What began as a typical little girl gone horse-crazy, has  evolved into an adult size passion for quarter horses of the "using kind". A child's desire for anything equine has been pared down to a specific focus. Within that focus has emerged the culmination of a parenthood plan which brought together a collection of favored bloodlines in the pedigree of Too Slick Two Watch.

With a family history deeply rooted in the legendary lines of Harlan, Watch Joe Jack,  Rey Jay (pictured) and Dry Doc, this modern day "using horse" is as versatile as his family tree would indicate. One needs look no further than Dry Oil, outstanding son of the immortal Dry Doc, whose record has been nothing short of phenomenal with earnings of $233,829.43, and achievement of World Champion in Youth. When bred to the gritty Rey Jay daughter - Rey Jay’s Doll, herself an earner of $9,304.85, the cross produced the sire of Too Slick Two Watch, Reys Of Oil. An accomplished cutting horse with NCHA earnings of $3,896.94 with limited showing, he finished 2002 as High Point Horse for Area 22, Middle Tennessee CHA. Another son of Reys Of Oil achieving much success is ’97 gelding High Dry Quixote, half brother to Too Slick Two Watch. He has earned $8,428.69 with a non-pro, a $2000 limited rider and two different youths showing him, and finished 2004 as High Point Horse for Middle Tennessee CHA.

Reys Of Oil’s breeder and trainer Byron Green commented to me on the stallion “he’s one of the most athletic horses I’ve ever ridden. I have liked all of his colts. They are very trainable”. Incidentally after having Too Slick Two Watch broke to drive as a long yearling, riding him myself for about12 or14 rides, he then went to Green for the next 60 days or so and was started on the flag (mechanical cow) before moving north as far as possible without leaving the state of Indiana.

It is common knowledge that there’s a lot of genetic power in the mares, so to give credit where due, it would be remiss to not mention Rey Jay’s Doll. She brings to the equation the unforgettable passion of the immensely talented Rey Jay. Sustaining an eye injury as a weanling didn’t limit his abilities to achieve greatness. It is believed there were times when he could see with a mere 15% of his normal vision in the injured eye. Regardless, he and Tom Lee of Fort Wayne, Indiana put away an AQHA Championship, AQHA Superior in cutting, and the NCHA Bronze Award and $20,600 in NCHA earnings. They accumulated 257 cutting points, 12 halter points and 4.5 Western Pleasure points in the AQHA. (See Rey Jay article by Larry Thornton). From this legacy Too Slick Two Watch couldn’t help but to inherit “cow”.

When looking at his dam’s side of the pedigree we find his dam’s sire, Tyree Joe, a son of Watch Joe Jack who was sired by the legendary Two Eyed Jack. Watch Joe Jack was not about to stand in his father’s shadow. Credentials for the 1970 chestnut stallion include but are not limited to: AQHA World Champion, AQHA Champion, Superior WP, and Superior Halter. Watch Joe Jack sired 1451 foals, of which 189 have been performers earning 3 World Championships, 8 earning AQHA Champion, 52 arena ROM, 22 World Champion WP, 18 Open Superiors and innumerable youth and amateur world champions and High Point awards.

Watch Joe Jack’s ties to Indiana run strong through his son Tyree Joe and Charlie and Esther Parton of Springville, located south of Bloomington in the southern Indiana hills. I talked to Charlie about Tyree Joe recently. A horseman that has been around long enough to have seen some of the old ‘great horses’ and to have met some of the great cutting horse showmen that showed some of those great horses, Charlie has owned some pretty outstanding horses himself. He considers Tyree Joe to be one of them, although he never felt like he could afford to have him professionally trained and shown. Charlie was at the Pitzer Ranch Production sale in 1981 and paid the hefty sum of $9700 for Tyree Joe as a two year old. Parton said (his wife) “Esther liked to died over the price for the drop-dead gorgeous”, but unbroke buckskin stallion. Tyree Joe’s dam, Ima Tyree was a prized mare of Pitzer Ranch, blessing them with 16 foals including half brother to Tyree Joe and current senior stallion, Two Eyed Red Buck.

Charlie and others did rope and sort cattle off of Tyree Joe some, but his primary job was in the breeding shed, although he got pretty broke along the way. Charlie had this to say about Tyree Joe’s greatest attribute, “he was always the same, no matter how long he went between rides. Any little kid could climb on him and ride him around the place. He was just that quiet and trustworthy.” Charlie and Esther used to put on cuttings back in those days, in fact, he told me Poco Lena stayed at their place a couple of nights, among many others. “Allen Mitchels (sidenote: Mitchels has put the cutting training on Too Slick Two Watch, and told me about a month ago, “he’s really trying hard to be somebody”) and Ronnie Sharp used to come help get the cattle gathered and penned before the show. See, we always put on a show after the Indiana State Fair and before the Kentucky State Fair, and being located in between the two at Indianapolis and Louisville worked out good.

