Komoko Minis

[BanditGal]

I was wondering if any of you could give me some info on the Komoko minis. I recently bought a horse that has Komoko in its pedigree and I'm not able to find any info on them in general. Where did they originate from?

 

[lilfolks]

I believe they were older breeders down in one of the southern states but are probably out of the business by now. I think if I remember correctly I had a Komoko horse when I first started buying minis.

Joyce L

 

[Margo_C-T]

Komoko was the farm name of the place owned by Joel Bridges, in Newberry,Florida, for a good many years. As recently as the late '80s, and I think, later, he held production sales, with some pretty good prices sometimes being brought. I recall friends who got two mares at one of his sales during that era-one for @ $3500, one for @$7500(incidentally, neither mare turned out to be a good producer...)--of course, that was during the 'glory days'!) I believe he 'specialized'in ,or tried to emphasize, in his breeding program, the 'very small' for the most part.

You can probably view some Komoko stallions on Tony's Historical Stallions site, or on Lauralee's excellent compilation of photos of historic and current stallions(sorry, don't have the web addresses at hand, but am sure you can find either relatively easily.) I believe that Little King had a small Komoko-named mare that they thought highly of--"Komokos Teenie Jeanie", I believe?

It should be remembered that back then, lots of horses had NOT been bred by the farm/individual whose name was 'on' them; it was quite common to sell foals and 'let' the buyer register them in THEIR farm name....Egyptian King was one example; he was registered as "Hemlock Brooks Egyptian King", but was NOT bred by Hemlock Brooks(Kendra something, if memory serves)--but by Dell Tera, I believe-which was another early 'southern states' breeder-I know his name, but am not recalling it at this exact moment....in fact, I own a '94 gelding who is registered with the prefix "Brass Rail", but is near STRAIGHT Komoko breeding-three of his four grandparents are "Komoko", one is "Soat"-all early breeders. Interestingly, this just-under 32" horse is a plain-looking guy, but an extraordinarily 'big' mover, with a huge overstride at the walk and a groundcovering trot. I bought him to drive as a pair with my homebred bay gelding; he has an excellent work ethic, several talents, and over 50 AMHA show points in sporadic showing! Joel and Lucille Bridges are listed as his breeders on his papers. How he came to be going through a sale in Clovis, NM is anybody's guess(and this was in '95!)-lucky for him, he was bought by a compassionate miniature horse afficianado, ended up with another in the Albuquerque area, then another-then to me, since 2002.

Margo

 

[outlawridge]

Margo,

Thank you for that history lesson!

: A few of my horses are heavy in Komoko including Teenie Jeanie.

:

 

[love_casper]

Same here! two of my mares are heavily komoko bred, one is a great grandaughter of Teanie Jeanie.

: I love the line and some of the horses who have it. thanks for the info!

 

[nootka]

farm names are always subjective, especially "back in the day", and you will see everything from very badly afflicted dwarfs to nice-looking horses advertised under almost every farm name from those times, Komoko included.

Saying a farm name does not say much about the horse, you need to get specific about each horse, IMO, to understand the lineage better.

I have some scanned photos (from magazines of the 80's) of komokos horses that would not be allowed registration papers today, I am sure, but others could pretty much hold their own, and as was mentioned, farm names were tossed around as the horses were sold, traded, or registered for whatever reason under another name.

Liz

(thought I'd add a few on a whim. I only scanned the second and third ones, though I have more of them in my files. If you want particular names, I'd be glad to see if I have them.):

Komokos Lil Champ.

Self-explanatory...

Not one of my scans, just another example of a Komokos horse, a different type if you will.

L.

 

[BanditGal]

Wow thanks Liz! The one that's listed in my minis pedigree's name is Komokos Golden Prince. I really appreciate all the info everyone's contributed.

 

[Charlotte]

Komokos Teenie Jeanie is the dam of AMHA National Grand Champion and 2 Reserve National Grand Champions.

Charlotte

 

[nootka]

For clarification, the horse in the first two photos is Komokos Little Champ, who is reg. at 26.50". The horse in the third photo is Komokos Little Champ, Jr., who is reg. at 23.50", they are not the same horse, though Little Champ, Jr. went on to sire Peppi La Puee, who is quite obviously a dwarf, as Jr. was, and I would say Little Champ was, also.

