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Appaloosa History
Lord of the Leopards: Frank Scripter

I became aware of Frank Scripter and his leopard horses through the newsletter publication of the Sundance 500 organization. Frank contributed many articles and photographs, and perhaps most mesmerizing were his opinion pieces. I tended to agree with many of Frank's ideas, and learned a great deal about breeding Appaloosas from him.

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How I Knew Frank

In 1985, after several years of reading the Sundance Newsletter, we were camping in Ohio when we got the notion to visit Frank Scripter and see his horses. A phone call later we were on our way to Michigan. Upon arriving, we immediately went to the field to view his herd, passing through his barn on the way out. At one stall Frank paused, and said, "This was Powderface's stall. He died last winter - you just missed seeing him." You could tell this man truly missed that horse. And indeed we had just missed knowing Chub's Powderface by a few months. He died in February 1985 at age 23. Chub's Powderface, the stallion Frank felt had made his program - perhaps as Money Creek's Rockledge made Money Creek... the stallion that had "bought the farm".

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We walked out into this large field, populated with a pond, wild Canadian geese and the most marvelous herd of spots one ever saw. Beautiful spotted leopard mares everywhere, leopard foals, solid foals, a blanket or two, and one black leopard stallion - Apache Polar Star. Polar Star was a big baby. Frank said when he was a little foal he just picked him up and held him in his arms. He said ever since that, Polar Star always thought that Frank could do that to him anytime. We had a chuckle over that.

We photographed as we walked among the horses, trying to keep straight who was who. Looking, drooling, looking and drooling to our hearts content. Then Frank took us on a whirlwind tour around the neighborhood for what seemed like hours. I remember it was a very hot day, sweat rolling off of all of us, but we didn't seem to notice as we went from farm to farm looking at leopard offspring that Frank had sold or their descendents. It was amazing, and totally unforgettable in scope.

At his house we poured over hundreds of photographs. I had never seen so many leopard spotted horse photos in one place before. Then he brought out the hide of Chub's Powderface. He had died in the winter, so it was his winter coat. It was both awesome and repulsive at the same time. So very neat to have, so horrible to comtemplate how it came to be. He also had the hide of a beautiful bay leopard filly out of Brown Deer by Powderface, who had reared over backwards for a farrier, and killed herself - you might say. This hide was prime - so silky and smooth, so spotted and so sad that such a thing had to happen.

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Back at pasture, we looked again at the herd and was amazed when he said some of the mares were for sale. What!? You would PART with ANY of these superb animals? Next: Can we afford one? Or Two? Or... Well we ended up buying Money Creek's Shameila, a daughter of Pepper's Shamrock out of a black ID daughter of Woodrow Sheik. Sham was Sundance (a great granddaughter!) and Ghost Wind!

The other one we managed to wheedle from Frank was Brown Deer, a solid bay ID daughter of Money Creek's Rockledge... something I had always wanted. As an added plus, Brown Deer was the dam of Chub's El Bucko, an awewsome black leopard stallion that we had seen that afternoon. Frank had gotten Brown Deer in a trade with the Weber's son for a firearm. At the time Sham had a solid black filly by her side and I seem to remember that Brown Deer did not have a foal. Both were exposed to Apache Polar Star.

I had wanted Money Creek's Pepper Ridge as well, but we could not afford that. She died later that summer, so I guess we made the right choice. We came back in October after Sham's foal was weaned, and brought Shameila and Brown Deer home. Thus began our acquaintence with Frank Scripter, Lord of the Leopards.

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Frank's Journey

Frank was one of those people who knew exactly what he wanted. When he didn't know, he studied. Frank wanted leopard Appaloosas, and before buying, he studied - in depth - the early stud books of the Appaloosa Horse Club. What he came away with was a healthy regard (or should I say - passion) for what later became known as the Ghost Wind horses. He found the motherload of Ghost Wind horses at Money Creek Ranch, the "Leopard Capital of the World."

