Elaine Hall remembers the conversation with her husband, Larry, now deceased.  "It's time to make a decision," Larry said, bluntly.  "Well gosh," Elaine responded, "it's too hard to really get a stud that's going to really win and be a big-time stud. I think I would stick with a mare."

Lingering a moment longer, just to be sure, the couple then turned and walked back to the house. It was getting late. Once inside, Larry went directly to his office, alone. He pulled out an AQHA registration application off the desk and paused. Thinking. Considering. He popped the cap off the pen then leaned down to write one word - Peptoboonsmal.

"I said, fine, let's go for it!" Elaine remembered saying about her husband's decision. "We agreed that if we're ever going to raise a great stud, this was it."  Peptoboonsmal was supposed to be something wonderful. He was by Peppy San Badger, the No. 1-leading cutting horse sire of all time. His mother was the Halls' favorite mare, Royal Blue Boon, the leading cutting dam of all time.

Just naming the colt was quite a process. Looking through magazines, Elaine kept her eye peeled for ideas that could be transposed, combining Peppy and Boon into a creative, yet logical order. A soothing solution solved the puzzle.  "I presented Peptoboonsmal to Larry and at first it took him aback," Elaine said. "He had to see it in print, then in writing and then we reprinted it again. Then I just flat said, 'If you don't like it, cross it off the list!' "

What began as a lucky pick with a funny name resembling a popular pink stomach remedy turned into a shooting star, a celestial burst of red roan that washed the cutting pen in frosted coats, sheer talent, incredible trainability and ultra-cooperative minds. The pink-tinted wonder called Peptoboonsmal is the result of the unwavering faith of a man, a trainer's consistency and the resolute tenacity of a woman. Together, they just may have made a legend.

Peptoboonsmal has the double luxury of a performance record and a two-crop breeding resume that knocks a cutter's socks off. He won the 1995 NCHA Futurity with Gary Bellenfant and his offspring have scrawled thick, bold marks across major aged events in multiple disciplines.

The first class of Peptoboonsmal cutters hit the 2000 NCHA Futurity and accumulated $162,575 in winnings divided among 21 entries. The 2001 Futurity witnessed an incredible 66 Peptoboonsmal offspring. The only stallion that came close to having that many was fellow Futurity Champion CD Olena that had 60 colts entered. After the first two rounds, 11 Peptoboonsmal horses made the Open semifinals, including Hes A Peptospoonful, the stud that won round one, round two and the semis.

A quarter of the horses in the 2001 Open finals, six of the 24, were Peptoboonsmal progeny. These talented cutters worked their way to $337,549 in that one round alone. Hope Justice rode Freckles Lena Boon to the Open finals, plus scored a 210 in the Non-Pro finals, after she lost a cow in the last few seconds. The pair eventually scored its justified 225 at the Abilene Spectacular and won the Non-Pro Derby.  Taking all the 2001 NCHA Futurity finals into account - the Open, Non-Pro, Amateur, Limited Open and Limited Non-Pro, those second crop Peptoboonsmal dollars passed the $375,800 mark. Numbers that boggle the mind and hint at what's to come.

Crop one

"To go win the Futurity is a miracle," Elaine said.  Regardless, Elaine and Larry directed the young Peptoboonsmal toward the big event. Since 1979, the Halls had immersed themselves in the sport of cutting and in 1984, their mare, Boons Sierra, won the Open Futurity Reserve Championship with John Tolbert and then took the Open at the 1985 Super Stakes.  Under Bellenfant's tutelage, the young Peptoboonsmal honed his cow work skills and showed pizzazz early. A great sire, however, does not talent alone make.

"We knew before he ever went to the Futurity that he was a very, very competitive horse," Elaine said. "We knew he was a great athlete and a very good-minded horse, but you never know if they're a great stud until they put something on the ground."

Ironically, the Halls had no clue that their promising 2-year-old was already working on his siring expertise. Early that year, a determined Peptoboonsmal jumped the fence to romance a mare in the adjoining pasture. She was a no-name recipient mare without papers, a large girl with probably a little Thoroughbred here and a little Quarter Horse there. Nonetheless, she was the first proud mother of a Peptoboonsmal baby.