Just think it's very educational to see the unflinching truth in the historical photos, just because there was no stigma attached to it back then.

Peppi is listed as deceased, and 21.00", so he must have lived to maturity. There are only two other foals from the same stallion, Little Dreamer, a mare, and Little Salty, a stallion. I have photos of Little Salty, somewhere, and he did not inherit the obvious deformities and disproportionate build.

Ooops, found a pic, for the sake of posterity, here is Komokos Little Salty:

Sorry to hijack the thread, I just find it all fascinating, and probably why I have several rubbermaid totes full of AMHA, IMHA, AMHR and various publications dating back to 1978 with photos for reference. Whether they are all true or not, who knows. I tend to believe the photos w/Peppi and his parents, for example. I think they were lucky to get a live foal at all.

I did not find a Golden Prince in my photos.

Liz M.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Komokos Teanie Jeanie was an amazing producer. Made quite a name for herself!

 

[nootka]

The only photo I have of Teenie Jeanie is her in woolies and obviously quite advanced age. Still, you can see the huge range of quality within one farm name, so maybe people understand my point when they tout farm names left and right, and honestly, a farm name tells me zero about a horse.

Even distant pedigrees don't say that much, but if you were to state some close-up, actual names of horses in the pedigree, it helps draw a picture, especially if a horse within that near pedigree is quite prepotent.

I really do love researching the pedigrees and comparing these old photos, trying to make sense of which horse was which, because some of them went by a few different names, or their names were altered a little just out of accident, not really to intentionally mislead, or then you have the horse like Little Champ, who was listed often under only "Little Champ" w/out farm name, and his son looks quite a bit like him, so you have to look closely to see who's who. Helps to have the AMHA studbook as well as the AMHR.

Liz

 

[wwminis]

[SIZE=14pt]Liz,[/SIZE]

Thanks for posting this info! We too have magazines from the early days with lots of photos in them that wouldn't get published today!

:

Bill

 

[Tony]

Bridges had a lot of really good tiny mares, so much so, that I believe that when the Eberths bought Buckeroo, they bought a group of mares from Komoko to start their breeding program, plus Komoko's Little King Supreme, who is also a son of Teenie Jeanie, for an outcross in their program. It certainly worked well for their excellent program.

Komoko had several sales and Vern Brewer and I attended two of them back in the early 80's. When they sold out, they started breeding Zebus and had one of the largest and tiniest miniatures of that breed, too.

 

[Tracy CCF]

I actually own the last born son of Komokos Teannie Jeannie, and he was born in 1999. I think that he would easily show with anyone in todays showring, although he was unshown due to an injury.

very refined, and clean cut. Genetically , she is a very prepotent mare. Her phenotype may just not be what people look for now, but her genotype has held the test of time.

When I first got into minis back in 1988, I bought a Komokos stallion for my first herdsire. Would I breed him now, no , he is now a gelding. Buteven in the 80's, he was structurally correct, just heavy boned. I love him and thought he was a gem. Back then, I paid 4400 for him, now , what would he bring, maybe 300 or so. Just shows supply and demand.

I have always admired the Bridges, and thought for the time frame they were breeding, they were ahead of the competition. If I am not mistaken , they sold out in 1993 or therabouts.

 

[SWA]

We have 21 acres up in Bell, FL, (in the Flying Harness Estates at Gilchrest Training Center - A Standardbred Harness Racing Community) just past Newberry. We love going through Newberry to get there, as we always pass right through where the old Komoko farm was/is. The gated entrance to the farm still has the "Komoko" stone wall entrance, a beautiful ranch. I'm not sure who owns it now, but there are still herds of Zebu there too. Everytime we are up that way, hubby and I always say we're gonna stop in sometime for a visit. We haven't yet, and we've owned our property there for the past 19 years. I think the reason we haven't is because we know we'll try to bring a zebu home with us, and...well...we better just stick to our little horses, LOL. :lol:

My very first mini mare (the mother of both my gray mares that I have still to this day) was a beautiful little Bay Pinto mare, "Komokos Frosted Mini Feet". We called her "Frosty". Sadly, we sold her about 10 years ago when we sold most our horses back then, to move to Maine. We kept our two daughers by her (Seminoles Frosted Desert Rose and Seminoles English Rose) though, and our last "biggie" mare, our Summergirl. All three came to Maine and back with us. We sold Summer a couple years ago, but thankfully, we still have our two "Frosty" baby girls.