The Weber's at Money Creek Ranch had purchased a colt named Pepper's Shamrock from California, who sired Money Creek's Rockledge from the mare Babe Warrior. Pepper's Shamrock F-4090 was a son of Siri Sheik F-1833, who was a son of Arab Toswirah Alkhar F-2417, who was a son of Desert King (pre-registry), whom Frank eventually traced back to Spotted Eagle of George Long Grass/Ghost Wind fame.

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The Rockledge line

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For several (many?) years he would purchase the finest of the 'right' leopard fillies from the Webers' at Money Creek - mainly those sired by Pepper's Shamrock and Money Creek's Rockledge. I imagine at the time that Frank was one of their premier customers.

These purchased Money Creek fillies became the core of Frank's herd. Money Creek's Rockalena, Money Creek's Rockolette, Money Creek's Leopard Angel, Money Creek's Shamiela, and Money Creek's Pepper Ridge were just a few of the fillies from Money Creek that came to make up Frank's Ghost Wind herd.

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A Sire Worthy of the Mares: Chub's Powderface

Then it was time to find a stallion as his herd sire. Frank really investigated what was available and finally chose Chub's Powderface, bred by John Taylor of Montana. Powderface had been the high selling colt at the National Sale as a yearling - selling for $3700 to Hayes McDole of Lousiana. He was later sold to Tennessee, when Frank found him for sale. I imagine he came with a hefty price tag, which may explain why Frank purchased Powderface in partnership with another friend in Michigan. Frank always harbored the thought that those folks used Powderface on many more mares than the stud reports showed, and certain other stallions standing there produced more color than their pedigrees indicated.

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Frank thought Powderface was near perfect. He thought his coloration was near perfect. It was Powderface's butt that was used for the background of Mary Hare's article: From Stripes to Spots - and Back Again? [published in Appaloosa News July 1967]. For Frank it was a snow white coat with Black spots widely spaced. He did not care as much for the roan type leopards, or bay leopards or red leopards, or leopards with too many spots. (Is there such a thing?) It was black. But if it had spots from nose to toes it was pretty darn good in Frank's book. After a time he bought his partner's ownership in Powderface and owned him until the day he died.

Frank would keep the best of Powderface's daughters (read best as leopard), in turn breeding those Powderface daughters to Apache Polar Star, Shyloc's Cody and Solar Flair Eclat. In time, he would keep the Polar Star, Cody and Solar Flair (leopard) daughters. Frank used Polar Star on Flair daughters and vice versa, as well as using them on the original Money Creek mares and Powderface daughters.

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Shyloc's Cody

Shyloc's Cody (Chub's Powderface x Money Creek's Shameila) was sold - as he and Apache Polar Star were both born in 1981. Frank did use him for a time when Cody "came home". He was eventually sold again. Cody bounced around from owner to owner until his final home with Betsy Bloom in Florida.

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Apache Polar Star

For Polar Star, he sent Powder's Polka Dot #185122 (Chub's Powderface x Ambition's Toots) to the court of Butana's Orbit #20778, a leopard horse that excelled at games. What interested Frank in him was his pedigree - he was by Butana F-2158 who was a grandson of Utah F-1131, which made him a relative of Chub's Powderface through Black Maggie ( double bred Utah).

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Solar Flair Eclat

For Solar Flair Eclat, he sent Angel Many Spots to the court of Coyote's Apache, and ended up with the awesome Solar Flair Eclat. This horse was huge - Frank said he was 17 hands. He towered over most of Frank's other horses, and indeed towered over Frank. Frank sold a part interest in Solar Flair to Garrit Hamstra, and Garrit kept Solar until Garrit died, Frank then got Solar Flair Eclat back.

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Chub's El Bucko

Chub's El Bucko was the product of Chub's Powderface and the solid bay daughter of Money Creek's Rockledge, Brown Deer. Seeing El Bucko in person was the main reason why my tongue was hanging on the ground over Brown Deer. (I wanted her to make me one of those!) At one point we contacted El Bucko's owner to see if we could buy him, but he was out of our price range.