The Halls' "accident horse," Peptos Roany Pony, turned out to be Peptoboonsmal's sole 1995 foal. The mare shined at the 1998 NCHA Futurity when she made the Open semifinals with David Holtsford and the Non-Pro semis with Jay Hall, Larry and Elaine's son. She eventually earned $19,743 in NCHA money and now belongs to Linda Holmes, Longmont, Colo.  "My son told me now I could advertise that 100 percent of his first foal crop went to the semifinals," Elaine said with a laugh.  If that was what Peptoboonsmal had to offer with a mare from across the tracks, imagine what he could produce with a lady from his side of cutting town.

Crop two

The stallion tended 1995 business by winning the NCHA Futurity's $100,000 Championship and scribing his name solidly among legends. Proving he had performance longevity, Peptoboonsmal then rounded out the 1996 season with $80,487 in winnings at six shows. At the NCHA Summer Spectacular, he won the two Open rounds and the semis but wound up 10th in the finals. That was his last show.

"He had done everything he needed to do," Elaine said. "He was so consistent in winning and he had plenty of championships for the short time he'd been shown."  Between the April Super Stakes and the July Derby, Peptoboonsmal bred approximately 50 mares. This batch was the Futurity class of 2000 and included horses that have so far earned quite a name for themselves: Pepto Taz (DNA); $84,489; Mylanta Lena ($71,979); Yellow Roan Of Texas ($71,547); Bet Yer Boons ($66,543); Peptotime ($52,260); War Paint Pepto (PT) ($46,319); and Smart Peptolena ($37,139). Kick in the rest of his many money earners, and the total figure for the 1997 crop stands at over $481,000 in earnings.

Retiring Peptoboonsmal coincided with tragedy. In May, just before the Derby, Larry passed away. As Elaine continued through a murky fog of grief, she kept her stallion's path crystal clear. Not once did she consider syndication. Lifetime breeding shares was an option she ignored.

"I could have fallen off the end of the earth into self-pity or I could have sold the horse and gone off to Hawaii somewhere," Elaine said. "This horse was our dream come true and that is not what Larry would have wanted me to do."  She had the confidence to market the horse although her steps were unsteady at first. Immediately after Larry's death, Elaine received a phone call from Randle Tune, a horse buyer and seller from Gainesville, Texas. He told her she needed to carry on and market Peptoboonsmal.

"I'll never forget the conversation," Elaine said. "This man had never met me, ever, but he encouraged me, he inspired me and he made me excited about it."  The next spring, with his fee set at $3,000, Peptoboonsmal bred over 100 mares.

Crop three

"When I saw his name on top, I just went swirling. I could not believe it!"  Elaine had just taken a look at the sire count for the 2001 NCHA Futurity. She knew 1997 had been his biggest year for breeding, but the huge number of Peptoboonsmal offspring at Fort Worth floored this stallion owner. Seeing all those big-name trainers listed alongside Peptoboonsmal horses was whipped cream on her sweet Futurity pie.

When nearly 20 percent of those Peptoboonsmals made it back to the semis and six qualified for the finals, Elaine was as pleased as a stallion owner could possibly be.  "I just told everybody I was dancing with the roan roses," she said.  Already, the 2001 fall months had been quite a year for Elaine's stallion. Boonlight Dancer crossed the cutting boundary and won the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity's $100,000 Championship with Todd Bergen, then went on to make a strong showing at the NRHA Futurity. Evita Theroan was the high seller at the NRHA Breeders Showcase Sale - just one among the many Peptoboonsmal offspring demanding stellar prices. Pretty In Pink and Lloyd Cox took the Open at both the Sun Coast Futurity and the Brazos Bash. Timely Boon and Dustin Adams won the Sun Coast Futurity's Non-Pro Division. Time For Pepto was first in the UCHA Non-Pro Cutting Futurity with Sherry Chamberlin and Reserve Champion in the Open with Tim Castilaw.

Bayboonsmal, a rare sorrel daughter, won the Open Southern Futurity with Sam Shepard in the saddle.  This was all good news, but the overwhelming success at the cutting Futurity surpassed Elaine's optimistic dreams.  "Royal Blue Boon had been proving it all along, that she had the genetics so strong," Elaine said. "I never really had a doubt in my mind that he was going to be a sire, but the first year to do that great; I was just astounded."

