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050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen Modified: July 14, 2015 9:08 AM Files:Publications:PHJ:08.15 Journal:08.15-Sent to Rip:050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen.indd A LEGEND Among Horsemen Starting with a dream and love of good horses, Rebecca Tyler Lockhart created a colorful future for generations to come. By JESSICA HEIN COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY 50 u AUGUST 2015 u PAINT HORSE JOURNAL 050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen Modified: July 14, 2015 9:08 AM Files:Publications:PHJ:08.15 Journal:08.15-Sent to Rip:050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen.indd COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY Enamored with the Western lifestyle, Growing up, Rebecca was sur- Other family members were Rebecca Tyler Lockhart was destined rounded by horsemen, including immersed in ranching and race- to be a cowgirl from an early age. Cheyenne Rodeo-winning cow- horses, and they helped feed boy Foreman Faulker. Rebecca’s love of horses. rowing up in the heart of Quarter A Horsewoman at Heart GHorse country, north of the Red Perhaps it was her Cherokee heri- River that splices Texas and Okla- tage, or maybe it was her family’s close homa, Rebecca Tyler Lockhart had a ties to ranching, but Rebecca had front-row seat to some of the horse horses in her blood from an early age. industry’s most iconic stock. Legend- Born in 1927, the young woman from ary sires like Leo, Sugar Bars and Joe Ryan, Oklahoma, was surrounded by Hancock called the region home, and ranchers, ropers and racehorses. the opportunity to see such greats in “One uncle, Foreman Faulker, lived the flesh shaped Rebecca’s appreciation out in Pawhuska, Oklahoma—he for quality stock horses. It also planted roped and was a steer tripper, and he the seed for what would later grow won Cheyenne,” recalled Rebecca’s into the world’s second-largest equine daughter, Robin Tyler. “Back in those breed association, the American Paint days, if you won Cheyenne, you Horse Association. were considered a world champion. Forever grateful for her contribu- Another uncle, Taylor “Tate” Faulkner, tions, the Paint Horse world said was the sheriff of Tulsa and had race- goodbye to this legendary horse- horses. One of the Barrett uncles, Silas woman and APHA founder May 31 Sapington Barrett, owned racehorses, when 87-year-old Rebecca closed her too. Mother’s cousin, Dick Barrett, eyes for the last time in Gainesville, was a really good cowboy and a great Texas. Rebecca’s legacy lives on in athlete—he college-rodeoed in five the barns of Paint Horse enthusiasts events. everywhere, stamped indelibly on their “Mother was precocious; she was the hearts through the shared love of stock first grandchild. She was very intel- horses that stand out from the crowd ligent, but she always would rather with the perfect amount of chrome. be out on a horse. The uncles would PAINT HORSE JOURNAL u AUGUST 2015 u 51 050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen Modified: July 14, 2015 9:08 AM Files:Publications:PHJ:08.15 Journal:08.15-Sent to Rip:050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen.indd COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY APHA FILE PHOTO Rebecca’s appreciation for Marrying noted Quarter Horse trainer The lifelong horsewoman was quality horses continued to George Tyler in 1954, Rebecca found quick to introduce her daughters— grow, and she amassed a herself thrust into the heart of the stock Ruth (pictured) and Robin—to herd of well-bred mares. horse industry. horses, too. come and get Becky out of school to shipped Mother off to a Catholic Robin said. “A lot of Quarter Horses, work cattle.” boarding school in Tulsa. The nuns like Leo, had an overo gene. Back Though her attendance in the made sure Rebecca finished school. then, people didn’t understand the schoolroom was a little spotty, Her uncles used to come get her genetics, however, so they’d just blame Rebecca’s horsemanship skills were on and they would go watch Leo run the mare for cropouts, and Mother just the fast track, both in and out of the on the brushtracks. That was her hated when that happened. Mother saddle. early indoctrination in horses … in was always for the underdog—she had “Mother grew up in Ryan, which good horses.” such a kind heart, and she thought is northeast of Wichita Falls,” Robin something should be done about it.” said. “That area of Texas and Okla- homa had some big ranches, and Kitchen-Ta b l e R o o t s their horses were renowned for being What was missing, With her love of horses firmly in the toughest. They had good using however, was a tow, Rebecca found herself thrust into horses and would run the best ones the heart of the stock horse industry on the track. Growing up in that area, splash of chrome in when she married her second husband, Mother developed an appreciation for an otherwise earth- George Tyler, a renowned Quarter good horses.” Horse breeder, trainer, exhibitor and While Rebecca’s approach to edu- toned