Haidas Little Pep dies

This is from Glory Kurtz' artilon allaboutcutting.com about the death of the great Haidas Little Pep:




It was 1986 and the NCHA World Finals was being held in Houston. Bob and I watched as Greg Welch showed a then 6-year-old Haidas Little Pep in the final go-round. The result was history-in-the making. When the pair walked out of the herd, they had scored a 230 – the highest score ever earned by a cutting horse – winning the Open Finals.

The run gave Haidas Little Pep the Reserve title for the year with $90,542.41 in year-long earnings behind Jazzote, ridden by Sonny Rice and George Glover to $102,096. He was also named World Champion Stallion. For me, it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck as I realized I had just witnessed a “historical happening.”

But that was only one of the accolades earned by the 1980 legendary stallion sired by Peppy San Badger out of Doc’s Haida by Doc Bar. According to horse trainer Billy Pinion, Stanford, N.C., the 29-year-old stallion died on Monday, Oct. 26 in his 10-acre pasture where the stallion happily spent the past nine months of his life with a gelding as company.

Bred by Norman Bruce, Rutledge, Ga., Haidas Little Pep was syndicated in June 1983 after he won $264,397 as the Reserve Champion of the NCHA Open Futurity, owned by Helen Groves’ Silverbrook Farms and ridden by another legend – Buster Welch.

In 1984, the pair finished fifth at the 1984 Atlantic Coast Open 4-Year-Old Futurity, 15th in the NCHA Open Derby, and split 11th at the NCHA Open Super Stakes. Before his aged event career was over, he had racked up lifetime earnings of $425,174. At the time of his death, he was owned by John Walker, Pinson, Ala., who purchased him in December of 2000.

But after his cutting career, the stallion’s next calling began – as a sire. During his breeding career, Haidas Little Pep sired 1,389 AQHA foals, with 620 foals earning over $9.5 million – averaging $15,986 per money earner. His largest breeding year was 1988 when he had 113 foals registered with the AQHA. According to AQHA, his final crop of foals were born in 2007, although Pinion said he thought there was some frozen semen still available.

His highest money earner was Snack Box, a 1991 stallion out of Brudders Sunday Best by Docs Sugs Brudder, owned by Jerry Durant and ridden by Craig Morris to over $202,829 in earnings, including being the 1998 World Champion Stallion and placing third in the NCHA Top 10, earning $46,168.18.

There was also Haidas Jan, a 1994 mare out of Lemac Jan by Dan’s Sugar Bars, who earned over $171,808 with Greg Welch in the saddle, including the Reserve Championship of the NCHA Open Super Stakes Classic, earning $39,465. Sporty Little Pep, a 1988 gelding out of Warm Up Sport by Sport Model Nick, won over $168,547, owned and ridden by Kelly Welch, and Haidas Becky, a 1986 gelding out of Becky Lynx by Doc’s Lynx, collected $101,426, owned by Mrs. Buster Welch and ridden by Buster.

Haidas Dude, a 1989 gelding out of Miss Dry by Dry Doc was owned by Silverbrook Ranches and ridden by Rodney Schumann to over $158,271.53, and Little Moonpie, a 1989 mare out of Sujo’s Sunshine by Captain Joker, owned by Dan and Sallee Craine was ridden by Greg Welch to over $153,231.

Other high money earners included Our Little Haida, a 1987 mare out of Our Little Lena by Hesa Doc O’Lena, $138,049.03, who finished second in the 1994 NCHA Top 10 Non-Pro, earning $61,763; Smart Smokin Pep, a 1990 stallion out of Smart Smokin Lena by Smart Little Lena, who was third in the 2000 NCHA Top 10 Open, with $47,694 in earnings and was World Champion Stallion. Lintons San Badger, a 1990 stallion out of Ms Linton by Mr Linton earned $114,167 and Peps Southernthunder, a 1988 mare out of Fondacandybar by Ima Dandee, earned $113,427.34.

During 2009, there were 80 offspring of Haidas Little Pep still competing in the performance arena in various disciplines. He was buried at Pinion’s ranch.

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Haidas Little Pep is one of my very favorite horses of all time. Number two probably, next to Smart Little Lena. I do not know why I was so drawn to him, but I was. he was not pretty, he was not particularly personable to be around, but man did I love that horse. I remember very clearly the first day I ever saw him, and all the ones after that. I hope I can find some of my old pics of him.

I bred to him four times. I only got two babies out of the deal, Hard Rock N Haida, that I sold to Carrie in Canada, and Haidadoc, who I still have. Those two could not have been more different, either--Hyde was very refined but somehow still looked like daddy, and HG, the mare, is like a freaking freight train. I love her though, as you have to be in awe of all that power, and she is so freakishly athletic, it is fun just to watch her operate. I also bred Playmate to him another time, but she slipped the foal, and bred Foxy to him, and she did the same dang thing. Leave it to my girls to drop the babies that were hard to come by in the first place. That is the nature of breeding though.

Haidas Little Pep is also the brother to Sly's sire, Haidas Sugar Doc. Their mother was Docs Haida, who is one of my favorite mares ever. Partly because Haidas Little Pep was so dominant, Sly's sire is often overlooked--not many families can have a World Champion with 200K in earnings be overlooked, but this is one of them. Since I like Docs Haida so much, I like being able to get to her in many different ways.

I have noticed over the years that when I am trying to choose new young, up and coming stallions, that almost inevitably there will be some more Haida in there. Even when I see a photo and do not know who the horse is, further research will quite often show me there is some Haida right near by. It is weird. Over the last year or two, I have stopped fighting it--it is obviously something I like, and it is consistent with my focus on strong mares.

So I am a little sad about Haidas Little Pep moving on. ..the end of an era, so to speak. It has been a hard year on those 1980 horses--first Grandpa and now Haida. Who, interestingly, showed against each other a but and traded wins in several events. Now they are both gone, but I guess it cannot be said that either ever wanted for anything.

RIP ol boy.