By Catherine R. Jones
A
rizona is synonymous with horse breeding. And who knows that
better than Colin Beals, who is a third generation rancher and
pioneer horse breeder of good horses.
His maternal grandfather was Joe McKinney, who, in the horse
world, is famous for his prize racer and champion, Red Joe of Arizona,
the sire of mares who produced some of the finest race horses and
sprinters of the 40’s and 50’s.
Colin’s father was John Beals, highway patrolman, deputy sheriff,
and a rancher who shared his father’s interest of owning and breeding
winning horses. It was in his pursuit of good ranch horses that John
Beals laid the foundation of what became his son’s entrance into the
Paint Horse business.
Few people know the fact that the modern Quarter Horse racing
industry got its start in Tucson, Arizona. Melvin Haskell and some
other racehorse men built a track down there, and devised the first
rating system for Quarter racehorses. The organization was called
American Quarter Racing Association. At first all breeds were allowed
with them for the purpose of charting the horses’ accomplishments on
the track.
In the late 1940’s the AQRA merged with the American Quarter
Horse Association, putting an end to Paints being allowed to run in their
races. This gave Colin an opening to start his Paint breeding business.
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January 2014
John Beals went to a dispersal sale held by Chester Cooper of
Globe, Arizona. Among his offering was a family of top Paint sprinters.
Some of the sale attendees viewed these sprinters obsolete because
they could no longer compete in the bigger Southwestern races. That
brought down their selling price.
John Beals returned from this sale with a really nice three month
old tobiano Paint filly. He bought her as a ranch horse prospect because
of her breeding and because she was good. They named the filly Beal’s
Jody. She was taken to the family ranch near Fort Huachuca where she
was raised and broke to ride. She proved to be a credit to her breeding,
excelling as both a using horse and broodmare. They had not set out to
raise Paints but soon their pasture was full of them.
The Beals bred Beal’s Jody with some the very best quarter horses
in the country and apparently her Paint genes were strong, as 11 of 13
foals were Paints. In 1950 Colin Beals married Jean Perry of Phoenix,
Arizona. This was the beginning of an inspiring love-partnership that
has endured to this day.
Jody and several of her daughters, in time, became property of
Colin and Jean. At first, Colin registered Jody and one of her sisters
with the Pinto Horse Association. He didn’t know the Paint Horse
Association was being formed. In one of the shows he entered Jody
in 13 classes and won 11 Firsts and two Seconds. After becoming
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