a bit of history....
CHIEF CHELSEA, F2154
April 9, 1947 - April 6, 1981
(copied from Sundance "500" International Newsletter dated January, 1992)
by
Mary P. Hare
Schuyler, Virginia
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The December, 1991 Sundance Newsletter carried the story of Chief Chelsea.
The story told of the false
pedigree that has been attached to this leopard stallion. Mary P. Hare has
graciously given further
information regarding Chief Chelsea's real pedigree. Sundance makes every
effort to provide information
so you can correct your pedigrees and pass along to others the true pedigree
of Chief Chelsea. Thank you
Mary Hare for sharing a bit of the past and present.
Having read the "old" material on Chief Chelsea that you gleaned from the Jan
Haddle material,
old Appaloosa News, etc., I feel guilty that I have not kept the "Chelsea
lovers" updated on more
current discoveries about Chief Chelsea! I have been out of the Appaloosa
activities for over a
dozen years, and Chief Chelsea died in 1981, so I have neglected to publicize
the newer
information.
I was more than a "fan" of Chief Chelsea. I was the major researcher of his
line and other
leopard lines in the late 1960's. At one time, I even considered to start a
"Chelsea Breeders
Association" fashioned after the Toby Breeders, Red Eagle Breeders and the
Sundance Breeders,
but just did not have the time to get it off the ground. I also held the key
to the Arab Toswirah
Alkhar (March-April, 1991 SN) discovery (Ghost Wind Stallions) and helped tie
up a lot of loose
ends about the Desert Horse Ranch, in addition to the Chief Chelsea history.
This is a brief
update and bloodline on Chief Chelsea to reflect more accurate background
information as we
have available today.
Franklin Murray owned the Desert Horse Ranch in southern California. His
cousin owned another
ranch in Red Bluff, California. Murray traveled a lot and was well educated.
His travels took him
to Argentina where he purchased several leopards tracing back to the Don
Region of Russia,
around 1919. One was an original "Don Russia" mare name So Rayna, imported
from Russia in
1916, and two of her leopard daughters. Carlos, who worked for the lady in
Argentina, came to
the U.S. with the horses, and stayed as a companion to Murray until the
latter died in a train
wreck. This is the same Desert Horse Ranch that George Long Grass sold the
Ghost Wind
stallion, Blue Hawk, to in 1901.
In 1943, Franklin Murray took three horses and Carlos to Saskatchewan,
Canada. One of these
horses was Desert Dancer, a tri-colored leopard sired by Desert Night, a
black leopard who was
sired by "Ro" (i.e. Pharoah), a son of Blue Hawk, Desert Night, was a full
brother to Desert King,
the sire of Arab Toswirah Alkhar, F2417. While in Canada, Murray became
acquainted with a
man named McCree, who lived near Fir Mountain. He bred Desert Dancer to
McCree's dun
leopard mare known simply as The McCree Leopard. She was sired by a black
McCree Leopard
(also known as Checkers) stallion. Fir Mountain was near McCord,
Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the 'special colt' was born. "The little one with the many-colored
spots" is how Carlos
described him. Murray named him Dancer's Rainbow, and was to carry on for
his sire, Desert
Dancer. But that was not to be, because while Dancer's Rainbow was still
with his mother, they
and 12 other horses were stolen! Carlos promised Murray that he would find
the men responsible
for the rustling and bring the horses back. Carlos trailed them to Montana
and lost them.
There were four men involved with the theft. According to my Montana
sources, three of the men
were well known to the Appaloosa world, but it would serve no purpose to name
them in this
article. Carlos was able to track down the card dealer, who met an untimely
death. It is assumed
that the card dealer got the horses over the Canadian border into Montana and
the other three
involved continued their southward trek into Texas, and later Oklahoma.
Back in 1966 at the National Appaloosa Show in Syracuse, New York, I asked
Elvin Blevins if he
knew anything about the origin of Chief Chelsea. He told me that the sire
was a leopard with
many colors, but his name could not be revealed. His mother was a dun
leopard, and that he had
seen the mare in Oklahoma with Chief Chelsea. The earliest pictures I have
on Chief Chelsea
were attached to his ApHC registration application. He must have been about
two years old by
his immature build. Later, when I became a National Director in 1972, I
again broached the Chief
Chelsea subject to Elvin Blevins, who denied his 1966 story, saying that the
pedigree was
correct, except that the sire would continue to remain nameless.
