Montana Horse Becomes Texas Tech University Mascot
by Lynn’s Quarter Horses in Corvallis, Montana.
By DorinDa TrouTman, rmr STaff WriTer PhoToS By TTu SPiriT Program PhoTograPher roBerT rhoDe
A black foundation Quarter Horse
gelding, BQH Hollywoodatdusk (nicknamed “Woody”) has recently become the 14th “Midnight Matador” mascot for Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Woody took a very roundabout road to become the mascot. His dam, a stout red roan mare, was owned by a Bozeman, Montana family who bred her to Nu Hollywood King, a grullo stallion owned
Before she foaled, the mare was sold to Bohlman Quarter Horses in Musselshell, Montana. Woody was born in May, 2005, and was purchased by John Parkes of Tulia, Texas, as an eight-month- old, almost-black colt still showing his dorsal stripe. John eventually trained him to ride. In 2012 he was sold to a rancher friend of Parkes’, who taught him how to do everything a ranch horse needs to know. In October, Parkes heard a rumor that Texas Tech University was searching for a new mascot and he directed them to Woody. Parkes recently contacted Betty Lynn to tell her that the offspring of her stallion had passed all of the tests given by TTU. Each of the fourteen horses that have taken on the role of Midnight Matador since 1953 must enjoy attention and be fearless.
At TTU, it took Sam Jackson about three months and more than a dozen candidates to find the perfect horse. Jackson is the associate chair at TTU’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences and a Masked Rider Program advisor.
The deafening cheering of the crowd did not deter Woody’s dash down the field.
“Obviously the horse needed to be absolutely quiet, tolerant and calm in the face of so much noise and 50,000 fans in the stadium,”
says Jackson. “Plus he’s got to be black, sound, muscular, and have good conformation. “Woody is well broke, has a good
mind, and moves off of leg pressure — something that is needed in a very tight situation in a stadium setting. He has all of that and a great attitude. He’s had some good training by his former owners. He expressed the same calm demeanor through all of the testing that he had the first time I rode him alone in
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