Meet Jim Gauthier

Jim Gauthier’s purchase of Jennys Spark inspired a love of reined cow horses that has motivated him to carry the sport into the southeastern United States and beyond.

By Allison Armstrong Rehnborg

For Jim Gauthier, the best part of owning, showing and breeding reined cow horses is the sense of commu- KATE BRADLEY BYARS world and, at every show, he brings a taste of Louisiana cuisine with him. From boudin to crawfish etouffee, there’s nity and camaraderie he has always something delicious found within the National bubbling at Gauthier’s trailer Reined Cow Horse Association. or stalls for anyone who hapThe reined cow horse enthusi- pens to stop by. ast from Lafayette, Louisiana, “It’s been a fun ride,” may have come to his favorite Gauthier said. “I didn’t expect sport later in life, but that has to be doing what I’m doing not stopped him from making now, but I’ve been fortunate to a name for himself as a horse- meet the right people. There is man, NRCHA member and a whole group of reined cow owner of Jennys Spark (Shining horse guys that are all great Spark x Jenny Montana x Doc’s people to be around. They welHickory). come you and they listen to

Gauthier originally pur- you. It’s been fun, and my goal chased the 2006 palomino is to keep going.” mare at the 2011 Reno Snaffle Gauthier’s enthusiasm for Bit Performance Horse Sale, reined cow horses has also hoping he’d found the perfect led him to become a passionmount for his show career Russell Dilday, left, and Ben Baldus, far right, have helped Jim Gauthier succeed ate advocate for the sport in with the Louisiana Stock Horse in the NRCHA. The men are also close friends. Louisiana. Association (LaSH). He ended “We’ve elevated our game up finding a horse that could do all of Dilday. She was also an NRCHA Snaffle by inviting carded reined cow horse that—and much more. Fast forward 10 Bit Futurity® Open finalist in 2009 and judges to judge at our LaSH shows,” years, and Gauthier and “Jenny” have an NRCHA Hackamore finalist in Gauthier said. “We’ve got kids now won many awards together in stock 2010 under Ken Wold. As a result of in our group who show in both stock horse and reined cow horse competition. Gauthier’s thoughtful planning, Jenny horse and reined cow horse, and about

During her show career, Jenny com- has become a top-earning dam in the a dozen of them were in the finals peted in the World’s Greatest Horseman NRCHA. As of April 1, her offspring this year in Fort Worth. One of our competition twice—both times under have earned a total of $196,266. members, Larry Westmoreland, has the expert hand of three-time World’s Through it all, Gauthier has become also started the Southern Reined Cow Greatest Horseman Champion Russell a mainstay in the reined cow horse Horse Alliance, which means we’ve

KATE BRADLEY BYARS COURTESY OF JIM GAUTHIER

got an affiliate in Louisiana now. It all stemmed from just a few people here working in that direction, and from having a horse like Jenny. People would see her and ask me, ‘Where did you get that horse from?’”

According to NRCHA trainer Ben Baldus of Gainesville, Texas, Gauthier’s dedication to growing the reined cow horse industry in the southeast is a natural extension of the man’s generosity.

“I think what always impresses me the most about Jim is how much he wants to do what’s best for everyone,” Baldus said. “He wants to grow the sport by encouraging trainers and bringing young trainers to the clinics to encourage people in the southeast. He’s always doing his best for the association and doing his best for everyone else, too. He’s very giving and generous like that.”

IN THE BLOOD

Growing up in Lafayette in a family of eight children, Gauthier inherited the horse and farm gene from his father. He recalls how his father would go feed the family cows before and after work each day.

“Dad had a place in the country for his cattle, and we ended up having a

Left: Jim competed on Jenny, who was 15, at the NRCHA Dom Conicelli Memorial Eastern Derby, presented by MARS Equestrian™, in 2020. Above: Family is important to Gauthier. Bottom row, left to right: Son Jonathan, grandson Louis, granddaughters Evelyn and Nora. Top row, left to right: daughter-in-law Aleice, daughter Julie, wife Jane and Gauthier.

horse there, too. Of all my sisters and brothers, I was the only one who got into horses,” Gauthier said. “Then of course, like most people, I worked most of my life.”

In 1979, Gauthier and two of his brothers founded Gauthier Homes in Lafayette, Louisiana, selling manufactured residential homes. In 1989, they added recreational vehicles to their inventory and created a second business called Gauthiers’ RV Center. In 2003, the RV business relocated to its current location in Scott, Louisiana. Around that same time, Gauthier decided to start riding horses again.

“Once my kids were grown and out of college, I got back into horses. I wanted to find something else to do besides hunting and fishing, which can take up all your time here, too,” Gauthier explained.

He bought his first horse in the early 2000s and enjoyed trail riding and sorting before he discovered LaSH and learned he had a penchant for stock horse competition. By then, he’d purchased Shine On Poco Flo (Shine On Flo x Pocos Dainty Miss x Poco Bains Robin), a red dun gelding who became his main stock horse mount. He built a barn on his family property—the same property where his dad once kept cattle. Although his wife, Jane, also dabbled in riding, she discovered her own passion and talent for painting still life, flowers and landscapes. Eventually, Gauthier built his wife an art studio at their home.

