Eternal Sun (1958-1984) was an American Quarter Horse foaled in 1958. He was a Quarter Horse race horse and an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) show horse who competed in cutting and halter classes. He earned numerous AQHA awards throughout his career, including an AQHA Championship. He was also a sire of 908 foals, many of whom are themselves AQHA award earners and race horses. He was inducted into the Michigan Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame in 1989, later followed by his daughter, Eternal Linda. He died at the age of 26 in 1984 on Harold Howard's farm.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Life
Eternal Sun was a 1958 sorrel stallion sired by Eternal War and out of Sierra Glitter by Silver King. He was registered as an American Quarter Horse. He had a white star on his forehead and a white sock on both hind legs. John L. Taylor of Chino, California, bred Eternal Sun.
In the 1940s the progeny of some Thoroughbred stallions became significant in the Quarter Horse racing scene. Their owners were not content to show them merely as halter and performance horses. These "half-breds" presented as consistent winners at the largest and most highly esteemed horse shows in the country. The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame horse Lightning Bar is an example of one of these first horses to make a name for himself. He was a 1951 sorrel by Three Bars, Thoroughbred, and out of Della P. Three Bars was AAA-rated on the track and an AQHA Champion show horse in the arena. In his retirement, Lightning Bar sired race horses and AQHA champions. He also sired Doc Bar, the sire of a cutting horse dynasty, and Glamour Bars, the dam of Impressive.
A decade later, another half-bred proved worthy in all three areas, the track, the show ring, and at stud. He raised the bar for all of the two-way race and show horses to come. Close examination of Eternal Sun's pedigree reveals outstanding equines. Eternal War was a 1944 bay stallion. He was by Eternal Bull and out of Red Haze. He also was a grandson of both Bull Dog and Man O' War. This line of ancestry means he was closely related to Spotted Bull, a noted sire. Spotted Bull had been one of his era's most notable sires of speed, but who had died at an early age. Eternal War won two races, placed third in two races, and earned $28,650. He was a notable stud who sired 120 Thoroughbreds. From those, 107 were performers who won 412 races and $710,747.
Sierra Glitter was a 1950 sorrel mare by Silver King P-183 out of Diamond Villiant. Wilbur D. May bred her and she was foaled on his renowned Double Diamond Ranch near Reno, Nevada. Sierra Glitter's sire, Silver King P-183, a 1937 bay stallion by Old Sorrel P-209 and out of Clegg Mare No. 3, was bred by the King Ranch of Kingsville, Texas As a close relative to four influential south Texas stallions, his most substantial contribution was as a broodmare sire. Her dam, Diamond Villiant, a 1934 sorrel mare by Cap and out of a Valiant mare, she was bred by Roy Valiant of Sonora, Texas. She was a line-bred descendant of Shiloh and Steel Dust. This made her the dam of one Register of Merit award-winning racehorse.
In the late 1950s, Taylor was living on the West Coast and was breeding some very notable Quarter Horses. Taylor was mainly a show horse breeder, but was also a visionary. He believed that race-bred stallions, when crossed on heavier-muscled, halter-type mares could produce Quarter Horses that could excel in both venues. He tested his theory in 1957 by breeding Sierra Glitter, a halter point earner, to Eternal War. The resulting foal was Eternal Sun, who was born in 1958. Before Taylor could fully test the results of his breeding program, he was killed in an automobile accident in January 1959. In August 1959, all of his horses were liquidated in a sale that caught the attention of the Quarter Horse industry. The sale established an all-time high average of $5,806 on 51 head, a price that firmly beat the previous high of $2,362. The 3,000 attendees bid so intensely the record for a mare selling at auction was set and broken four times that day. Eternal Sun's dam Sierra Glitter set a record price for a Quarter Horse when the final bid for her was $14,200.
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame inductee B.F. Phillips, Jr., of Frisco, Texas, attended the sale as well with the intention to buy horses. By the end of the sale, Phillips had purchased three horses. His purchases totaled $14,700, and Eternal Sun, a yearling at the time, was one of them, for whom he paid $2,100.
