Reference Stallions > BLUE VALENTINE (Deceased)
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Blue Valentine
Owner at death: Hayes Bros & Hyde Merritt. 1 pt. Dally Tm Roping/Heading. Blue Valentine was foaled in Benson AZ, on Kenny Gunters Ranch. Dell Haverty bought Blue Valentine. Havertys wife was a daughter of Buster Hayes of Thermopolis, Wyoming. Haverty took Blue Valentine up to Wyoming to the Hayes Brothers ranch & sold them 1/2 interest in him. During the Hayes-Haverty partnership, Blue would be hauled south in the late summer for Dell to use at the fall & winter rodeos in the southwest & for the early breeding season in Arizona. He would then be hauled back up to the Hayes Ranch at Thermopolis, Wyoming for the late spring breeding season & to rope on at Cheyenne Frontier Days & other Wyoming rodeos in the summer. Blue was used for roping, ranch work steer tripping, when the calves weighed (800-900lbs). In 1968 Havertys daughter barrel raced on Blue (he had never been run on barrels) taking 3rd at the annual Casper, Wyoming pro rodeo, an all-girl competition. Over the years, many members of the Haverty, Merritt, & Hayes families took their turn at competing on Blue Valentine, in rodeo events. In August 1980 he died, age 24, from a ruptured intestine due to colic. The same month Buster Hayes was killed in an accident & none of the heirs were financially able to take over the ranch. It was sold & the Hayes Brothers broodmare band was dispersed. In 1983, Hyde Merritt was killed in an accident & his family also had to sell his ranches & most of the horses he had spent his lifetime breeding. Hydes wife, & their son Chip, managed to keep some mares & two stallions. Chip has spent years rebuilding a Blue Valentine herd & legacy. Leo Hancock Hayes, the last breeding son of Blue Valentine,foaled in 1980, died in June of 2007 of an apparent heart attack. He was owned by Randy & Susan Brookings of Lohn TX, at the time. Blue Valentine horses are known for their gentle disposition, bone frame,good feet & minds. The only remaining son of Blue Valentine, Blues King Fisher, has passed away. Blue was 25% Joe Hancock breeding. This information was researched and compiled by Baru Forell Spiller, Wingate TX. For the full story on Blue Valentine go to www.HancockHorses.com
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Blue Valentine
Blue Valentine. "Old Blue" at the Hyde Merritt Ranch at Tie Siding, WY
Old Blue was 23 years old when this photo was taken by Jim Jennings
of the Quarter Horse Journal (November 1982 WH Magazine) -
Blue Valentine
This photo was taken in 1964 at Hyde Merritt's big roping at the old Merritt ranch, 19 miles west of Cheyenne. The Hayes family owned half interest in Blue Valentine at that time, and Del still owned the other half. Del won the calf roping on Blue Valentine and he and Lonny Jones won the team tying. This photo appeared in the September 1964 Western Horseman Magazine.
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Redman--Sire of Blue Valentine
Red Man AQHA #1685 roan
Joe Hancock x Burnett Roan Mare
SI 85; perf. points 2; NCHA earnings $20.
1952 ROM Roping; NCHA Hall of Fame Sire -
Redman--Sire of Blue Valentine
Red Man taken soon after he had set a new track record tpicture taken from a 1943 Western Horseman Magazine
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Redman--Sire of Blue Valentine
Red Man, racing
(photo taken by Reggie Russell, from Nelson Nyes' Complete Book of the Quarter horse) -
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