Michelle Grant Art

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My horse is half-Saddlebred and registered with the half Saddlebred Registry of America. Using www.allbreedpedigree.com I was able uncover some interesting information about her Saddlebred ancestors.

To start with I typed in Paisley's sire's name "Sensation Flight Topper" into the query box. No luck, I'm not surprised. I've already search the internet extensively for this Stallion trying to learn more about him but I've only located an old phone number for his owner.

So I went back a generation and searched for her Grandsire "King's Flight" and am rewarded with a Thoroughbred by the same name, but I know that's not who I'm looking for. Now I'm searching for Paisley's Granddam "Andy's Princess". No luck there either. Wow, my horse sure has great parentage! A bunch of no-names...

Carrying on, I try for the Greatgrandsire "Flight Time". Finally a hit! If there is an asterisk next to a horse's name in All Breed Pedigree, that means there is a photo. So check out my horse's Greatgrandsire, Flight Time:

Flight Time was Chestnut Saddlebred Stallion foaled in 1962.

Delving further back, I clicked on Flight Time's sire "Wing Commander". This is what All Breed Pedigree had to say about Wing Commander:

The greatest 5-gaited stallion of all time, and the most influential performance sire in the Saddlebred breed. 6-Time World Grand Champion 5 Gaited Stake, 1948-1953. Foaled 4/23/43. Bred by Dodge Stables, Owned by Castleton Farm. Some stallions are great show horses; some are great sires of sires and some are great sires of dams. But Wing Commander was all of these rolled up into one incredible chestnut package. He not only blew everyone away in the ring, he also revolutionized the Saddlebred breed. Blood tells! From 1946 to 1954 Wing Commander accumulated 174 wins in the 5 gaited classes he entered with 2 seconds! In January 1969, Wing Commander developed colic and despite the efforts of veterinarians, medicine and hours of walking, he died at the age of twenty six. From then until 1973, he was at the top of the list for deceased sires. On December 11, 1985 he became the only horse to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and was awarded a golden medallion from the National Horse Show Association of America. In 2000 his life was featured in a year-long exhibit at the American Saddlebred Museum [located at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington], the only horse ever to be so honored.

As I continued to go back through the generations of Saddlebreds I uncovered more photos, the last photo stopping with an 1861 Stallion called Clark Chief.

I also learned how extremely inbred, my horse's Saddlebred side is. CH Wing Commander, I knew was on her pedigree twice already. But Rex Peavine is on their multiple times as is Bourbon King:

It's very interesting to see all of these photos of horses related to Paisley (her registered name is "Topper's Cinnamon Girl"). I'm not entirely sure why someone decided to breed a Saddlebred to an unregistered Appaloosa. (Having no pedigree on Paisley's dam, I can only assume she's unregistered.) Perhaps it was a fence jumping "oops" breeding. I have no way of knowing. But, Paisley is undoubtedly stamped with Saddlebred traits. She carries her head high, she has a very trotty trot. She's pretty smart, which I can only attribute to her Saddlebred half, having known MANY Appaloosas. She doesn't have "Appytude", she's very sweet and has never done anything mean. Her Appaloosa half shows in her striped hooves, white sclera, mottled skin and snowflake spots. I'm grateful for my horse, and I love her odd mixture of Saddlebred and Appaloosa.

Photo Credits:

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