Eternal Sun was an AQHA Champion and a Racing Register of Merit earner (speed index 95). The horse earned 41 Halter points as well as points in cutting with AQHA. In 1960, he was awarded the AQHA Racing Register of Merit. In 1964, Eternal Sun was an Open AQHA Champion. Eternal Sun was an AQHA Champion 13 times, an AQHA Grand Champion 7 times, and a Reserve Grand Champion 4 times.
Speed Horses For Sale In Michigan Video
Career
Racing career
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame inductee B.F. Phillips, Jr., of Frisco, Texas, originally operated a cattle ranch, but decided in the late 1940s to liquidate his cattle business. Instead, he started a horse operation. A cutting show interested him so much that he started breeding and showing cow horses. In the early 1960s, he also started a stallion operation. In particular, he stood three stallions of his own, of which Eternal Sun was one.
Phillips' Expectation Stud Farm consisted of several stallions. When Eternal Sun became old enough, he was made ready for go at the track. In 1961, Eternal Sun joined the Phillips Ranch race string. As a 2- and 3-year-old, he was advertised lightly and earned a AAA rating.
Phillips ran Eternal Sun in Quarter Horse horse racing for two years. Quarter Horse racing is different from Thoroughbred racing, in that distances are shorter. One sportswriter equated Quarter Horse racing to Olympic sprinting and Thoroughbred racing to Olympic distance running. Eternal Sun's racing record is 12 starts in two years. He won two of his 12 races, placed second in one, and third in another. He earned a total of $1,676 in purse money. In 1960, Eternal Sun raced three times at the Los Alamitos Race Course, not placing in any of those races. In 1961, Eternal Sun raced at the Bay Meadows Racetrack (now defunct) and the Los Alamitos Race Course. At Bay Meadows he placed second in one of the maiden races. At Los Alamitos, he placed third in one of the allowance races, and he placed first two times in two other races.
Eternal Sun's racing career was not exactly breaking any records no matter what perspective you viewed it from. However, as a conformation horse, he was already showing early evidence of the endowment his breeder had been sure he would possess.
Show career and breeding
When Eternal Sun was 2 years old, Phillips showed him two times. The first was September 8, 1962, in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, at a show where he earned grand champion. The second was on November 16, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he placed first in a class of 10.Phillips also started breeding Eternal Sun to his ranch mares that year. His first set of foals was born in 1963, and two of them became Sun's first two champions. Named Eternal Ben and Matt Sun, both grew up to be stallions who became AQHA Champions.
In 1964, Phillips took Eternal Sun to more shows. In January, Eternal Sun competed at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado. The stallion, who was now 6 years old, was named the reserve grand champion stallion. He achieved this after being named first in a class of 30 aged stallions. Phillips hauled him back home to Texas after the show. Phillips then entered him in the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth. Eternal Sun placed third in a class of 46 aged stallions. He was also entered in the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, earning grand champion stallion honors at both. Phillips showed him six more times that year. The stallion placed first and grand at shows in Denton and Whitesboro, Texas. He also earned a first and reserve in Natchez, Mississippi; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Monroe, Louisiana. In 1964, Eternal Sun topped off his notable sophomore year as a show horse when he earned grand champion stallion honors at the 1964 State Fair of Texas in Dallas, Texas.
In 1965, Phillips showed Eternal Sun just two times that year. In January, at the Sand Hills Quarter Horse Show in Odessa, Texas, he won a class of 11 aged stallions. In February, at Fort Worth, in a large field of 44 aged stallions, he placed fourth. That was his final show with Phillips. In 1966; Eternal Sun's total show record with Philips from 1962 through 1965 is 14 shows. From that, he earned 12 firsts, 7 grand championships, and 4 reserve championships. In 1964, he earned an AQHA Championship.
