Grullo Roan Hancock-bred Stallion

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Not Standing to Outside Mares

• "Rye" is a grullo roan 2004 stallion who is linebred Hancock/Blue Valentine bred, and also goes back to Leo multiple times.

• Rye is about 14.3 hh, which is much smaller than many Hancock horses. We like 14.3 hh...it's a very versatile height, allowing for more athleticism/quickness than a huge, bulky horse. However, he doesn't reproduce his size very well. Most of his foals are much larger at maturity than he is regardless of the size of the mare.

• Rye is different than many high-percentage Blue Valentine horses in his height, but also in his beauty! It is rare to find a high-percentage Blue Valentine horse with such a pretty little head!

• His sire is a roping horse, WYO O Blue, who weighed 1325 pounds at age 7.

• His dam is a homozygous black daughter of Plenty Try.

• Rye is not "just" a Blue Valentine-bred horse.  In my opinion, the best Blue Valentine horses are those that were outcrossed with some more modern breeding to add athleticism.  Our former stallion was a great cross of BV and Leo.  Rye has some shots of Rip Rip and Texas Blue Bonnet in him to add to his inclination for athleticism...and for some "pretty!"

• Rye was kicked in May of 2007 while live covering a mare. He was very lame for about 3 weeks, but has recovered and doesn't appear to have lasting effects with soundness. Because of that injury, he did not have many foals on the ground until the 2009 foal crop.
  
  This also lead us to not return him to training (to prevent possible injury), so he is only green broke and is unshown. He is definitely sound on the leg to mount mares and the phantom, runs around without apparent lameness, and probably is sound for training/using as well. However, I can't represent him as a using horse without putting him back into training myself, and I can't do that at this time.

• Rye easily got mares pregnant through the 2010 breeding season. I'll be honest and say that when I AI my own mares with him, I don't even treat the collection well. I may extend it 1:1 or 2:1 with extender, or may not extend at all. It doesn't seem to matter, as the mares conceive. However, it doesn't look as good under the microscope as my other stallions' collections, so I've never shipped semen from Rye. Most people would see that semen and think he wasn't very fertile, but he was very consistent and got the mares pregnant! He also live covered a mare most years until maybe 2010, when I just collected and AI'd out of convenience.

• EVA Tested Negative and Annually Vaccinated. Last EVA vaccination was in the spring of 2010.

• HERDA: We have not tested Rye for Herda because he doesn't appear to be descended from Poco Bueno.

• 2010 Dental Problem: In June of 2010, I had Rye's teeth floated because he has always been a grain dropper, and I had the dentist here for other horses. After the floating, he couldn't chew. He mouthed hay and dropped it in big wet wads, and rapidly lost weight. The dentist came back and tried to adjust him, but it didn't work. By December, Rye was nearly a walking skeleton with a skin covering. He began improving in January of 2011, but is only halfway or so back to his prior muscle level. On July 3, 2011 we picked up old hay bales from about a 20' x 20' area in the barn and turned on a big fan to dry the barn. He became a little heave-y, and I made the decision to either geld him so he could be out with other horses or let him go, as the barn is not a healthy place for him with all the wind blowing dust and mold in the air.
  
  In the spring of 2011, a vet that is also a good dentist looked briefly at Rye's teeth. He said it appears that the bottom teeth were ground down to half the length that the top teeth are, and that most likely, they were floated so short that their sensitive tissue was exposed. It will take time for them to grow and catch up to the length of the top teeth. We did a CBC and it all came back normal (no kidney or liver problems showed), but one result indicated he was rebuilding muscle so the vet recommended daily grain and vitamins while he rebuilds muscle.

• Guarantees: I can't offer any guarantees on Rye's soundness or fertility because I have not ridden him since his kick in 2007. I have not collected him in 2011 to look at his semen to see if the 2010 dental float issue caused damage. He covered a mare twice in 2011, but she was in heat 4 days later still, and I was too busy working to cover her again. I put her with him the next cycle, but she was not receptive and I never saw them breed.
   

• This is the type of comments we have heard from Rye's foals' new owners. I haven't kept all the e-mails, but thought I'd share this one because it reflects the other comments we've had about Rye's foals: This colt is probably one, if not "the," SMARTEST colts I have worked with EVER..... I mean I have calm ones, willing, smart but this guy acts like he has had lessons before and knows he just DOES........ he never fights pressure just comes to you and faces you like he knows to face you. First time I asked him to walk forward he walked like a broke dog ! NO BABY DOES THAT ! - he's shy from being out since he was born so like to touch him but he is curious and kind of doesn't care just doesn't know. VERY SMART! (written by the owner of a 2010 colt by Crowheart WYO Boy)

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Photos

2008-2010 (above)

4 years old (above)

  
4 years old (above)

4 years old (above)
A bit thin from breeding season, but happy!

3 years old (row above)

2007

2 1/2 years old (above)

2 years old

Foal and weanling photos

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