History

Wicker Ranch was founded more than one hundred years ago by Mr. Joe Wicker. In March, 1901, Mr. Wicker migrated from from Indian Territory (now Southwest Oklahoma) to a remote spot on Bull Creek in Borden County, Texas. He brought with him several mares from the Trammell line, which was one of the Territories’ reputed breeding lines. With these mares, Mr. Wicker began a program which produced ranch horses in his favorite color, gray. By the 1930’s he was supplying not only himself, but also his neighbors and large operations such as Colonel C.C. Slaughter’s Long S Ranch with these Wicker bred horses. Upon Mr. Wicker’s death in 1939, his son-in-law, Frank. B. Jones inherited both the Wicker Ranch and its thriving breeding program. While determined to preserve Mr. Wicker’s original concept of the ideal gray ranch horse, Mr. Jones simultaneously began working toward a new phase in the Wicker genetics. By the 1950’s Mr. Jones leased a stallion from the Pitchfork Ranch - Joe Bailey’s King P-7260 and crossed this lineage into the Trammel-bred mares.

Since the early 1960’s when the Wicker Ranch was passed on to Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Jones, Jr. several other outstanding lineages have been introduced into the foundation Wicker mares. These lines include Jackie Bee, Vandy, Depth Charge, Three Bars, Native Dancer, Waggoner, Doc Bar, and most recently the stallions Little Gun N Play by Playgun and LH Kingstar who was raised by Jess Hankins of Rocksprings, Texas. The Wicker 20 head mare band in the future will produce colts by DDD Gunnin to Play an own son of Mr Playinstylish and Lil Pepto Cat a grandson of High Brow Cat. The colts will be raised and trained on the Jones Ranches consisting of 32,000 acres of ranch land and several thousand acres of wheat pasture.