Frostfire's Tadpole P-1837(F)
Owned by
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This Issue's Spotlight Stallion is...
It all began in 1983 when I read an article in The Mother Earth News by Jay Hensley on a unique horse with curls. Had to have one!! Thus began the odyssey to produce a good using, good dispositioned, well built Curly which eventually produced Frostfire's Tadpole.
I bred some of my straight mares
to The Red Baron, but none fulfilled my hopes, dreams and
expectations. Then we heard of a 
sale of Curlies being
brought in from South Dakota. At that sale we bought a big, red,
well-built stallion we named Frostfire's Big Mac (pictured at left;
we ate at McD's on the way home) and a yearling colt we named
Frostfire's Capt Kirk (by Bad Warrior out of a small bay mare
eventually named GCF Kota Kurls).
In doing research as to where these horses came from, we managed to track the previous owner, who turned out to be the breeder--also a man that loved Curlies and had been breeding, using and selling them for many years.
He told us about Slim Berndt and Eli Bad Warrior (this information we passed on to Shan Thomas of the CS Fund and she went and interviewed him).
It was also found out that he sold quite few horses to the Neihardts, which then became the 'reservation' horses, since this man did live on a reservation, but the stock was his.
He told us that the big red stallion--Frostfire's Big Mac--had been one of his best horses, but had acquired too many of his fillies to keep him. He had been born on the ranch out of the last of the stock he had gotten from Slim Berndt (who had gotten them directly from Eli Bad Warrior, by a stallion that he only used two years) and turned out with a band of mares for 4 years. He was 7 at the time of purchase; he's 21 now.
The man had no idea there was a
registry for curly horses and after he was told about it, proceeded
to register all his stock with the ABC. This man's name was Ernie
Hammerich.
On with Tadpoles story. At the time, there were no good Curly mares
available, so we felt that the Appaloosa was a more primitive breed
like the Curlies, so went searching for good Appaloosa mares to use
with Mac. We got a blue roan mare with 
impeccable bloodlines (the
mare was one of two left from a breeding farm sellout), she became
Frostfire's Rocky Road (shown at the left), her bloodlines trace back
thru Whistle Britches, Double
Six Domino, Chief
Chelsea, Cooterville
Chicken, Mansfield's
Comanche (Note: to view
Mansfield's Comanche's correct pedigree click HERE) Dr. Howard (TB), One
Eyed Waggoner, Peter
McCue, Ferras (AHC) and Ferdin (AHC). I already had a nice
buckskin Appaloosa mare with unknown parentage. So the quest was
begun to produce the perfect stallion.
Frostfire's Big Mac was bred to
Rocky; the resultant foal was named Frostfire's Frog Lips (shown
below). That was the year of Lonesome Dove, 
one colt had already been
born, named Frostfire's Augustus and on Lonesome Dove there was a
minor part for a good/bad character named Frog Lips. We toyed with
naming the Mac/Rocky colt Frog Lips, but finally decided to do it
when a friend said "Go ahead name him Frog Lips--all the good ones
with strange names are bound for infamy", thus Frostfire's Froglips.
The same year a Mac/Sandy (the unknown Appy mare) breeding produced a
filly; since there were no good names for females in Lonesome Dove
(except Hell Bitch which was the name of a horse and I couldn't do
that to one of mine; I believe in names reflecting the horses
personality), Frostfire's MacMuffin (see that trend?) was registered.
At the appropriate time, Froglips (who had since been sold but with a
breeding reserved) and Muffin were bred, with some 
trepidation by the owner of Froglips since they were half
siblings, but the desire was to set the good traits of Mac in the
resulting foal.
Muffin was bred to Frog, she was
ultra sounded pregnant at 10 am and he was gelded at 12 noon and
sold. I have since lost track of him. It was decided that if the
resulting foal was a colt, it would be a Tadpole and if it was a
filly, she would be Pollywog, following the Froglips theme. 11 months
later on May 1, 1993, a small bay colt that became Frostfire's
Tadpole was born.
Tadpole had an uneventful childhood except in his yearling year, he
contracted strangles that turned into Hemorrhagic Pupura and took a
lot of care and dedication and knowledge by the vet to save his life,
since it is usually fatal. This occurred when he should have been
growing and I feel it may have stunted his growth a bit. When he
finally recovered, he started growing again and just kept developing
into a better and better looking colt. Mac gave him his disposition,
good bone and curls; the Appy mares donated their color and good
hindquarters.
Right now, Tadpole stands right at 14H on tippy toe. He
has a rear end and chest that would put some Quarter Horses to shame.
His neck is very good, with a good clean throatlatch and nice
stallion arch. He has the most fantastic set of stallion jaws you
could ever find on any stallion with a nice soft eye and a willing
attitude. He loves to be scratched and made over.
He was broke to ride as a 4 year old, his trot is a bit rough, but has a canter to die for. He can WP jog and lope, or he can reach out and do the ground covering English gaits. He was used as a pony horse for a burro escapee when he was in training (he did have a nasty ostrich accident tho); he has been ridden on the trails and tied at hitching posts for weekend campouts with mares without a bit of a problem or attitude.
The last couple of years he has
been left at home making babies that are an improvement on himself
and the mare he's bred to. He 
consistently passes on his bone, good hindquarters,
shoulders, neck and head. He also passes on his nice laid back
disposition and good bone and joints. He has been bred to Curly
mares, Appaloosa mares, a purebred Saddlebred, grade mares, all of
them producing good usable, nice dispositioned foals.
He has produced palomino, chestnut and black foals, but usually produces bays. Some have appaloosa color, some color later; very few have no color at all. He has sired two straight fillies, but these belong to friends of mine (free test breedings) and one friend was joking and said, "You get what you pay for". Both of these friends are thrilled with their Tadpole babies, even without the curls, because they are good looking horses, with that Tadpole disposition and will make them good trail horses when it's time.
Tadpole is registered with the ABC, will be registered ICHO, he's registered with the Appaloosa Sport Horse Association and with the International Quarter Pony Association. Since he can be traced back to the Arabian, he is eligible for the Ara-Appaloosa registry as well.
Bay roan (Appaloosa) stallion 5-1-93 | |||
|
P-1063(F) Bay 1989 |
P-1064(F) Sorrel 1989 | ||
|
ACBA-HO-633 |
P-651(F) Sorrel 1980 |
Rocky Road (Conley's) |
P-651(F) Sorrel 1980 |
For more information visit: Frostfire Stables
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CurleZine Volume 1 - Number 1