Allen and Ronnie were good hands and good fellas to help out. They stayed in our bunkhouse and Esther fed them. Esther fed everybody,” he said. The last year we did the cuttings we had the top 10 or so cutters in the country here.” In keeping with exactly what I’ve been told over the years, Parton confirmed it when he told me “people didn’t always comment on how good the cutting was, but they always said how good the food was”. That made for a favored place to hang out for people of all ages including as many as 62 4-H kids one time. “There would always be as many as 35, which was plenty, but Esther always fed them all” Parton told me. They lost their bunkhouse several years back in a fire that took their barn and several horses as well. But they rebuilt a kitchen in another barn, because people and their horses still come. The Partons host horsemanship clinics and club cuttings regularly from Spring to Fall, and they don’t want anyone to go hungry at their place. Now that people have learned what a great horse Tyree Joe was, they call Charlie and Esther looking for sons and daughters. From this legacy Tyree Joe passed to Too Slick Two Watch his charming disposition.

The Harlan families of horses, well known in roping circles in particular, halter and performance circles in general, so well known in fact that from little or no advertising, Harlan’s court soon numbered so many mares that he ultimately was syndicated in 1965. Possessing no halter or performance record of his own, Harlan’s genetic recipe so strongly influenced his offspring, he sired one World Champion, 17 AQHA Champions, 51 Performance ROM’s, and 8 Superior Performance Awards, to name just a few of his progeny’s accomplishments … 114 performance point-earners accumulated 1,873 performance points while 71 halter point-earners acquired 1,123 halter points out of 21 foal crops totaling 403 registered foals. (See Harlan article by Larry Thornton).

Included in the extensive list of Harlan offspring is Harlan’s Tyree,  said by some to be the best all-around son Harlan ever sired. When Harlan’s Tyree was crossed on Ima McKee they produced the great Pitzer-owned mare Ima Tyree. This connection makes one of Pitzer Ranch’s current senior stallions, Two Eyed Red Buck a half brother to Tyree Joe. This legacy bestowed upon Too Slick Two Watch the “get-‘er-done” work ethic that has earned him 56 AQHA points in three roping events, gathering along the way a Performance ROM in Dally Team Roping as well as Jr. Heading and Jr. Heeling qualifications for the 2002 AQHA World Show in less than eleven months as a 4 year old. He had only begun his roping training after he turned three years old, but was already “turning heads and grabbing heels” in a short time.

From the same neck of the woods as the Dry Doc and Rey Jay descendants, had come Mr Kingsville.  Long before the 1960 Palomino earned AQHA High Point Stallion award in Pole Bending in 1965 and 1966, and AQHA Honor Roll award in Barrel Racing in 1967, as well as the first barrel race at the 1967 Quarter Horse Congress, his reputation had long since preceded him in the pens of barrel and pole races all over Indiana and Kentucky. It has been said by more than one weekend contester, “…if he showed up, you might as well not bother to unload your horse. Nobody could beat him.”

Begged by the New York owner of a then two year old Mr Kingsville, Leonard Russ thought long and hard before investing the modest sum of $300 in the unbroke stallion. The seller managed to convince Russ his kids would be able to achieve many wins with the horse, so he moved to his new-found home in Indiana. They got him broke to ride, sold him to a family friend who was a good hand to “ease one along quiet like,” then Russ bought him back a year later. That’s when Russ began to see genuine potential in Mr Kingsville. With sons Jimmy and Gary in the saddle, they trained him for the barrels and poles, then set out to campaign him for AQHA points. “He was a great horse” Russ said while reminiscing recently, adding “he was so versatile, and good minded. When asked if Mr Kingsville would be competitive against today’s horses, Russ never missed a beat when he replied “… absolutely. A horse is like any athlete. If Joe Louis was alive today, don’t think he wouldn’t still be a great boxer.” Mr Kingsville could run with the best.” Without a doubt, Mr Kingsville blessed Too Slick Two Watch with speed.

It is interesting to note that the horses discussed thus far have made their home in Indiana. With the exceptions of Dry Doc, who was just across the state line in Michigan, Harlan who hails from Oklahoma, and the Pitzer ancestors from Nebraska, they all had notable offspring that were Hoosier residents. Not that there’s anything about Indiana that makes it a haven for great horses, but since it’s not the first place you think of when you begin to talk about great horses, maybe now it won’t be the last. And maybe now you’ll think of Too Slick Two Watch as you study your mare, contemplating how her next foal might just be a great one, if it has a “Hoosier Daddy”.

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