Just good horses

orning at the St. Clair household, near Kahoka, Missouri, is a little chaotic. Mike St. Clair takes care of phone calls for the day. Mike’s wife, Kim, is making sure bellies are full and the chaos is held to a dull roar. On any given day, somewhere between four and six grandkids are eating breakfast, fueling up to go test the patience of ponies. Mike and Kim’s daughters and sons-in-law are making plans for the day--what needs to be doctored, what paperwork needs to be done, who’s riding what, what needs to go where, what’s going right, what’s going wrong, which direction everyone needs to go.

That direction, for the whole family, is to keep building better horses.

“I’m working for the kids,” Mike says, “just building up the program.”

The program they’re building started with a registered granddaughter of Cutter Bill and Gold King Bailey, but Mike’s early horse experience involved more Roman noses than royal lines.

“The horses I rode growing up came off the railhead. Old Hancock, big, Roman-nosed horses. No pedigrees,” Mike says.

Horses weren’t his whole life, though. Mike’s day job is with a company that makes train car and locomotive wheels. He and Kim are also independent Carquest dealers. Mike spent 23 years hammering on horseshoes on the side, working to establish the horse program that stands studs with hundreds of AQHA points, and thousands of dollars in earnings.

That program “really started” in 2000, when Mike and Kim bought several mares with Nebraska Sandhills Haythorn bloodlines, which are still foundational to their program.

Today they have about 120 mares, and about a third of them are money-winners. From the beginning, the mares

By Maria Tibbest...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

get as much time and attention as the geldings or stallion M prospects. “The mare foundation is critical,” Mike says. “The mare is 60 to 70 percent of that baby, and you have to have great mares to raise great colts.” Whether they raise the mares that join their broodmare band, or buy them, Mike has the same rigorous criteria. “We are very selective of the mares we buy. They need to be 14.3 to 15.1 hands. They have to have good bone and a nice round foot.” Mike says he had a conversation with a man who was struggling with a mare in the arena. She wasn’t riding well, wasn’t performing. The man said he’d decided to quit with her training, and turn her into a broodmare. “Those aren’t the kind of horses that build our future,” Mike says. If a horse--gelding, stud or mare--isn’t showing trainability, good disposition and a sharp mind, Mike says that horse has no place in their breeding program, or their sale ring. “In today’s world, the customers are much more savvy, smarter and ask better questions. When we were kids it didn’t matter how rank that horse was, we had to get it broke and ready to sell to somebody. In the marketplace today, most customers can’t ride that kind of horse.”

Critical Selection

As rigorous as the mare selection criteria is, the stallion selection is even tougher. Mike says they keep a few stallion pros- pects most years. “Last year we saved two stud prospects. We sold one and gelded one. This year we have five. Out of 100 head of foals, if we have one or two that make it as a stallion every year, we consider that pretty good.”

By Maria Tibbest...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The basics are established at weaning--does the horse have conformation, size, bone, foot? At that point, all the weanlings are handled for 10 to 12 days, and they start to establish whether they have the mind and disposition to make it to the next level.

“Once you have the physical side established, we focus on how that horse retains information, how well does he learn, and what’s his attitude,” Mike says. Any imperfection is reason for a stallion to be removed from their program and either gelded or sold.

That process, plus careful selection of some outside studs, has provided the St Clairs with an eight-stud battery that gives them plenty of options for finding their ideal crosses on their mare band. They also have some favorite outside studs they use to cross on their mares, and some of those are on the papers of their stallion prospects.

Some of Mike’s favorite sires, that aren’t standing in his own barn, are Once in a Blu Boon, Travelin Jonez, Metallic Cat and Spots Hot.

Marketing

Every other year St Clairs partner with Lance Most, Most Quarter Horses, near Ogallala, Nebraska, on a production sale, called Nebraska Quarter Horse Sale. The sale is in August of odd-numbered years in Ogallala.

St Clairs sell 80 to 90 horses a year, of all ages. Since that’s about how many foals hit the ground at their place each year, they have to keep them moving through.

“Our primary focus is on the riders,” Mike says. About 75 percent of the horses they sell are riders, whether started 2-yearolds or finished performance or ranch horses.

All the horses, whether they are sold as finished rope horses or as weanlings, or kept as stallions, get the same start.

They bring in eight to 10 weanlings at a time to the barn, where they will stay for about two weeks. “We’ll work on the ground, handle and trim their feet, teach them to give their heads and brand them.”

Then they’re turned out to learn how to be horses and grow up some before the next phase of their training.

As yearlings, they all come back in for 10 to 15 days, where they have their feet han- dled more, learn to move away from pressure, turn front and back and flex. They’re saddled for the first time and exercised on a lunge line.

The 2-yearolds have all the basics--flex and move, lower their heads, perform all the basics on the ground and lope circles, back and turn around. They typically have about 30 to 40 rides under their cinches when they are put up for sale at that point.

