1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 August Voice RS | Page 14

Success in Quarter Horse
Business is Good Pattern for
Walking Horse Business
In the horse business, as in any other specialized field,
there are certain rules of success which can be clearly
defined. What may prove successful for one, may not
prove entirely successful for another however. We read
with great interest a recent article in a Quarter Horse
publication, that presented the formula for success of a
man considered to be “tops” in the Quarter Horse field.
The question and answer session that produced the article
was most revealing and we felt that astute Walking
Horse enthusiasts could profit by the experience and
opinions expressed in this interview. The portion of the
lengthy article which was particularly interesting was
that having to do with “breeding and selling.” We pre­
sent this herewith for your consideration:
Q. What do you do with your culls?
A. I’ll tell you what I do with them. I get a few each
year. I have never registered one. I never branded one.
I never sell them to anybody. I just quietly put them to
sleep. I say this: If I sell you a cheap horn, you have a
right to blow it. And if I sell you a bad colt for two or
three hundred dollars, you have a perfect right to tell
everybody that he’s by one of my studs and I’m the
breeder and I sold you that horse. I’ll tell you about that
three hundred dollars. I’m poor, but I don’t need it that
bad. I’d rather get rid of that poor colt than have a man
riding on my back the rest of his life.
Of course, we fight all the time to eliminate any mares
that cannot produce well and I can truthfully say that
in the past year I don’t suppose we’ve had to geld three
per cent of our horse colts. I’ve been fortunate too in that
we have two fillies for every horse colt—and it has always
been that way. Don’t know whether it runs in this family
or not.
Q. So you won’t sell a stud colt unless he is a stud
prospect ?
A. I definitely will not . . . Don’t care if a man offers
me $5,000 for one that I know will not make a stud, if
I suspect that he will keep him for a stud, I won’t take
his money. If you make up your mind you’re going to
be a horse breeder, be one. Just like the Cadillac car.
They’re expensive but they always have a value. By
jingo, I just don’t believe in infecting the country with a
lot of poor horses. You sell a man a cheap stud and he’ll go
out and announce, “I only gave $500 for him,” and he’ll
stand him fo