It is one of the saddest stories in all of horse history - that of the great cutting horse mare Poco Lena. And now, AQHA member Gerry Lukacik of Oktaha, Oklahoma has immortalized her story in song and music video.

The video is free for viewing on YouTube (Video Link). It recounts the mare's rise to glory in the 1950s and early 60s - performances so brilliant they made her the first inductee into the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame. And it tells of the tragedy that befell her. Poco Lena was being driven from Arizona to Texas, while her owner, B. A. Skipper, was flying back from a cutting. His plane crashed, however, and it took four days for rescuers to find the wreckage. In the confusion, no one realized that Poco Lena had been left in the trailer without food or water for those four days.

With the nurturing of some great folks, she recovered enough to foal two colts, Doc O'Lena and Dry Doc, who also became cutting legends. The line has continued to include cutting triple-crown winner Smart Little Lena and a number of cutting greats.

With a folksy song that he wrote himself, Gerry reminds us that this dynasty of great Quarter Horses almost didn't happen.

The video includes rare black-and-white footage of the young mare when Don Dodge owned her in the 1950s.

Gerry sang and played all the instruments on the Poco Lena song, writing, recording and producing it himself. The former UPS truck driver admits that the video wasn't in his repertoire until he happened to look himself up on the Internet one day.

He found a video that a teenage girl had made using his song about Ruffian, the famous Thoroughbred.

It wasn't long before he had compiled plenty of raw visual material on Poco Lena. He picked her because of her compelling story, however, you have to wonder if there's something else at play. Of the six American Quarter Horses Gerry owns, four just happen to trace to Poco Lena.

From the Webmaster: Although this article was about a Quarter Horse and was published in a Quarter Horse publication, our own Sooner ApHC newsletter editor was the featured artist. While he does own a few Quarters, he owns some mighty fine Appaloosas, as well. Gerry is truly a man of many talents. Check out this and his other videos on YouTube.