Blue Ribbon
Mr. Bodacious
sk any breeder what his or her goals are
when it comes to producing foals and you
will no doubt receive two very specific
answers; one, to produce a quality foal that is worthy of carrying their farm name. And two, to produce a World Champion. A true optimist might
even say a Grand Champion. Imagine the excitement of a breeder who not only bred and raised a
colt who proudly carried their farm name, but who
exceeded all their expectations by winning in effect
every class he was ever entered in and then concluding his show career by earning the title of
Grand Champion Senior Stallion. It’s every breeders dream, and it couldn’t have happened by
chance. We allow the story to be told by those who
held this horse in their highest esteem. His breeder, his only owner, show ring handler, trainer,
groom and caretaker- Ed Sisk and Valerie Escalara
of Blue Ribbon Training Center.
A
us at
Blue Ribbon Mr Bodacio
two weeks of age.
Statistics:
Foaled : 3/21/98
Sired : 56 foals
Bred and owned by: Valerie Escalera
28 Miniature Horse World
December 2010
The Loss of a Champion and a Friend
Written by Ed Sisk
On August 3, 2008, we lost not only a champion
stallion, but a distinctive fixture in our lives.
Blue Ribbon Mr. Bodacious was the rock that our
program was based on. From the day he was born
he was destined for greatness. He had that look
December 2010
Miniature Horse World 29
Bodacious as a two year old.
about him and an attitude that said
move over, I’m coming through. He
was the horseman’s dream, never
sick a day in his life, always ready to
please and the first one to greet you
in the pasture.
Bodacious and his dam, VF Outlaw Audrey Rose in the Mare and foal class.
30 Miniature Horse World
December 2010
The bond that Bo and my partner
Valerie had was something to see. He
could be acting up- being the proud
stallion that he was, and she could
get after him and he would melt
back into that little colt again, just to
seek her approval. My relationship
with Bo was a different one. You
might say that it was a love hate relationship. I showed Bo from the time
he was a weanling, all the way
through his three year old senior
year. He was the type of horse that
was either the class clown or the master of the ring. The problem was that
you really never knew which Bo was
going to show up. There is nothing
worse in a trainer’s world, than
knowing that you are going in the
ring with the best horse, but your
horse is so full of himself that it
could cost you the class. I can’t tell
1998
World Champion Weanling
Stallion-National High Point
Weanling Stallion
1999
World Champion Yearling
Stallion- National High Point
Yearling Stallion
2000
World Champion 2 yr old
Stallion- National High Point
Two Year Old Stallion
you how many times he put me
through the ringer and had me shaking my head. We would come out of
a class and I would tell Val to take
him away because he was giving me
an ulcer. Throughout all of the
pranks and the hell he put me
through, he was our champion, and
a champion he was.
There were so many memories we
made along the way with Bo, starting
with the day he was born. We knew
that the mare was close to foaling
and Valerie had to go to another
farm to trim horses. That left me on
foal watch with strict instructions to
be in the right place at the right time
with no exceptions. The mare, VF
Outlaw Audrey Rose had been a
good show mare and for her first
foal we had selectively bred her to
Little Kings Black Velvet hoping for
great things. When Val left she put
her order in for a palomino filly; due
to the fact that the mare had a lot of
palomino color in her back ground
and Black Velvet had thrown a lot
of palominos.
About 11:00 that morning, the mare
laid down to foal and thank God I
was there. She had no problems foaling and that was the start of good
things to come. No offense to other
breeders, but at our farm the last
thing we want to see is a solid red
colt! So as soon as the red colt stood
up and dried off, I looked at him and
said to myself, Whoa! We’ve got
something special here. I called Val
and told her that the mare had
foaled. The first thing she asked was
“How pretty is my new palomino
filly”. I said “In your dreams, she had
a damn solid red colt. But he’s a
damn good solid red colt.” I had
attended many foalings but I had
never seen such a strong vibrant
baby. He had attitude from the start
and it got stronger every day. When
it came time to name him, the first
thing that came to mind was the
bucking bull Bodacious. That bull
demanded respect in the arena and I
thought that this colt would do the
same. So on that day, Blue Ribbon
Mr. Bodacious was given a name that
he would have to live up to. There is
nothing worse than the possibility
of wasting a cool name on a solid red
colt; but we both felt he was really
something special.
