There probably is nowhere in equine history, where a father/son team are as well known and famous as that of King and Poco Bueno. Very few people will say where the fame of the father left off, and the fame of the son began, but almost all horsemen, with a knowledge of the working lines, agree that the two of them left a mark on the American Quarter Horse, that will never be repeated.

Poco Bueno was bred by the same Jess Hankins who had purchased and made famous King, and again his knowledge of quarter horses would lead to the mating of King with the mare known as Miss Taylor, who descended from Little Joe and Hickory Bill, a son of the immortal Peter McCue. Although Jess Hankins made the mistake of selling Poco Bueno as a long yearling, his bad luck was offset by the good luck of E. Paul Waggoner, who owned the famous Waggoner Ranch, in Vernon, Texas, and raised a lot of eyebrows when he paid the then high price of $5,700, for the young colt.

When he was four years old, Poco Bueno started his career as a cutting horse, and never looked back, as he went on to be argueably the most famous cutting horse and cutting horse sire in quarter horse history. Along with his growing fame as a cutting horse, another name would become almost as famous as his, and that was Pine Johnson, the man who rode him almost exclusively as a cutting performer.

Poco Bueno was retired from active competition at a young age because of the large number of mares in his breeding book. Rumor has it that at one time his standard fee was $5000, and it is a matter of record that he was the first quarter horse to be insured for $100,000.

The old horse died in 1969, after siring 405 foals which were registered, and was buried standing upright on the Waggoner Ranch, where he had spent most of his adult life. Some of his most famous sons were Poco Bob, Poco Stampede, Poco Pine, Poco tivio, and Poco Champ, plus many others who carried on his tradition of being both an athlete and a sire of performance horses.

Today, the Poco Bueno Breeders Association is headed by Mel Belcher, of Holiday, Texas. Interested breeders can reach him at 940-586-1438, or fill out the form below, and he will contact you.

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