"The Story of San Siemon"
A dark chestnut sorrel weighing 1,220 pounds, was foaled June 23, 1934, in M. Benavides Volpe's Carolina Pasture near Oilton, Texas. He was bred by Mr. Benavides Volpe and was sired by Zantanon out of Panita by Possum. This was Quarter Horse blood of the finest, making San Siemon a double bred Traveler, since the latter was sire of both Zantanon and Possum.
San Siemon is one of the best of the older stallions now at stud. He has sired many fine horses showing speed, balance and plenty of cow savvy. He is the father of countless using horses and has a peculiar spot of white hair, characteristic of many Travelers, on the left flank. Some of his best-known get are JOE BARRETT, BLACK HAWK, BRAZ D'OR, GREYHOUND, and SUE HUNT.
His father, Zantanon, was bred by Ott Adams and was known, for his blinding speed to the quarter, as the Man o' War of Mexico -- into which country Adams sold him as a yearling many years ago. He had a hard life in Mexico, being -- according to Mamie Benavides -- generally in a very undernourished and ill-cared-for condition. Despite this, and although he went into most of his races practically dead on his feet, and with a 140-pound rider, he could do 300 yards in fifteen an two-fifths seconds from a walking start. He was the sire of many distinguished get.
Of Panita, San Siemon's dam, very little is recorded beyond the fact that she was a daughter of Possum. She showed considerable speed. Legend speaks of the great match race between Zantanon and Panita. The stakes were winner take all. Zantanon edged Panita by a nose and Zantanon's owner took possession of Panita. Panita was then bred to Zantonon and produced several full-brothers an sisters of San Siemon.
Possum, of course, is known to everyone as the great sprinter for which Jim Kennedy gave one hundred head of horses, afterwards taking him to Arizona where he was said to have gotten all the good horses for which that state is known. Possum was bred by the Shelys at Alfred, Texas, just after the turn of the century. He was the last foal out of old Jenny, who was by Sykes Rondo out of Mangum May, one of the last of the old Tiger strain.
San Siemon stood 14.3 and in his prime weighed 1,250 pounds. Bert Benear, of Tulsa, bought San Siemon from Mamie Benavides as a young horse and made him a top cow and using horse. He has said the colt showed lots of speed, but was injured while roping a big steer on rough ground. It was because of this injury that Mr. Benear retired him to stud.
Mr. Duard Wilson, in a letter dated August 25, 1948, stated: "San Siemon, for years, was owned by Bert Benear, one of the better breeders of Quarter Horses, and when he held his dispersal sale in October of 1946, I bought San Siemon. During the time that Mr. Benear owned him I observed that he had bred many top horses. Since San Siemon and his full brothers and sisters were among the most intensely bred Traveler horses living, and due to the fact that I considered San Siemon the best of the lot, I purchased him for the express purpose of crossing him on top line-bred daughters of Dan Waggoner. I hope to save some of the filly offspring for future breeding purposes. I kept San Siemon until October 14, 1947, at which time I sold him through my sale for $3,500 to Darks and Taylor of Wetumka, Oklahoma. The only reason I parted with him was that he had accomplished my purpose and I had no further need of him in my breeding program. I consider him one of the top sires of the breed when crossed out on the proper type and bloodlines. His colts show an abundance of speed and quality."
Mr. Darks, one of the co-owners of San Siemon, says: "Bert Benear introduced this breed of horses into this part of the country. In fact, I consider Mr. Benear one of the oldest and best breeders of using Quarter Horses in the state of Oklahoma. Most of us Quarter Horse men got our seed from Bert Benear's ranch, either directly of indirectly. Mr. Taylor and myself formerly owned CHICO, a full brother of San Siemon's. After we sold him deep into South Texas, we learned that Duard Wilson, because of poor health, was putting on a big Quarter Horse sale to reduce the size of his operations, and that San Siemon would be one of the horses sold. Our previous experience with horses of the Traveler line, and our study of Quarter Horse bloodlines, led us to believe that this might be our last chance to bring back into our community one of the closest-bred Traveler horses now living. We talked the matter over, hitched a trailer to Mr. Taylor's car and headed for the sale, determined to buy San Siemon regardless of cost. We knew at the time that JOE BARRETT, one of his colts, had sold for $7,500, and we had witnessed at the Benear sale three of his other colts (two mares and a filly) selling for better than one thousand dollars apiece at auction. The first thing which impressed me, however, was that a few years ago I had seen Johnny Lee Wills leading the grand entry at the Tulsa Stampede riding BRAZ D'OR, then a three-year-old son of this great stallion. I thought BRAZ D'OR was the most beautiful young Palomino it had ever been my pleasure to see. These are a few of the reasons which persuaded us to purchase San Siemon.
So far as I know, he has never been bred to a mare with any track record, yet all of his colts, produced from average using mares, were horses with plenty of speed."
There is no reason to doubt that San Siemon, properly bred, will sire speed and lots of it. Traveler was one of the greatest sires of speed ever to add the glory of celebrated performance to the history of the Quarter Horse breed -- some people believe him to have been the greatest. Known as practically unbeatable at the quarter-mile, he has been justly celebrated for the countless top using horses he sired while in the ownership of Triggerfoot Self, Brown Seay, Chris Seales, the Gardners and the Shelys. Besides siring more than three hundred top using horses, Traveler got many celebrated sprinters, outstanding sires and distinguished matrons. Traveler's son, Little Joe, was another such horse; and so was his son, Zantanon.
Given proper opportunity, there is little reason to doubt that San Siemon may well be known to posterity for similar accomplishments as the father of great horses. The Traveler line, incidentally, still leads all others in number of progeny holding "A" and "AA" rating on tracks controlled by the American Quarter Racing Association.
CONTRIBUTOR: Unknown
