CYTOSK+++/ (Mi Tosk [by *Bask+] X Cystyr [by Cytarus+])

[The following article was written in 2011 after Cytosk's passing]

A great Arabian champion and outstanding sire went to his final rest in January (2011). Cytosk+++/ will be sorely missed by Roger and Linda Lervick and the entire staff at R O Lervick Arabians where he has been the icon of their farm, their senior sire and the foundation of their breeding program for the last twenty years. 

The year of his arrival at R O Lervick Arabians was extraordinary for the farm and for the chestnut son of Mi Tosk (*Bask x Toi) and Cystyr (Cytarus+x Rossadu). Bred by Oak Haven Arabians, he was in his prime as an eight-year-old when he came to Lervick’s. Already a Canadian and U.S. Top Ten Halter Stallion and Top Ten Informal Combination horse he arrived in Washington in time to be bred to many of the Lervick broodmares before making the trip to the 1991 U.S. National Championships with Ray LaCroix. That fall he was U.S. Reserve National Champion English Pleasure Horse.

“In February of 1992 the first Lervick foal by Cytosk was born,” says Julie Jones, R O Lervick Office Manager for many years. “It was a chestnut Half-Arabian filly out of a Saddlebred mare named Bold Anne. The baby was so upright and pretty that Linda Lervick named her Cymply Red.” Later, that same mare became an NSH National Reserve Champion Two-Year-Old Mare and 1995 Canadian National Champion Half-Arabian Futurity Filly. Today in the Lervick broodmare band she is the leading producer and the dam of 13 Half-Arabian progeny, 7 of which have national credentials.

“The very next foal born was a stunning black colt named Out Of Cyte,” Julie notes, “and his first offspring was named First Cyte+, a multi-national champion stallion in his day and the sire of national winners.” In mid-January Out Of Cyte replaced his sire as the farm’s senior breeding stallion.

Over the years, Cytosk+++/ proved himself a breeding horse as his get become national winners in English Pleasure, Hunter Pleasure, Halter, Country English Pleasure, Show Hack, Dressage, Western Pleasure, Side Saddle, Native Costume, and Country English Driving. His greatest champion thus far has been Cygn Of the Zodiac+//, the winner of an amazing 27 National Top Ten awards and 12 national and reserve national championship titles. Second is ROL Cylencer+// with 26 national awards amassed in Western Pleasure and Side Saddle.

Cytosk+++/ would have been 28 this June and has sired 365 registered foals. Among them are 66 national winners (37 purebreds and 29 Half-Arabians). Twenty of them are national champions. Together they have won an accumulated 397 national awards. The potential for more is excellent as well, since there are foals due this year sired by Cytosk+++/ and his frozen semen is in good supply and of top quality. Cytosk+++/ was a sire of sires, as proven by his beautiful black son, Out of Cyte, and Donna Hedges’ multi-national champion grandson First Cyte+. Cytosk+++/ has proven to be an exceptional sire of producing mares as well, as asset that was not lost on the Lervick’s as they carefully developed their current broodmare band over the last two decades. The success of his daughters is exemplified by mares like Cymply Red and Singularcylection, dam of ROL Firecracker+/, 11-time national winner and the 2010 U.S. National Champion Country English Pleasure Horse.

“You could take anyone into his stall, including little kids to feed him carrots,” Julie reminisces. “People flocked here to sales and open houses just to see him. “

Cytosk+++/ offspring have proven to be exceptionally trainable, they have great minds and they are essentially very sound horses capable of show careers that span decades. They go smoothly from Halter to performance; open to amateur, and on into the junior rider divisions. Remarkably, they are winners at each level, a credit to their bloodlines and a proud legacy for Cytosk+++/ and for RO Lervick Arabians.

“He will be missed every day,” says trainer Dennis Wigren. “He was a wonderful representative of the *Bask bloodline, a superior stallion for Roger and Linda, and a great ambassador for the Arabian breed. He lived a complete life. He did it all and he did it all very well.”