Sage Scooter

SAGE SCOOTER - born in 1952. Bred by H J Wiescamp. Sired by Scooter W, who was Champion AQHA Running Stallion of the year 1948. He was out of Sage Bird by Holy Smoke. Scooter W also sired Skippity Scoot who was one of the first famous sliding horses in the Rocky Mountain area. He is said to have recorded 52' parallel slide tracks at the New Mexico State Fair AQHA Reining ridden and trained by the "Mighty" Casey Darnell. Later his 7/8 brother Sage Scooter is said to have excelled the 52' slide. Jack Kyle and Leroy Webb rode Sage Scooter for Wiescamp winning numerous performance events.

We had admired Sage Scooter for years and his easy moving style. He moved like a lion with his hind legs striding well up under him to grab the ground in a smooth flowing way. In 1962 dad, (Frank) bought Sage Scooter from Wiescamp. He wasn't Wiescamp's most costly, but Hank never did any favors when he thought he had a serious buyer. When we got ready to load him he had on a Johnson halter. Hank took it off and put a Mexican hemp weave single piece halter on and attached a hay string to it to lead him with. At that time probably a $2 savings for Hank.

I loved playing with him in reining contests. I was no Jack Kyle, but Sage Scooter was so smooth and push-button anyone could win with him. Once I entered him in an AQHA reining and Casey Darnell was the judge. I was doing the first standard AQHA reining pattern and something was not right. Sage Scooter could steal the crowd with a sliding stop from a dead run, but not this day. I couldn't understand what went wrong. Casey came up and stuck his finger under Sage Scooter's chin strap, it was old, rotten, and had just fell apart. Casey said, "Son -- you just lost your brakes."

Red Randall had campaigned Skippity Scoot in the high dollar open reinings in California and heard about Sage Scooter. One day he drove to Colorado with a trailer, representing a wealthy doctor, and we waved good bye to Sage Scooter. From then on he did not ride for points but high dollar reining championships up and down the coast.