C.T. “Tom” Fuller
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame member C.T. “Tom” Fuller died September 5.
The horseman, an honorary AQHA vice president, was best known for the cutting sire Joe Cody, foaled in 1953. C.T. bought two Joe Cody daughters, Sappho Cody and Easter Cody, who were so easy to train that C.T. bought their sire and became involved in reining from his family’s farm, Willow Brook, near Catasauqua, Pennsylvania.
C.T. developed a large band of mares, mostly halter and pleasure horses, for the stallion and also promoted him heavily to outside breeders.
Famous offspring included world champion reiner High Proof, world champion and National Reining Horse Association champion Topsail Cody and world champion Benito Paprika.
Other performers C.T. bred were Corona Cody, Kid Five Cody, Betsy Bar Cody, Cassandra Cody, Titan Cody and Red God.
“When I talk about Joe Cody, I talk about Willow Brook,” C.T. told The American Quarter Horse Journal in an exclusive December 2006 article. “He was the guiding light of our breeding operation.”
At the 1974 AQHA World Championship Show, longtime Willow Brook horse trainer Bob Anthony rode Tawny Cody to the senior reining world championship and High Proof to the junior reining world championship. Both horses were by Joe Cody, the only time in AQHA history that both divisions were won by offspring of the same stallion.
In all, C.T. was connected to 185 performers, earners of more than 3,500 AQHA points. He developed 10 AQHA Champions and 15 all-around winners. As a breeder, his record was even more impressive, with 736 foals, champions in the show arena, five AQHA world champions and performers on the racetrack. His get earned almost $130,000 in NRHA competition and $17,000 in National Cutting Horse Association competition.
C.T. was the publisher of Practical Horseman and Performance Horseman, and many of his photos appeared on the covers of The American Quarter Horse Journal. His eye-catching ads also appeared on the back of the magazine for more than 20 years. C.T. also took great pride in the production of the film “The Horse America Made,” traveling more than 100,000 miles to record and share the beauty and diversity of the Quarter Horse.
“I did that film for AQHA, but the real reason I did it was because people didn’t really know a lot about lthe Quarter Horse and what a great horse it is,” C.T. told the Journal. “It is the best-minded horse of any horse, and I thought people should know about it.
“For one year of my life, I traveled thousands of miles all over this country to capture the Quarter Horse in this movie.”
C.T. was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2001.
“In life, there are always things that you wish you had done differently,” he said. “Yet in the horse business, I can’t think of any. The horse business has been kind to me in friendships and otherwise. I owe my happiness to being a part of it.
“Everybody knows Joe Cody, but they don’t know me, and that suits me fine. The horses made me; I didn’t make the horses.”
Bill G. Reed
AQHA’s 28th president, Bill G. Reed of Ruidoso, New Mexico, died September 5.
Bill served as AQHA president in 1978, after serving on the AQHA youth, and show and contest committees. His presidential term marked the implementation of the AQHA amateur division and continuation of fund-raising efforts for the proposed American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.
As an AQHA judge for 22 years, Reed was influential in the improvement of the screening, application and training of judges during his presidency. He pushed for more Quarter Horse racetracks and further allied the Association with the American Horse Council to protect the industry from excessive taxation.
It was no surprise to anyone that a boy who carried a lariat to school in the Eastern Oklahoma town of Muskogee in the 1930s later became president of AQHA. A love of horses was deep rooted in Bill Reed’s genes. His paternal grandfather drove thousands of longhorn cattle up the trail to the Kansas railhead, and a maternal grandfather had a feverish passion for match-racing sturdy Steeldust horses.
Bill also dabbled in the racing business, and purchased Roll N’ Easy, a son of Easy Jet, in 1978.
A past president of the New Mexico Quarter Horse Association, he was active in promotion and management of horse shows, rodeos, roping and 4-H activities throughout New Mexico. He was a charter member of the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association and a past president of the Rio Grande Horseman’s and the Palomino Horse Breeders associations.
Bill was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 1995 and is survived by his wife Dianne. Condolences may be sent to Dianne at 216 E. Rainbow Drive, Ruidoso, NM 88345-6844.
Services will be at 10 a.m. September 9 at the LaGrone Chapel with burial at Fort Stanton. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Boys Ranch or AQHA’s Scholarship Fund.
