Never mind the Chisholm, Smart Little Lena blazed his own trail through Fort Worth, Texas and the course of cutting horse history.

Pick up a recent cutting horse sale catalog and try to find a pedigree that doesn’t include Smart Little Lena. It won’t be easy.

He was the first horse to win the NCHA Triple Crown; the first stallion to be syndicated prior to the NCHA Futurity; and the first cutting sire to surpass $30 million in offspring earnings. He ranked No. 1 for eight years on the list of all-time leading cutting sires, until he was surpassed in 2009 by High Brow Cat, who is out of Smart Little Kitty, by Smart Little Lena.

His profile is well known: bred and started at two by Hanes Chatham; trained by Bill Freeman; syndicated by Chatham and Freeman; won the 1982 NCHA Futurity, 1983 NCHA Super Stakes, 1983 NCHA Derby, 1984 Masters Cutting, and a lifetime total of $743,275; retired to stand his entire career at Manion Ranch in Aubrey, Texas, where he was euthanized on August 30, 2010, at 31 years of age. His offspring had earned more than $36.5 million through 2009.

I talked with Freeman about Smart Little Lena and his offspring on many occasions and would like to share some of his thoughts and observations here. The first quote always makes me smile because I can almost imagine Smart Little Lena saying the same thing about Bill, who passed away in 2008:

He loves people and for some reason, people love him – not just for his ability, but just for the horse himself.

He was about 13.3 hands when I showed him in the Futurity and weighed maybe 850 to 900 pounds, at the most.

There was no doubt in my mind that I wasn’t going to win the Futurity.

It was always a real eerie feeling when I would ride to the herd. He was so little that it took him forever to get there and all the long way down there you could have heard a pin drop.

I’ve ridden horses that have been more athletic ability than Lena, but I’ve never ridden one that is as smart as he is. He was intelligent enough that it was a game to him.

My dad loved the horse. He compared him a lot to Doc O’Lena with the exception of the power. Doc O’Lena had quite a bit more power than Little Lena, but the intelligence level was there on both horses. [Shorty Freeman won the 1970 NCHA Futurity on Doc O’Lena, Smart Little Lena’s sire.]

He was very easy to train and be around. The only quirk about him, give him a day off and you need to watch the next day because he might try to buck you off.

Probably the best showman I’ve ever seen is Buster (Welch). He can ride down there on a dink and make you think he’s riding the best horse that ever lived. To me, Buster has the same qualities as Smart Little Lena. He has that charisma about him. It makes you want to help him do good, and he’s a master, a total master.

(Smart Little Lena) showed an intensity to cut that was his natural way of wanting to work. Fortunately, I let him do his thing and it pretty much revolutionized our business.