The legendary LATCHO DROM was the sire of WR Young Latcho Lou, and the grandsire of GG Kiss Me Kate, the winningest stallion and mare in the breed. The consistency of his foals was phenomenal. This gentle stallion had tons of hair, an amazing body, and the temperament of a puppy dog. All of these traits he passed on to his offspring. Many of his sons have been kept as breeding stallions, and many of his daughters have become proven producers, as well as being outstanding individuals on their own. Bottom line, he was as quality as quality gets. We were very blessed and proud to own this wonderful stallion.

In early 2002, Cindy and I received a call from Tommy Draper, a traveler we met at the Appleby Horse Fair in 1996. We noticed Tommy as he stood with a beautiful mare with her new baby at the side of Fleish Road. Fleish Road is a road at Appleby Horse Fair where the travelers show their horses with flair. The mare’s name was Mary, after Tommy’s wife. Her baby was a daughter of Mary, and sired by a stallion Tommy owned in the south of England. His name was Bill, and Tommy told us he also had Bill’s very first baby, who was a full sibling to the filly we were admiring, but almost two years old, and her name was Dolly.

After Appleby Horse Fair ended, we drove from the north of England to the south of England to see Dolly and Bill. As we suspected, Dolly was stunning, and Bill was the most amazing stallion we had ever seen. Bill brought tears to Cindy’s eyes. On November 24, 1996, Dolly became the first Gypsy Vanner Horse in North America, and in time, the great grand dam of the winningest Gypsy Vanner horse in history, GG Kiss Me Kate.

The Gypsy King, aka Bill | Photo: Tina Thuell

Over the next two years, Bill earned the moniker of “The King” by travelers who admired his ability to produce babies like Dolly. Sixty days before the Vanner breed was formally introduced, we were able to buy Bill from Tommy, and on Easter Sunday 1998, Bill arrived in North America as The Gypsy King.

Four years later, Tommy called to tell us about a stallion which he described as the only one he had found since 1998 that was in the same class as The Gypsy King. Sadly, his owner had cancer. He told us he would send a picture of the special stallion, and he did.

Cindy and I fell in love with the horse in the picture, he looked amazing. Cindy and I were extreme animal people, so we knew the perils of buying a horse from a picture. But this felt different. We knew Tommy Draper to be a good and honest man, with a great eye for a horse. Cindy and I agreed, this time we could buy a horse from a picture.

The horse’s name was King Arthur, and he was an Andrew Moulden bred colt. We knew Andrew to be a connoisseur of the breed’s finest horses. We were also told that as a baby, King Arthur had sold for a lot of money and a Mercedes Benz. That’s the kind of story that often accompanies great horses in the world of travelers. Some are surely exaggerated, but many are true. They add a special flavor to the Vanner breed’s romantic and colorful heritage.

King Arthur, like the man in the tale he was named after, did indeed grow up to become an English legend. To this day, there are travelers who remember this stallion.

On July 3, 2002 Cindy died, and I was devastated. Crazy perhaps, but buying Cindy the thing she wanted somehow kept me connected to her. She wasn’t gone as long as I was buying her what she wanted.

Cindy wanted King Arthur, and she wanted a horse named Latcho Drom. I purchased the stallion and renamed him Latcho Drom. The name is Romany and means “safe journey” or “safe road,” and it is also a documentary of the migration of the Romany Gypsies from India over 1,000 years ago. Cindy loved the name and always wanted to name a stallion Latcho Drom.

It was a fitting name for a stallion whose safe journey to America helped insure the magic of his new breed. The name also reminded me of the long journey Cindy and I shared together understanding the vision and genetics that created special horses like Latcho Drom.

When Latcho Drom arrived, he was all we anticipated he would be and more. The horse from the picture was stunning—what a specimen he was! Before his arrival, I made Gypsy Gold a USDA quarantine station, just so I could quarantine Latcho Drom when he arrived. I picked him up at the USDA station in Newburg, New York, and I was alone. And Latcho was sealed in my trailer for the long ride back to Gypsy Gold in Ocala, Florida. The USDA places a metal seal on the trailer door of a horse going to quarantine, and only another USDA agent can remove that seal when the horse arrives at his quarantine destination.

On my way home, I stopped to visit a friend at Reeves International, the makers of the world famous Breyer model horses. Cindy and I met the vice president of marketing at Reeves when the Gypsy Vanner horse breed was introduced in June of 1998 at Equitana USA in Louisville, Kentucky. Her name is Stephanie Macejko. It was Stephanie who was inspired to make a Breyer model of The Gypsy King in 2001. As Stephanie walked through the art department at Breyer, she noticed an artist had painted The Gypsy King’s image on a Friesian model. Breyer allows their artists to paint models of horses that inspire them, and this artist was inspired by a photo of The Gypsy King on the cover of a Jeffers catalog.

I wanted Stephanie to see Latcho Drom, so I turned a driving break into a visit. I’ll never forget how we belly crawled over bales of hay from the side door entry of that sealed trailer to see the amazing Latcho Drom. Only Breyer model executives would belly crawl over bales of hay to see a horse in a parking lot. Thanks, Stephanie!

King Arthur was now Latcho Drom, and Latcho Drom would become one of the greatest sires the vanner breed would ever know. The Gypsy with the great eye had identified another extraordinary breeding stallion for us. When Gypsies in England found out that King Arthur was here, they contacted the registrar of the GVHS to express their admiration for him and to proclaim him the best stallion in North America.