Blanca Traveler arrived at Arrow's Walkers in Alamosa, Colorado in 1996 from Wyoming. Delene, owner of the stallion Blue Gold, had talked to various breeders and horse owners out west and learned of the mare. Delene had been studying color genetics books and was becoming more aware of the vigor and stamina that horses bred in western climates possessed. Their hardiness and also needed to weather the cold San Luis Valley winters. Alamosa frequently makes the news for cold spot in the nation. 7,500 ft elevation and forty below, with a wind chill on top of that, is nothing to scoff at. Blanca was every bit a tough as she had expected and quickly became a revered member of the Lazy Y Arrow Ranch herd. Delene took Blanca to work with her when she worked for the Bureau of Land Mangement. They hit the trails all over Southern Colorado. Blanca was sired by Tate's Traveler, who was born and raised in Montana. His sire is Montana Traveler. Montana Traveler's pedigree has several horses known to the Arrow's Walkers family for quite some time- his granddam on top is Miller's Medora, a full sister to Dakotas Medora, the dam of both of the herd's foundation mares- Fashion and Star. Montana Traveler's sire, Ebony's Dakota Black, was sired by Ebony's Reflection M., the stallion Calvin Miller (of the Double Diamond Ranch) brought in to cross on his mares. Ebony's Reflection M. was also the sire of Fashion and Star. On bottom, through Miller's Gold Bond, Montana Traveler has Sun's Merry Man. Anyone who knows anything about western Tennessee Walkers or Calvin Miller knows this horse. On the bottom of Blanca's pedigree, through Uptown Miss, she is descended from Spiller's Gold Dust, TWHBEA #451748, who made his way into the western TWH books. Although not born out west (but in Tennessee) Spiller's Gold Dust was a resident of Idaho, British Columbia, and perhaps other parts of Canada. According to a letter sent in by Grace Larsen and published in the 2007 Walking Horse Journal, Abe Blakenship owned Spiller's Gold Dust when he lived near Moscow, Idaho. He use SGD to work cattle in the rough Snake River breaks. Spiller's Gold Dust was also palomino, and therefor contributed a cream gene to the bottom side of her pedigree. Spiller's Gold Dust had so many attributes along with a gentle disposition and an excellent walk. Abe Haynes said small children could ride him around the pasture bareback without a halter; and he was a natural when it came to his walk. She is the granddam of Darrahs Handsome Traveler.
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