In Loving Memory of Sharon Williams, Curly Lover and Breeder

There is an old time curly horse breeder by the name of Sharon Williams who passed from this life on February 8 of ’06, after a long battle with cancer. She is still loved deeply by her family and friends. Few understand the importance of her breeding work. Her horses have been scattered. Sharon’s old mare Thunder’s Jewel understood and loved this lady also. She showed that love in a horse way. The old mare was taken to a friend’s pasture to be cared for while Sharon was so ill. Jewel always wanted to return home. Finally she did. The mare also passed from this life at about the same time as Sharon and was found laying as close to Sharon as the fence would allow, with her gaze fixed on where Sharon was. It is my hope that we can understand in a human way what Jewel understood in a horse way. It is also my hope that this lady’s work is not lost.

I never meet Sharon in person. We had only an e mail friendship. I asked her many questions because I was so ignorant about curly history. At times I am sure that I was silly and obnoxious. Yet she was always patient and honest with me. She encouraged me to be honest and to seek the truth when I was researching my stallion’s pedigree information. I am thankful for her guidance because it benefited the curly breed.

As a breeder Sharon solved the main breeding problem faced by the ABCR. Let me explain what the problem was and how Sharon solved it. The ABC Registry has always been a safe place where the Damele curly horse gene pool has been protected and fostered. This is a very good thing because these horses are good stock. But because of the few numbers of the original stock captured from the wild, there was a need to add greater genetic diversity to the curly gene pool. This meant that other good, dominant curly horse genes had to be added.

Sharon’s solution to the small gene pool problem was two fold. First she convinced Ernie Hammrich to join the ABCR and to register his curly horses with them. Ernie was a quarter horse man and was not interested in joining another registry. Yet she convinced him to join ABC. This gave curly breeders an unrelated line of quality western type curly horses that would cross well with other ranch type horses. So now ABC breeders had two unrelated lines from the Hammrich breeding program, the Bad Warrior and the Big Mac lines. But there is even more, her second part was to take the Big Mac line and strengthen it by careful line breeding. This was a gift beyond price for the curly world because of the close relationship of the Big Mac blood with the original Lakota Sioux horses.

Sharon became involved with the curly horse in 1986. She was looking for quality curly breeding stock. During this search she met Ernie Hammrich. Ernie had brought some curly horses of his from the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota to sell back east. In 1987 she bought a stallion named Big Mac, ABC 651, from Ernie. She always loved Big Mac because she admired his peaceful presence. Big Mac is special for another reason. Big Mac’s was sired by Ernie’s stud Two Seasons. Two Seasons lines go directly back to Slim Berndt, then to the Cheyenne Eli Bad Warrior and from there to the Lakota Sioux horses. Big Mac does not have the Hard Twist quarter horse blood that Ernie added later to produce the Bad Warrior curly horse line. For this reason the Big Mac line goes back more directly and more closely to the Lakota Sioux curly horses.

Sharon understood just how important the Big Mac line is. That is why she chose to set the line by careful line breeding. She took an appy grade mare named CC San Dee and bred her to Big Mac. This union produced Frostfire MacMuffin, ABC 1031. She also bred a second appy mare named Rocky to Big Mac. This union produced Frostfire Froglips, ABC 1064. When these two half siblings came of age, they were bred together to produce Tadpole, ABC 1837, foaled in 1993. In Tadpole, who was loved deeply by Sharon, she had established the foundation to preserve the Big Mac line and to strengthen it. (It is my personal belief that in the unrelated blood represented by the Big Mac/Tadpole line a breeder will find a perfect match for the Damele/Mead blood. This is all because of the work done by Sharon Williams.)

But the Big Mac/Tadpole does not end here because there are a few people who are continuing this line.

Tadpole is alive and well. He is owned by Sharon’s daughter Darcy Amyx, who lives in Ohio. Her phone number is 740 745-5941. Darcy would like to see her mother’s work continued. She will allow Tadpole to cover some very gentle, well behaved and reproductively clean mares. She is very impressed with Tadpole’s kindness. Tadpole has been very good for her six year old son. The little boy saw a young horse attacked by three dogs and brought down to the ground. After that he did not want to go near a horse. When Tadpole was brought to their home he literally begged to be allowed to sit on the stud bareback. The horse and boy spent more than an hour together, enjoying their new friendship before the little boy would allow himself to be taken off. The peaceful presence that Tadpole has is what won over the little boy’s heart.

Betsy Lirakis in Vermont stood Tadpole at stud for two seasons. She still has some of his off spring. She was impressed by his disposition, the niceness of his foals and by the lovely head that he puts on all of them. Her phone number is 802 885-9101.

Harold Fairchild in Minnesota has the mare Mac Muffin. He told me, “She is a wonderful, docile mare. She throws good docile foals. She only has colts. She is a true curly.” Harold has a colt named Syd-Tippy out of Mac Muffin for sale. The sire is Prince Rainier, ABC 2792.. Rainier goes back to old BLM appy curly blood. This colt Syd is for sale. Harold’s phone number is 218 838-1357.

John Schweiger in Washington state has a son of Big Mac named Big Mac Dunny Boy, ABC 1350. Dunny Boy’s dam is a palomino Hammrich mare. Dunny Boy was a favorite of Ernie Hammrich’s. Ernie called him “his spare tire.” By this Ernie meant that if he needed a replacement stallion, Dunny Boy was the one. John and Ernie were friends, and Ernie shared much of his breeding philosophy with John. That is why he sold Dunny Boy to John and refused other people who wanted to buy him. John loves the horse because of his gentleness with the mares and his kindness towards people. John is not selling any of his stallion’s off spring at this time. He considers them “living treasures” and is saving them for future breeding plans.

In Idaho there is a son of Mac Muffin named Mississippi Mud Slinger, ABC 3022. He has crossed beautifully with Yellow Hornet line mares, producing foals that are curly, gaited and gentle. The contact number is 208 267-7929.

Lastly we come full circle. Remember the mare Jewel who loved Sharon? Sharon bred this mare to Big Mac. From this union she got a colt in 2001 that she named Mac Scimitar’s Legacy. This colt is a blending of big Mac and the very best Fredell War Lord’s Thunder blood. He was Sharon’s future stallion prospect. It was Sharon’s intention to one day cross him with Tadpole mares. Max, as Sharon called him, went to live with Linda Stermer in Michigan. This stud is not yet registered with the ABCR. But Linda told me that he is eligible for full registration as a breeding stallion with ABC. I sincerely hope that he can be so registered. Linda's phone number is 269 539-0206.

As a breeder Sharon had one deep sorrow that I want to share with you. She lost two of her best mares to colic. These mares were Capt. Janaway and Buffy-bite-you. She had put them in her back yard where they would be comfortable, closed the door and left for work. When she got home at the end of her shift, she found that somehow the mares had gotten into the house. They had found the almost full bag of grain that she kept by her table and consumed all of it. They were already badly colicking by this time and could not be saved. This was a loss for the whole curly world.

I am sincerely thankful for Sharon’s life and work. She taught me some good breeding practices. By her personal example she taught me much about

personal integrity. By her work as a breeder, she benefited the whole curly world, both ABCR and ICHO.

There is one more part to Sharon’s story as a breeder, but I will save that for another time. Later, I will tell you about how she improved the curly fox trotter line.

Sincerely,

Penny Johnson