THREE BARS TB (1940-1968) is well known by every connoisseur of Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. He sired 29 AQHA Champions and 4 Supreme Champions from 558 foals, plus 317 Register of Merit earners. His bloodline is integral to nearly all modern AQHA champions, winning at cutting, racing and halter consistently, and everything else.
In June of 1960, our class went on a senior trip to California. I cut a deal with the bus load of graduates that if they would go by Apple Valley, California and let me see Three Bars, I would forfeit my vote for any other trip destinations. When we got to the Sid Vail horse farm Mr. Vail took our class to the barn and pointed to the stall where Three Bars lived. We stood there, and it was him. I was thrilled beyond ecstatic even if it was just a glimpse into a dark stall. The other kids only saw a horse.
A couple years later I drove into the same driveway and saw Three Bars again. I was working in California and pitched to Sid Vail, the Three Bars owner, to do an oil painting of the great stallion. He had several beginning artists do Three Bars paintings who gave them to him free. I wanted to charge for a oil portrait. I was disappointed that he could not see the difference in my proposed $3000 painting and the free ones. I drove away with nothing but an experience.
Somewhere about the same time Orin Mixer drove in the same driveway and tried to sell Vail a Three Bars portrait and he also drover away with nothing but an experience.
Mr. Vail was not much for marketing and only bred a few mares each year. Some years Three Bars bred less than a dozen mares. One year Three Bars was kidnapped and bred somewhere by someone during breeding season but could not be located. At the end of breeding season one morning Vail looked out the window and Three Bars had been returned and was grazing in his yard. I never heard the details on that. Everyone in the horse world was talking about it at the time.
In 1965 Three Bars was age 25. Walter Merrick leased him from Vail and booked over 100 mares to the famous stallion. Walter acquired the Bar J Ranch facility on the south side of highway 287 near Quanah, Texas, which had wonderful accommodations for this big business. The B Bar J was built and designed by John T. L. Jones, Jr, and Bill Burford of Texas Art Gallery fame. Many great stallions stood at service there over the years.
The stud fee was $5000 per mare. We booked 2 mares to Three Bars. I considered $5000 a bargain. One of the mares had a gray fillie which I sold to Leo Winters, Treasurer of the State of Oklahoma.
Each year when Three Bars would start breeding the quality of semen was almost nothing. He would scare his owners nearly to a heart attack. After a few weeks at service he would come around and become very fertile. This phenomenon is not unusual with bulls, but at $5000 a pop with Three Bars it was more than concerning. As we had found in bull semen collection I recommended that a 12 month breeding plan should be used on Three Bars to keep him "cleaned out" to avoid this scare. If he bred a few mares every month I thought thiscould be avoided. I don't think my advice was ever taken. Had I owned Three Bars he would have been bred 12 months, never to slow down.
Walter Merrick was one of the greatest horsemen of all times. I saw at B Bar J hundreds of mares with no neck or leg tags with numbers or names. Most of these places have a very visual identification on every mare. Walter knew every mare. He said neck tags was amateur.
Walter commissioned a 30" x 40" oil portrait of Three Bars. I spent a lot of time with this great horse.
Walter wanted Three Bars to have a full mane, yet somewhere in his past his bridle path had been trimmed. When it grew out, the bridle path hair never co-mingled with the rest of the mane. In his tail Three Bars had a white tail root. If you opened up his tail hair it was white on the inside. When he would switch his tail, with close observation, you would see white. He was not a roan, but there were a few dark patches of dark chestnut, a different tone than his bright red chestnut color. He had a few white hairs in his hide, almost not noticeable. One nostril was crooked--Walter said, years ago Three Bars and Midnight Jr were fighting over a fence and Three Bars got a part of his nose bit off. Vail was
very mad about it.
In my efforts as a portrait artist my goal was to recreate the great horses at their prime, but diligently work at documenting their personal details of anatomy. I wanted people to recognize every subject from my painting. Other artists would over-glorify their subjects and make every horse look like the perfect horse covering up the faults.
My Three Bars painting was a background in the B Bar J front entry. It was the only portrait of Three Bars that was commissioned at full price. Walter would lead Three Bars out to this little area and let him graze some green grass every day. Walter knew and loved great horses---some people just consider them inventory.
Three Bars lithographs 20" x 24" order from LHTT, 35000 Muskrat Rd, Barnesville, Ohio 43713 at $26 pp.
Author: Darol Dickinson
