DOC BAR
Text from the book Legends, 1993 (a WHB)

He was a good halter horse and an extraordinary sire
whose get totally transformed the sport of cutting.
 
DOC BAR will forever be remembered as the horse who revolutionized the cutting horse industry.
But he was not bred to be a cow horse. A look at his pedigree shows speed, and that's what Tom and Jack Finley wanted when they bred Dandy Doll to Lightning Bar, a AAA AQHA Champion son of Three Bars (TB).
 

Dandy Doll was a AA mare by Texas Dandy.
Dandy Doll won races from 220 yards up to 440 yards.

At 14.3, 1,000 pounds, Doc Bar was a washout on the race track. Doc Bar was not a race horse. He wasn't even a performance horse. But he turned out to be a good halter horse and an extraordinary sire whose get totally transformed the sport of cutting. And although he was never ridden in competition, his sons and daughters forever changed the cutting horse industry with their ability and style.

Doc Bar was shown at halter 13 times, with 12 wins, 1 second, 36 national points and 10 grand and reserve grand's.

After the halter horse structure turned to taller horses, Doc Bar's career as a halter horse sire was in jeopardy. His owners crossed him on their Poco Tivio mares and this led to the greatest nick in Quarter Horse history, producing the first of a long line of cow horses. An example of the magic cross was Fizzabar, a 1961 mare by Doc Bar and out of Teresa Tivio. Fizzabar wound up in the NCHA Hall of Fame, she was the National Cutting Horse Association World Champion Mare.

An unprecedented string of NCHA Futurity wins continued almost unbroken for 2 decades, in which Doc Bar's get and grand get dominated cutting's most prestigious event.

NCHA Futurity Wins
 
  • In 1970 Doc O'Lena won all four go-rounds of the NCHA Futurity
  • In 1971 Dry Doc claimed the crown
  • In 1973 Doc's Marmoset won
  • In 1974 Doc's Yuba Lea won
  • In 1975 Lenaette won
  • In 1978 Lynx Melody won
  • In 1979 Docs Diablo won
  • In 1980 Miss Royal Mahogany won
  • In 1982 Smart Little Lena Won
  • In 1987 a Smart Little Lena's foal Smart Date won
  • In 1988 a Smart Little Lena's foal Smart Little Senor won

DOC BAR sired 485 foals, who earned 2,492 halter points and 4,569.5 performance points, 27 AQHA Champions. While that's an impressive record, it does not truly reflect his greatness as a sire because many of his sons and daughters competed only in NCHA cuttings, not AQHA events.