Tributes

Ernestine Owings owned a Pinto since 1943. There was not any Pinto activity in the immediate area so she contacted Gary Freeman of the Pinto Horse Association in order to form a Pinto club in South Texas. He came to Texas and participated in a meeting to form the South/Central Pinto Horse Club. Ernestine was acting secretary during the meeting to form the club April 12, 1985. She was elected President of the club, and served as president until 1987. Ernestine served as reporter and chairperson of the Historical Committee until 1995. She wrote and sent the newsletters to members, sent a club column to the Pinto Horse Magazine, and prepared an Historical Record book for the club. During that time, the club name was eventually changed to South Texas Pintos. In 1990, illnesses, deaths, pressing business, and estate matters forced Ernestine to tender her resignation from the Board of Directors. She turned the Club records over to her replacement. After 1995, she was unable to participate in Club activities as much as she wanted, but she continued to participate in Pinto Association activities as much as her health and limited time would allow. She was a member of the original Pinto Horse Society before it merged with the Pinto Horse Association of America. She was elected into the Pinto Hall of Fame in 1990, the Paint Hall of Fame in 2001, and her mare Pepsy Topsy was elected into the Pinto Hall of Fame in 2009. Her stallion Hy Diamond Bailey was an American Paint Horse Champion Number 10. She and her husband received a Certificate of Appreciation in 1970 and a Distinguished Service Award in 2001 from the American Paint Horse Association. She raced Topsy on a straight-away track. She owned a Palomino and a Palomino Pinto and rode with the Palomino Patrol in the Grand Entry at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition Stock Show and Rodeo. She was a member of the Pinto Heritage Foundation, and on the Board of Directors of the American Paint Horse Association. She was a life member of the American Quarter Horse Association, American Paint Horse Association, South Texas Paint Horse Club, San Antonio Livestock Exposition, and the American Simmental Association. She was a yearly member of the Texas Thoroughbred Association, Farm Bureau, Cowboy Church Committee of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, and Hermann Sons. She was awarded life memberships in the Pinto Horse Association, South Texas Paint Horse Club, and American Paint Horse Association. She was on the Board of Directors of the South Texas Area Farm and Ranch Club and one of the founders. Her hobbies were reading, playing the piano, riding, training and showing horses, training dogs, drawing and painting, writing songs, poems and articles for publication, and swimming.

Tributes

Ernestine Steitle Owings

October 9, 1930 - March 2, 2024