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Driftwood
Driftwood also known as "Speedy" created a dynasty of rodeo horses
that are still used today by rodeo
champions. Excelling in roping and barrel racing Driftwood was famous for his good looks and good mind. "Speedy"
passed his speed, soundness and good mind on to his offspring and it is still the tendencies you
will find in the "Driftwood" bred horses......more below.
(click on images to see enlarged)
Driftwood aka
"Speedy"
Driftwood was a horse of amazing physical
ability. He had a great reputation for winning match races at short
distances. Supposedly, Speedy even beat the immortal Clabber in Arizona
.
With his lineage clarified, the Peakes sent in Speedy's AQHA registration
papers. Another Speedy had already been registered by the time the Peakes'
Speedy was approved, in 1945, so history now knows him as Driftwood.
Driftwood, who was still nicknamed Speedy, met all of Katy Peakes
expectations.
Because of his match-race experience, Speedy broke from a chute box
terrifically fast. He learned to follow and rate stock and he developed a
wonderfully natural stop. His manner of going was smooth and easy. He
had been well broken and he had a good mouth.
Cow-sense came quickly to him. In those days, outdoor arena ropings were
held over a very long score, and Speedy rapidly learned to track and
hunt cattle in the fastest way possible. He had a handy,
instantaneous change of leads, and ropers still remember how he ate up
ducking and dodging calves and steers.
He was a tough horse, too, for he stood up very well against the pressure
of rodeoing - lots of runs, long hauls, changes of climate, feed and
water, and different ropers using him. He had stamina, he had
bottom, and he proved it in innumerable ways during the several years
that Schell and other ropers used him and used him hard. And through
it all, he never lost his good disposition. Even when retired to stud
duty, he remained a gentle, tractable individual.
One year at Rancho Jabali, another stallion, Booger H, got loose in the
dead of night and decided that there was not enough room in the stable
area for two stallions. Booker H kicked the lock off Speedy's stall
and tore in after him, biting, kicking and squealing.
They fought for a while inside the stall and then out into the stable
yard. The Peakes weren't home, but their young daughter, Catherine,
went out in the dark and drove Booger H off. Then she called to
Speedy. He came to her, she slipped a halter over his head and put
him away in another stall. His good disposition is legendary.
The Peakes never bred Speedy to unbroken,
high strung or unproven mares — either their own or others — and
for this reason, most of Speedy's get are characterized by excellent
dispositions.
Though there was nothing like the AQHA-Professional Rodeo Cowboys
Association Horse of the Year program to recognize rodeo timed-event
horses back then, many of Driftwood's progeny made names for
themselves, and made Driftwood famous around rodeo arenas in the
West. They included "Poker Chip," registered as Poker Chip Peake,
the well-known gray gelding ridden by PRCA President Dale Smith of
Chandler
,
Arizona
. Poker Chip's full sister, Henny Penny Peake, won the Pacific Coast
Hackamore Championship in 1953 and 1954.
Katy Peake, in an article in the December 1955 Quarter Horse Journal said.
"We have been careful of the mares we have bred to him, and by
and large they carry more Quarter Horse characteristics than he does
himself. He passes on his intelligence, kindness, speed and way of
moving with great fidelity."
The late Willard Porter, a former Journal editor and authority on ropers
and roping horses , devoted a chapter to Driftwood in his book "13
Flat," published in 1967. Along with lists of Driftwood's
progeny and their exploits, Porter added, "They don't switch their
tails and they have beautiful heads." More importantly, he also
wrote, "Driftwood sired more top rope horses than any other
Quarter Horse."
Driftwood sired 153 registered foals, and had a home at Rancho Jabali
until he died in I960 at 28. |