world. judge from Gainesville, Texas, in 1954. cation was nonchalant—she valued With name recognition on her side, time spent aboard a good horse more Rebecca carved a spot as a respected so than hours trapped in a school- As a teenager and young woman, breeder and exhibitor in the male- house riding a desk—her mother, Rebecca put together a band of dominated horse industry of the 1950s Oolucha, placed a higher value on foundation-bred Quarter Horse and ’60s. scholarship. broodmares, demonstrating her eye for What was missing, however, was “She could do the work; she just quality horseflesh. Though her horses a splash of chrome in an otherwise didn’t want to,” Robin said about her at the time were of a plainer palette, earth-toned world. Dyed-in-the-wool mother. “Finally, out of desperation Rebecca always had an eye for chrome. Quarter Horse breeders shunned col- to get her through high school, my “She always liked Paint-colored orful cropouts, but flashy overos and grandmother trumped everyone and horses because the Indians rode them,” tobianos always captured Rebecca’s 52 u AUGUST 2015 u PAINT HORSE JOURNAL 050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen Modified: July 14, 2015 9:08 AM Files:Publications:PHJ:08.15 Journal:08.15-Sent to Rip:050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen.indd APHA FILE PHOTO APHA FILE PHOTO COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY Paints like L.N.’s top cutting mare Cherokee Maiden was one For the association’s early marketing efforts, Uvalde Doll, helped motivate of the first mares registered Rebecca often turned to family and friends Rebecca to start an association to when Rebecca founded the for promotional images. Her daughters are give colorful stock horses a place American Paint Stock Horse pictured here with horseman L.N. Sikes. Association in 1962. to shine. attention; they were, after all, the other associations, but Rebecca per- On February 16, 1962, a group of perfect way to stand out in a mono- severed, her mind’s eye focused on 16 supporters of painted stock horses chromatic marketplace. Through her the end goal. Taking action, Rebecca gathered at the Curtwood Motel in industry connections, Rebecca knew picked up the telephone in the early Gainesville for what would become the good stock-type Paints were out there. 1960s and started dialing likeminded inception of the American Paint Stock A few, like Junior Robertson’s Wahoo friends, outlining her plan for the Horse Association. There, Rebecca was King, were making waves in the rodeo new association. Handwritten notes elected secretary of the fledgling breed, pen; others were relegated to barns about supporters and registerable Paint and it wasn’t long before those scraps and back pastures, full of potential but of paper on her kitchen table turned without a place to shine. into hand-painted registration certifi- “I knew we had a good product to cates recognizing the organization’s promote,” Rebecca said in a July 1992 first registered horses. Paint Horse Journal article, titled “A “I saw a need, “We liked the challenge of coming Day with Rebecca Lockhart.” “I could from behind. The other stock horse see a need for an association devoted and I knew breeds had been organized for more entirely to the painted, stock-type I could make than 20 years when we started,” she horse. The Pinto Horse Association said in the 1992 story. “We had seen a was already in existence, but I wanted it work.” few good Paints and realized we could an association that specialized in combine conformation, ability and Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse class with an extra dash of color and bloodlines and the qualities they rep- Horses covered her wooden kitchen individuality—and hold our own with resented. I saw a need, and I knew I table, and her efforts ignited interest the other breeds.” could make it work.” among horsemen around the Red The “Good ’Ole Boy” network was Like a spark to kindling, that desire River and beyond. firmly entrenched in the 1960s stock to give colored stock horses a place of “People rallied around Mother,” horse industry, but Rebecca didn’t let their own in the pedigreed livestock Robin said. “She was the kind of per- that minor hurdle detour her vision. world caught fire in Rebecca’s mind. son that people wanted to rally around “They were starting registries left Plenty of obstacles stood in her way in anyway; Mother never had an ego. It and right in those days. When she an era that saw the birth of countless was always about the horses.” started, there were a lot of raised PAINT HORSE JOURNAL u AUGUST 2015 u 53 050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen Modified: July 14, 2015 9:08 AM Files:Publications:PHJ:08.15 Journal:08.15-Sent to Rip:050-057-LegendAmongHorsemen.indd COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY ROBIN TYLER COURTESY Though Rebecca was best known for her behind- the-scenes work as the association’s founder, she Always a fan of chrome, Rebecca and her daughters made was a noted showman, too.

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