One of the stallions that has been mentioned many times through the years is Joe Reed P-3. This great stallion became a foundation sire in Volume I of the AQHA Stud Book by virtue of his being a top sire during the formative years of the AQHA. He was awarded P-3 for his status as an AQHA Stud Book Foundation Sire. His status as a foundation sire has carried on over the years because of the value and success of such noted descendants as Leo, Joak, Firebrand Reed, and of course his great son Joe Reed II.

The life of Joe Reed has an ominous beginning. He was the result of an unplanned mating between the race mare Della Moore and the race stallion Joe Blair. The problem with this unplanned mating is that there are several versions as to how it took place. I think that we can truthfully say that the reason for the different versions of how Joe Reed was conceived has to do with the consequences, if the owner would have found out who truly let his great stallion and mare mate. Sadly as we look back and on what took place, we will never be able to actually acknowledge that person or persons for giving us the great Joe Reed family of Quarter Horses.

The first version has to do with a "crap-game". The story goes something like this----- Joe Blair and Della Moore were stabled next to each other at the race track in San Antonio, TX. When the stable hands and jockeys got a crap-game going, they found that Della Moore was in heat and this prompted a commotion between Joe Blair and Della Moore. So to settle things down they put the stallion and the mare together. This resulted in the conception of Joe Reed.

The second version has to do with a group of racehorse men leasing Della Moore for a race with a horse named Danger Boy. As the story goes, Della Moore showed up for the race, but she was in heat. Her being in heat made her hard to handle and this scared the Danger Boys supporters off and the race was called off. This prompted the men leasing Della Moore to take their frustration out by breeding the mare to Joe Blair. This mating reportedly took place at the Alonzo Peeler Ranch. One of the eye witnesses was Graves Peeler, brother of Alonzo Peller. Then they neglected to inform the owner of Della Moore about her meeting with Joe Blair that resulted in producing Joe Reed.

Yet another version of this famous mating tells us that Joe Blair and Della Moore were being tested as the same ranch. During this time, they were allowed to breed. This version has an interesting twist coming from a story told by Lloyd Gary by jockey Gabriel Strauss.

Here is how Gary tells the story, " Gabriel Strauss was the jockey of Della Moore. He thought the mare was coming back to Louisiana. She wasn't old but she was a 1912 model, and he said she was getting up a little in age, like around 7 or 8 years old. And he wanted to breed her to something good so he sneaked around and got his friends to help him." But as luck would have it Della Moore was sold to Mrs. Moore and she did not return to Louisiana. Strauss told his story to Gary when he was an old man. He expressed his concern if the owner found out what he did. He professed that "the ole man would kill him yet today if he found out about what he did". The "ole man" that Strauss was concerned about was Zan Raspberry, a cattle buyer that owned Della Moore.

The ownership of Della Moore is a bit confusing at this time as well. According to Gary, she was purchased by Zan Raspberry and brought to Texas. Raspberry bought Della Moore after she defeated a horse in Louisiana named Bald de Eunice. According to Gary Bald de Eunice was the "greatest horse here at the time."

The trainer for Della Moore was a man named Alcide Simar, who was known by the nickname "Boy". This name came from his racetrack days as a jockey. Some historians tell us that Alcide Simar was the owner of Della Moore when she came to Texas to race. (Some writers have also indicated that Simar is also known as "Boyd" Simar.)

The book CAJUN-BRED RUNNING HORSES by F. S. LaBlanc verifies in his segment on Della Moore that Zan Raspberry was the owner of the mare and that he sent her to Texas to race at San Antonio. LaBlanc also indicates that Raspberry sold the mare to a Texan named Henry Lindsay.

Henry Lindsay was a rancher and race horse man that became a key figure in the life of Joe Reed. Of course the entry of Lindsay in not without its own controversy. Most historians tell us that Lindsay bought and owned Della Moore after she came to Texas. Lloyd Gary says that his research and discussions with Strauss indicate that Lindsay bought Della Moore for Mrs. Moore, who was the wife of a bank official at the Bank Of Commerce in Houston, TX. This version indicates that Lindsay handled the mare for Mrs. Moore. Lloyd Gary indicates that this is the reason for the mare being named Della Moore.

