Horses have always been a part of the Lammey family.  Cecil Lammey came to Colorado from Kansas with his folks in a covered wagon at the age of seven in 1922.  The family settled in Yuma County, Colorado.  The trip took a week of travel.

Shortly thereafter, while living in a sod house, the Lammey family began farming and ranching near Flagler, Colorado. It was then as a young boy that Cecil, his Dad and two brothers began farming with horses and mules from a band of 150 head. These animals ran loose on the open range in eastern Colorado.  Cecil has many a story about working and farming with horses.  In those early days Cecil gained an abundance of knowledge about handling and developing usability in a horse.  The Lammey family trained many teams of horses and mules that were then sold into Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa.  Remember, this all took place during those early depression years.

When Cecil broke out on his own, he began to build his own cow herd.  He ran cows on his ranch while working for a man who had close ties with Coke Roberds and his horses such as Bob H, Old Fred, Ding Bob, Dundee and Dancing Master.  From this he gained even more knowledge and skill with horses.  His close involvement with the training and bush track racing of those Coke Roberds bred horses allowed Cecil to learn about the stride in a horse.  Cecil’s first band of mares were all Coke Roberds bred mares.

This is when he met and became a very close friend of Marshall and Mavis Peavy, who were neighbors of Coke Roberds.  Cecil can tell about watching Marshall Peavy win the calf roping at Meeker, Colorado on a mare called Margie and then going over on the track and winning the horse race. This is the same mare that won the halter class at the Fort Worth Stock Show in Fort Worth, Texas when she was in racing condition at the time.  Many of the horses that Cecil and his family have today can be traced back to three mares all full sisters: Margie, Chipeta and Sue Peavy.  All these mares were raised and owned by Marshall and Mavis Peavy.

In 1958 Cecil, his wife and young family moved from their sandhills ranch in eastern Colorado to a mountain ranch in Eagle County Colorado. While running 500 head of mother cows in the mountains the family developed a real appreciation for bone and foot on a horse.  Cecil and his boys punched cows and roped on the horses they raised.

In 1966 the family built and operated the first commercial feedlot in Wyoming, southwest of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. They fed cattle at that location for 25 years.  Many of their customers were ranchers.

In 1978 they moved their finishing lot to Yuma County Colorado. They made this move to get the fat cattle closer to the source of corn.  They still ran some yearlings on grass.  

Cecil Lammey hadn’t planned on spending his retirement years raising Quarter horses.  In the early 1980’s a good friend of his, who had been in a car accident, decided to sell his racing and usin’ string of top quality Quarter horses.  After trying to convince the friend to keep his herd Cecil finally agreed to buy one mare.  When he went to pick her up, they wanted him to take at least ten.  He hadn’t planned on it, but he bought the whole herd of Easy Jet, Tonto Bars Gill and Johnny Dial bred horses.  Most of the mares all went back to a mare called Rahm’s Send Me.  This made most of these mares half and full sisters.

The Lammey’s feedlot was full of fat cattle.  Cecil started using Centauri, a.k.a. ‘Tarzan’ the seven-year-old stallion he had just purchased for sorting fats, and liked him a lot. ”When I saw how much horse I had (cow, speed and mind), I went out and bought 7 or 8 more mares from a dispersal of the Segelke family horses to breed him to.   These mares were daughters of Rillito Deck and his son, Rillito Kirk.  Again many of these mares were half sisters or more. 

Now Lammey Quarter Horses has grown into a horse ranch that consists of 65 broodmares and 10 stallions.  We are one of the largest breeders of quarter horses in the state of Colorado.”  We have 30 daughters of Tarzan, 20 daughters of Lammey Hancock and 8 daughters of Big Cat Hancock in our broodmare band.  Nearly all of these horses are immediate descendants of the Rahm and Segelke mares with bloodlines blended into a very focused program.

Our senior sire Centauri a.k.a. ‘Tarzan’ stands 15-2 and weighs 1300#.  He is a grandson of Easy Jet and out of a granddaughter of Tonto Bars Gill.  Until the untimely death in June of 1998 our second sire was Lammey Hancock, a red roan, foundation bred Lowry Star and Peavy horse that we crossed back on our Tarzan daughters.  Since Lammey Hancock’s death we are using 5 sons of Lammey Hancock that are out of Tarzan daughters to cross on our broodmare band.  These 5 sons are red roans, sorrels and strawberry roan.  We also stand a black son of Lowry Star and a young buckskin stallion with black points and a dorsal stripe that we raised.

Cecil has instilled in his family a clear idea of what he likes to see in a horse.  “The very first thing I look for is speed.”  “It is hard to get speed with the right stride.”  Next, “I want to see a good mind.”  “If those things are there, then I look at conformation, but the first two come first.”

Lammey Quarter Horses’ goal in breeding horses has always been to create a “top contest horse”.  A “top contest horse” must have speed, a good mind, a solid flat bone and a good foot.  A horse with speed must have a stride that allows him to break low and run fast, quickly.  A top contest horse has to trust you and want to work for you and those with the good minds are more willing to learn. Conformation has to do with the athleticism of a horse and we have bred for a powerful hip, nice sloping shoulder with low set hocks and knees.

Lammey Quarter Horses sells all of their horses right off the ranch.  Selling the horses ‘private treaty’ allows for a one on one connection between the buyer and the horse of their choice.  You still maintain the advantages of looking at a number of horses in one location.  Our horses have gone as far south as Houston, Texas, as far North as Canada, as far West as California and back East as far as Missouri and every where in between.

Looking to the future and the next generation is done with enthusiasm and excitement.  Just as we have strived to maintain a close family tree in our horses breeding so do we accept the challenge to pass along our knowledge and experience with horses to the young members of our family.

Picture of L.V. Lammey (age 3) and Grandpa, Sammy Lammey 

For more information call (970) 848-0107 or (970) 630-9704  email: lammeyqtrhorses@plains.net