Blue Baldy Joe at pasture, 6 years old
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Joe Hancock was a known racing sensation from Texas. Tom Burnett bought Joe Hancock during the Great Depression. Burnett stated that Joe Hancock was one of the best horses he had ever seen. Joe Hancock became a legendary sire of roping horses that were big, stout, tough and had speed. Hancock horses were mainly associated with ranch work and rodeo areans. Old time ropers say that the Hancock horses were big, stout, tough and had a lot of bone. Even third and fourth generation Hancock horses make good rope horses. Hancock horses can handle the hauling and tough competition of rodeo. In 1943 Joe Hancock was put down on the Four Sixes Ranch due to a pasture accident. Joe Hancock was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1992. |
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Red Man is one of Joe Hancock's most known sons. He had a Speed Index of 85, he was 1952 ROM Roping NCHA Hall of Fame Sire. Red Man passed on his size and bone, athletic ability, roan color and good black feet. He was quick out of the box and took to the event like a "duck takes water", carrying on the tradition of the Hancock breeding.
   " Red Man was a terrific sire of rope and race horses." All Breed Pedigree. |
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Blue Valentine passed on his sire's legacy of usability and functional conformation to the Meritt Horses of Wyoming. Hyde Merritt horses were popular with ropers for 25 years and the breeding is still found in many remudas in Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Nebraska. Blue Valentine's sire Red Man was a well-known sire of the ranch mounts throughout the Arizona cattle country. Blue Valentine was hauled year round while owned by Hayes/Haverty. He was hauled south in the late summer for use at the fall and winter rodeos in the southwest and for the early breeding season in Arizona. Blue was then hauled back up to the Hayes Ranch for the late breeding season and to rope at the Cheyenne Frontier Days and other Wyoming Rodeos. Blue was used for roping, ranch work and steer tripping, when the calves weighed 800-900lbs. In 1969 Haverty's daughter barrel raced on Blue (he had never been run on barrels) took 3rd at the Wyoming pro rodeo. Over the years, many members of the Haverty, Merritt, and Hayes families took their turn at competing on Blue Valentine, in rodeo events. In August 1980 Blue Valentine died at the age of 24. |
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