Skipper's King, who Henry J (Hank) Wiescamp called the king of the Skippers, was his favorite. He was by Skipper W and out of Santa Maria by Plaudit. Wiescamp felt he was so good he kept him in the second from the front stallion pen to Skipper W as long as Skipper W lived. He ate only green alfalfa hay and never saw the bottom of the rack. His pen was pine poles with a huge lock on the front gate. He had fresh mountain Alamosa water running 24 hours a day through his sand-lot pen. He never had a hair trimmed and seldom if ever had his feet trimmed.
Skippers King and his sister Skipperette both showed at the same time winning Grand Champion at Denver, Albuquerque and Fort Worth. He was considered so valuable Wiescamp did not let him off the place, except for those early shows, until he had a pasture full of his sons and daughters. At about 12 or 15 years old he hit the road with Leroy Webb and did amazingly well in AQHA performance roping events. To watch this big stallion move across the arena was the ultimate of athletic beauty in real-life motion. It was awesome. He was extreme and so far above his peers there was no consideration.
A photographer took photos of Skippers King and Skipperette together at Denver when they won dual Championships and sent Wiescamp stamped proofs. Hank was quite frugal and used the proofs for promotion and never ordered a real photo. I knew it would be hard to squeeze bucks out of him for photos after seeing that.
Cecil Dobbin recommended that Hank get me to do some oil paintings of his great horses. My first time starting a commission I was in my teens and did not have a driver's license. My mother took me to Alamosa where Hank posed Skipper W and Skippers King for me to do research photos at about 10 degrees below zero at Alamosa, Colorado, often referred to as the deep freeze of Colorado.
Hank was high IQ. He was a brilliant survival livestock producer, breeder, marketer and superior in genetic matings. Most livestock people fail at mating, but Hank did not often fail. He was sharp at color value, quick eye appeal, extreme conformation, and refined beauty in equine anatomy.
This oil painting of Skippers King was commissioned when I was 18 years old and completed when I was 19. Hank hung it in the First National Bank of Alamosa where he was a major owner. Today it is owned by his grand son Grant Wiescamp. The "King" was about 16 hands. He had a small head and tiny ears, which was Hank's signature mark of excellence. His long, flat hip was probably one of the largest in equine history. He had very short canon bones and a double ought shoe. As a correct Quarter Horse show stallion, born in 1954, he would no doubt be able to consistently win at the highest levels today--no other horse of that era could do that.
Over a few years I photographed most of Hank's top horses and was commissioned to do two Skipper W paintings, one head drawing, this Skipper's King painting and a oil of Skip's Reward. Several breeders of Wiescamp horses also commissioned me to do portraits. For more "Famous Horse Bios" https://www.texaslonghorn.com/horse/
Author: Darol Dickinson
