Meridian Meadows Stories, by Dave Jones

More Memories From North Florida
Part Seven of A Series
By Dave Jones, Monticello, Florida
Credit: Paso Fino Horse World March 1997

One evening, I got a phone call from my old friend, Randy Steffen. When he lived in California, his studio caught fire and burned down. His lifelong collection of cavalry, Indian and cowboy artifacts burned up. Randy told me that he thought his wife was jealous of all the time he spent in the studio and had burned the place down. They were divorced.

Randy move to Fort Pierce, Florida and married Muriel ("Cookie") Deleplane, who was a fine portrait artist. Randy was a great Western artist, known to all who like such stuff. He once showed me that he could take a pen and do a complete horse drawing without lifting the pen from the paper.

Being a Western historian, Randy needed those relics of times long past and had plans to refurbish a new studio. In fact, his detailed plans for a trip all over the West, from Canada to Mexico, were published in a Western Horseman article. People who had such artifacts were to write or call him so he could make plans to visit them.
Randy called me because he needed a couple of horses to take along on the trip. He said that the Pasos he got from us would spread their fame all over the country. I passed this info along to Colin Phipps, owner of Meridian Meadows, the horse farm I managed. He sorta' liked the idea.

Randy and Cookie drove up for a visit. They saw the Pasos and rode a few of them. I took a few photos of Randy cutting cattle on Yocunda.

It was decided that they should have a couple top Paso mares, one from Hilachas' group and a very nice Eblis filly. Colin also loaned them a professional 16mm movie camera and a thousand dollars worth of film for it.

The Steffens were flooded with gifts for the trip. Before long, they headed West on the first trip, to pick up all the donated loot. They visited us again on their way back from Fort Worth. From the fine Stetsons on their head, to the custom made boots on their feet - and everything in between - were "freebies." Their handmade custom saddles were in the tack compartment of their custom-built trailer. The big Dodge truck was also a gift!

Their trailer was fit for a king. It was furnished in velvet plush like an old time railroad car. At the back were three large horse stalls, while a darkroom was centrally situated. On top, they had a shooting platform for movie work.

After a few days' visit, Randy and Cookie loaded their horses and headed to Ft. Pierce. Before long, Randy called to say that the Eblis filly was proving too flighty for the long trip planned. They needed something steadier. This was a problem, like the old WWII song says: "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old." After some thought, Colin decided to castrate Sin Verguenza and give him to them.

Heck, we had some excellent colts and fillies by Sin Verguenza. I was riding Amalia and considered her to be the ultimate (Sin Verguenza x Canela). The stallion was a full brother to a famous Colombian mare. He was a natural Paso, needing no help from the reins to help him gait. No matter, he was castrated and Randy took him back to Ft. Pierce.

Finally, Randy and Cookie were ready to start the trip. We were to their first stop on this western pilgrimage. They couldn't arrive before midnight, so I felt free to attend my weekly poker game.

About ten o'clock that evening, my wife, "Mac," called me. The Steffens had gotten about 40 miles out of Ft. Pierce when the rig caught fire. All they managed to save were the horses. The big trip was over before it ever got started!

Time passed. Cookie eventually called and said she wanted to visit. When she arrived, she told us the finale. Randy had left Cookie and run off to Texas with the neighbor's wife. Cookie still had the horses and wanted to make some arrangement to actually buy them. This was an honest gesture, since the horses had already been transferred over to Randy and Cookie.

Colin too, thought it very decent of her. He gave her a token price which she willingly paid. After that, both Cookie and the Pasos, Sin Verguenza and Maria Christina, vanished. Neither us folks nor the Paso association heard from them again.
Amalia (Sin Verguenza x Canela) was one of the first Pasos foaled at Meridian Meadows. Foals of the first operating year had names starting with an "A." Next year, Spanish names starting with "B" were used. Colin added Que Tal to the names so all Pasos with that name tacked on would be known as coming from Meridian Meadows. It was clever; que tal is sort of a Spanish "howdy," but to us it meant "from Tallahassee."

On Amalia's first ride, I thought the California hackamore she was being ridden with might be a little too much for her. Next day, I rode her myself and used a loose Texas style hackamore with an old piece of lariat rope for the noseband. I hardly had to use the reins at all. Her gait was perfect and she was equine cooperation personified. I didn't need anything on her head!

Though we had lots of horses, nearly all of them were broodmares heavy to foal. There were pastures to check, mares to bring in, etc., so Amalia was quickly pressed into service. I roped off of her after she'd been ridden just a week. In a month, I was running horses with her. This can really sour a saddle horse, running back to the barn behind a bunch of mare, but it didn't bother Amalia one whit. After checking pastures all day, she'd walk back to the barn, a flatfooted walk, on a loose rein. Very unusual!
She was extra valuable in her ability to mentally "merge" with me during work. For instance, I might spot a mare with fungus who needed to be brought back to the barn for doctoring. Rather than bring the whole herd in, I'd slip up on the problem mare with lariat ready but held down to my side. Then I'd nudge Amalia and she'd jump out like the best trained quarter horse. I'd catch and stop the sick mare before she even considered running away. Without Amalia, I'd have to take all the riders along and bring in the whole herd!

One day, we had a visit from a lady who'd visited us before. Daneen Hitchcock, who owns Limited Editions, was hunting a Paso to fit her idea of what a Paso ought to be. She'd visited most of the large Paso farms and never came up with THE horse that suited her. She had a few caustic comments about a place with so many horses but with none to suit her.
Her words stung a bit. I wanted to let her ride a Paso that would be anyone's delight. If she didn't like Amalia, no Paso Fino would ever please her. I said, If you don't like this one, you might as well stop hunting.

Mrs. Hitchcock rode Amalia for a half hour or so. When she returned she said, This is the one I want!

I said, Heck, I can't sell her. She's like another top hand on the payroll and I don't have to pay her anything.

Mrs. Hitchcock said, This is a Paso horse ranch and the horses are for sale. You have to put a price on her!

After grumbling and grousing, I finally put a fairly high price on Amalia.
Mrs. Hitchcock said, That's ridiculous! No Paso is worth that much money! But she was writing the check as she talked. Amalia became her filly.

In a way, I was relieved. We were using Amalia far too hard since she was only a two year old. Daneen Hitchcock would cherish her and that proved to be true. No horse of any breed ever had a better life. God bless you Daneen!

To be continued ... part 8