Vetolette

Vetolette -- born 1958  Sire: Show Cash by Spot Cash.  Dam: Silk Slipper by Plaudit.

After Wayne Jordan and I discussed the outstanding qualities of Skips Veto the creative fluids begin to flow. Wayne knew I got along with Wiescamp and the plan was for me to try and buy Vetolette from Wiescamp. Then we would have the factory and could raise another Skips Veto.  I tried to get her bought and it did not happen. Hank sold when he wanted to, and when he didn't want to, nothing was going to happen. As time rolled on I learned Carl Miles had purchased Vetolette with the big Prince Plaudit and Wiescamp mare purchase. There were times when Hank would not price something to me and later I would find out he was doing me a favor.

Vetolette was at Abilene, Texas being bred to the Prince. Carl Miles was also a friend I could deal with but his purchase price for this older mare was pretty high. Carl wasn't ready to take a bath on Vetolette, yet. He also knew about Skips Veto and his ranch manager Harry Reed had seen Skips Veto.

The final day the chickens came home, Reed had given up on getting Vetolette bred. She had left Alamosa on a cattle semi, was never halter broke, and Reed had no easy time handling her.  She had been pasture bred at Alamosa and this tie-one-leg-up thing did not fit her temperament. The tail wrap part was a battle. Any palpation, hoof trimming, or molesting of any kind did not meet with Vetolette's approval.  Reed couldn't get her bred and obviously Hank couldn't or he would not have sold her.  Basically Vetolette was a has-been, free-loader.

Carl Miles priced Vetolette for $2000 and the Wayne Jordan/Darol Dickinson partnership started. Billy Allen of Scotts City, KS was at a show in west Texas and I made a deal with him to haul Vetolette to Colorado.  After some effort at Abilene to get her loaded in his two horse trailer he called and said she was more than he wanted to handle. Her Plaudit genetics were starting to boil and explode. I begged Billy, and against his better judgement, they got her loaded.  Billy said she rocked and banged the trailer for 800 miles.  When she unloaded in Colorado Billy's trailer looked like a fresh used rendering wagon. He was not a happy camper and had some choice words to say about my horse buying stupidity. Vetolette had blood and hair scrapes all over.

Vetolette made you work for everything. I trimmed her feet a few times and that was a battle. Finally we gave her a shot and put her to sleep. When she woke up she was trimmed -- trimmed real close. The Jordan partnership was that I kept Vetolette, bred her to Skips Count and paid all the bills. Then, if we got a foal, Wayne would take it and pay the bills to show and train.

I won't go into the problems with Vetolette.  However, anyone with a line bred Plaudit had to be a serious lion tamer to retain their own sanity. Over the miserable years of doing battle with Vetolette and due to  Skips Count's persistence and dedication, she raised 2 stud colts. Count Veto went to Wayne and that is another story for another day. The ownership of Vetolette was one of the reasons that convinced me to switch to the Texas Longhorns and the safety of handling big horned bulls rather than Vetolette.