The most common reason for buying Della Moore was to put her in a race against a horse named Dan Murphy. Gary indicated that Dan Murphy was considered the "World Champion" during that time. The proposed match between Della Moore and Dan Murphy seems to bring us back to common ground.

The story goes like this----- The race was set, but as race time neared, Della Moore's belly became too large and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her until they determined that she was in foal. So with Della Moore heavy in foal they needed a way out of the race. One of the stipulations of the race was that if it rained on race day, either owner could call the race off. Well it rained the morning of the race and Lindsay called the race off.

Della Moore would later meet Dan Murphy and again we get a difference of opinion on the out come of this rivalry. Gary says that her jockey fell off and another source says that Della Moore won one race and lost the second to her rival. The race the mare lost supposedly put Lindsay in a financial bind and he sold this great mare to Ott Adams. Adams would then own Della Moore until her death. She was the dam of Adams great stallion Joe Moore as well as the foals Panzarita, and Grano de Oro.

The life of Joe Reed has a quiet beginning as he was weaned as quickly as possible from his mother and turned out without any fanfare. The October 1947 issue of THE QUARTER HORSE in "The Joe Reed Story" by Nelson Nye says that Joe Reed was left in the hands of some people while Lindsay took his racing stable north. This is how Nye described the colt that Lindsay found when he got back, "the colt was turned loose in a cocklebur field and practically starved to death."

The next year Lindsay took the two year old Joe Reed on the race circuit with him. The Nye story tells us that he was a small two year old. Nye described what took place one day in Omaha, NE.. "One morning a bunch of race horse men were working their colts out and got to jump them for a sixteenth with plenty of watches to see how they clocked it. Henry said seriously; "Time my colt boys," and everybody laughed for they figured he was kidding. "Hell" said one guy "that little thing can't make no time with these horses".

Henry's eyes began to glint and all signs said mighty plain that he was going to have the colt timed. So the other guys shrugged and got out their watches. Joe took off and when they got him stopped they could not believe what their own watches said. Henry looked them over and all their watches said the same thing.... 5.4 for the sixteenth.

Nye goes on to explain that Joe Reed didn't get much opportunity to to show his speed as a race horse because as he put it "all the important races" were run at 5/8ths of a mile. A distance that was beyond Joe Reed's capability. But at the quarter mile Joe Reed would consistently run in a time of 22 seconds. A distance and time hsi sire and dam were noted for running.

J. W. House in Nye's story for THE QUARTER HORSE reaffirmed that Joe Reed couldn't run a half mile. But that belief was countered by Bert Wood, who had been an exercise jockey for Joe Blair, the sire of Joe Reed. He said, "Joe Reed ran one-half mile in :47 in Illinois when he was a young horse - I forgot the year."

Wood would tell me in our interview in 1989 that Joe Reed was registered as a Thoroughbred. He stated it this way, "At one time Joe Reed was registered as a Thoroughbred so he could run in the races in New Orleans. They were the only ones that were legal at that time...."

The Nye story tells us that Lindsay would eventually sell Joe Reed and concentrate on his stable of Thoroughbreds. The buyers were Harve Dennison and Hill and Steve Spikes.

Later J. W. House would approach Lindsay about buying Joe Reed. Again we have two versions of why House was drawn to Joe Reed. It seems that (according to the Nye story) House had seen several foals by Joe Reed as roping horses and he became interested in owning the horse.

The writer Franklin Reynolds told in the story "The History of Joe Reed Part 2" January 1960 about how Dennison had bought Joe Reed and the Spires Brothers (the Nye story says they were the Spikes Brothers) were handling the horse for him. But both parties had a disagreement about how the horse was being handled and how the money was being split. The disagreement between the tow parties made the horse available to J. W. House.

House approached Lindsay about buying Joe Reed. It seems that in this story House had seen Joe Reed raced by the Spire Brothers and he was wanting Joe Reed as a breeding stallion for his relatively new horse breeding business.

The Reynolds story gives an interesting account of how Lindsay serving as an agent for Dennison got Joe Reed sold to House. Here is Reynolds account of how House took possession of Joe Reed.

