Foundation Horses Series #3:
Four Lane and His Son Little Bit

Four Lane was a son of the great foundation mare Blue Corn, but his sire was an unknown feral as Blue Corn was carrying him when she was captured. Both Four Lane and Blue Corn are considered Book Cliff horses although some discussion exists today about where Blue Corn was actually captured. Any definative information about the origns of Blue Corn would be appreciated by the folks at HOA. Please email HOA at Karma Farms if you have any first hand information on Blue Corn's capture site. Photos on this site were made by Jeff Edwards, one of the founders (with Bob Brislawn) of the old HOA.

His wonderful blue corn color attracted many admirers, and this color is still beloved by many Colonial Spanish Horse breeders and owners. Blue corn is a black roan with "corn" spotting, patches of dark hair, but no pigment change in the skin as in appaloosa spotting. Corn spots may appear where the horses has had an injury, or they may simply show up on their own for no known reason. The name "corn spotting" refers to the purple kernals of Indian corn which are similarly colored. However, red roans may also show corn spotting.

Four Lane was a short and stocky horse. Like most roans, he was darker in his winter coat.

Seen from the right side, one can see that some of his corn spots are the result of bites and scrapes as he interacted with the other HOA stallions in the stud bunches at the old HOA ranch in Porterville, CA.

Little Bit

One of Four Lane's best known sons was never registered with the SMR, though some of his get were. In searching the HOA archive pictures, the photos made for registering Little Bit were discovered. Now for the first time, meet Little Bit by Four Lane out of Little Thing.

The refinement of Little Thing was handed down to Little Bit, a more elegantly made horse than his sire. He shows a more silvery appearance than his sire, too, suggesting that his base coat was grullo with roaning rather than black.

Little Bit is a full brother to Karma Farms' Little Corn and Caballos de Destino's Four Winds, both mares. All three have produced Colonial Spanish Horses of excellent type which are recorded in SMR, SSMA, AIHR's "O" division, and today's HOA.