I was recently contacted by Sheila Kaminski of Kaminski Foundation Appaloosas, who owned El Bucko his later years until he died. Sheila sent me photos of some of Buck's daughters and a son that they own. These pictures below confirm for me that Buck was a sire of outstanding Appaloosas–and that Buck represented another one of those missed opportunities in life. It is good to know that he had a long and good life with Sheila. She said "he sure was a grand old man."

El Bucko has left quite a legacy for us to admire.

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Frank's Legacy

The following is a letter from Frank to Mary [Manley?]. It was published in the Sundance Newsletter, March 1982, pages 5-11. Frank formed his theories from the horses in front of him...the research on Appaloosa genetics available now, was not in existence then.

Although he seldom advertized in the Appaloosa News, he did advertize in the Sundance Newsletter, and word spread of Frank's horses. He was President of Sundance when Mary Manley, the secretary/treasurer and editor (the heartbeat of Sundance) died unexpectedly. Frank was the single person responsible for keeping Sundance going during this trying time, spending his own money to keep it afloat. It wasn't that he was pushing the Sundance line, it was that the Sundance organization was the only "safe" (or should I say welcoming) place for Appaloosa owners of the "foundation" type. Frank often got into caustic letter exchanges with ApHC Directors (and others) of the time, challenging them on their decisions, theories, and what was best for the Appaloosa. He most especially despised the CPO, labeling crossbreds as mongrels. After CPO, Frank only used the ApHC to register his horses for the express purpose of certiftying their pedigree.

It was during the mid 80s that Frank met Don LaLonde, the owner of Double Heart's Kid. The Kid descended through Siri Sheik's Double Heart, Siri Sheik, Arab Toswirah Alkhar, Desert King - back to Spotted Eagle, the horse owned by George Long Grass, the Nez Perce that Don LaLonde had befriended as a kid. Frank learned the entire oral history of George Long Grass, which precipitated Frank's obsession with finding out all that he could to prove or disprove this story. He became the ghost writer for The Story of The Ghost Wind Stallions, published in 1990.

I received a couple of manuscripts from Frank while he was working on it, and the recipient of many hours of long phone calls. He was also thinking about making a new organization, The American Leopard Association, and I was to be a secretary. Alas, that never got off the ground. What did come of that - eventually, and after a fashion - was the creation of FAHR (Foundation Appaloosa Horse Registry).

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Frank was the ultimate proponent of the true Appaloosa. He was a gifted writer, a good photographer, a meticiouls researcher, and a mentor for many, myself included. Frank's knowledge of Appaloosa history, and his breeding experiences, made him an excellent teacher to those willing to listen. As with anyone, not all his ideas were 100% correct. However, Frank had an uncommon desire to offer and share information with those who would listen.

Frank did not care for solids, nor did he care for fewspots and blankets. Those he tended to dispose of cheaply, at least in the 80s before their value was more widely accepted. Other breeders were thus able then to obtain a Scripter bloodline much cheaper than a leopard would cost them. One of those was Lois Williams, and she used her solid black, Scripter bred fillies to great success.

While I never bought any horses of Frank's breeding, I was let into his circle with the purchase of two of his Money Creek mares. He visited with us two times, and seeing how he thought only his horses were worthy, it was a real honor to have him as a guest, and see our horses.

Frank died of cancer June 8th, 1999 at the age of 81. Before his death he gave away his entire herd of horses to those who were currently listening to him.

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Afterword

I hope you have gleaned from this essay and photographs, that Frank Scripter was one of the greatest spokesman for the Appaloosa in the last part of the twentieth century. He exerted a positive influence over many Appaloosa owners and breeders. I would hazard to say he exerted an influence over others as well, who have an interest in the Appaloosa horse. That legacy lives on, at least in the memories of those of us who listened to Frank. His horses and their descendents continue to contribute to other breeders' programs in the 21st century.

End of the Frank Scripter, Lord of the Leopards

The above information is accurate to the best of my knowledge. Bringing any errors or discrepancies to my attention will be appreciated.

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