11/01/2022
𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐜𝐤'𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬?
Few bloodlines inspire as much admiration or as many snorts of derision as the line of horses descended from Joe Hancock. There seem to be two camps: Hancocks are either the best, soundest working horses in the world, or are a bunch of big, coarse broncs.
The truth? Joe Hancock’s get were stout but had quick speed. His half-Percheron dam provided the line’s reputation for toughness and soundness. But Idaho’s Shannon Pearce, who’s been riding and raising Hancock-bred horses for 50 years, said there’s more to the story.
“Walt Lamar always swore that mare only weighed 1,100 pounds because she was a ‘coach Percheron,’” he recounted. “Those were smaller than draft horses and bred to haul stagecoaches great distances in a hurry, so they were fast-footed.”
It’s that quickness that made Joe Hancock one of the greatest quarter-mile racers in history. He was only beat one time at the half-mile. His advantage was how hard he could break from the starting line, thanks to those powerful hips and loins.
The first owners found Joe Hancock to be so nice-natured they never got around to gelding him. Then, as a senior stallion for the 6666 Ranch, he bred Burnett mares that not much is known about, since the AQHA hadn’t formed.
“A lot of people think they’re bronc-y, but Joe Hancock himself definitely wasn’t,” Pearce said. “It just depended on the mare. Roan Hancock and Red Man were brothers out of roan mares. Red Man colts hardly ever bucked, and Roan Hancocks could buck you off.”
Here’s the deal. That was the 1940s, when ropers weren’t just arena cowboys. Whether or not the buck came from Roan Hancock is a matter of opinion, but the performers definitely came from him and Red Man.
In 1947, at his first big steer roping, Hyde Merritt noted three of the top four guys riding horses by Roan Hancock, with the fourth aboard a Joe Hancock. In fact, legends Shoat Webster and Everett Shaw won gold buckles on half-brothers Popcorn and Peanuts by Roan Hancock, known to pass on powerful builds and level heads. Still today, the Haythorn Ranch is putting out some great head and heel prospects thanks to a mare by a Roan Hancock grandson.
Just as only one Hancock branch likely produced any bucking, only one branch unfortunately produced high-hocked, rough-riding, ugly-headed roans. This is the picture people get in their mind of “Hancocks,” despite plenty of performing blood out there.
The latter is evident when you consider steer-roping world champs Scott Snedecor and Buster Record won plenty of money on a fast little double-bred Hancock gelding. Or, that one of the winningest team roping horses of all time was double-bred Hancock.
When Gill Cattle Company bred the Joe Hancock Jr. son, Pelican, to a Depth Charge granddaughter, then crossed that stallion on a Roan Hancock mare, they got the Wheatley family’s great NFR heading stallion Frosty Tops. Pearce reckons that NFR team ropers have won upwards of $8 million on him and his get over the years.
Well before that, Shoat Webster had convinced old-time Oklahoma roper Fred Lowry to buy Roan Hancock. The resulting Lowry Hancock blood has benefitted calf ropers, steer ropers and team ropers ever since. A grandson named Lowry Star stood in Wyoming for 20 years, and the Bower family still stands Lowry Star Jr.
“You’ve always got somebody that thinks they’re broncs,” said Bower. “But Lowry Star Jr. is the farthest thing from a bronc you’ve ever seen. He’ll go to bed with you at your house.”
The Wheatleys’ late stallion, Trapper Bar Drop, a Lowry Star grandson, sired the gelding that Keven Daniel won the Reno Rodeo on in 2013 and the mare that Erich Rogers placed at Cheyenne on in 2013. A Lowry Star daughter is still winning for NFR heeler Nick Sarchett’s 10-year-old son in five events after Nick placed on her at Tucson and rode her at the BFI.
“What makes them great rope horses is their durability and their smarts,” said Bower’s son, Brandon. “They retain what you teach them. and they’re real forgiving. They speak English.”
➡️ Full story by Julie Mankin on the rumors behind the most popular old-school bloodlines: http://bit.ly/2MZEBXJ
