The last thing a sane person would think of while driving through Stillwater, Minnesota, in February is horses. Especially this February. With daytime temperatures straining to rise above 0 degrees, drivers passing through town on Highway 36 are hell-bent on finding shelter from the cold and little else.

While a keen eye might glimpse the attractive entryway to Brama Farms, located a mile or so west of town, most people passing through are more concerned about avoiding patches of black ice and blowing snow. Occasionally, a brave soul will make the trip up the mountain and through the woods to the farm, however. The attraction is Fleet Machine, a 5-year-old sorrel overo stallion who is arguably one of the most talented Western Pleasure horses of his time.

With limited showing during the past two years, Fleet Machine has not only won four World Championships and one Reserve World Championship, but has also attracted many fans that include some of the best known and most successful pleasure horse trainers in the country.

Purchased as a yearling at the Sheriff-Reisinger Select Sale in February 1992 by Linda Becker of Salem, Wisconsin, Fleet Machine was bought almost as an afterthought.

"Fleet Machine really wasn't the horse I went to the sale to buy," recalled Becker. "In fact, he was the last horse on my list. I was looking for a halter horse and he was a rider. But when I didn't get the horses I wanted, I decided to buy the colt for my daughter, Lisa, as a futurity prospect. Even though he was a little small for his age, there was something about him that I really liked.

"After I took him home, he really became my pet. While he was pretty enough to halter, the bigger horses usually placed over the smaller ones so I decided to just keep him in my backyard and let him grow up. He was always taken care of, never pressured. He was treated like a normal horse and given a lot of tender, loving care," said Becker.

"One thing that struck me about the colt, however, was his lope. He never walked or jogged anywhere if he could lope. If he had to go 10 feet to get from one side of the corral to the other, he would lope across. I had never seen anything like it. It just seemed to be his preferred way of going from one place to another."

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When Fleet Machine was a 2-year-old, Michael Larabee, Linda Becker's ex-husband, brought his friend, Ray Alderman, by her place to evaluate Fleet Machine as a pleasure prospect.

"Ray was impressed by the colt right away," remembered Becker. "He was training at Angie Brama's place and agreed to take the colt to Angie's and start him for me."

Alderman had spent a lot of time with Steve Heckaman in Aubrey, Texas, and was developing a reputation as an up-and-coming trainer of world-class pleasure horses.

"In a matter of days, I got a call from Ray," said Becker. "He said, 'I think we have a winner. This colt's got the goods.'

"A week or so later, he sent me a video showing him walking, jogging, and loping Fleet Machine. After 18 days of riding, he had him going like most horses would be going after four to six months of training."

"Even today, when I show the tape to people they can't believe how advanced he was."

"Ray knew very quickly that Fleet Machine was going to the top," Becker continued. "Ray has been around enough good horses to know when one is extraordinary."

In May of 1994, Ray Alderman and Lisa Larabee, Linda Becker's daughter, took Fleet Machine to his first show in Indiana. Although the weather was terrible, Fleet Machine seemed undaunted and wont eh Western Pleasure class, 11 points and his Register of Merit.

"That spring, Ray and Lisa hauled Fleet Machine to several shows and futurities, and were always in the money," said Becker.

At the Tom Powers Pleasure Futurities, Larabee showed Fleet Machine in the color events and won both the Open 3-year-old class and the 3-year-old Non-Pro class.

"After the Tom Powers, we were feeling pretty good about his chances at the 1994 World Show," said Alderman. "Lisa was going to show him in the Non-Pro Western Pleasure Futurity, and I was going to show him in the Junior Pleasure and the Western Pleasure Derby."

Although Lisa won the Non-Pro Western Pleasure, that isn't what attracted the most attention to the 3 year old colt at the World Show.

Placing a disappointing fifth in the Junior Western Pleasure, Alderman violated show protocol by loping a small victory lap to give the judges and audience another look at his horse. Although Fleet Machine's fans and Alderman's friends greeted his bravado with whoops, whistles and applause, World Show officials were not amused.

"Even after all this time, people still bring that up," recalls Alderman recently. "I think people forget that the World Show is a show, just like the NBA or the NFL is a show and in a sense you do try to play up to the crowd to get them involved in what you are doing - to appreciate all the work you've done to get there.

