In 1985, Teddy Robinson and friends and clients Ralph and Mickey Gragg owned the first Colonel Freckles horse on the West Coast—Colonel Smoke. The horse played a big role in Robinson’s early career, along with Nu Cash. Robinson and the Graggs became big fans of horses by Colonel Freckles, so when LA and Wanda Waters, owners of Colonel Freckles, had a dispersal sale, Robinson and Ralph Gragg knew they couldn’t miss the opportunity to buy another horse by the stud.

One trip to Utopia, Texas, later, and Robinson and the Greggs had five or six Colonel Freckles horses on the trailer, including Charter Colonel (Colone Freckles x Gay Curl x Jiggs’ Last), owned by the Graggs.

                  “You could say he was the perfect horse,” Robinson shared. “He was a big stopper, changed leads easily and was always good on a cow. He was a little weaker in his turnaround, but it wasn’t his weakness—it was my lack of experience. No telling how good he’d turn if I had him today.”

                  As many young trainers find out, the easy horses can be too easy, leaving them under-prepared for their first outing. In “Charter’s” case that was the 1990 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity®, back when the horses couldn’t be shown prior to the event.

                  “I was used to everything being easy at home and had never put much pressure on him,” Robinson remembered. “That was my lack of experience. I had never called on him, so when I did, he was like, ‘What? Who are you?’ In the herd work, I think I lost three cows on him.”

                  But that didn’t define Charter’s career going forward. He captured the NRCHA Open Bridle Year-End Championship four times and was named the AQHA Best of America’s Horse four times. They won prestigious titles, back when a championship buckle far outweighed the checks being written to winners, including Salinas, Cow Palace and the Bridle class at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity®, winning that three times in a row.

                  “It was such an honor for that horse to win $35,000,” Robinson said. “It’s chump change today. But the entries were $50, and the class had maybe $100 added, so he had to do a lot of winning to get to that $35,000. And it’s great to have a crowd-favorite horse.”

                  Robinson recalled that Charter was a happy horse, workmanlike and ready for whatever needed to be done.

                  “He was always a happy horse,” Robinson said. “He never had any problems. I think that’s what made his show career last so long and him be so good, because he was always so good. He didn’t mind showing, and we barely warmed him up in those days. He was that great 9-to-5 guy that you don’t even know is working as hard as he is.”