"Mr. Lindsay had explained that one of the men who had Joe Reed in charge, if not actually both of them had threatened to "make trouble" for anybody who might undertake to remove the colt from their stable."

Reynolds explains that Lindsay and House agreed on a purchase price and that House would have full title to the horse and not be involved in a lawsuit. Then he continues in the words of Mr. House.

"We went down to the stable where Joe was," Mr. House related, "Henry had his gun and he had told me that if those fellows insisted on having trouble then they could have it, but that he really didn't anticipate any resistance. Neither of them was around, but they had everything on the place secured with heavy chains and strong padlocks. Henry looked around until he found a big sledge hammer in one of the sheds. Using that he smashed the locks, and we got the colt. I paid Henry for him, and brought him home. I never heard a word from any of the Spires and I don't think they ever said anything to Henry either."

House reportedly bought Joe Reed in 1924 and he continued to race him. They successfully raced in various parts of Texas and on into Oklahoma with the horse being entrusted to various trainers. They reportedly kept Joe Reed in Oklahoma for two years. When he was returned to his owner he was injured and thus retired.

House stood Joe Reed at his ranch in Cameron, Texas until 1938 when he sold him to Dr. J. J. Slankard. Slankard was a veterinarian from Elk City, Oklahoma. Joe Reed died of a heart attack in 1947 after covering a mare.

Through all the different versions of how Joe Reed was conceived it has remained constant that his sire and dam were Joe Blair, the fast Thoroughbred, and Della Moore the Louisiana race mare.

Joe Blair was a prominent race horse of this era that has come down through history known for two basic things. He was the sire of Joe Reed and his famous match race with Pan Zareta. The famous match race came at Juarez, Mexico on February 16, 1916. In that race Joe Blair ran 3 1/2 furlongs in the record time of :39 flat, but lost the race. A race, that long time admirer Bert Wood said he shouldn't have lost. This is what Wood told me about his association with Joe Blair. "I exercised Joe Blair," stated Wood. "That's when I fell in love with the breed so to speak. A horseman, if he doesn't love his horses, he ain't much of a horseman." Wood continued, "Zee Hays had Joe Blair leased from a man that owned him, and it's been so many years ago that I can't remember the man's name. I exercised ol' Joe Blair all the time and the raced him. I rode him in a few of his 'country races' but never in any of his big ones." Wood would go on to own Joe Reed II, and Little Fanny, the sire and dam of Leo, both sired by Joe Reed P-3.

Joe Blair was bred by Charles B. Campbell of Minco, Oklahoma. He was sired by the great speed stallion Bonnie Joe. Bonnie Joe was a prominent Oklahoma sire with many great foals. He was the sire of horses like Useeit. Useeit was the sire of Kentucky Derby Winner Black Gold and Ronald Mason's great sire Beggar Boy. Bonnie Joe was also listed in some circles as the sire of the mare Cutthroat, the dam of Oklahoma Star P-6. The sire of Bonnie Joe was Faustus. Faustus was sired by Enquirer by Leamington. The dam of Faustus was Lizzie D by War Dance. Faustus was a full brother to Mannie Gray, the dam of the great Domino.

The dam of Bonnie Joe was Bonnie Rose by Bonnie Scotland. Bonnie Scotland was sired by Lago and out of Queen Mary. The dam of Bonnie Rose was Melrose by Childe Harold.

The dam of Joe Blair was Miss Blair by Bowling Green. Bowling Green was also the sire of the dam of Beggar Boy. Bowling Green was sired by an imported horse named King Galop by Galopin. The dam of Bowling Green was an imported mare named Playing Fields. The dam of Miss Blair was Com-I-Cut. Com-I-Cut was sired by Pursebearer and out of Isbell by Spendthrift.