Mike and the team recognize that not all horses are good at everything. “Not every horse is born with the ability to be a great rope or reined cow horse. Some are great kids’ horses and great 4-H horses. If you’ve got the right mind, you can usually find that area of athleticism that the horse is really good at, so you can put him in the right place.”

While they’re loping those circles and teaching the horse to flex, Mike’s team is paying attention to the horse’s strengths. “The foundation is critical,” Mike says. “We handle enough horses that we get a pretty good feel for what the horse will be good at as we put the foundation on them. We’ll make recommendations for our customers--this one will be a good barrel prospect, a good kids’ horse, is really gentle. With a young horse you’re making an educated guess based on what the horse is excelling at as you’re putting the foundation on.” St Clairs generally have 12 to 14 finished ranch-style and team roping horses around, ready for sale. Mike says 80 percent of their horses go to repeat customers. “Some of that is attributed to the minds of the horses, and some to the trainers we have and how our horses are trained.” They have six full-time trainers, three on-site and three off-site, who, Mike says, are invaluable to their success, and in getting their horses out in front of people, so they know what kind of program the St Clair family is building.

Their primary focus is heading, heeling and reining cow, but they have horses running 1D barrels, excelling in tie-down roping, mounted shooting, cutting and taking care of kids.

Family-Focused

Some of the horseflesh standing in the barns at the St Clair ranch isn’t for breeding, but is still building the program.

The ponies on the place aren’t money-winners, but they’re priceless to the youngest members of the family.

Mike and Kim have nine grandkids, ages 2 to 19. All of them love horses, and some are established partners in the family ranch. Some are still working on their foundation. Their 14-year-old granddaugh- ter, Dakota, is training four quarter-ponies that she has been working with since they were weanlings.

Four granddaughters from ages 2 to 6 spend days with Kim while their parents work. They have three ponies that are broke to ride and drive, and put up with being the object of affection for horse-crazy little girls.

“You don’t know what you’re going to find,” Mike says. “They might be tying them up with twine. They might be in the arena or the round pen or climbing the compost pile. It’s hard to tell where you’re going to find the kids and ponies. The ponies see a lot of brush time and combing time. I can tell you there’s a bag of treats around every corner in the barn and God forbid they catch you giving a treat to another horse.”

Mike and Kim have four daughters, three of whom are a daily part of the horse business.

Courtney and Chris Kirchner have their own place, but as a veterinary technician, Courtney helps take care of anything that’s sick or injured, and handles the breeding reports of more than 100 head of mares a year. Chris is a track supervisor for Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad. Courtney and Chris have two kids, Tanner, 19, and Dakota, 14.

Lacey and Mark Boatman live in nearby Kahoka, Missouri. Lacey is a dental hygienist and helps with a lot of the physical chores that need to be done on the

ranch--rotating pastures, feeding, checking horses. Lacey and Mark have Fynlee, 6 and St Clair Stallions Emyt, 3. Four Bonnie Bay 555 AQHA points, $13,842 won at AQHA World Championship Show; points in all-around, barrel racing, heading, heeling, halter, pole bending, tie-down, trail and working cow horse. Cody and Lucas Goehring work with Lucas’s parents, who own Keosauqua Sales Company in Keosauqua, Iowa. Lucas is a roper, Stunned and leads the St Clair roping Over $111K in NCHA earnings (Stands @The Ranch Equine, Whitesboro, TX) Boonlight WilSon program. Cody handles the Facebook page and takes videos and photos of the horses. 171 AQHA Points in heading, heeling, halter, performance halter, tie- Cody and Lucas have Layne, down roping and working cow horse. 4 and Hattie, 2. the Metallic Patron All three of their local sons-in-law work with the 87 AQHA points in heading, heeling, halter, ranch horse heritage, horses and cows. ranch riding, reining, versatility junior ranch horse, versatility ranch Mike and Kim’s other horse, VRH ranch conformation, VRH ranch cow work, VRH ranch daughter, Nicole, is married to cutting, VRH ranch reining, VRH ranch riding, VRH ranch trail, work- Daniel Zimmerman, and they ing cow horse. live in the Piper, Kansas area SF Bonnie PeP with their three kids, Olivia, 12 AQHA points in heading and heeling. ruStic Metal 14, Sophia, 11 and Parker, 8. Nicole is in the medical field. “The kids are all involved,” 16 AQHA points in cutting, heeling, ranch horse heritage, versatility Mike said. “We partnered ranch horse, VRH ranch conformation, VRH ranch cow work, VRH with the kids as they got old ranch cutting, VRH ranch reining, VRH ranch riding, VRH ranch trail, enough to ride, creating a working cow horse. savings account for college. SJr diaMond Buck Everybody here loves horses. We like riding good horses. 18 AQHA points in cutting, performance halter, versatility ranch There’s nothing better than a horse, VRH ranch conformation, VRH ranch cow work, VRH ranch good well-trained horse or a cutting, VRH ranch reining, VRH ranch riding, VRH ranch trail and well-trained dog. working cow horse; $3,641 NRCHA earnings “For us, it’s about the family. We couldn’t do what we’re doing now without the kids.”