About The Mills Family Horse/Stallion History

BROKEN BACK RANCH QUARTER HORSES

Raising good horses in Wyoming has been a tradition in the Mills family for the last 4 generations. My great grandfather, Thomas S. Mills homesteaded a ranch on Cherry Creek, south of Ten Sleep, WY in the late 1800's. At one time during his life as a rancher and horse breeder, he owned around 500 head of horses. They were broke and sold to the U.S. Army and local ranchers and folks that still depended on a good horse for transportation. My grandfather, Milo B. Mills, carried on that tradition of raising good using horses and then passed it on to my father, Boyd S. Mills. Their horse raising fever passed on to me...somehow! I now carry on the family tradition with a great appreciation for all the careful selection and years of quality horse breeding that my ancestors have done. They are the reason I am able to continue raising these quality, working cow horses of my own today.
My grandfather & great grandfather didn’t raise registered horses, just tough ranch horses that could go the distance and get the job done. My father’s first registered stallion was Dry Fork Buck (1952 Dun - AQHA #0040720). “Moon” as my father named him was out of Windy M and by Moore’s Little Buck. Moon had Keeno, Patron, Gata and Zantanon bloodlines! Although Moon is listed as a gelding with AQHA, he remained a stallion on our ranch until the day he died and produced plenty of the flashiest duns, grullos, browns and buckskins I have ever seen!  I assume that AQHA listed him as a gelding because he never bred any registered mares, but he bred plenty of good grade mares during his lifetime.   There are many folks out there that bought a Moon colt and can attest to this fact.  They were extremely cowy and could handle rough terrain very well while chasing down a cow.  This is a quality that real ranch & country folks hold dear to our professions!
My father's 2nd registered AQHA stallion was an own son of Peppy P-212, named Peppy Rojo (1958 Sorrel Stallion - AQHA #0091683), out of an Oklahoma running horse bred mare (sired by Silvertone) named Chocolate P-2369.  In my opinion, Peppy Rojo was the greatest stallion we have ever owned.  He put good solid bone on his colts and plenty of natural cow sense, stamina, speed, and longevity with perfectly balanced conformations.  Peppy Rojo was a true blue people lover!  My mom rode him and Peppy always stood perfectly still for her to climb up on!  The kids would stack 4 strong on his bare back!  You can't do that with very many stallions!  Unfortunately our ranch never owned any registered mares to breed him to, but several of my grade brood mares are his great granddaughters.  We do have 4 granddaughters of his that produce colts with the same style, class and cow sense that was typical of Peppy Rojo.

