Quote:
>>> Question:
>>> They told me that one of the big popular Morgan stallions was almost all
>>> Saddlebred blood when they did DNA testing. Does anybody know anything
>>> about that?
>>>>
>>> Answer:
>>> Yeah, I know all about it....... This is pretty long, but it is
>>> probably the tightest I can tell the story.
>>>>
>>>> Bruce Ekstrom was a Morgan breeder (in Indianna I think). He had
>>>> produced a really nice stud named FCF Rhythm Nation (barn name was
>>>> "Nate") via embryo transfer. This stud was subsequently bought by the
>>>> Curtis family over here in Florida. This black stud was an incredible
>>>> horse, he won several World Championships in Park Harness and Park
>>>> Saddle. The trainer, Richard Boule, (I love this guy and we bought
>>>> several horses from him over the years) did a wonderful job with him.
>>>> He and the Curtises formed a partnership called the Accel Partnership
>>>> and Nate was the central part of their operation.
>>>>
>>>> In the late 90's and 2000-2001 they were cranking out some top stock,
>>>> weanlings selling at $10,000 and up and yearlings that were selling in
>>>> the $20,000 and up price range, get that were winning world
>>>> championships, horses that were being exported to England and other
>>>> countries.....very, very nice horses. We were fortunate enough to buy
>>>> several horses from Richard Boule for our farm and our customers: Accel
>>>> King of Hearts, Like The Candy, PJM Time Factor, Highlander Coress.
>>>> None of these were sired by Nate. We also had a couple of 2000 babies
>>>> that were sired by Nate: Accel Rhythm Dancer and another young gelding
>>>> that we only had for a few weeks before selling him, I cannot remember
>>>> his papered name but we called him Rowdy.
>>>>
>>>> Then in late 2001, someone who worked for Bruce Ekstrom had a bit of a
>>>> tiff with him and this former employee of his went to the Morgan horse
>>>> Association and told the association that the horse FCF Rhythm Nation
>>>> was not full Morgan and was out of a saddlebred mare. The Morgan Horse
>>>> Association had DNA on the stud and nothing appeared to be out of
>>>> order, the DNA samples matched the DNA that was recorded for his sire
>>>> and dam.
>>>>
>>>> Further investigation however showed that the dam, Chantilly Lace, was
>>>> an elderly mare whose sire and dam were both very lightly bred and had
>>>> no other get that were breeding, so any attempt to verify the Chantilly
>>>> Lace DNA hit a brick wall since neither her sire nor dam were DNA
>>>> tested and were both deceased and there were no full or half siblings
>>>> with recorded DNA on file.
>>>>
>>>> Still, there was not enough to validate the claim by the former
>>>> employee. Bruce ekstrom was asked to produce the mare Chantilly Lace
>>>> for the association to draw blood and verify markings, etc. He then
>>>> claimed that the mare had been ill and had been put down. When asked
>>>> for the mare's gravesite so DNA could be obtained, he claimed that the
>>>> mare had been shipped to slaughter and a body was not available.
>>>>
>>>> The association contacted the person who made the claim against Ekstrom
>>>> to see if more information could be obtained, I am not sure if it was
>>>> this person who knew the whereabouts of the "real" Chantilly Lace, or
>>>> if someone else volunteered the information, but the real Chantilly
>>>> Lace was eventually located. Ekstrom had given her to some farmer (in
>>>> Texas I think). The elderly mare matched the registry's descriptions
>>>> and DNA was taken from her and it did not match FCF Rhythm Nation.
>>>>
>>>> The Morgan Horse Association contacted the Saddlebred association and
>>>> provided blood sample for FCF Rhythm Nation. The saddlebred assocation
>>>> was able to narrow it down pretty quickly because the DNA had markers
>>>> specific to a very popular saddlebred breeding stallion, Radiant
>>>> Sultan. They compared it against his registered foals and were able to
>>>> identify the dam of FCF Rhythm Nation as a saddlebred mare named
>>>> Summer's Song P.F. bred by Pratense Farm in Illinois.
>>>>
>>>> As soon as this was discovered in 2002, the association pulled the
>>>> papers on FCF Rhythm Nation and suspended papers on all of his
>>>> registered get until the association's lawyers decided what to do.
>>>>
>>>> There were lawsuits flying all over the place....several of my local
>>>> competetor friends had babies sired by Nate, our talented two year old
>>>> named FCF Rhythm Dancer had his papers pulled also. I was just itching
>>>> to break him to harness for showing, but we had to see what was going
>>>> to happen to the papers.
>>>>
>>>> Eventually the papers on all of the get were canceled. Accel
>>>> partnership dissolved and filed bankruptcy. Richard Boule, the
>>>> trainer, took ownership of Nate, he loved that stallion so much he did
>>>> not want to see anything ill become of him. Richard was offered a job
>>>> back up in New England and before leaving Florida he tried to place
>>>> Nate with some of the local barns, we were contacted to see if we
>>>> wanted Nate. We declined as we really did not have the facilities for
>>>> a stud (we would have gelded him) and we reqlly would not have had any
>>>> use for him....he couldn't show and it was doubtful that he would ever
>>>> become a lesson horse. Richard eventually found a home for him and
>>>> Nate is now a foundation stallion for the Renai Horse Association (an
>>>> association trying to create a new breed from Saddlebred, Morgan,
>>>> Arabian and Dutch Harness horse stock).
>>>>
>>>> The Curtis' daughter is still involved with horses and is a riding
>>>> instructor at a saddlebred farm not too far from me in Land O Lakes,
>>>> FL.
>>>>
>>>> Accel Rhythm Nation is still at the farm I used to work for, they are
>>>> trying to make him into a lesson horse.