Della Moore has her roots in Louisiana as a "Cajun-bred" running horse. She was bred by Ludovic Stemmons and foaled in 1912. She was later sold to Domostan J. Broussard and this is where she started her racing career. Lloyd Gary tells us that she was known as "Dilly" when she first started her racing. Her name was later changed to Della. Gary recalls her racing career in Louisiana this way, "I was told that as a two year old she did not win all her races. But boy as a three-year-old-coming-on she won everything!" He continued to tell that one of Della's races was with a horse named Weakly's D. J. A race that ended in a dead heat. Of course her life changed when she outran Bald de Eunice and she was headed for Texas.

We will use Lloyd Gary's research and information on the pedigree of Della Moore. Lloyd a native of South Louisiana, did a great deal of research on the Cajun-bred running horses between 1948 and 1954. By doing this research he was able to visit with many of the people involved with these horses.

The sire of Della Moore was the famous Cajun-bred running horse and sire Dedier or as is also known "Old D. J." Old D J was bred by Demonstan (D. J.) Broussard. Broussard was the man that bought Della Moore fro her breeder Ludovic Stemmons. Old D. J. was sired by Crazy Que by Queue. Queue was an imported stallion sired by Valor by Victor. The dam of Queue was Periwig by Pantaloon.

The dam of Crazy Que was Lannie. Lannie was sired by Grant. Grant was owned by Joseph Gary the great grandfather of Lloyd Gary. Grant was sired by Flying Dutchman, the stallion Gary calls "the foundation sire of the Cajun-bred Running Horse".

The dam of Old D. J. was Mignon or Meon as some pedigrees will show. Her sire was Carlos. Carlos was sired by Iroquois by Leamington. As you will recall the sire of Faustus was Enquirer who was also by Leamington.

The dam of Mignon was a mare called Inez by (Cajun-bred) King. King was sired by Flying Dutchman. The Inez mare was also known as the Dore' Mare as her owner was named Jacque Dore'. Inez was out of Ella by Iroquois by Leamington. Giving Joe Reed another cross to Leamington.

The dam of Della Moore was Belle. She was sired by Shamrock. (Many pedigrees will show that the sire of Belle was Sam Rock, but Gary indicates and maintains that this information comes from the Cajun dialect.) The sire of Shamrock was Blakemore by Silent Friend. The dam of Shamrock was Pelege'. Pelege' was sired by King by Flying Dutchman. The dam of Pelege' was Lannie by Grant. This makes Della Moore double bred to Lannie.

The dam of Belle was Dilly. Lloyd Gary indicates that Della Moore was originally named Dilly for her grandam, Dilly. Dilly was sired by Dewey by Sain. Dilly was owned by Antoine Hernandez and thus was called the Hernandez mare. The dam of Dilly was Ella. The sire of Ella was Iroquois by Leamington. This gives Joe Reed yet another cross to Leamington. Some pedigrees indicate that Dilly could have been out of a mare known as the Beauregard Mare. The sire of this mare was Beauregard.

A great deal of Joe Reed influence comes down through the great Quarter Horse running stallion Leo. The inbreeding/linebreeding back to Joe Reed found in Leo's pedigree is significant of the House Breeding Program. Leo is a double bred Joe Reed stallion foaled on the House Ranch. His sire was Joe Reed II and his dam was Little Fanny. Joe Reed II and Little Fanny were both sired by Joe Reed P-3. This makes intensely inbred/linebred to Joe Reed.

The inbreeding to Joe Reed found in Leo is anchored by two mares that were keys to the House Breeding Program. The first was Fanny Ashwell. This mare was sired by Ashwell, a Thoroughbred. Ashwell was sired by Alloway and he was out of Melton Mowbray by Melton. The dam of Fanny Ashwell was Fanny Richardson, whose sire is unknown. The dam of Fanny Richardson was Sister Fanny by a horse called Whistle Jacket.

In a story that appeared in the 1949 issue of THE QUARTER HORSE called "John W. House" it states; "It was about a year after he got Joe Reed that Mr, House saw a half Thoroughbred mare named Fanny Ashwell at San Saba, TX. She was sired by Ashwell (TB) and out of the mare Fannie Richardson, a tremendous sprinter out of Sister Fanny, a mare who had won 82 of 85 races. John House had quietly traded a horse colt for the Fannie Richardson mare, promptly brought her home and bred her to a Thoroughbred stallion named Run Flor."

