Sonny" and
Carol Keen wanted to
breed some mares to
Rope. We made a trade
of three stud fees for
a
pick of a young mare
out of his band of
AQHA and TB mares. I
picked a 2 year old
appendix AQHA mare,
Spicy Sullivan. She
was a well put
together 15.2 hand bay
mare with a blaze
face. Bred to
Skippa Rope she
produced Roper's
Sullivan which we
later sold to Dean and
Linda Norman of
Lander,Wyoming.
Roper's Sullivan was a
sabino stallion that
became an APHA
Champion with a total
of 133 points. He
sired 43 registered
APHA colts. One of
these, Sullivans
Heathen earned 91
halter and 426
performance points and
has sired 134
registered colts.
Roper's
Sullivan APHA 24,800
at 3 years of age -
APHA Champion
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Wayne
Schomaker and Heath
Bar None, APHA
Champion, Superior
Halter
(sire of
Ropers Reflection)
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Ropes Impressor
(dam of Ropers Reflection)
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Through the years I
married and divorced
twice and now have
reclaimed my maiden
name. It probably
appeared that Skippa
Rope sold several
times but he never
did. He was always
mine. I learned to
team rope because I
wanted to put cattle
points on him but
did not want anyone
else to ride him.
Ok, so call me
selfish - I can live
with that where Rope
is concerned.
I went to college a
little later in life
(hay was expensive -
I needed a better
job). I faded out of
the horse business
for some years but
always kept Rope and
a couple of others.
When Rope was 24 he
had an impaction and
I lost him. That
spring I took a
tobiano
granddaughter of his
and bred her to a
sabino
great-grandson of
his - Heath Bar None
(by Sullivans
Heathen) owned by
Wayne and Nancy
Schomaker. I had the
same color
combination going as
the first time when
we bred the sabino
mare Baby Doll McCue
to the tobiano Skip
Hi that produced
Skippa Rope - plus
Spicy Sullivan was
on both sides of the
pedigree. With this
combination Ropers
Reflection was
produced - the
stallion I am now
standing. "Flec"
is marked almost
like Baby Doll McCue
- way back where it
all started.
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Ropers
Reflection and Sandy
Messler |
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