SADDLEBRED - American Saddlebred Horse Association

A Look at the Life and Advice of Charles J. “June” Cronan
Editor’s Note: This story originally
appeared in the September 2001 issue of
Equestrian magazine. It is reprinted with
permission.
My grandfather,
Charles J. “June” Cronan,
a Kentucky native,
was involved with Saddlebreds
since the early
part of the last century.
He was known as one
MIKE CRONAN
of the most stalwart
supporters of the effort
to consolidate showmen of the country
until his death in 1984. He served the
American Horse Shows Association
(AHSA) as Chairman of the Saddle
Horse Committee, was a member of the
Board of Directors and Executive Committee
and a Vice President for Zone 5.
Some people in the horse world considered
him to have been an aristocrat,
which is not true, so I would like to take
this opportunity to explain his background.
He started the American Saddle
Horse Breeders Futurity of Kentucky
many years ago with $1,160 paid out of
his own pocket, before becoming an officer
of the American Saddle Horse Breeders
Association (ASHBA). He was
concerned that the Saddlebred horses
might become extinct due to a public
misperception that their use is limited to
professionals riding in the show ring,
and a further misperception that their
temperament make them unsuitable for
any other purpose.
I am proud to say
that he was a man of
majestic military bearing
and, as a youthful recipient
of his discipline, a
person who could occasionally
inspire awe and
fear. He was also a gentleman
who was unfailingly
courteous, polite,
dignified, and conservative.
At the same time, I
believe those who knew
him would also say he
was warm, outgoing,
gracious and humorous.
I can affirm both his
early role in developing the Futurity, as
well as his belief that the Saddlebred
“
He was
concerned
that the Saddlebred
horses might become
extinct due to a public
misperception that their
use is limited to
professionals riding in the
show ring, and a further
misperception that their
temperament make them
unsuitable for any other
purpose.”
horse was ideally suited not just to the
show ring, but also to trail riding, carriage
pulling, cattle roping, fox hunting
and just about anything else you might
want to do with a horse.
Born in 1985, his “aristocratic” pedigree
cannot be traced back any further
than the mid 1800s to his Irish immigrant
grandparents who came to Kentucky
with thousands of others who
came to Kentucky to avoid the Irish potato
famine. Make no mistake; he was
proud of his Irish heritage, but an aristocrat
he was not!
At the age of 11, he acquired his first
horse, a Standardbred mare named Adraline.
Richlieu King won the five-gaited
stake when Granddaddy was 18. Thinking
that horse more beautiful than any he
had ever seen, he twisted his father’s arm
for the breeding fee and rode Adraline 35
miles overnight to be bred to the stakes
winner. Adraline died at age 35, still in
my grandfather’s possession.
He had neither monetary wealth nor
land. His parents owned a house in
Louisville but no plantation, no farm,
not even a stable. Perhaps as a result, in
the late 1920s, Grandaddy and other
Louisvillians formed the Rock Creek
Riding Club as a place to keep horses
and to be with friends who loved horses.
Family cross-country rides were the
order of the day, not the glamorous
horse show for which Rock Creek has
become known.
He came by his military bearing the
old-fashioned way, beginning as a private
in World War I and
eventually retiring from
the Kentucky National
Guard as a colonel after
World War II. On September
18, 1917, a day
after graduating from
law school, he enlisted
in the horse-drawn field
artillery. Many years
later, in a speech to 4-H
Club members, Granddaddy
recounted how
his company commander
in 1917 was
afraid of horses and,
upon learning of Granddaddy’s
experience, assigned him to pick
a good horse and “wear it out” before
World’s Championship Horse Show Results and Judges’ Cards | 7 | Sunday, August 29, 2010
Photo courtesy the Cronan Family, Headshot courtesy Gayle Strickroot
Charles J. “June” Cronan was heavily
involved in the Saddlebred industry prior to
his death in 1984.
the commander had to ride it in company
formations. Later, as horses were
being phased out of the military, Granddaddy
and others continued to use them
in polo matches between military units.
In 1946, after his return from active
service in World War II, Granddaddy
borrowed money and bought 120 acres,
which became Shamrock Farm on Murphy
Lane in eastern Jefferson County. It
was there for the next 18-plus years. My
family and I had the pleasure of living
and working on the same farm as my
grandparents. I can assure you that
Granddaddy was not sitting under a
shade tree in a white suit sipping mint
juleps. To the contrary, he arose every
morning at 5:30, attended Catholic
mass at a local church, and then returned
home to wake up anybody on
the farm who might still have been
asleep! There was always work to be
done. Granddaddy enlisted the services
of anyone who was around, but he,
himself, also baled hay, drove the tractor,
herded cattle, mucked out stalls,
picked hooves, cleaned tack and, to the