Two Eyed Jack

Two Eyed Jack was born in 1961. His sire was Two D Two and his Dam was Triangle Tookie.

I first saw Two Eyed Jack as a two year old at the National Western Stock Show. I do not recall that he was a standout, but when he came back as a mature horse he owned the show. This photo was taken in January without nice slick hair. We posed him in the straw where Hereford show bulls were tied by their nurse cows during the night. The background was an old Quonset barn that has long been destroyed. The horses were housed in these metal barns and as the steam from the horses and the cold Winter weather co-mingled, drips of water fell all over the show horses. Some of the worlds great horses were in these barns.

It was a horrible area for photo backgrounds. I increased the contrast so the corrugation of the barn dropped out and darkened the foreground chemically to make this photo. Howard Pitzer ordered 1000 of these photos and gave them to everyone, size 8" X 10". In those days color photos were costly for prints and ads. Most photos were only black and white. 

This is his Sire Two D Two

I never got to photograph Two Eyed Jack slick haired. Once I showed against him with Skips Count at Omaha - Jack was first and Skips Count was second. Walter Spencer was coaching me to stand Skips Count a certain way that he felt the judge would let us beat Jack. I wasn't happy and didn't have the heart to take photos of Jack on that day.

After photographing Two Eyed Jack at Denver, the following May I took photos of Two D Two for Jack Schwabacher in Madera, California. We also photographed Bar The Door the same day. I looked forward to a careful evaluation of Two D Two to try and understand the genetic connection of the great Jack. I walked around Two D Two, front, back, side, then again front, back, and side. For the life of me I could not understand how in the world this father/son miracle had ever happened. In a score of 1 to 10, Two Eyed Jack was a 10 and Two D Two was a 3. I looked at his pedigree and Two Eyed Jack was, without question, a mutation. To increase the confusion, his pedigree even traced back to Redolent (Morgan) blood.

Two Eyed Jack was the all time leading sire of AQHA Champions. I won't go into the history of what amazing achievements were under his belt. However, Dad (Frank) traded breedings with Howard Pitzer on Two Eyed Jack and Silky Fox. We bred Sailor's Maiden to Two Eyed Jack and raised a registered APHA paint mare "The Neighbor Lady." She had 4 white side walls and some decor pinto spots here and there. The Neighbor Lady was National Champion at Denver and high point APHA mare for 11 years.

Dad and Howard were great friends and exchanged breedings from Silky Fox to Two Eyed Jack and back and forth. The only way to improve Two Eyed Jack was with a touch of Thoroughbred blood and Silky Fox provided that slick haired hot injection.