Registration:  ApHC #F-730
Foaled:  ? 1942 ?
Died:  1964
Color:  Chestnut, white w/chestnut spots over loin/hips

Though foaled in an era when most horses worked hard every day for their keep and were shown mainly as a hobby, and never the object of serious promotion -- the great stallion sired only 121 registered foals -- Apache F-730 had tremendous impact on the Appaloosa breed.

"He had an unusual amount of speed, no end of endurance, and a disposition that caused him to give every task all he had," said George Hatley in Apache's September 1964 Appaloosa News eulogy. His abilities and attitude brought success in a variety of pursuits.

"He was our sure mealticket," adds Apache's breeder and lifelong owner Orvil Sears of Elba, Idaho. "We could depend on him to either win a race or take us to the rodeo pay window."

In addition to his practical qualities, Apache won either the champion or reserve champion performance horse title in each of the five National Shows he competed in before his death in 1964 at age 22. He was champion halter stallion at the 1954 National and won the national premier sire of performance horses title in 1959.

Apache sired such race greats as running award champion Apache King S., who won eight of nine starts in 1963 and continued his winning record through his final race in 1967. Apache was the grand-sire of legendary racehorse Apache Double, who was retired because no other horse would race against him.

Apache also sired cow-savvy horses such as Flake, who won the cow cutting at 1959's 12th National Show in Santa Barbara, California.

Apache was one of the first two horses to be inducted into the Appaloosa Horse Club Hall of Fame, in 1986.

{This article and accompanying photograph were originally published in the Appaloosa Journal, April 1998, Vol 52, No. 4, "Appaloosa Bloodlines Apache F-730" and are used here by permission.}

Copyright © 1998 Appaloosa Horse Club. All rights reserved.