Jolly Boy Polk… 
An American Shetland of great influence to the mini world.

  
Jolly Boy Polk – chestnut roan stallion (ASPC 21560)

Jolly Boy Polk is registered as being from two non-roan parents, some believe his sire 
is incorrect and he may actually have been sired by the blue roan Locust (11567).

While some will say WHO is Jolly Boy Polk???  Others will recognise the name… 
if you are a fan of any of the following minis or their offspring you have been influenced by this stallion:

• Rowdy,

• Boones Little Buckeroo,

• NFCs Fire & Ice,

• Roan Ranger,

• Wittmaacks Mickey Mouse,

• Johnstons Gold Bar or 

• Johnstons Gold Boy.

I mention these well known US minis in particular as their lines have been imported to Australia in many different pedigrees and are the foundation of many mini studs here.

So what do these horses have to do with Jolly Boy Polk?

Jolly Boy Polk is the grandsire of Hillswick Oracle, making him the great grandsire of Rowdy.

He is also the great grandsire of Realization the palomino Shetland stallion who is: 

Sire of My Golden Toy a palomino stallion who fetched well over $50,000 in the 60’s. My Golden Toy was out of a mare called Red Lady bug and he had 2 full brothers, both influential stallions - Ver-Ken’s Golden Ken and The Real McCoy.
My Golden Toy is the Great Great Grandsire of NFCs Fire & Ice.

Realization is ALSO the sire of Lightning Bug – who in turn sired Gold Melody Boy - who produced 34 registered offspring, 8 stallions and 26 mares including:

• Roan Ranger (dec) – Sire of Johnston’s Starlight Ranger, NFCs Sugar Boy and Gingerbread Farms Rapid Transit.

•  Wittmaacks Mickey Mouse – Sire of Sterling Silver.

• Johnstons Gold Boy and

•  Johnstons Gold Bar

• Johnston's Vanilla - Dam of Boones Little Buckeroo.

It should also be remembered that in Realization’s hay day it was frowned on by many to mix Shetland and Miniature Horse lines – so some miniature horses were registered with unknown parentage that could trace back to Jolly Boy Polk… one example is Goforth Little Bit, registered with unknown parents, but many believe him to be Gold Melody Boy bred (because of his type and being bred by Gold Melody Boy’s owner).

Note: the enormous impact Realization has had on the miniature horse is truly amazing considering he died at 11 years of age.

I felt the need to chat about Jolly Boy Polk as a reminder to people just how influential some horses can be – and while we give credit to some of today's well known sires and dams it can be a real eye opener to look a little further back…

Some of the horses mentioned above:

Hillswicke Oracle	Realization	Gold Melody Boy	Rowdy
Roan Ranger	Wittmaacks  Mickey Mouse	NFCs Fire + Ice	Lightning Bug
My Golden Toy	Johnstons  Gold Boy	NFCs Sugar Boy	Boones Little Buckeroo

Note: All information in the above story has been accessed from the Internet and is available from many different sources.
All images above have also come from the internet and can be found in larger images.