I am pretty sure that Rushcreek Greeley was the sire of Trilby's Hall of
Fame horse Lad. When you look back at what these horses have
accomplished and are still accomplishing in endurance it is pretty
amazing. Years ago, before the AHA data base was on line and before the
AERC data was available, Karen Zontelli and I went through the AERC year books
and the AHA CD just looking at the number of Al Marah Knight 1st and 2nd
generation horses that competed in endurance. It was pretty amazing that
so many of these horses had not only done well as far as placing (Tevis Cup
winners, National and regional champions) but that there were many that had
over 1000 competition miles. You have to realize that 1000 miles
was considered a lot of miles. Most of this data is not in
the AERC data base because it was prior to 1985. Al Marah Knight was
used on the Rushcreek Ranch as a stallion for many years and many of the his
endurance prodgeny were Rushcreek bred.
I really like the Rushcreek breeding, especially certain lines. It
is amazing that some of the current Rushcreek horses ( or horses with old
Rushcreek lines) I have seen or own have the same movement especially at the
trot that I remember seeing in Rushcreek Hans and Rushcreek Eaton, who
are at least two generations before these horses. There is much to be
said about the way these ranch horses are raised but there is also something
to be said for the breeding behind these horses. I think this is
especially true when it comes to traits like movement and the quality of the
gaits a horse naturally has. I think that Rushcreek had some fabulous
broodmares that produced some awesome horses.
