Joker B

JOKER B ~~ was born in 1941, the year after Three Bars and Leo. He died in 1966 serving his masters for 25 years. Many of the great stallions lived to be 25 years old.

Joker B was bred and born on the Jack Casement ranch in Colorado. Jack was an AQHA Director. Not being real pleased with this wild spotted Appaloosa he sold him for $250 to crazy cowboy Jack Blasingame of Ramah, Colorado.

Blasingame once served as school bus driver and as sheriff of Fountain, Colorado. One warm Summer night, on his patrol he spotted a liquor store robbery in progress. Jack drew his pistol, hid behind the get-away car and when the thieves jumped in their car Jack raised up, poked his gun in the window and with a big semi-toothless smile told them they were under arrest. The robbers froze, then the one on Jack's side, the passenger side, quickly rolled up his window on Jack's hand crushing it against the top side of the door. The car sped out and they loosened the window at about 40 miles an hour. Jack lost his best pistol, got pretty skinned up, and the robbers got away.

Jack tripled his money and sold Joker B within the first month. Joker worked the rodeos, barrel racing, parades, steer roping, about everything. He had several owners and spent time in Nevada and Hollywood and all over the West Coast. If you watch the old westerns John Wayne road him in one movie. Richard Boone, "Have Gun Will Travel" used him in some films. Governor John Connolly and Miss Texas Linda Loftis chose him for special events. When you see him in a movie, you know who the horse is -- there was only one like him.

In 1959, at the ripe old age of 18 Joker B was purchased for $10,000 by Texas Oil Man, brilliant promoter, Carl Miles. Carl could not get immediate possession of Joker B, yet wanted to get mares bred immediately. Joker B had Hollywood contracts to fill which came before Carl's possession. Prior to the science of AI in horses, Carl had Joker B's semen collected in California. A special insulated body pack was developed so the semen temperature stayed close to the human temperature. It was transported under the coat and shirt of Carl's employee. Joker B was collected in Los Angeles, semen was flown to Dallas, then on to Cee Bar Ranch at Celina, Texas. By this process, it went repeatedly several times a week. It was reported that Miles had nearly 30 foals born by Joker B the following year before the stallion got to Texas.

After Joker B became a Texas resident Miles commissioned me to do a portrait of the soon to be "more" famous horse. This photo was used by Carl when he did not use the painting to promote Joker B. Carl ordered several hundred color photos of the painting, framed them and through his connections had them hung it hotels all over the nation. Joker B's last breeding season was 1966. In 1988 Joker B was inducted into the Appaloosa Horse Club Hall of Fame.