Fulton Performance Horses’ A Streak Of Fling hits $10,000,000 in progeny earnings.
*Update: A Streak Of Fling passed away September 5, 2024 at the age of 25. Barrel Horse News remembers his legacy with a look at his resounding impact on the barrel racing industry.
By Jessica Lash, courtesy Fulton Performance Horses
When South Dakota natives Brian and Lisa Fulton took a gamble on an unproven young stallion in the fall of 2003, they couldn’t have known the impact then-4-year-old A Streak Of Fling was destined to have on the Western performance horse industry. Advertised in a three-line spread at the back of Speedhorse magazine, “Streaker” was a no-name hopeful when he caught the attention of two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Brian, who was looking for a stallion prospect with the potential to produce top tier rodeo mounts.
“When you’re rodeoing, you’re always looking for the next big prospect,” Lisa shared. “Brian couldn’t find what he was looking for. What he really wanted to ride just wasn’t out there — or at least we couldn’t find it — so we bought Streaker hoping we could produce our own.”
After pulling a few strings with friends, Lisa purchased a one-way ticket and arranged a ride from the airport for Brian, who flew into Oklahoma City and drove to see the stallion in person before making a final decision on the purchase.
“I remember him calling me a couple times that afternoon and saying, ‘I really like him. I think he’s just what we need,’” Lisa reminisced. “He thought he would cross well on our good cow-bred mares and bring us a nice crop of bulldogging and calf roping prospects. Ironically, that horse was never bought with any intention of producing barrel horses, but he sure has sired a lot of nice ones.”
Just as Brian had hoped, the son of Streakin Six, out of Moon Fling by Fast Fling, proved to be an intelligent, versatile, and highly trainable mount.
“He came off the racetrack in April and then sat in a pasture until October,” Lisa recalled. “Brian got him legged up and riding like he wanted and was roping on him by December. That horse is so smart — he’s kind of a phenomenon, and he took off quickly after we bought him.”
Defying the Odds Together
Initially, the Fultons managed Streaker’s breeding career in-house, trailering him to their local vet clinic in Ainsworth, Nebraska, and using him on the ranch as breeding demands allowed. But everything changed in 2006 when the Fultons were dealt a devastating blow — Brian had a brain tumor, and the outlook wasn’t optimistic.
“He was at a horse sale at his cousin’s when I got a call that he’d fallen off a horse,” Lisa said. “Just a few days before he left for the sale, he’d been OK, but his equilibrium was gone that fast. He didn’t want to go to the hospital, and he wouldn’t listen to anyone, so I drove the 170 miles there as fast as I could.”
Although doctors initially suspected Brian had suffered a brain bleed, further testing soon revealed a more sinister culprit — an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. Brian underwent surgery to have the tumor removed and started radiation and chemotherapy five weeks later. Lisa, who was also mothering boys Jake, 11, Jared, 8, and John Lloyd, 5 months, says the support of neighbors, family, and friends carried the family through its most challenging times.
“I can’t tell you how quickly people moved in to help,” Lisa said. “We’d leave Monday morning for radiation and chemo and wouldn’t be home until Friday evening. Someone was constantly shuttling the boys back and forth between school and the hospital. I look back on that time and don’t know how we made it through, but the support of the people around us carried us.”
While the community rallied around the Fultons, Streaker was also doing his part to help, quietly adding earnings to the ranch’s bottom line at a time when income was desperately needed.
“I’m not a Sunday morning church goer but I believe God put that stallion in our lives for a reason,” Lisa confessed. “We had so many medical bills that we never did get rich, but Streaker did more than his share to help get us through. We couldn’t have afforded to do a lot of what we did without him. He was a gift.”
Brian’s second brain tumor struck in January 2009 and claimed the use of his left side, which he fought unrelentingly to regain — first at the hospital’s rehab center and later, at home on his family’s ranch. He battled his way back into the saddle, where he hazed for Jake at the National High School Finals Rodeo in 2013 and 2014, and enjoyed riding on the ranch until cancer struck again in 2012. He passed away August 28, 2015, after a nine-year battle with glioblastoma — a diagnosis most patients succumb to within 12—18 months.
“I look back and I can see how both Brian and Streaker beat the odds,” Lisa said. “Brian’s fight with glioblastoma, and how long he was able to live with it, was an incredible thing. And Streaker…well, there was no money behind him because we just didn’t have it to put there. We are one of the few programs that grew penny by penny in the beginning, and we managed to put it all together to build something really special.”
Leaving a Legacy
In 2010, amidst Brian’s ongoing battle with glioblastoma, the Fultons took a self-described leap of faith and moved Streaker to James Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma, where Lisa says the stallion’s career quickly blossomed.
“I think he was right at that pinnacle — we just needed to get him in front of more people,” she shared. “We moved him, and his career took flight.”
Streaker spent most of his breeding career at James Ranch, later making the move to renowned Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 2023. In 2024, the 25-year-old stallion solidified his status as one of the Western performance horse industry’s all-time leading sires, boasting an astounding $10,000,000 in progeny earnings. Among his top QData earners are Fame Fling N Bling, with $779,964 in recorded earnings, A Streak Of Rita, with $454,497 in recorded earnings, Streakin Easy April, with $297,021 in recorded earnings, Fast Flingin Dash, with $228,237 in recorded earnings, and Dollys Streaknbadger, with $205,788 in recorded earnings. Nearly half of his QData recorded progeny are money earners.
A favorite amongst barrel racers — he is the number seven all-time leading barrel horse sire and leading living barrel horse sire — Streaker’s offspring excel in a wide variety of events that span the width of all rodeo has to offer.
“His offspring can do a little bit of everything,” Lisa said. “Just this past weekend at a high school rodeo, one of them placed in poles, barrels, breakaway and team roping. That says a lot right there. I probably get more excited about some of these young high school rodeo kids having success in so many events than I do about the big money earners. It might sound silly, but that makes me so proud.”
For Lisa, reaching the $10,000,000 milestone isn’t just about numbers — it’s about the realization of a dream that began with Brian 21 years ago.
“Brian picked him out and saw something in him from the very beginning,” Lisa explained. “It’s hard not having him here in person to celebrate this with us, but I know he’s seeing it all happen. I could see him smile when we hit $10,000,000. What this stallion has done for us — how he has provided for us and allowed us to work together as a family — it’s hard to put a number on the value of that.”
And if Lisa had only one word to describe the stallion who has given her family and the industry so much? Well, she says, that one’s easy — he’s legendary.
