I am going home now, and hope I have a connection there.
He competed in endurance all over the west for many years, owned Sonny's dam, granddam and grandsire. He hauled Sonny's dam and granddam from California to NH to be bred to First Secretary, hoping for the perfect endurance horse and/or with luck a race horse. The granddam absorbed, the dam of course had Sonny.
About that time, the man was in the middle of divorce number two or three and so boarded Sonny because he didn't have a place anymore where he could keep horses. While being boarded, some kids (older kids) threw a rock at Sonny, hit him square in the forehead and knocked him unconscious. The vet said he had a severe concussion, multiple hairline fractures radiating out like a star and survival was iffy. Then when he was three, he got cast in a pen and seriously injured one of his front legs. He did that again when he was four and there was doubt that he would be sound for any heavy riding at all.
He was bred to three mares over this period of 14yrs, two foals wear solid colored and one had one spot. I believe these were quarter horse mares.
Anyway, we came along when he was fourteen (last year), skinny, depressed and having spent most of his life in a 24X24 pen. The man could no longer afford to pay his board nor able to drive down to see him often due to ill health so had to sell him. Now he's fat and happy, running endurance and has placed in the top ten on both of his rides so far, has one beautiful baby with color on the ground so the man sort of figures that all of his dreams for Sonny are finally coming true. Very sweet old gentleman. So he has to brag to everyone about it :)