Farm Information
Welcome to Equine Color Specialties (formerly RM Paint & Quarter Horses), home of a breeding farm totally focused on quality-bred horses with enhancement of colors.
Although owner, Robin Mitchell Forrest, had shown horses most of her life, and especially during the 1970's throughout Georgia and South Carolina competing with Quarter Horses and Arabians in Western Pleasure and Halter, she didn't start her own breeding program until 1991 following her move to Texas in 1979. Her favorite horses in those early years of showing were Buckskins and Palominos, and the love of those colors stuck with her. Continual compliments on her "golden" horses legitimized her personal belief that Buckskins and Palominos had a particular appeal to many other owners and exhibitors as well, and would prove to be a good market to focus on.
Returning to competition in Texas after those years of inactivity in the show ring, Robin was bitten by the Team Penning bug, and her enthusiasm and ability soon had her in the winners' circle again, winning saddles, buckles, and money to boot. She also was nurturing some "winning" ideas of a breeding program which held special appeal for her ongoing admiration and devotion to the golden shades of Buckskins and Palominos.
Robin had always been able to recognize a good horse regardless of color, but adamantly believed a good athlete should be pretty enough to "halter" as well as being capable enough of being a formidable competitor under saddle. With "color" added to the quality she would consistently insist in her own program, she would achieve her icing on the cake, and that became her goal in breeding 100% quality Buckskin and Palomino horses.
Invest In Rodeo, (alias Boogie Man)
Click on photo to enlarge
In 1994, Robin bred her favorite AQHA Buckskin mare, Sheza Ballerina Doll, to a Palomino stallion she greatly admired, First Lien. In May of the following year, a colt of unusual color resulted from that breeding, and totally unfamiliar with what this baby actually was genetically, she assumed he must be a Buckskin. After consulting with AQHA's Registry regarding the color and markings, she was advised to register the colt as a Buckskin. She named this exceptional baby "Invest In Rodeo", but a family friend insisted he receive the nickname of "Boogie Man" due to his big blue eyes, which she considered a bit spooky looking. The nickname stuck, but certainly has not been earned as this incredible stallion is well known for his gentle nature and trainability, blue-eyed or not.
Sheza Ballerina Doll, "Boogie's" mother
Before Robin became fully aware of the unusual genetic makeup a "double-diluted" horse such as Boogie carries with regard to color, she was already aggressively breeding mares to this handsome stallion. She quickly discovered from his first foal crop that if bred to bay and/or sorrel mares, the results would always be varying shades of Buckskin or Palomino, with the depth of color depending on the mare's genetic makeup. Noting further that all of these foals consistently had brown eyes rather than blue (unless the mares bred happened to be a Paint with one or both blue eyes), Robin realized she owned a stallion who could allow her to offer consistent color guarantees on non grey mares.
Out of his first foal crop which arrived in 1996, "Boogie" sired 9 Buckskins, 1 Palomino, and 1 Dun. He now has over 60 Buckskins and Palomino foals to his credit, including amoung them, Palomino and Buckskin Paints. By this time, both Robin and AQHA recognized that "Boogie" was in fact, a Perlino, and carried the red factor type, Ee. Although (as obvious in Invest In Rodeo's sterling AQHA pedigree) he is a 100% Quarter Horse carrying the finest in AQHA beauty, speed, and cow-bred bloodlines, Boogie had to give up his AQHA papers due to his pink skin and blue eyes. His official registration has since been accepted by and transferred into the American Paint Horse Association which opened their Registry to Perlinos and Cremellos in 2001.
In late 1998 Robin got acquainted over the phone with Sharon Matthews of Albany, Texas, an Arabian breeder since 1984. Both Sharon and her breeding manager at that time, Janet Rivera, had a shared desire and interest in breeding Half-Arabians Buckskins and Palominos, but like Robin, Sharon didn't want to breed "color" without the primary focus being on quality.
After gathering up photos of Boogie and his first foal crop, Robin drove to Albany to meet Sharon personally and discuss the possibility of Invest In Rodeo standing at her farm, YL Arabians. Sharon was in the process of completing a state-of-the-art breeding lab at her facility, and she and Janet and just recently completed Equine Reproduction and Cooled Transported Semen classes at Colorado State University. After visiting with Robin and viewing the photos, Sharon was as enthusiastic as Robin about Invest In Rodeo and the two women agreed on a partnership promoting this superior sire nationwide, whom they recognized as clearly being on the way to stardom.
Robin Mitchell Forrest
4202 Danek Road • Crosby, Texas 77532
Cell: (281) 932-4233 • Farm: (281) 839-1251 • Work: (281) 837-8454
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