The first foal out Fanny Ashwell and sired by Joe Reed was a horse named Joe Butler. This horse went on to become a good race horse that spread the breeding potential for his sire. Then came Lady Reed, a brood mare for House and a good producer. Then a gelding named Jonas. As the story goes "Jonas could could jump 26 feet and before he was crippled, was the fastest short horse that House had ever seen." Little Fanny was the next horse listed in the story sired by Joe Reed and out of Fanny Ashwell.

The story on Mr. House in THE QUARTER HORSE goes on to tell about how the foal out of Fanny Ashwell that was sired by Run Flor would bring in the famous mare Little Red Nell. Fanny Ashwell produced a bay colt that Henry Lindsay wanted badly enough to give House the filly (Little Red Nell) in exchange. Little Red Nell was sired by Brown Billy by Pancho by Billy. The dam of Little Red Nell was Red Nell by Texas Chief. Again we have a difference of opinion on which Texas Chief sired Red Nell. One version says that this Texas Chief was sired by Traveler. The other version says that this Texas Chief was sired by Lock's Rhondo. Franklin Reynolds article "The History of Joe Reed Part 2" which appeared in the January 1960 issue of the Quarter Horse Journal just may clear up which Texas Chief was in fact the sire of Red Nell.

This it the way it was written in the words of J. W. House, "The Texas Chief in her pedigree was by Lock's Rhondo. He was not the Texas Chief by Traveler. People seem to think that there was only one Texas Chief, but that is not so. Whenever you see the name Texas Chief in a pedigree of a horse I have bred, you can be sure it was the one that was a son of Lock's Rhondo."

Little Red Nell did a very good job for House as well. She was the dam of a horse called Blue Eyes and also the dam of Red Joe of Arizona. Red Joe of Arizona was the sire of such noted horses as Ready, dam of Barred, and Nelly Bly, the third dam of Doc Bar. Little Red Nell was the dam of a mare called Texas Betty who was sired by a Thoroughbred named Escoba. When bred to Fleeting Time (TB), Little Red Nell became the dam of Nellene. Nellene was the dam of He Might, and the legendary Joe Reed II. Of course Joe Reed II went on to become the sire of Leo, Joak, Firebrand Reed, Bull's Eye, Donna Reed and Poison Ivy.

It is interesting that the fact is Mr. House sold Leo, Joe Reed II, and Little Fanny. These horses have gone on to become legendary in the AQHA. But when you look at the House Breeding Program he did keep some very good horses to carry on his program. He had a horse named Reject that was a part of his breeding program. This horse was sired by by Joe Darter by Joe Reed P-3 and out of the mare Mary by Joe Reed P-3. Thus inbreeding to Joe Reed was a common practice with Mr. House.

The last mature stallion owned by House was Beans. This horse was sired by Smokey Reed by Dutch Reed by Joe Reed II by Joe Reed. The dam of Smokey Reed was Lady Reed by Joe Reed and out of Fanny Ashwell. The dam of Beans was Princess Reed by Joe Darter by Joe Reed. This makes Beans 4X3X3 linebred to Joe Reed P-3.

When Dr. Slankard took Joe Reed to Oklahoma in 1938, we see that he was bred to daughters of A. D. Reed. A. D. Reed was sired by Peter McCue and out of the mare Good Enough by Ned Hanger. Two Joe Reed stallions out of A. D. Reed mares are Catechu and Reed McCue. Catechu on to fame as a show horse by being the Grand Champion Stallion at the first California Quarter Horse Show with Charlie Arujo. Catechu was a good sire with foals like Cat's Cue Bar, and AQHA Supreme Champion. Reed McCue became the sire of Dinky Reed, the broodmare sire of the great horse The Invester. Dinky Reed is also the sire of Logan's Betty. Logan's Betty was the dam of Logan's Miss Lue, who was the dam of Hank's Peppy Lou, the dam of The Invester. This makes Hank's Peppy Lou double bred to the Joe Reed/A. D. Reed cross.

The success of the Joe Reed horses has proven that one of the best things to ever happen to the Quarter Horse industry was the unplanned mating of Della Moore to Joe Blair.