Cuba

CLEGG, GEORGE AUSTIN (18721959). George Austin Clegg, quarter horse qv breeder and horse-show judge, son of Austin and Dower (Powers) Clegg, was born in Thomaston, Texas, on April 22, 1872. He attended the public schools of Thomaston, St. Joseph's College in Victoria, and Baylor University for a short while. He took a commercial course in San Antonio and at the age of eighteen began managing the large horse and cattle ranch owned by his uncle in DeWitt County. Clegg considered himself a riding, roping, and racing expert by 1895. He married Letetia Margaret Nichols of Cuero on July 12, 1897, and the couple had two children. They moved to Alice in 1904. There Clegg managed the 1,400-acre Taylor Brothers Farm and his own two 300-acre farms. In 1905 he laid the foundation for fine quarter-horse breeding when he bought a yearling colt, Little Joe, from Dow Shely (co-owner of Traveler) and four racing mares in Del Rio. In 1911 he began racing their offspring, with Pap Rebo as jockey. Clegg bought Hickory Bill, a racer, and two mares in 1911. His top quarter horses began with the breeding of Little Joe and the Hickory Bill mares. Old Sorrell, sired by Hickory Bill and sold in 1913, was the foundation stallion of the King Ranch remuda.