Driftwood (horse)

Driftwood (1932–1960) was originally known as Speedy while he was a rodeo horse.^[1] Driftwood was known for siring rodeo and ranch horses.^[2]

Driftwood was registered as number 2833 with the American Quarter Horse Association (or AQHA). His stud book entry lists him as a bay horse (meaning stallion in this situation) foaled in 1932, and bred by Mr. Childress of Silverton, Texas. His owners at the time of registration were Catherine A and Chaning Peake of Lompoc, California.^[3] His breeding was mostly unknown, with only two lines traceable past the grandparents. Both of those lines traced to Lock's Rondo, however.^[4] His second dam was a Thoroughbred mare from Kentucky, although her exact breeding was unknown. His paternal grandsire, the Hobart Horse, is of unknown breeding.^[4]

Driftwood made a name for himself in the late 1930s as a rodeo horse, when he was known as '"Speedy".^[1] He was owned by a man named Asbury Schell, who calf roped, team tied, steer roped and bulldogged off the stallion he called Speedy, as well as occasionally stock saddle races. In 1941, the Peake's tried to buy Speedy, but since Schell earned his living as a rodeo cowboy, they were only able to talk Schell into letting them breed seven mares to the stallion that spring. The next year, with World War II rationing curtailing rodeos, Schell finally sold Speedy to the Peakes for $1500. There was some confusion about the stallion's pedigree, and it took three years before the Peakes were able to track down the previous owners before Schell and find out enough of the horse's breeding to register the stallion with the AQHA, and by that time the name "Speedy" had already been registered, so the horse was registered as Driftwood instead.^[2]

Driftwood sired two horses that earned their AQHA Race Register of Merit, as well as nine daughters that produced Race Register of Merits.^[5] He sired nineteen foals that earned a Performance Register of Merit from the AQHA, and one foal earned a year end High Point Award.^[6] Many of his offspring competed on the professional rodeo circuit, where Driftwood made a name for himself by siring more top rodeo horses than any other sire of his time. Among the outstanding rodeo horses he sired were Driftwood Ike and Firewood.^[7] Others included Poker Chip Peake and Henny Penny Peake, who won the 1953 and 1954 Pacific Coast Hackamore Championship.^[2] He died in 1960.^[1]

Driftwood died in 1960 and in 2006^[8] he was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame.^[9] In 2007 Western Horseman magazine chose Driftwood as number five on their list of top ten ranch horse bloodlines.^[10]

Source:^[11]

• Driftwood at Foundation Horses
• Driftwood at Quarter Horse Legends Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
• Driftwood at Quarter Horse Directory