Rustler Bill traces back to the Matador Land and Cattle Company’s line of cattle horses from their Texas Panhandle headquarters. The Matador shipped horses and cattle by train to its land in South Dakota. One of these horses, a Quarter Horse stallion named Matador Dun, was crossed with an American Indian-bred spotted mare called Cheyene Gold.
According to unofficial records, the crossing of Matador Dun and Cheyene Gold produced four full brothers bred by Kenneth West of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The first foal, Rustler Bill, was born on May 15, 1954. Chancie Mandan, Cheyenne D Bill and Wrangler Bill followed. Fred Wimberly of Fort Worth, Texas, registered Cheyene Gold on August 12, 1959.
Lee Tom Alls of Apermont, Texas, purchased Rustler Bill and moved the 2-year-old to Texas before registering him with the ApHC. He began showing the stallion as a 4-year-old, then sold him to Fred. Fred’s son David trained and showed Rustler Bill, winning championships in halter and performance classes in Texas. Fred sold Rustler Bill to Zip Appaloosa Ranch of Fort Worth, Texas, in 1963, who then sold the stallion to Ralph Henley of Wagoner, Oklahoma, in 1966. Rustler Bill moved east in 1967 when Frank and Nancy Pritchard of Seekonk, Massachusetts, purchased him. He passed hands again in 1969 to Dean Fitzwater of Portland, Oregon, where the stallion stayed until 1984 when his final owners, James and Carol Underwood of Alberta, Canada, bought him.
Most of Rustler Bill’s and his 179 registered offspring’s show accomplishments happened before the national points system. However, he did earn National champion titles for get of sire in 1963 and 1965. Rustler Bill’s get excelled in halter and performance classes. His son Rustler Badger won the National champion yearling stallion title in 1964, and Rustler’s Risk became a leading Appaloosa in the National Cutting Horse Association.
Rustler Bill died of natural causes after 30 years of influencing the Appaloosa breed.
