Quarter Horse History


Angus Kenney Sr. ND Cowboy Hall of Fame
Inductee.
 Barb Kennedy - Miss Rodeo 1959

 |
Woroniecki Ranch Quarter Horses evolved from the
natural progression of needing good ranch horses for the ranch’s
own use. Warren’s family did not jump into the need to have
‘registered’ horses. They knew what horses worked for them,
rode a lot of mares, retired them as broodmares, raised what
they needed and sold most of the geldings. An injured mare
could raise a colt, but an injured gelding did not have much
of a future. Sometimes it was a good quarter horse stud put
with those mares but sometimes not. There sometimes were
‘registered’ horses on the ranch, but that piece of paper
was filed away and not very important, because after all,
you did NOT ride the piece of paper and the paper did not
‘prove’ the horse. In those years a lot of horse collaboration
went on with Warren’s uncle and family from Belfield, ND.
As the years pass, some things change. The need for and
the determination of a good proven horse has NOT changed. The desire to
trace ancestry and prove pedigrees has led us to the current registered
quarter horse operation of being able to offer good horses to the public.
Many of our registered quarter horses of today are still based upon the
talents and merits of the horses from the past. The ‘papers’ are important,
but the horses still have to be proven.
Jodie and Warren feel very fortunate to have had Barbra Kennedy Johnson
and her late husband, Jarrette, as mentors sharing their knowledge of
horses, training and and North Dakota history. In recent years,
many of the Woroniecki horses came from Barb and Jarrette and
Barb’s cousin, the late Larry and Marlene Grantier at Grantier Quarter Horses.
Barbra, a McKenzie County, ND native, born to a ranching family grew up
in the 1940s and 50s. Her Kennedy family is well known in North Dakota ranching history
and cattlemen’s associations. Her grandfather, Angus Kennedy Sr. was one of the first
inductees into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame located in Medora, ND (see our links).
Angus Sr. also had an uncle that worked at the well known Miles City Saddlery in Miles City,
MT. Many a cowboy or girl had or wanted a Miles City saddle and still do. Barb contributed
to a little history of her own in October 1958 when she was selected the 1959 Miss Rodeo North Dakota.
According to Barb, the Kennedy family started out with horses
of Morgan and Hamboltonian descent. At one point, Barb’s father,
Angus Kennedy Jr. purchased 16 mares of US Remount Program descent.
Their first quarter horse was a 1952 stallion named Squaw Chief.
Barb and her cousins at Grantier Quarter Horses remained loyal to
the ‘good old horses’ of the past with lots of good foundation bloodlines,
while also being progressive. The Grantiers received their 50 year certificate
from the AQHA in 2016 with two of their children accepting the award.
They used to hold an annual sale each September for many years. Many of
Barb’s bloodlines traced to a stallion named Little Freckles as evident in our 2006 mare,
My Kittys Belle JW.
Together, Barb and Jarrette, raised quarter horses and paint horses. Many years
ago we obtained several good mares and geldings from Barb and Jarrette. We cannot say enough
good things about their horses. They have proven themselves to be trainable, trustworthy
athletes and many are the current backbone of the ranch today. We have been so impressed
with these horses that in 2006 and 2007 we looked for fillies closely related to these
saddle horses, purchasing seven young Grantier mares. We went back to them again in 2009
and 2010 for three more. Those mares proved their worth as solid broodmares and we are
extremely happy with them. We have now kept daughters of those daughters. We are very
optimistic as to the ongoing future of the Grantier bloodlines in our breeding program..
We collaborate with Barb with our quarter horses and we
will continue to develop horses together. The stallion,
JK Jay Reed, on our site
is owned by Barb.
Barbra Kennedy Johnson
10172 Hwy 73
Mandaree, ND 58757
701-759-3425

 |
Jodie & Warren Woroniecki |
|
7075 28th St.
Hebron, ND 58638
701-878-4088
[email protected] |