Horse communities around the world expressed their sadness upon learning of the death of celebrated stallion Hydrive Cat on October 15.
Hydrive was humanely euthanized in Texas at age 16 after complications from a rear suspensory ligament injury, owner Shane Plummer said, adding that he will live with “a heaviness that will stay with me for quite some time.”
Hydrive spent his last months in his paddock with his friend and son “Lowdrive,” a four-year-old pony by one of Plummer’s American Miniature mares at SDP Buffalo Ranch.
“He had a sweet nature,” Plummer said of Hydrive. “He was one of those horses – even though they tend to be aggressive as stallions – that I could leave my kids in his stall and not worry. We always joked that you could throw a grenade in Hydrive's stall and he wouldn't do anything.”
The decision to euthanize him, Plummer said, “was the right decision. Watching this magnificent specimen deteriorate was so horrific.”
As a cutter, Hydrive Cat won more than $416,000, most of it with Clint Allen in the saddle, including the 2006 NCHA Futurity Open Reserve Championship. However, the 2003 stallion gained notoriety as a sire.
Hydrive, who was involved in breeding on five continents, sired 323 top performers, according to Equi-StatThey have won more than $4.6 million, for an average of $14,399. The top earners among his offspring are Somethingtobelievein ($281,365), Once You Go Black ($194,413) and Overdrive ($181,123).
Jody McGlothlin & Somethingtobelievein (by Hydrive Cat) win the Augusta Futurity. • Photo by Molly Montag.
Hydrive's stamp will last longer; SDP Buffalo Ranch has nearly 1,000 cans of Hydrive's frozen semen.
“His greatest impression on us was the way he put his stamp on his foals,” Plummer said. “They all looked exactly the same. No matter what bloodline he was crossed with or what size or type they were, they all looked like him in some way. I've bred thousands of horses and I've never seen anything so uniform.”
From the viewer's perspective, Hydrive was Michael Jordan, always sticking out his tongue and wanting people to scratch it, Plummer recalled.
“Many people from all over the world have posted selfies with Hydrive sticking out its tongue,” Plummer said.
Hydrive was born in April 2003, bred by Esperanza Ranch in Parks, Arizona, and has the best pedigree. He was the son of the celebrated stallion High Brow Cat, the sire of performers with an annual income of $82.7 million. His dam was Ruby Tuesday DNA, a dam with an annual income of $1.4 million. His maternal grandsire was the great Peppy San Badger, whose daughters have been the winners of more than $44 million.
Hydrive was Ruby Tuesday DNA's top earner. As a 3-year-old owned by Dave and Georgia Husby, he was Open Reserve Champion at the 2006 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas, under the sure guidance of Allen, a Fresh Zealand native and member of the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame who has earned more than $5 million.
In 2007, during Hydrive's four-year-old season, Plummer's family reportedly acquired him for $1.7 million, an amount Plummer disclosed last week.
As a sire he has international importance.
Plummer described Hydrive as “without question the most dominant stallion in Australia over the last decade” and noted that the horse had sired 185 registered Australian Quarter Horses and “probably many dozens of Australian Stock Horses as well”.
He has also made an impression in Brazil. Bingos Cat, a son of Hydrive, is said to be one of the eternal winners in the land of palm trees.
Plummer also bears Hydrive's signature. He acknowledged that without the revenue Hydrive generated, the Great Recession of 2008 would have been too much for his horse business to endure.
“To me, this is a business,” Plummer said. “It's difficult for me not to think of him as inventory and as a commodity of sorts, because I have to. Then there are those that become part of the family. I can't say I would never sell one of my horses, because this is my business and I have to. But there are some that surpass that… they become a part of you no matter what. He was one of those.”
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