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A maker's mark on the underside of the horse tells us it was made by KAAG Trophies of Los Angeles.
The plaque added to the front of the plinth is engraved:
Merle Little rode with Eugene Biscailuz's Los Angeles County Sheriff's Posse, and he was good friends with legendary trick roper and fellow Pinto horse aficionado Montie Montana. (Each of those relationships is worthy of a separate blog post.)
The plaque on the trophy is inscribed "Azusa Golden Days, October 29, 1949."
I haven't been able to find out much about the maker of the trophy. The earliest date I can find for KAAG Trophy Company in a newspaper article or ad is April 1948. That makes sense, since the metal to make trophies would have been more readily available after World War II.
AZUSA GOLDEN DAYS
OCTOBER 29, 1949
Azusa is about 6 or 7 miles from Monrovia, so it isn't surprising that Merle took part in the Golden Days equestrian activities.
1949 was the first year the community's week-long annual festival was held to commemorate the time when gold was found in nearby San Gabriel Canyon during the mid-1800s. Newspaper articles reported that a "giant barbecue" would be held; they expected 20,000 people to attend. A morning parade would feature 750 to 1,000 horses, with an afternoon horse show to follow.
(Can you imagine, 750 to a thousand horses in just one smaller city's parade? That shows just how many horses were available to even be in a parade back then.)
A Monrovia News-Post article from October 18, 1949 summarized some of the activities.
Merle Little rode with Eugene Biscailuz's Los Angeles County Sheriff's Posse, and he was good friends with legendary trick roper and fellow Pinto horse aficionado Montie Montana. (Each of those relationships is worthy of a separate blog post.)
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I haven't been able to find out much about the maker of the trophy. The earliest date I can find for KAAG Trophy Company in a newspaper article or ad is April 1948. That makes sense, since the metal to make trophies would have been more readily available after World War II.
Newspaper articles of the day tell us that the KAAG Trophy Company was co-founded by George Ebert; he had been born in Kansas City and was raised in Los Angeles, then moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1959. An online source says a man named K. O. Dean was another co-founder of the company.
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I don't know why this award was presented to Merle Little. I haven't been able to locate results for the Azusa Golden Days horse show, or to find out if awards were given for parade entries. We are able to look at results from other horse shows that have been preserved, to see which horses Merle was taking to shows in 1949. They included several Morgans:
Lippitt Morman
Alma Sonfield
Santa Ynez
Betty Joaquin
Indio Morgan
Senor Morgan
Senorita Morgan
Easter Morgan
Lady B
Altonia
Midnight Sun
And one Pinto, his stallion Tesoro.
Merle's Arrow Rock stagecoach also took part in parades in 1949. It was often pulled by his Morgan mares Santa Ynez and Anita Belle Gift.
The horse on the plinth himself shows a lot of action; his Western tack would not look out of place at a horse show, rodeo, or parade. I haven't been able to find the name of any designers for KAAG. The horse is not as refined as many of Gladys Brown Edwards' equine designs for Dodge, Inc., and he's a different style than the metal horse awards produced by Trophy Craft, Abbottwares, and K & O during the same era. I have seen other examples of this trophy for sale online in recent years.
This trophy, or one like it, appears in a photo from a horse show of one of Merle's hinnies, Father Devine (or Divine), who was sired by Merle's well-known Pinto stallion Tesoro. The man holding the trophy is identified on the back of the picture as Pop Godwin. (This may have been Ray Godwin, a friend of Merle's from nearby Arcadia who took part in several parades and other activities with Merle.) There's no way to tell if the award was given at the Azusa Golden Days horse show in 1949, or at another show.
The copper-colored plating on the trophy is starting to peel in several places, particularly on the horse's head and neck, giving it the appearance of striding into a high wind. It's a survivor of an era in Southern California where a local weekend parade might feature 750 or more horses and riders.
Over the decades of showing horses, Merle Little collected hundreds of trophies and ribbons. After his death, his family told me, they gave away most of his awards to local equestrian groups, to reuse with younger riders. If anyone reading this knows of the whereabouts of any of them, please get in touch with me! I'd love to know how they were used to encourage another generation of horse lovers.
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Many thanks to Carolyn Martin for her assistance in translating the maker's mark on the trophy. Carolyn's books on metal horses are a must for any serious collector. Her website is here: https://www.metalhorsefigurines.com/
Azusa Golden Days continues to be held each October. The sponsoring organization's Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/azusagoldendays/ .
