His driving interest in the Sundance 500 bloodlines led Ralph to meet a number of people with Sundance F500 connections. He made opportunities to talk to Phil Jenkins, Sundance's breeder, and Doc Edwards, his last owner. He had many conversations with Ben Johnson of Grand Junction, Colorado, a Director and Vice President of the ApHC. Ben had leased Sundance F500 from Doc Edwards for a breeding season in the late 1940s, resulting in two Sundance fillies: Leopard Lady, the dam of Patchy Jr, and Sunshine, who won a title of National Champion Mare. Ralph credits Ben Johnson with helping Doc Edwards register Sundance with the ApHC, and with focusing Ralph's attention on the exemplary qualities of this great Foundation sire.
Patchy Jr
The Sun Appaloosa program started with these two fine mares. In 1959 Piance Creek foaled a colt with very little color, which Ralph sold to Jo Warren, President of the Appaloosa Horse Club of Canada. Jo Warren said he was buying the colt for his bloodlines. He was registered as Warren's Red Dog. This stallion went on to produce some excellent sons in the northwest region.
Sunspot Revel bred his first mares in 1959, including Piance Creek. The summer of 1960 Ralph's profession required him to visit scientific laboratories in Europe. That spring a new Paradise Hills Ranch opened for business within a mile of the ranch in Cody Park. Sunspot Revel was boarded at Paradise Hills Ranch where the staff started his training. It was at this facility that Ralph first began promoting his own Sundance F500 bloodline stallion. Ralph joined with Ben Johnson, the owner of Patchy Jr., to advertise their two stallions as Sundance F500 stallions. Patchy Jr. was billed as the senior Sundance F500 stallion and Sunspot Revel as the junior Sundance F500 stallion. Ralph created a motto for Sun Appaloosas which he began to use in his advertising, "Horses to match our mountains."
Starbuck Leopard
By spring of 1958 the Cannons had bought Sunspot Revel his first ranch he could claim as his home - 55 acres of pasture and woodland with a quonset barn and slabwood cabin, down in Cody Park, 1000 feet below the Cannon's mountaintop home. Sunspot Revel spent his teenage years growing up on the Cody Park Ranch.
In 1958 the Cannons purchased a second broodmare, Piance Creek F996. Her sire was Norell's Little Red, who was first registered as a Quarter horse, but re-registered as an Appaloosa when he turned color. Piance Creek was in foal to Patchy Jr, a grandson of Sundance F500, a National Champion Stallion and Reserve Champion Performance Horse.
Sundance F500
Ralph also talked with many other breeders who had no connections with Sundance F500. He met Dave Ruby, son of the famous horseman Mike Ruby, who founded the CRHA. Dave shared with Ralph pertinent information about Rocking Chair Sun Dance's lineage. Dave knew that Fox #10 had bred the mare Porter before she was sold to E.P. Deahl, the owner of Rocking Chair Ranch in southern Colorado. E.P. Deahl then registered her as Rocking Chair Porter and her new foal as Rocking Chair Sun Dance. Dave executed an affidavit that allowed their ApHC records to be corrected. Ralph also visited Idledale, home of the Starbuck Leopard and birthplace of Daylight, the sire of Sundance F500. One son of the Starbuck still roamed the valley with his band of mares. Mrs. Starbuck gladly showed Ralph the famous oil painting of The Starbuck Leopard.
PROMOTING SUNDANCE F500 BLOODLINES
Immediately thereafter, big changes occurred that would result in the future success of the Sundance 500 Breeders Association. When Ralph returned from Europe in September, the Paradise Hills Ranch manager said that Sunspot Revel was very difficult to handle, indicating that Sunspot Revel was so wild that he could not leave his stall. Ralph Cannon had recently stopped the training of Sunspot Revel by the Paradise Hills personnel, causing the owners to shun Sunspot Revel. It was shortly after that Ralph heard Monte Foreman had been recently hired to manage the Paradise Hills Ranch. In less than one month, Monte Foreman contacted Ralph and said that Sunspot Revel was a wonderful stallion in need of some training. In November of 1960, Monte Foreman and Ralph Cannon began training Sunspot Revel together. After less than two weeks, Mike Foreman took Ralph's place riding Sunspot Revel in training and two months later, in January 1961, Monte Foreman rode Sunspot Revel in the Denver National Western Stock Show. Sunspot Revel placed 3rd in the Men's Western Pleasure Class. This was the first time that an Appaloosa had ever placed in this event.
The famous photo with Ralph in front of Sunspot Revel and Monte on board is only one of three photos ever taken of Monte Foreman on Sunspot Revel. With that photo, Ralph began the promotion of his Sundance F500 and Colorado Rangerbred stallion Sunspot Revel. The Sun Appaloosas program rapidly gained notoriety with Sunspot Revel's performances in the many western events and shows around Colorado. It also sparked Ralph's dream of an organization for Sundance F500 bloodline leopard breeders.
