On a fall night in 1981 Pat Rorick & his three sons attended an open horse sale in Hutchinson, MN. At the time Pat had been around horses most of his life. He had ten or so at home but they were a mixed bag of ponies & horses. He was thinking of raising Paint Ponies. That all changed when a 46” grade POA mare came in to the sale’s ring. The mare was well broke & a little girl was neck reining the little pony & making her go where ever the girl wanted.

After Pat bought the mare he started tracking down her history. As it turns out she was a registered POA that went one way & her papers another. While searching for her background came knowledge of the POA breed. By 1983 Rorick’s had several POA mares & a couple small Quarter Horse mares. All the other horses & ponies had been weeded.

In 1983 Rorick’s bred two mares to Arnold Marker’s stallion East Acres Tough To Beat, an own son of East Acres Double Tough. Arnie introduced Pat to Bud Campbell of Rochester, MN. That Spring Bud sold his International Show Grand Champion Stallion Driftwood’s Siri Tomahawk to Rorick’s. Because it was breeding season at the time Bud had commitments he had to fulfill with Tomahawk.

Bud called his good friend Max Nebergal from Tipton, Iowa & told him about the new family in MN. After a trip to IA, Rorick’s purchased 5 mares & East Acres Chip O Tough from Max. Chip O Tough is a son of East Acres Tough To Beat. From the group of five mares emerged the mothers of such known POAs as, Chip’s Lady, Sandy Tough Dots, Ruby Tough Dots, Susie Tough Dots, Sweeten Bounce, & Kid O Tough.

In 1984 Pat added a QH mare from TX into the band. Her name was Bonnie Jolene. When crossed to Tough To Beat this mare produced Double Shot. Used by Ray Pietz this stallion became the sire of Driftwood’s Mega Bucks & Driftwood’s Bonnie Jolene.

In March of 1986 two mares would join Rorick’s mare band that would leave a lasting impact. Rorick’s purchased the famous mare OZ’s Sweet Speculation from Judy Phillips of OH. On the way back from OH Pat, Kent, & Bud Campbell stopped at Doc Nemmer’s place in Dubuque, Iowa. While there Rorick’s picked up another mare, Doc’s Double Sweet. This mare is a full sister to Doc’s Tough Dude, & Doc’s Built Tough.

1986 was a good foal crop for Rorick’s. Kid O Tough, Double Shot, Ruby Tough Dots, & Total Treat were all from that crop. All four of these foals grew up to be International Show Champions, or Champion producers.

OZ’s Sweet Speculation was crossed to the Appaloosa stallion Another Bounce twice while Rorick’s owned her. The first colt, Bet On Bounce, was born in 1988. As a three year old he was Reserve Champion at the International Show in Halter & JPFC Western Pleasure. He became a successful show gelding. Before he became a gelding he sired the two time Int. Show Champion Mare Sweeten Bounce. OZ’s Sweet Speculation’s second foal by Another Bounce was born in 1991. Bounce Back Jack became the Int. Show Grand Champion Stallion as a yearling.

Doc’s Double Sweet produced two colored foals by Chip O Tough. In 1989 she produced her first Kid O Tough baby, which happens to be Kid O Tough’s first foal. The Crisco Kid became one of the greatest show geldings in the history of POAs. He is the only POA ever to win Int. Show classes in all four age groups. In 1990 Doc’s Double Sweet foaled the Rorick bred filly, Kid’s Double Sweet. This Kid O Tough daughter has become one of the Premiere Dams in the breed. She is the dam to Champions He’s Intensified & The Silver Kid. The Silver Kid has gained fame as a performance sire.

The early 1990’s was a tough time for Rorick’s. Due to health problems the family had to sell their POA herd & had to move to town in 1990. By the fall of 1992 Rorick’s were back in the country. However the group of mares they had assembled & culled was gone. So was the young Stallion Kid O Tough. To start back Rorick’s purchased a weanling filly by Kid O Tough out of a Boston Mac/Beau’s My Daddy granddaughter. They named the filly Kid-0’s My Daddy. By 1995 Rorick’s had a small mare band again.

Throughout the 1990’s Kent Rorick conditioned & showed some POAs for people such as Doc Nemmers, Jackie Blaeser, & Lynn Puffinerberger. In 1997 Lynn sent a mare with a two month old colt to Rorick’s. Kent named the colt Salty Eyed Look. The colt won the Red Country Futurity as a weanling. As a four year old Salty Eyed Look won the Small Age Stallion Class at the 2001 Int. Show. In 2002 Kent & Lynn sold the well bred stallion at the International Sale. Rorick’s retained two good daughters of Salty Eyed Look, Star Eyed Look, & Honey Eyed Look.

The 1998 crop produced two Int. Show Champions. Picabo Street & Jag, both sired by Kid O Tough, are still being shown today. The 1999 foal crop only numbered three, but all three were good. Pikachu topped the Int. Sale as a weanling. He is a two time Int. Show Champion Gelding & the 2006 Reserve Grand Champion Gelding. He was co-bred by Kent & Kirk Rorick, & was Kirk’s first POA baby. He is sired by Abdull’s Grand Son. For the next several years Kirk Rorick would use Abdull on his QH mares.

Country Whiz is also from the 1999 foal crop. He was co-bred by Jeff Schumaker & Kent Rorick. The Dam to Country Whiz was Jeff’s mare Speculate a Whiz Kid. This mare is by Daddy’s Whiz Kid, a son of Beau’s My Daddy & out of OZ’s Sweet Speculation. The sire of Country Whiz is the AQHA son of Coosa, Country Coosa. Country Whiz was the High Selling Yearling Colt at the 2000 International Sale.

The Crimson Kid rounds out the 1999 crop. He is by Kid O Tough & out of Scarlet Moon. This pretty gelding topped the Yearling Geldings at the 2000 Int. Sale. He won the 3 Year Old Gelding Class at the 2002 Int. Show. He has also won performance classes at three different Int. Shows. He is considered one of the best geldings going by many trainers & exhibitors.

The 2000 foal crop also consisted of three foals. Two of these foals became International Show Champions in 2006. American Beauty won the Broodmare Class in 2006. She is sired by the Appaloosa stallion Post Commandoe. Her dam is the mother to Picabo Street, I Am A Lucky Little Lady. This cross produced three fillies for Rorick’s. All three have been retained for brood mares.

Nickajack was also born in 2000. He also became an Int. Show Champion in 2006. He is sired by Country Coosa AQHA & out of Ricochet Back to Bounce. This mare is a daughter of Bounce Back Jack & East Acres Arrow. East Acres Arrow was one of the five mares purchased from Max Nebergal in 1983.

In 2002 Gordon Krueger gave Rorick’s the opportunity to buy Kid O Tough. The then 16 year old had been away from Rorick’s for 12 years. In 2003 Rorick’s bred 11 mares to Kid O Tough. In 2004 11 healthy foals arrived. This crop is starting to prove itself. So far two of them are National Champions.

In 2004 Rorick’s purchased the yearling ApHC Champion colt BL Dynamite Day. The plan is to cross him on Kid O Tough & Salty Eyed Look daughters. Dynamite Day’s fillies will then be crossed to The American Kid, a 2007 few spot son of Kid O Tough & American Beauty.

Over the years Rorick’s have given away many POA babies to families. In the recent years Rorick Bred POAs have been in demand. A high percentage of Rorick Bred POAs either become International Show Champions or Champion producers.