The stallion’s name — Pistol Packin Frekles — belies both his gentle nature and the most valuable thing he’s packing — a genetic gift that guarantees his offspring will be colorfully patchy paint horses.
The stallion, age 9, and his owner, Shari Brown, live in Penrose but are in Denver for the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, where Brown hopes to catch the eye of breeding-minded paint horse owners.
Those of us unfamiliar with the fine print of breeding-program catalogs may not know that a paint stallion and a paint mare often don’t produce a foal with the coloration most people picture when they think of a paint horse.
But Pistol Packin Frekles, known to his intimates as Pete, “always throws a color paint coat,” says Nancie Wright, who has been Pete’s trainer since he was 2 years old.
Pete is known as a homozygous tobiano. The first word describes his genetic capability — he possesses two of the genes that assure a colt with classic patches — and the second describes a coloration that includes a patch that spreads across a paint’s back. Other paints are solids, with no patches, or overos, whose spots don’t blanket their spines.
Brown first spotted Pete several years ago, when someone else owned him. She immediately bought his sperm, which commands $750 a shot (not including shipping or collection fees) and bred her paint mare. When he was offered for sale in 2009, Brown seized the chance to buy him.
“He has the best personality and a very calm disposition,” she said.
Pete has sired more than 30 foals in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Florida, North Carolina and Nebraska.
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com
Want to see him?
Watch for Pistol Packin Frekles and owner Shari Brown in Wednesday’s Paint Performance Classes, starting at 7 a.m. at the National Western Stock Show.