Numerous ads were published in the Appaloosa News and The Western Horseman from 1968 to 1973 in an attempt to educate the public about the bloodline. Although the organization's membership grew steadily for some time, it had begun to dwindle by 1972. Sundance F500 horses were sold to several ranches around the world in the 1970's. Prominent international Appaloosa owners, including Jo Warren, President of the Canadian Appaloosa Horse Club, and J. Noel Cook, President of the Australian Appaloosa Association, owned fine Sundance F500 leopard Appaloosas at this time. Ralph and Joyce Cannon had successfully moved their Sun Appaloosa operation to North Carolina. Wayne and Lois Wyant's WayLo Acres operation in Pennsylvania was growing tremendously during this time. Both ranches along with Lee Warne's Ranch were active in promoting Sundance F500 bloodline Appaloosas.
Waylo's Sully by Sully Pattern
In 1966, Ralph Cannon as President and Wayne Wyant as Secretary drafted a letter seeking out members for the Sundance 500 Breeders Association. Wayne Wyant's February 4, 1966 letter, which was directed toward the larger Sundance F500 bloodline Appaloosa ranches, took their shared dream from concept to reality. It read as follows:
SUNDANCE BREEDERS
There has been talk to form a group of Sundance Breeders and I have decided to stick my neck out in hopes of getting one going. This will be along the lines of Toby, Mansfield's Comanche, etc., and I hope with some new thoughts. Tentative plans are as follows:
The group will be of ones who own Appaloosa Horses with Sundance Breeding.
Our aim will be to promote Appaloosa Horses in general and the Sundance Breeding in particular, at the local and National level.Material is being collected on Sundance horses, more is needed, pictures, pedigree, show records, human interest stories, anything that will arouse interest in the bloodline. The material will be used in National Horse Magazines for several months to acquaint people with the bloodline. Some we hope to get in as stories, some will be in the form of an ad and list the breeders.
The material will be worked into a brochure that can be used by any breeder in promotion. Each member will receive a given number of these to start and then buy future quantities as he needs them.
As this will be a non-profit group, any work that I do or any one else, will be on a donation basis only.
The ads which will come later will be paid by each member at the time his ad is used and will be worked out when our membership is set.
Postage, printing, etc. will be paid out of the treasure. Since the group will be widespread, we will have to do most of our work by mail. A progress bulletin will be sent listing treasure balance, money spent, etc.
If interested I would like the following:
1. $25.00 to start the treasure.
2. Suggestions on a name for the group.
3. All possible material and ideas that you may have.
Wayne R. Wyant, Waylo Acres
Fairmount City, PA
From this letter approximately twenty Sundance F500 bloodline ranches expressed an interest in joining the group. The primary focus of the group was to advertise the Sundance F500 bloodline horses.
In March 1968 the first Sundance Breeders Association ad was published in the Appaloosa News. Although the ad was published with some significant errors, it pushed the organization into the public arena and the organization's membership grew significantly during the next four to five years.
Wayne Wyant
They are recognized and accepted as the two founding fathers of Sundance 500 International. Prior to his association with Ralph, Wayne also began breeding and showing Sundance F500 bloodline Appaloosas. Wayne, who was from Pennsylvania, had traveled west on several occasions to purchase several fine Sundance F500 leopards from Lee Warne's South Dakota ranch. Wayne and Ralph got acquainted at various shows and the two began talking about promoting the Sundance F500 bloodline and encouraging breeders of Sundance F500 Appaloosas to join together.
Sunspot Revel at his first show with
Monte on board and Ralph in front.
From 1961 to 1963, Ralph, along with Mike and Gary Foreman, traveled with Sunspot Revel to shows in Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada and Texas. Sunspot Revel was Grand Champion Performance Appaloosa of the Mountain & Plains Region in 1961 and Reserve Champion in 1963. The diversity of the Sundance F500 bloodline could be seen in Sunspot Revel's performance in Western Pleasure, Trail, Reining, Costume, Calf-Roping, Stake Race, Stump Race and Rope Race. At the Denver Western Stock Show, Sundance 500 bred Appaloosas won three of the first four ribbons-Sunspot Revel, his first son, Red Sun, and Patchy Jr's Mokena. Sunspot Revel also raced in 1961 and 1962 and helped establish Appaloosa racing in Colorado.
During those years, as Sunspot Revel's successes mounted, the concept of a Sundance F500 bloodline organization continued to evolve. Ralph had the opportunity to meet and get to know a number of other Sundance F500 breeders, including John L. Baker of Pennsylvania, Gene Carr of South Dakota, Arlo Edwards of Kansas, Mary Ann Fox of Indiana, Ben Johnson of Colorado, Len Melville of Oregon, Harold Tyner of Indiana, Frosty Vroman of Wyoming, Floyd Ward of Illinois, Lee Warne of South Dakota, Jo Warren of British Columbia, Ed Weber of Minnesota (Money Creek Ranch), Wayne Wyant (WayLo Acres) of Pennsylvania and several others.
In 1963 in Boise, Idaho, Ralph initiated efforts to test the waters for interest in a Sundance F500 bloodline group. At the time, there were several Appaloosa associations starting up in the United States, such as the Toby Breeders, Mansfield Comanche Breeders and Patchy Breeders. Six of these Sundance breeders banded together to promote their Sundance F500 horses. This group eventually became known as the Sundance 500 Breeders Association.
Several Sundance F500 bloodline breeders showed interest in promoting their horses during the next few years, but the more formal organization of the Sundance 500 Breeders Association did not take hold until 1966 when Ralph joined with Wayne Wyant to form the group.