In the spring of 1953, Carlos happened upon the colt in Oklahoma. How did he
know it was the
same colt after six years? "I would know him anywhere, believe me." How can
you be sure? Lots
of leopards have more than one color of spots. "Ah yes, but not the same
pattern! You see, he
had many colors on his back and sides, but only the black spots on his neck
and all his legs. No,
this was the same horse, the special one Senior Murray loved." What was his
name now? "The
man in Oklahoma called him Chief." Who had him in Oklahoma? "A senior Roy
Wood." Did you
tell him about the colt? Yes, but he said I was mistaken. He said the
colt's mother was Minnie
Pearl, but that is a lie." How do you know this for sure? "I tell you but
one more time, this was the
same colt." End of conversation. This conversation can be documented as to
time and date.
Chief Chelsea surfaced at the 1952 National Appaloosa Show held in Quincy,
California. The
stud book records show that he was bred by Cliff McMurtry, and owned by Roy
Wood, Chelsea,
Oklahoma. In 1952, Bill DuBois and Ted Dudley went to Oklahoma to buy some
horses. They
stopped in Chelsea for gas. The attendant, seeing their rig, suggested they
stop by Roy Wood's
spread to look over his Appaloosas. Although Bill had heard of Appaloosas,
these were the first
he'd seen. He was completely taken by those spots! But, alas, Roy Wood
would not sell Chief
Chelsea.
The following spring, Bill and his brother, Laurel, returned to Oklahoma and
this time Roy Wood
was more than willing to sell Chief Chelsea for $500. Since Carlos saw chief
in the spring of
1953, is it only a coincidence that the sale then took place in this short
span of time? The rumor
in Oklahoma was that Chief Chelsea had died. It would seem that Roy Wood
wanted people to
think he had died, but instead, quickly shipped him out of the area to
Indiana.
The rest of Chief Chelsea's life is a matter of record, with Gene and Betty
Woodling purchasing
him from the DuBois brothers in 1961. But, I'd like to add that when the
Woodlings took him to
the 15th National Appaloosa Show, held in Springfield, Illinois in 1962, a
man came up near Chief
Chelsea, disbelief on his face. Betty heard the man exclaim to himself, "It
can't be. That's Chief
Chelsea! There's not two like him! I'd know him anywhere!" This man was
Elvin Blevins, and he
made a positive identification after a span of eight years. He'd heard that
the horse had died. So,
if Elvin Blevins could identify him after eight years, it certainly stands to
reason that Carlos could
after only six years!
I hope the readers will accept this updated background on Chief Chelsea.
Sometimes old ideas
get stuck in your mind and newer ones can't wipe out the old ones. I have
enough corroborating
material on this, gathered from a number of reliable sources, so that it has
changed my mind.
(SN Editor's note: Because of the coincidences of this updated information,
because of the fine reputation
of Mary Hare, because of the known information about Chief Chelsea along with
the reputations of Cliff
McMurtry and Roy Wood, the only conclusion is that Chief Chelsea, F2154, was
formerly Dancer's Rainbow,
foaled 1947 in Canada. Roy Wood was known as a story teller and was
permanently barred from the ApHC
after he submitted several false pedigrees on other horses and was caught.
He then began the American
Appaloosa Association as a private registry. It lasted only a few short
years. It is a matter of record that
Chief's first registered foal was in June, 1950. If he was foaled in 1948 as
claimed by Roy Wood, Chief
would have been 15 months old when he impregnated the mare. Generally, a
young yearling's sperm is too
immature at this age, but it is possible. Coupled with Wood's reputation, it
is more than likely Chief was 27
months of age. The mystery about Chief Chelsea is no longer.)
(FAHR's Editor's Note: Sundance Newsletters are invaluable, as they
chronicle many of the famous
Foundation Appaloosa bloodlines. The Sundance philosophy of breeding
Appaloosa to Appaloosa selected
Foundation bloodlines should be practiced today, as our registry can attest.
Without the old bloodline
registries of which Sundance is the last, you would not see as many FAHR
eligible Appaloosa horses today.
Thank you Sundance and those that have and champion Sundance bred horses,
and a special thanks to
Ralph Cannon.)
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