My father's 3rd & 4th AQHA stallions were sons of Beaver Comet, by Cactus Comet, by Lightening Bar.
The Rusty Nail (1975 Red Roan Stallion - AQHA #1125269) listed as a red roan, was a typical blue roan, amid seasonal color changes.  He never showed the true color of a red roan, but did have some red here and there.  At times you could have, maybe, called him a bay roan, but to us and to everyone that saw him in person he was a blue roan, with a black head and legs.   He was a stocky bulldog type quarter horse and along with more cow sense he brought the coveted roan colors into our brood mare band. Some of my grade quarter horse buyers may have received my homemade pedigree charts with The Rusty Nail's name listed as just "Rusty Nail".  This is purely my mistake for spelling his name wrong, so don't think he wasn't a papered stallion!  His younger half brother, Rushin Comet (1976 Chestnut Stallion - AQHA #1194858) was a big soggy built sorrel stallion!  He added more depth, bone and muscle to our program. Comet was bred to one registered roping mare named Miss Classy Dell owned at the time by a family friend.  Miss Classy Dell produced our first registered filly named Broken Dell Bars, who is also the dam to Ten Sleep Foxy Bar and the dam/granddam/etc. to several of our brood mares.  Namely, Southern Dell Fox and King Poca Silver Bar,  pictured on the old website on the Brood Mares page.  www.brokenbackranchqh.com.  Broken Dell Bars is also the great grand dame (etc.) to several of my current brood mares.
My father was taught by the old-timers that in order to avoid producing a bunch of rough riding, stocky quarter horses you needed to add some thoroughbred once in a while. Along came Foxy Pleasure, (1981 Blood Bay Stallion - AQHA Appendix #X0261687), half Quarter Horse and half Thoroughbred stallion. I thought I was in heaven when he would run with that smooth rocking horse motion!  He wasn’t a cow horse, but he had speed, stamina, a super sweet disposition for a stallion, plus he added more height to our colts. I even broke this stallion on my own and that doesn't happen every day!  He was a joy to ride and sure did produce some fast, powerful cow horses for our family and for many other folks during his time.
His son pictured below, Ten Sleep Foxy Bar (1993 Blood Bay Stallion - AQHA Appendix #X0507500) carries on that smooth riding tradition and even added a little more cow sense from his dam’s side, despite his tall, lanky Thoroughbred type conformation. If you've got a hang up about raising, breeding or buying Appendix registered horses keep it to yourself!  I've learned from my own personal experience that it doesn't make a horse run any faster or cow any better if he's got straight blue Quarter Horse papers.  Those long legged TB crossed horses can sure jump a Wyoming draw or wide creek/ditch a whole lot better than the short legged Quarter Horses!!  If you research the bloodlines on the AQHA speed and performance horses you'll notice that most of them are 1/8th, 1/4th or even half Thoroughbred!  I took over training Ten Sleep Foxy Bar after he was ridden 2 times in a horse breaking clinic.  Some mistakes were made in the very beginning, but otherwise he broke out really well.  Most of his colts have been easy to break to ride also.  They are good all-around using horses built to go all day and cowy enough to get the job done!
I have also raised a grade 1997 buckskin stallion sired by Ten Sleep Foxy Bar that is built like a tank, named Buckskin Bo.  Bo also sports the Peppy Rojo line in his grade dam's pedigree and is a good color producer so far.  He is by far the smoothest horse I have ever ridden and that old saying holds true with him that you can't ride papers!!!  Registered or Grade, he's got some nice qualities to pass on to the right kind of mares if you want color and a reasonable stallion breeding fee without all the hassles of registering his colts!  **He is grade because his dam, granddame, great granddame, etc were grade horses, born and bred in Wyoming and used on a working ranch.  There is no way to register them with AQHA.  I suppose that you can register them in a color registry if you so choose or in the half quarter horse registry.  I'd be willing to help out if you need anything like DNA info on Bo or his pedigree info.
The “strawberry on top” is Spooky Rip, my 1991 Gray Stallion - AQHA #3010340.  He has a foundation packed pedigree, color, cow sense, and conformation all in one small package.  His colts that you will see pictured on my web site tell it better than my own words!  He has been a gem to own and manage and has raised some fine colts and fillies.  He is a good brood mare producer, stallion prospect producer and there are plenty of good hard working geldings spread around Wyoming and across the United States, even including a pretty red roan stallion in Alaska, a gray stallion in Texas and another gray stallion in Colorado! 
Back in those days...I did not need any help breaking Spooky Rip.  He was easy to train and so willing to learn.  He can even be ridden bareback!  He is a real gem!  Priceless to my horse breeding business!  A cowgirl couldn't have asked for a better stallion to start up her colt producing business.
Help Notes - If you are researching AQHA horses by their numbers on the AQHA site you'll notice (see above) that many of them are listed with several zero's in their AQHA numbers.  Because of the increasing numbers of registered quarter horses being raised and the internet research capabilities, extra zero digits might need to be added to the old numbers as you research the horses by their AQHA numbers.  Sometimes you'll need to add 2 or 3, even 4 for the older original AQHA horses.  For example, Peppy P-212 (when researching try # 00000212)  or Chocolate P-2369 (when researching try # 00002369) to make the horse info you are researching work.... when doing it by the registration numbers!  For best results, try using just their names.  It's much easier!