A 2018 colt by the late Doc's Hickory out of Cancan Kitty (by High Brow Cat) was born this year at Oswood Stallion Station in Weatherford, Texas. • Photo by Molly Montag.

15 Years Later, Another Doc’s Hickory Foal is Born

The first foal by the late Doc’s Hickory to be born in more than a decade hit the ground earlier this year at Oswood Stallion Station in Weatherford, Texas.

The foal, hoped to be the first of many, is the result of a previously undiscovered reserve of the great stallion’s semen that was found last year.

That any Doc’s Hickory semen remained was a surprise to those involved with the 1973 son of Doc Bar out of Miss Chickasha (by Chickasha Mike). Jeff Oswood, of Oswood Stallion Station, thought the last of Doc’s Hickory’s semen was destroyed several years ago in a fire. However, that changed last year when Oswood employee Travis Keller found 30 straws while looking through a storage tank, he said.

“I sent semen off and had it evaluated, then frozen, and they said it looked good, so we thought we’d breed a mare just to kind of test it,” Oswood said. “Benny Martinez owns the stud, and Benny and Rick Taggard own this mare [Cancan Kitty] together, and so we thought that would be a good test to see if it worked.”

They bred the daughter of High Brow Cat out of Little Lena Dancer (by Smart Little Lena) using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). A recipient mare gave birth to a bay colt this spring.

Doc’s Hickory, who died in 2007, is the sire of 1,014 performers in 28 crops. He is an Equi-Stat Elite $21 Million Dollar Sire with a produce record topped by two outstanding show mares that went on to become esteemed producers: Miss Silver Pistol ($512,755) and Hicapoo ($447,855). As a broodmare sire, Doc’s Hickory sired dams of earners of more than $33 million, according to Equi-Stat.

His last foal was registered with the American Quarter Horse Association in 2003.

Given the availability of ICSI, Oswood believes they have enough semen to breed more than 500 mares. The stallion is available to the public for an advertised fee of $5,000, ICSI-only.

“We’ll breed some mares and see what the crosses look like now. Hopefully, we’ll find some that cut well,” said Oswood, who expects a few more Doc’s Hickory foals next year. “It’s pretty exciting that we’ve got the opportunity to try it on some.”

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