We sold Frosty to a Standardbred racing family who wintered here in Florida every year (Spring Garden Ranch Training Center in DeLeon Springs, FL.), but their farm was in Michigan, I believe. They bought Frosty for their grandaughter, but they never did transfer Frosty's papers into their name, so she is still "listed" as ours, last I checked.

Often, I wish we hadn't ever let her go. She was an awesome mare. My son's very first "show horse", that he won lots of blues with his very first year showing. Even when she was pregnant with our very first mini foal of our own (Seminoles Frosted Desert Rose, a/k/a Desi), he won blues in halter performance with her. The following year, he took her daughter, Desi, to Grand reserve yearling mare...while Frosty was carrying Desi's sister, ("Seminoles English Rose", a/k/a Whinnie-Pooh). Then shortly after that is when we moved to Maine.

Gosh....the memories.

: {{{HAPPYSIGHS}}}

:

I often wonder if they might still have Frosty or where she might be now, and is she doing well... gosh, I believe she'd be well nearing her 20's by now. A grand 'ol gal, I'm sure.

:

: I would love to find her, but with no transfer of her papers, I have no way of looking for her now. So, I just hope she is loved wherever she is.

:

Every time we go camping up at our property in Bell, we ALWAYS make sure we pass by the old Komoko Farm there in Newberry, and without fail everytime...it brings our fondest memories of Frosty back to our heart's surface.

:

 

[Charlotte]

What great stories are coming from this subject. Thank you .. everyone who took the time to share.

There were so many old 'greats' out there that are in pedigrees now and to see pictures and hear stories of where they came from is wonderful.

Charlotte

 

[Jaxjag2000]

I live just down the road from the old Komoko Farm. Last time I drove by it, it was for sale. A beautiful place... I hope it does not get developed into houses.

 

[MiniHoofBeats]

Liz,

Thanks so much for all the photo information! I have heard many, many times that Komokos (and Bond) are lines that were known to carry dwarf genes. Now, I of course cannot just assume that every Komokos horse carries for dwarfism but with my program specializing in small, I have stayed far away from Komokos and Bond bred horses.

This thread is really nice because it focuses on the positives of Komokos bred horses, and their great achievements! It is nice to hear the positives, to help counteract the negatives. It's hard for some to understand that back then, they were breeding for small small small and not for conformation or soundness...to them, "dwarves" were their goal and they accomplished getting small! However today we all know the gene can be fatal, and unattractive, so today we strive to stay away from it. It is unfortunate to hear such a great line (or lines) be tainted as dwarf lines but when people know that is what was bred, then we know it's in the bloodlines somewhere!

Anyhow, I do like hearing about the greats like Teanie Jeanie, I have seen her come up in a few recent magazine articles! I hope more pictures and such are posted on here, I like learning more about these older lines and their achievements!

 

[Georgine]

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1592/9647...9/285150901.jpg

Thanks for all the information on Komokos breeding.

I have a couple of horses in our barn with this breeding and can see the similarities.

This is Spotted Acres Komoko Mitzie

She has Komokos Double Deuce/Komokos Ace High/Komokos Foxie Roxie on the sire side and

on the Dam side, Komokos Tom Tom

She is under 30 in ches and an appie. She has no trouble foaling and her babies are tiny, tiny with "araby" heads.

Also, usually a filly.

 

[ruffian]

Good friends of mine found a little gray colt named Komoko's Dandy at a farm in our area, just out with a small herd. They traded for him, and he turned into a gorgeous big moving AMHA National Champion. His son, Lutes' Komo BJ is a 7 time National Champion Park and Fine Harness horse, currently owned by Double Diamond Farm.

BJ sired many excellent driving horses, and I am lucky enough to own one of his daughters. According to a nationally recognized trainer, my Ladyhawke is "exceptional" and will be on our show string next year.