The Horse Industry without the Show Ring

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | April 26, 2009 at 11:56 am

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In 1989 while still serving in the Army I fullfilled one of my lifetime dreams of owning a horse. At the time I lived in the city and was fortunate enough to be able to keep my horse at a military Saddle Club for a mere $40 a month. The horse was bought in May and by September I had logged more than 500 hours of riding. To be able to give my Arabian mare Trixie (her barn name) a break, I decided I needed a cow horse. In December I bought a Quarter Horse which I name Texas. She was my pick up truck as opposed to the Sports model that Trixie was.

Trixie died 18 months ago at the age of 31 while Texas has been put out to pasture and is now 29 years old.

By 1992 I had 3 horses, the third one being a Standarbred which had been a claimer on the racetrack. She was 8 years old and I wanted the challenge of making her a saddle horse. The transition to saddle horse was relatively easy as the horse had been handled a lot on the ground to prepare her for trotter racing.

To make a long story short, I now had the appetite to do some breeding. I wanted to breed Trixie first, but unfortunately she had a scarred uterus and never did get pregnant. In any case, she would not have been able to carry to term (11 months).

As a result I purchased a foal sired by Trixies half brother. Saucie came into our family at four months old. I enjoyed every day that I worked with that young filly. Eventually I started preparing her for saddle training and she was the first horse I fully trained. I did this by taking clinics on foal training, a lot of reading and listening to old trainers.

Texas was bred the year I bought Saucie and lo and behold I had my first homegrown foal in 1995. Again there was a lot of joy raising that foal. I made many mistakes. I almost made a dog out of that first foal. But live and learn

In 1997 I bought an 80 acre parcel North of Edmonton, Alberta and had the dream of starting a breeding and training operation. I did a lot of research in the horse industry and thought that I might have a chance. Little did I know about the politics involved in showing. You need a respected trainer to show horses in order to even have a chance, even if you have the best pedigree in the world

In the summer of 1997 I moved my horses to the farm, after building fences, ensuring I had an all year water source (self draining hydrant). My land had 55 acres of hay which provided the hay I needed on a crop share basis with a neighbor.

I delayed breeding as I was still in the Canadian Military. In fact in February 1998 I left for a tour in Bosnia in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Needless to say my mind was focused on the job at hand and not on my horses back home. Thanks to good neighbors and a supportive wife this too passed.

I returned from Bosnia and decided that I would not do any breeding that year. Instead I cashed in on a live foal guarantee and obtained two black Arabian foals, the two of them cost me $1200. I raised and trained them and sold them at age four for $4000. They are now entertaining and carrying tourists in the Southern Alberta mountains.

In 1999 I started my breeding program and had four foals born within days in May 2000.

This cowboy was a busy boy for the next three years. In addition I bred more horses that year and had two more foals the following year and also purches two foals off my farrier. As you can see the herd had grown significantly.

During the next few years I trained my own foals, a few 6 year olds for an outside owner. I learned a lot about myself and also horse mentality. Patience became a true virtue.

Eventually the time came when I needed to sell trained horses and this is the first time I realized there was no money in the industry, unless you showed your horses, invested a pile of money and hired a well known presenter or trainer.

Although, I never got rich doing this, I would never pass up the opportunity to have done this. I still run a herd of 7 horses today. I still go at it with the passion I started it but as I grow older I have sure slowed down.