In 1963, Phillips bred Eternal Sun to many mares that year. Out of those foals emerged San Sauci, the top performer of them all. San Sauci was a 1964 sorrel mare out of AQHA Champion Time Echols. Like her sire, San Sauci earned her AQHA Championship. By 1964, this ex-race horse and show champion was an up-and-coming Quarter Horse sire. Phillips had bred him to some of his better mares from the Phillips Ranch, especially the better Ed Echols and Steel Bars mares. Also, other discerning Texas breeders, such as Paul Curtner (Poco Pine) and Joe Kirk (Aledo Bar), were booking first-class outside mares.
Phillips' interests changed again and he became interested in race horses. In October of 1966, he had a production sale where he sold his breeding stallions. It was a three day affair, a gala like the John Taylor sale where he bought Eternal Sun. On October 18, the second day of the sale, Harold Howard of Remus, Michigan, bought Eternal Sun for $26,000, along with four mares. Howard was a bona fide newcomer in the horse business.
Harold Howard owned a strawberry farm in Remus, Michigan and plowed his land with draft horses. Always on the lookout for an "an eye-catching horse that could do it all", in 1966 he came across an ad in Quarter Horse Journal for a production sale at Phillips' ranch in Texas that included a photo of Eternal Sun standing with his broodmare band. Howard drove to Texas and was the top bidder for the stallion. However, he was short of cash, and promised Phillips that he was good for the total. Phillips ripped off a corner of his sale catalog and Howard wrote an IOU. They formalized the deal with a handshake. Eternal Sun was 8 years old at the time.
Eternal Sun was a new style of Quarter Horse when he came to Michigan, useful for breeding. "Horses were a lot shorter and stockier," Howard's daughter Mary Kay said. "Eternal Sun had an elegant head and neck and an irresistible charisma. I'll never forget his eyes: His foals always had his eyes." Before Eternal Sun arrived in Michigan, he had already been highly commended. Howard claimed that Eternal Sun was welcomed by Quarter Horse breeders throughout the Midwest readily, thus his 1967 book filled quickly. Howard's entire family became involved in this new undertaking with aplomb. His wife took over administrative duties. Elder daughter Julie and son Dar became trainers and exhibitors. The rest of the siblings became involved in time.
In 1967, the American Quarter Horse Association invited the Howards to show Eternal Sun at Stallion Row at the inaugural All American Quarter Horse Congress. Howard and his six children bred the stallion and his offspring, and also showed the horses. Howard channeled his experience from driving plow horses into show driving, and he learned to pleasure drive as well as halter drive. Demand for Eternal Sun's progeny was so high that they sometimes were sold almost as soon as they finished training. Howard's son, Dar, started the colts under saddle, and he spent five years working with one of them, Eternal Pete. Eternal Pete was a 1970 sorrel stallion out of Palleoana. He became an AQHA Champion and earned a Superior in halter. Once Eternal Pete got his AQHA Championship, he and Dar competed in state reining competitions, which they won for two consecutive years.
Eternal Sun was a leading sire in six AQHA categories. According to Dar, Howard said that "there weren't many horses that paid their own way. 'Eternal' built his barn and helped buy the farm we have now".
Progeny
AQHA registered Eternal Sun in their stud book as number 0151802. Eternal Sun sired 908 Quarter Horse foals in his lifetime.
Out of those 908 foals came 343 performers and 59 race starters. Out of the 343 performers, one earned a world championship, two earned high-point awards, 34 earned AQHA Championships, 17 earned Superior halter awards, 20 earned Superior performance awards, 108 earned performance Registers of Merit, and 9,210 points were earned across all divisions. Though not well-known for his speed, the stallion still sired eight Register of Merit race horses, including Itt's. speed index 85. Unexpectedly, Eternal Sun's maternal grandsire record was somewhat moderate. So far, 466 of his grand-get have earned two reserve world championships, one high-point award, six AQHA Championships, six Superior halter awards, 42 Superior halter awards, 121 performance Registers of Merit and 8,763 points in all divisions together. On Eternal Sun's racing side, 93 of his maternal grand-get were starters, earning 43 Registers of Merit and $213,121. Head of the pack is Eternal Cherokee, speed index 101.
