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This page is a long story with a lot of pedigree numbers and information on it. It may not interest some of you but others have requested it. We had been looking for a horse that could be used for pleasure riding BUT it also would have to do some ranch work. The type of horse most folks would call a "using horse". It had to be something with a great disposition, calm and sane because we had 6 children. One day a man called and said he heard we were looking for a horse and thought he might have what we were looking for. We drove over to look at her and I was immediately in love! Here was this little solid black mare, she was not yet 2. Her name was Lehman's Black Dixie TWHBEA# 885510 and he had purchased her at the North Dakota State Fair. Dixie was recently certified by the Heritage Society! After looking at her and checking her over Mark and I huddled in a corner to make our decision...it was a short huddle. Mark said "If you don't want her I do"! We didn't know anything about the Tennessee Walking Horse but we took her home. It was not until a visit sometime later with Mrs. Maxine Miller that we found out she had Allen's Gold Zephyr AKA Roy Rogers Trigger Jr. on her papers. In a very short time we were hooked! It wasn't long before Mark decided he needed "one of those". We wanted to breed Dixie and after much searching found the nearest reputable breeder was Calvin Miller in Rhame, North Dakota. We went to the famed Double Diamond Tennessee Walking Horse Ranch. Calvin had recently passed away and Wade had taken over the ranch. Wade wasn't sure he could take care of the ranch, the cattle, the buffalo, and the horses. They were in the middle of a drought and finding someone who was familiar with the breaking and training of TWH's was a tough job. Wade had made the difficult decision and had sold most of his dad's horses but always wanted to keep a few on the ranch for riding and breeding. He kept one stallion, Millers Superman, and 8 mares. These mares he considered "the best of the best". We took Dixie down to "visit" Miller's Super Man and when we went back to pick her up we brought home a black yearling stud colt. That colt was Jubal and he was the last stallion to come off the Double Diamond ranch. It didn't make much sense to have a stallion and 1 mare so we began a search for a couple of suitable brood mares. In 1994 we saw an add for a "1976 model" TWH mare. I wasn't really interested but thought I would get some information and idea on some prices. I called the woman and after a short conversation she asked me the name of Dixie's dam, when I told her she started to laugh and said "that 1976 model mare I have is Dixie's dam"! Well, that cut it, we made the trip to Green Zephyr Stables in New Rockford, North Dakota just to look at her. I still didn't want to buy her because I thought she was to old but after meeting her...She and a couple of others came to Montana! We purchased;
In the fall of 1996 we were looking for a couple more mares to breed to Jubal. Once again, we contacted Wade Miller hoping he could point us in the right direction and give us some pointers on what to look for. Wade had an idea...Jubal was the last stallion to come from his dad's breeding program, Super Man was gone, and he still had those eight mares left. Wade wanted to see his fathers lines continue! He wanted the good, natural gaited, using horses that his father had been breeding for 30+ years to survive. After some negotiating, we ended up with the eight mares and Wade would always have horses from his fathers lines on the Double Diamond. Those eight mares were;
Slush Creeks Jubal S, Lehman's Black Dixie, the 4 mares from Green Zephyr Stables and the 8 Calvin Miller mares became the foundation of our breeding program. We have stayed with the tried and true "using horse" lines while still insisting on gait, disposition, and the sane mind required to do many of the ranch/trail tasks that we require of our horses. Over the last few years we have carefully selected some other horses to compliment our breeding program. In 2000 we added a second stallion to our program for use on the "Jubal" fillies we had been holding back. His name was Blaze of Threat TWHBEA# 905357, we kept him until early spring of 2005. Then in 2005 we purchased an outstanding black stallion for use on the Jubal lines we had held back. He was purchased from Lynn Henschell Stables in Michigan and his name is The Ultimate Bum TWHBEA# 934497. A couple other mares have also been added to our program, we have been very careful with our selection of these mares;
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Dakota Dixie
Flash TWHBEA# 764296 (Deceased)- She became affectionately known as "Gramma",
she was in foal when we purchased her at 18 years old. She had Allen's Gold
Zephyr on her papers 3 times. We had several healthy foals out of her and
enjoyed 6 years with her until her death at the age of 24.