Crop four

It almost never happened.  At 7 p.m. on Memorial Day, 1998, Elaine received a worried phone call from Dr. Marlon Baker, the veterinarian who owns and operates Alpha Equine, the Granbury, Texas, breeding facility where Peptoboonsmal stands.  "I'll never forget," Elaine said. "He said, 'Elaine, don't come down here. I don't want you see Pepto like this. We are trying to load him; I don't know that he'll survive the trip to A&M, but I'm taking him there myself.'"

The same stallion that had gotten four mares in foal that very day had lost his equilibrium and was going downhill fast. Three weeks of intensive care at Texas A&M yielded no answers. Talk of EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeoencephalitis) made the rounds, but Dr. Baker was not convinced. No closer to a cure, the vet loaded Peptoboonsmal into the trailer and drove to the University of Washington in Pullman, Wash., where he had access to an MRI machine large enough to accommodate a full-grown horse.

Faith carried Elaine through this tragic period.  "My Larry was so sick and suffered so much that when Pepto got sick, I think I had been through so much that I knew that whatever God put on me I could handle," she said.  But nothing prepared her for the heartbreaking news. The MRI images shed light on a marble-sized abscess embedded deep in Peptoboonsmal's brain. It was inoperable and could not be removed.  "I don't even know where my mind went at that time," Elaine remembered. "I guess I just never expected for them to say that. I expected them to say that they didn't find anything; he was going to be fine."

Pooling Dr. Baker's expertise with that of vets from across the nation, a course of action was charted. The abscess was bacterial in nature and thus required strong antibiotics that could penetrate the blood/brain barrier. Peptoboonsmal returned to Texas, where Dr. Baker tubed him twice a day for two months. The horse seemed to improve.

When the stallion returned to Washington for a follow-up MRI, the X-ray showed scarring but no abscess. Later investigation explained that a tiny germ, one that entered through his nostril, had been responsible for the life-threatening abscess. Even though the stallion regained health by September, his potency remained in question. Large doses of steroids administered early in his illness probably kept him alive but also might have affected his semen. Following a two-month waiting period, Peptoboonsmal bred four mares in November and three came in foal.  "Dr. Baker saved his life - there's no doubt about it," Elaine said. "That November, I started booking mares and we've been going full-fledged ever since."  Those babies are to be the 2002 Futurity class.

Crops to come

Marketing pink looks like a lot of fun. At the Futurity last December, there was no mistaking which horse Elaine prefers. Sporting hot pink ostrich boots, each emblazoned with navy blue "Petoboonsmal" across the front," Elaine made her promotional rounds and manned her booth. She carried a matching pink ostrich handbag and kept warm with a bright pink fur jacket. Probably the happiest person in the place, Elaine pulled the outfit off like no one else could - a class act down to the toes of her pink boots.

"When it comes to getting dressed to go the Futurity, by George, hot pink is it!" she said happily.  The popularity of her stallion is sure to keep her smiling. His stud fee started at $3,000 in 1996, went to $5,000 in 1999 and for the 2002 breeding season, is at $9,000, plus a $600 farm service charge.  "I knew after the Futurity last year that if I didn't raise the stud fee that I would look like a woman in this business who didn't know what she was doing," Elaine explained. "He's every bit worth of nine or more."

With per horse average earnings reaching the tens of thousands range, it doesn't take long to calculate the cost/benefit ratio of a Peptoboonsmal breeding. In the week after the Futurity, Elaine literally couldn't leave her constantly ringing phone. The 2002 book long since closed and the 2003 mailing list is pages long. Elaine remains steadfast about keeping the per-year mare count to one hundred.

"It's real hard for me to say no," Elaine said about mare owners wanting special consideration. "It is wonderful to own a stud like Pepto that is in demand and I am very grateful but I'm not in this to get wealthy. My goal is to enjoy and know my customers and make friends."

It's hard, however, to slow the runaway train of her stallion's popularity, at least as long as his offspring keep winning. Perhaps somewhere down deep in Elaine's soul, she felt a little of the rosy future when she came up with a one-of-a-kind name for a one-of-a-king red roan stud colt.  "I'll tell you one thing about the name Peptoboonsmal," she said, "people are either going to hate it or love it, but they're not going to forget it."  No they won't.