Always a character, Bo was very protective of Valerie. Even as a breeding stud in the pasture, when Val
would walk thru the pasture, he
would run up to her to get attention
and then chase the mares away to
have all the attention for himself. If
she had him in the grooming room
either trimming his feet or just
cleaning him up, he would be an
angel until another person walked
in. Then he turned into a different
animal. He would get defiant and
hard headed. As soon as the other
person left he was back to being the
angel; a Jeckyl and Hyde personality
2001
World Champion Senior
Stallion 32’-34”- National
High Point Senior Stallion
2001
World Grand Champion
Senior Stallion
2004
World Champion Get of Sire
2010
Reserve World ChampionGet of Sire - Blue Ribbon
Mr. Bodacious
for sure. Bo never had a sick day in
his life and everything he did, he did
boldly and strong enough to gain
attention. He was a very smart horse
that knew how to get things done.
Bodacious was the first of four foals
sired by Little Kings Black Velvet out
of our mare VF Outlaw Audrey Rose.
Her second foal was a silver dapple
colt, Blue Ribbon Mr. Bubba Dew
who is owned by Ken and Donna
Atkinson of Centerville TX. The
third foal from that mating was a
palomino filly named Blue Ribbon
Black Velvet Boz My Bro that we still
own and the fourth was a palomino
colt named Blue Ribbon Black Velvet
G Whiz that is now owned by our
friends
Anna
and
Henning
Kraegpoth from Denmark. It’s
strange how the solid red colt was
never again duplicated.
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Miniature Horse World 31
His National Grand win in 2001 was
of course very memorable. Bo had
won his Senior Stallion class, and I
also had a 28 and under Senior stallion that had won his class too, which
meant I had two horses going back in
for the Grand class and needed
someone to show one of them. I contacted a good friend and top trainer
Darin Southwick for help. He agreed
to show the 28 and under horse and
I would show Bo. You have to understand that Bo was not a horse that you
could just hand off. He made you
work and sometimes he enjoyed seeing you work hard. After the cards
had been turned in, I was nervous
and as usual my gut is in a knot and
the sweat is dripping off the tip of my
nose. They first call Reserve National
Grand and it’s Darin with my 28 and
under, stallion; a feat not often seen.
Then they call out the National
Grand Champion Senior Stallion for
2001, and it was Blue Ribbon Mr.
Bodacious! My head was spinning,
my knees were weak and I had to
move to accept the award. The
coolest thing was that there we were,
Darin 6’5’ with the 28 and under
horse and me 6’5’’ with the 32-34 stallion- together on the big stage with a
clean sweep. That was a fantastic time
and a sense of accomplishment that
stands with us today. To my knowledge Bodacious is the only horse in
the history of the AMHA to achieve
the honors he won, and to compete
undefeated in open competition at
the World Show.
The number of Supremes, Grands
and Reserves are too numerous to
list along with the huge number of
points he received by the time he was
a three year old. Blue Ribbon Mr.
Bodacious was the show horse of his
time. He wowed the crowds with his
beauty, his style and yes, his zest for
the show ring. He was our one of a
kind. It’s true that there are special
horses that come into our lives. Why
is it that these exceptional animals
are always the first to be taken away
from us? I believe that all things happen for a reason, but it has been very
hard to see the light on this one. All
we can do now is cherish what he has
left behind and try to continue the
path to the legacy that he started.
I’m sure there will be some of you
who read this that will
say,” He was just a horse”.
To you I say I only wish
that you someday will
enjoy the pride and enjoyment of sharing your life
with one of these rare
individuals. The hole in
our hearts will heal and life
will go on, but he will still
be our once in a life time
champion.
We would like to thank
Wade Burns and Jon
Woodring for giving us the
opportunity to bring Bo into
this world. If they had not
allowed us to breed to Little
Kings Black Velvet, Valerie
and I would not have had the
privilege of sharing this once
in a lifetime horse.
This year’s World Show proved
yet again Bo’s presence will continue
in the get and grand get he produced. The Reserve Get of Sire entry
included: Blue Ribbon Bodacious
Vindicator owned by Valerie
Escalera, Blue Ribbon Bodacious
Elegance owned by Warren &
Brenda Sellwood and Blue Ribbon
Bodacious I Chi Wow Wa owned by
Valerie Escalera.
ck
acious Aftersho
Blue Ribbon Bod
Some offspring of Blue Ribbon Mr
Bodacious are:
Blue Ribbon
Bod
acious I Chi
us Sensation
Blue Ribbon Bodacio
Blue Ribbon Cuz Bo Said So
32 Miniature Horse World
December 2010
Wow Wa
Blue Ribbon Boda
cious Mr Miles
Marks Bodacious Honey
December 2010
Miniature Horse World 33