Baby Doll Combs

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Baby Doll Combs
BreedAmerican Quarter Horse
DisciplineRodeo
SireOklahoma Star Jr
GrandsireOklahoma Star P-6
DamMiss Boctick
Maternal grandsireBert
SexMare
Foaled1947
CountryUnited States
ColorBay
BreederH. M. Boetick
OwnerWillard Combs
Bill Odum
Honors
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
ProRodeo Hall of Fame

Baby Doll Combs (1947–1960) was a registered Quarter Horse mare and a prominent rodeo horse.[1] She was posthumously inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

Background[edit]

Foaled in 1947, Baby Doll Combs,[2] also known as just Baby Doll,[3] was bred by H. M. Boetick of Bloomfield, Iowa, and registered with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), as registration number 81,497. At the time of registration, Willard Combs owned her,[2] a steer wrestler or bulldogger who competed in the rodeo circuit in the 1950s.[1] Combs purchased her from Bill Oduum of Pryor, Oklahoma, in 1955, paying $3,200 for her.[4] Combs not only rode Baby Doll himself, but also allowed other wrestlers to ride her in return for a cut of the prize money.[1]

Rodeo career[edit]

Baby Doll competed in the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) which was renamed the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) in 1975.[1] In 1955, Combs younger brother, Benny, won the World Steer Wrestling Championship with Baby Doll.[3] Then, in 1957, Combs himself won the World Steer Wrestling Championship with her.[1] Her one and only foal was Checotah Star, a result of an accidental breeding in 1957.[5] Between 1953 and her death in 1960 she earned over $400,000 ($4,119,685 in current dollars) in prize money, and in 1957 when she won the title for Combs, she also carried the riders who finished second, third, fourth and fifth in the standings. Bill Linderman, a hall of fame and famous rodeo cowboy, once said that "Baby Doll knew bulldogging better than some of the guys who rode her."[6]

When mature, Baby Doll Combs was a bay mare who weighed about 1,030 pounds and stood about 14.1 hands (57 inches, 145 cm) high. She had a blaze and a left hind sock as her only white markings.[6] A short horse is an advantage to a steer wrestler, as it's closer to the steer.[7]

Death and honors[edit]

Baby Doll Combs died of a ruptured intestine in 1960.[1][5] She died at a Kansas rodeo, but her owner had her returned to Checotah, Oklahoma, where he lived so that she could be buried on his ranch. Many of the cowboys who had earned money off her were present at the ceremony, and a photograph of them at the graveside appeared in Life Magazine.[8]

Baby Doll Combs was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame[9] in 2004.[4] The PRCA honored her in 1979 by inducting her into their ProRodeo Hall of Fame in the inaugural group of inductees.[3]

Pedigree[edit]

Lobos (TB)
Dennis Reed (TB)
Bess Chitman (TB)
Oklahoma Star P-6
Gulliver
Cutthroat
Belle K
Oklahoma Star Jr[10]
Little Earl
Little Earl Jr
Link Wiley mare
Babe Dawson
Little Earl
Queen
Texas quarter mare
Baby Doll Combs
Sam Watkins
Tommy Clegg
Mamie
Bert
Beetch's Yellow Jacket
Lady Coolidge
Mayflower
Miss Boctick[11]
unknown
Bosticks Ribbon
unknown

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Close Legends p. 116
  2. ^ a b American Quarter Horse Association Official Stud Book and Registry Volume 12 entry #81,497
  3. ^ a b c "Baby Doll". Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  4. ^ a b American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). "Baby Doll Combs". AQHA Hall of Fame. American Quarter Horse Association. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Staff "Hall of Fame" Quarter Horse Journal p. 50
  6. ^ a b Groves "Baby Doll" Quarter Horse Journal p. 18
  7. ^ Lindeman "Quarter Horse in Rodeo" The Quarter Horse Breeder p. 86
  8. ^ Wohlfarth "Last Rites" Quarter Horse Journal p. 14
  9. ^ American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). "Hall of Fame Inductees". AQHA Hall of Fame. American Quarter Horse Association. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  10. ^ Mattson Real American Quarter Horse p. 99
  11. ^ American Quarter Horse Association Pedigree of Baby Doll Combs

References[edit]

  • American Quarter Horse Association (1958). Official Stud Book and Registry. Vol. 12. Amarillo, TX: American Quarter Horse Association. OCLC 1480636.
  • American Quarter Horse Association, Pedigree of Baby Doll Combs. American Quarter Horse Association Records Department. November 12, 2010.
  • American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). "Hall of Fame Inductees". AQHA Hall of Fame. American Quarter Horse Association. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  • American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). "Baby Doll Combs". AQHA Hall of Fame. American Quarter Horse Association. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  • Close, Pat; Simmons, Diane, eds. (1993). Legends: Outstanding Quarter Horse Stallions and Mares. Colorado Springs, CO: Western Horseman. ISBN 0-911647-26-0.
  • Groves, Lesli Krause (February 1994). "Baby Doll". Quarter Horse Journal: 18.
  • Lindeman, M. H. (1959). "The Quarter Horse at Rodeo". In Lindeman, M. H. (ed.). The Quarter Horse Breeder: Basic Text and References on the American Quarter Horse. Wichita Falls, TX: Quarter Horse Breeders Publishing Co. pp. 85–86. OCLC 1222832.
  • Mattson, Paul (1991). The Real American Quarter Horse: Versatile Athletes who proved Supreme. Wamego, KS: Premier Publishing. ISBN 1-879984-77-6.
  • Staff (March 2004). "Hall of Fame". Quarter Horse Journal: 42–53.
  • Staff (November 7, 1960). "LIFE". Time Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2018. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Staff (November 18, 1957). "LIFE". Time Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2018. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Wohlfarth, Jenny (July 1996). "Last Rites". Quarter Horse Journal: 14.

External links[edit]

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