My Grandpa went to Tyler, Texas 30 some years ago and purchased at a horse sale a mare out of the good horse “Charlie Polite” she had a nice colt by her side and was bred back to the same stallion. I believe Grandpa paid $4500.00 dollars for her at that time and the 3 in one package! He came home with a really nice 5 year old mare if I remember correctly and he called her “The Polite Mare” .
Grandpa thought all his horses were good horses, and they were , good blooded too. So it never even entered his mind that the colt on that mare might be skittish for any reason, all his colts were use to the farm and the goings on from a very early age. He had that mare and colt out in the arena grazing grass and he decided it needed mowing. So in he went with the mowing machine and tractor. Long tragic story short the colt bolted fell and broke its neck, latter in the spring the mare lost the colt she was carrying also ,due to endophyte infested fescue grass (at the time no one understood it).
Grandpa disappointed bred the mare to his stallion “King” Delk’s King Star, a real good foundation bred horse off the Bob Evans Ranch in Ohio he bought as a colt in the Asheboro sale. The following March a real nice stud colt was born. I was there when the colt was born, and Grandpa all ways asked my opinion of the white markings on the colts what they were etc. I was real excited because we had many blazes and such but this one had a star, strip and snip. (star on forehead, strip not connected on mid way from eyes to nostrils and a snip on his nose!) We argued over where I was right or not but when I showed him the drawing in the AQHA Rule Book he agreed with me. He liked the horse so much he had Andy and Trudy Smith show him at local shows and did very well with him winning many classes. He stood him stud for 10 years I believe.
When Polite was 10 Grandpa thought he would sell him to Les my husband who liked Polite as much as Grandpa did. The trading lasted 2 years with Les finally buying him and at 12 years of age gelding him. PLUS Polite took his first trip to the woods and trail riding at 12. He was a great trail horse for us and we rode him many a mile at Mt Rogers and other places. We had a group up from the coast and one of the ladies had just had surgery of the female kind, she was having difficulty being comfortable on her horse and rode Polite, she ended up buying him a few weeks latter and to this day still enjoys him. The photos are from this week, Polite has become very sway backed, but still a good horse and very much loved by Melinda. Shoot, she even got married on ole Polite several years ago!!!
And he still has that star, strip and snip!!!!
