When AQHA World and Congress Champion sire, Impulsions passed away in April of 2011, many in the industry assumed that was the end of his legacy. However, GoHorseShow learned that the 2004 NSBA Hall of Fame inductee sired his first foal since his passing. The red roan colt was born on May 21 out of the great western pleasure mare, Miss Good N Red Dee, who is owned by amateur Kelly Kay (Elvrum) Johnsrud.
After her father, Chuck Elvrum, unexpectedly passed in August of 2011, Johnsrud decided to move from North Dakota to Pilot Point, Texas with her husband, Nolan. Consequently, the couple became friends with Brad and Kelli McCamy of Aubrey, Texas. Ever since the McCamy’s retired from the horse business, their ten stall barn has been empty. The Johnsrud’s needed a place for their horses, so the couple ended up leasing McCamy’s barn.
“My father was the one in charge with breeding the mares, but when he passed I was sort of at a loss of what to do,” Kelly told us. “Brad became a huge mentor and he gave us the option to breed to Impulsions. I didn’t even realize that was possible, but they have a limited supply of frozen semen from Impulsions available. We feel honored to be the first people able to have an Impulsion’s baby after his passing.”
Johnsrud named the red roan colt, “Paxton” after Bill Paxton who was in the film, Twister. “It is kind of a funny story. There were all sorts tornadoes touching down around the time he was born and we were having such crazy weather that I thought it was quite fitting. I wanted his registered name to be Storm Chaser but that was already taken so I’m hoping to name him, Impulsive Return.”
Kelly adds, “I just love the colt. He is such a strong little guy and looks a lot older than he is. This is his mother’s first baby and she is really good with him. She was Top 10 at the Congress and AQHA World Show and is a NSBA Reserve World Champion, so we hope the cross between her and Impulsions works well. I’ve had some horses with Impulsions in the bloodlines, but is really exciting to now be able to see him on the registered papers as a sire of one of my babies.”
Kelli McCamy explains why they haven’t bred any mares since Impulsions’ passing four years ago. “With a limited supply of Impulsions’ frozen semen, we had not considered how we would offer it for breedings,” McCamy told us. “After becoming friends with Kelly and Nolan and understanding the quality of mare they had to breed, they asked if we would consider a request to breed to Impulsions,” Kelli explains. ” We are really excited about Kelly and Nolan’s colt and honored they bred such a quality mare. That decision led to us to wanting to keep his legacy going, but knowing we would have to be very selective in the mares we bred.”
The McCamy’s will be offering a limited number of breedings to Impulsions in 2016. “It’s hard to say exactly how many since each breeding will allow several straws and it depends how many are actually used with each breeding sold. But they are limited and will be spread over the next three to four years.”