“We’ve been married 45 years, and she likes living where we are, so this way, we can stay there, and I can go to the barn whenever I want,” Gauthier said with a laugh. “I go there every day to feed in the morning and the evening. That’s what my dad did when I was growing up. I’m kind of a throwback to my dad in that respect, just with horses, instead of cattle.”

Equipped with a barn and the right horse, Gauthier set about learning the ropes of showing in stock horse classes.

“Like most people getting started, I thought I could ride, but once you start, you realize how much you don’t know,” Gauthier said. “ ‘Poco’ was the ideal horse for someone just getting

started and wanting to learn. We’d do trail and pleasure, and get our butts kicked. Then we’d go home and practice. Eventually, Poco and I started winning many awards at all levels in LaSH. Later on, after I acquired Jennys Spark, I decided to retire him. I sent him to a friend in Texas who enjoys using Poco on a ranch.”

HORSE AUCTION FEVER

Ready to find his next mount, Gauthier and his friend, Johnny Boudreaux, headed out to Reno, Nevada, in 2011 for the Snaffle Bit Performance Horse Sale.

“I’d already picked a couple of horses out for myself, and one of them was this palomino mare being sold by Ken Wold for a friend of his named Joe Putnam,” Gauthier recalled. “I got on that horse, and in about two steps, I realized I was out of my league. She had more buttons and controls than I knew what to do with, but I kept riding her.”

As soon as Gauthier dismounted, a friend of Johnny’s, Harry Nakoa, advised him that he’d better buy that horse.

“Harry told me she was a daughter of Shining Spark, and that they’re some of the best broodmares out there,” Gauthier remembered. “Well, I wasn’t looking to breed, but I was the only one who had tried that horse out with Ken. So, at the sale, I started bidding. And then someone started bidding against me. The price keeps climbing, and it gets to $25,000, which was about $5,000 more than I planned to spend. That was the first time in my life I’ve bid on anything at all. But I threw up my hand one more time and went to $25,500. And I got her! I’ll tell you, that was one of the smarter moves I ever made in my life. That was Jennys Spark.”

Gauthier hauled Jenny’s first foal, Shining CD Light, to Reno, Nevada, from Louisiana. Shining CD Light became the highest seller of the 2015 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Sale, bringing a final bid of $100,000. Also pictured (left to right): Russell Keegan, Johnny Boudreaux, Tiann Keegan and Gauthier, who purchased a full sister to Shining CD Light two years later.

Although he didn’t know it at the time, buying Jennys Spark was Gauthier’s introduction to a whole new world of showing and breeding reined cow horses. Not long after, he met NRCHA trainer Russell Dilday of Wynnewood, Oklahoma, at a reined cow horse clinic in Purcell, Oklahoma. That meeting led to Dilday riding Jenny in the 2015 and 2016 World’s Greatest Horseman competitions.

“That was a fantastic experience,” Gauthier said. “It got me really excited, and it was probably around that same time that I was thinking about starting to breed Jenny.”

Breeding Jenny wasn’t a decision that Gauthier made lightly. A natural planner, Gauthier began carefully researching which crosses on daughters of Shining Spark were having the most success in competitions. He also monitored sale trends to see which yearlings were selling well. He decided her first foal would be by CD Lights (CD Olena x Delight Of My Life x Grays Starlight). Named Shining CD Light, STEPHANIE DUQUETTE that foal became the highest seller at the 2015 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Sale, bringing a final bid of $100,000. Shining CD Light has since had a successful show career and recently competed in the

World’s Greatest Horseman competition, ridden by Corey Cushing. Jennys Spark’s second foal,

Metallic Cajun, was born the same year. Sired by Metallic Cat (Highbrow Cat x Chers Shadow x Peptoboonsmal), the stallion was a 2017 Futurity finalist, shown by NRCHA Million Dollar Rider Zane Davis at both the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity and the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas.

Gauthier has continued to make strategic decisions about crosses with Jenny, and every offspring shown has become a money-earner. In addition to his work as a breeder, Gauthier has continued to promote the reined cow horse industry in Louisiana by bringing NRCHA professionals and judges to the Bayou State. For Dilday, who often trains and rides for Gauthier, the Louisiana native’s success comes as no surprise.

“Jim is a phenomenal study on everything, and he does all his research,” Dilday said. “He is such a huge fan of the cow horse and he wants the industry to grow, too. That’s also why LaSH has become such a wonderful place for people to get started when there are few other places for them to go. It’s not easy to start a club so far east where few people have cow horses, and Jim and everyone down there has done a phenomenal job.

“Jim will do the extra work to make things go well,” Dilday continued, “and he loves the cow horse so much that he wants it to grow and spread.”