His progeny earned 3,598 halter points, 5,612 performance points, 104 performance Register of Merit (ROM) designations, and 34 AQHA championships. He also sired over 100 futurity winners. Eternal Sun is still reputed to be one of the top broodmare sires.
Eternal Sun's first set of foals that were Michigan-based were born in 1968. Out of that crop, there were three AQHA Champions and one Superior.
Also, in 1968, Eternal Sun was the fourth leading producer of Halter Champions. After a few years of breeding, the farm had grown to over 200 horses. Breeders came from the United States and Canada seeking his genetics. Most of the horses who were born on the farm, trained there, and were sold had Eternal Sun's bloodline, which is what gave the colts their highly desired characteristics and dispositions. Other successful progeny include Quiet Enjoyment, Story Man, Fistfull, and A Star in Time.
In 1969, Eternal Sun sired 41 foals. Even more top show horses came from this crop. The top show horse from this batch was Eternal One, a sorrel mare out of Silent One by Dividend. Many others from this year were winning show horses. Others include Eternal Sun Flame, an AQHA Champion and Superior awardee. and Big Shot Sun.The 1970s, however, was the decade of the largest growth and accomplishments for this family and their horse. Big halter classes and bigger pleasure classes dominated. His daughter, Eternal Linda, a 1970 sorrel mare, out of Chuck's Fiddle, ushered in the new decade and and became its leading champion.
Eternal Linda is one of his most successful progeny. The mare produced 11 foals. As a 3-year-old, Howard family exhibited her in the Michigan Futurity, and the mare placed first in halter, English pleasure, and Western pleasure. In open competition, she was an AQHA Champion. She earned Superiors in halter and Western pleasure, with 254 halter and 70 performance points in open division. In the youth division, she was also an AQHA Champion. There, she earned 66 halter and 252 performance points. In total, she notched up three youth and open AQHA championships. She also earned three youth and open performance ROMs. She is also the only one of his progeny to join him in the Michigan Quarter Horse Hall of Fame. Eternal Linda lived her entire life on the Howard farm. As the decade passed, Eternal Sun's progeny performed as proficiently under halter as they did in the saddle, just like their sire.
By the 1980s, the size of Eternal Sun's foal crops had begun to decrease. Eternal Sun was now in his 20s, but still sired champions. Two of special note were Raid on Inflation and Eternal Shield. In 1985? 1984? Eternal Sun produced his final crop of foals, his 24th. There was a total of seven foals that year. None of the seven were performers. However, the records show that Eternal Sun has a sire record that few horses can match.
Noted AQHA Hall of Fame breeder and owner Carol Harris of BoBett Farm in Riddick, Florida, recalled seeing Matlock Rose show Eternal Sun once. Harris is most well-known for her AQHA Hall of Fame horse, Rugged Lark. Eternal Sun's demeanor and physical traits impressed Harris so much, she brought her champion mare, Judy Dell, to him. Eternal Dell, their colt, made Harris a winner. Eternal Dell changed the style of the next generation, with his sire's physical traits. She relates that "His (Howard's) wonderful stallion was a very big part of my success." She later brought another of her top-notch horses to him, Majestic Dell, (by Eternal Dell and out of AQHA Hall of Fame Quarter Horse Quo Vadis by Little Lloyd), whom Harris regarded almost as highly as Rugged Lark. Eternal Dell was a 1965 sorrel stallion who earned 35 halter points and was a top sire for Harris. Majestic Dell was a 1973 black stallion who earned 49 halter points and was a multiple world and reserve world champion sire.
Eternal Sun's legacy presents more through his sons.
Death and legacy
Eternal Sun lived on the Howard farm for almost 20 years. Eternal Sun died at the age of 26 in 1984 and was buried on the farm next to a statue of him constructed in his honor. His headstone, erected by Howard, reads, "Here lies the horse that changed my life". Eternal Sun was inducted into the Michigan Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame in 1989. Harold Howard passed away on August 8, 2008.
Pedigree
Source:
Source of the article : Wikipedia
EmoticonEmoticon