Sonnys Calvin was a 1980 son of Sonny Dee Bar. My dad, Frank Dickinson, was an avid lover of great horse flesh and always thought he had to stand a couple stallions. One day Dad got in his truck, trailer behind, and left. It was very quiet. He just drove away. Dad was about 70 years old. He never put money in the stock market - he only trusted land and livestock for safe investments. Well, Dad had been talking to Dean Landers and Dean had him convinced that Sonnys Calvin was as good or better than his sire. Dad had enough money in the bank to be loved by Dean. Dean smelled Dad's bank account.
Dad told many people and Ronda, my mother agreed, that Frank did not chase women, did not smoke, did not shoot dope, did not chew, and did not drink, but he did buy some high priced horses from time to time. The part Mother did not calculate, if Dad had the above bad habits he would have saved a lot of money rather than buying horses!!
Dad drove home one day from Landers with a pretty chestnut son of Sonny Dee Bars. After some prodding, he admitted he paid $40,000 for Sonnys Calvin. (Mom would have found the cashed check anyway) Mom did not speak to him for a couple weeks. Dad couldn't say anything about Dean or the horse that impressed Mother. She knew dad was in his "seasoned citizen" years and didn't need another horse to show or stud to stand. Dad showed him anyway and bred some mares. He sent him to a trainer and he went on the circuit and won some stuff. To our amazement, Dad kept him a couple years, promoted him and got just a little more for him than he had paid including training fees, less stud fees.
Author: Darol Dickinson