"I had what I thought was an incredible ride. Obviously, some of the judges thought otherwise. As I was riding out of the John Justin Arena with my ribbon, a friend of mine hollered down to me, 'Ray, I think you had better lope him around again. I don't think they found him the first time.'

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"Well, I was on the edge and that's all it took. I backed Fleet Machine into the arena and loped a nice, slow circle down by the exit gate, then left the arena. I had never done anything like that before and I sure haven't done anything like that since, but looking back, that 30 seconds probably did as much as anything to get the horse talked about."

While the spontaneous maneuver labeled Alderman as a showboater by some, it definitely created interest in the horse. After the class, Fleet Machine's stall was surrounded by people curious to look at the horse that was causing all the fuss.

One year later, Fleet Machine and Alderman returned to the World Show, bu tthis time more humble, more determined, and with a new owner and exhibitor on the team.

"I really wasn't thinking about the previous year at all on the way to Reno," said Alderman.

"Angie [Brama] had purchased Fleet Machine just three months after the 1994 World and had been having a great year with him."

If a little showboating helped put Fleet Machine on the map in 1994, solid performances in Amateur Junior Western Pleasure, Junior Western Pleasure, and the Bridleless Western Pleasure in Reno guaranteed his standing as a superior Western Pleasure horse.

And no one could have been prouder of Fleet Machine's success than Larry Sheriff, FLeet Machine's breeder. Sitting in the stands wearing official Fleet Machine red, white and blue headgear, Sheriff absolutely beamed.

By Mr Norfleet and out of Red Sonny Sissy by Sonny Dee Bar, Fleet Machine is a product of Sheriff's highly successful breeding program.

"I was tickled to death to see Fleet Machine do so well at the 1995 World," said Sherrif. "He caries the blood of horses that we have had in our breeding program for almost 30 years."

"Our goal has always been to produce quality horses that are competitive, but we also want to produce horses that can dominate, horses that set the standard for the future. I think Fleet Machine is that kind of horse," he said.

"His sire was an outstanding pleasure horse and a big-time halter horse when he was showing," Sheriff continued. "In pleasure, he was way ahead of his time. He was a slow legged horse, he would drop his head and lope so easy. You never really had to ride him a lot or do a lot with him to get him ready - he was just a natural pleasure horse."

After the 1995 World Show, Alderman and Brama decided to show Fleet Machine at some of the bigger shows. "When I saw that we were leading the Amateur Western Pleasure and the Junior Western Pleasure Honor Rolls, I thought it would be a shame to not give him the opportunity to end the year on top," said Brama.

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But that presented a problem.

"My children were entered in the Quarter Horse Congress and so was I," said Brama.

"I had purchased a new Quarter Horse that I was anxious to show, but at the last minute I decided I wanted to show Fleet Machine at the Paint Horse Congress instead."

"The decision was made to haul all of our show horses to Columbus and lay over with Fleet Machine and another Paint Horse we had with us until the Paint Horse Congress started."

During the first week of the Quarter Horse Congress, Alderman had his horses to show, but was also tuning up Angie's Paints there.

"I was out riding Fleet Machine in the warm-up arena when Jody Galyean asked me when I was leaving with the horse for the Paint Horse Congress," Alderman said. "When he learned that I was going to be there on Saturday when he was scheduled to give the Western Pleasure seminar, he asked if I would ride Fleet Machine during his pleasure horse demonstration.

"I said, are you sure about that? This is the Quarter Horse Congress. Don't you think that will ruffle some feathers? He said, 'Listen, they asked me to do the pleasure horse demonstration, they want me to show absolutely the best loper in the pen and the crowd loved him.

"For a paint to be invited to demonstrate what an ideal pleasure horse should look and move like by a person of Jody Galyean's stature, and the Quarter Horse Congress, I think that says a lot about what kind of a horse he is."

While Fleet Machine has made a lasting impression on the pleasure horse industry, Brama said business isn't her main motivation for owning the horse.

"I have about 15 broodmares, mostly Quarter Horses, that I am breeding to him this year and look forward to raising many of his foals in the years ahead," said Brama.

"But horses for us are primarily a family activity. My two daughters and my son have shown Quarter Horses since they were little and still do.

"I have purchased five Paints recently for them and me to show because we really like the family atmosphere of the Paint shows," she said. "Families need something to keep them together, and for us there is nothing like riding and showing together."