Frank Merrill (1948) was born from Ralph and Scotti Merrill in Fremont, MI. He moved to Purcell, Oklahoma in the 1970s to pursue a career in his horse quarters industry. Merrill was inducted into American Hall of Fame American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) in 2013, and is a former president of AQHA. He is director of AQHA in general, director of the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA), a trustee of the United States Equine Foundation, and director of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. During his 50-year career as a breeder and Horse Quarter exhibitor, Merrill has accumulated many championship titles in several different disciplines, including horse halter competitions, horse racing, curbing, chopping, cow horse work, and stringing calves. The two horses he showed, Royal Santana and Miss Jim 45, were inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 2000 and 2012 respectively. Early life
Frank Merrill rode horses for the first time at age 5, but did not stop there. Driving into his passion that inflames his aspirations to become a cowboy. He rides at every opportunity, including riding his neighbor's horse, and the horses of his grandparents, Dan and Dorothy Gerber. Frank won his first horse with a rodeo draw; mixed types of Quarter Horse and Morgan. Frank's mother persuaded his father to let him keep the horse despite his father's objections, and that helped launch Frank's 50-year career as owner, breeder and participant of the American Quarter Horses. In 1967, Frank graduated from Northwestern Military Academy St. John is located in Delafield, WI, and attended Michigan State University. He first started showing horses in his native Michigan, and over time, expanded to other countries.
In 1969, Merrill bought AQHA grand champion halter mare, Miss Jim 45, for $ 25,000 from Matlock Rose, and moved to Gainesville, TX to advance his horse-riding skills under the care of Rose and George Tyler. During the lifetime of the mare, Miss Jim 45 has won 230 out of 250 performances, including 176 major titles, 33 reserve championships, and 642 dumbbells. He died in 1978, and in 2000 was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. While in Texas, Merrill meets horse trainer and halter rancher, Jerry Wells, and they become close friends. In 1972, Merrill founded 140 acre Windward Stud ranch in Purcell, Ok., And together with Jerold Wells built a technically advanced nursery farm that became famous in the 1980s to stand a leading Quarter Horse racing sheep as well as top halter and stallion.
Merrill met his future wife, Robin Severinsen, at the All-American Horse Congress in the early 1970s. Robin's father, Doc Severinsen, was the orchestra leader for NBC's Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Robin's sister, Judy, married horse race coach, Bubba Cascio. Merrill, together with his wife Robin, founded a broodmare farm in Aubrey, TX where Robin lived for a while with his maternal grandmother Ora Evans. Robin's mother, Evonne Severinsen, is a former director of penthouse services in Remington Park. Merrill seduced Robin when he lived in Aubrey, and they married in 1975. They moved to Purcell, OK where he and Robin operated Windward Stud until it was sold in 2006, then founded the M5 Bloodstock Performance, located three miles west of Purcell in the heart Oklahoma.
Video Frank Merrill (equestrian)
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