Stallions may get the bulk of the accolades in pedigree discussions, but great females lines have profound influences throughout the generations.

by: Christine Barakat

Equus Magazine

Merry Weedo

Breed: Appaloosa

Foaled: January 28, 1983

Pedigree: by Tumbleweeds Devil, A World Champion halter horse; out of the Son's Princess

Legacy: Sevens Sons, with nearly 50 National and World Champion titles among them and numerous championship-winning offspring

Merry Weedo produced seven colts by five different stallions in eight years. In their competitive careers, they earned an average of sevenNational ans World Championship titles apiece. "If you look at the stallions Merry was bred to, they were all very different types and colors," says Robert Lapp, an Appaloosa researcher and retired member of the Appaloosas Horse Club (ApHC) board of directors, "but she produced very consisent foals. That tells you how strong her genetic influence is." Merry's 1993 colt, Sand in M'Shoes, sired her first World Champion grandfoal. Two other sons--DZ Weedo and Ditto Weedo--are now at stud.

"Merry seems to have consistently passed along three traits:a great attitude, good looks and the ability to excel as a pleasure horse," says Lapp, who was serving as an ApHC director when Merry was voted into the Appaloosa Hall of Fame. Of the 69 horses thus honored, only 20 are mates.

Merry died of colic in 1996, after giving birth to her last foal. "When you look at the quality of her sons, you can't help but to wonder what a daughter migh have been like," says Lapp. "I'm almost certain she would have been a great broodmare herself, carrying on the tradition that Merry began." Although Merry had relatively few foals, her influence is apparent and growing in the Appaloosa world. "With her sons now producing, I see more just like her, " Ennis says. "A few years from now we might see entire plesure classes full of spotted buckskins."