Page 80 - Speedhorse March 2019

On to the Wide, Wide World
Upon graduation, he and a childhood friend, Dr. W. H. Cardwell, partnered for 30 years in Elgin Veterinary Hospital, which grew into one of the largest veterinary hospitals in the country.
From there Doc branched out, building Southwest Stallion Station in 1965. “He developed that facility from a mesquite-filled pasture to be one of the preeminent horse breeding operations in the Southwest, and
he built it literally with his bare hands, grub axing with pick axes before he could afford the equipment to do it,” Gordon says.
collection facility, and the Texas Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Laboratory.
In 1987, Doc bought a struggling feed yard
in Gonzales, Texas, that handled 150 head and he built it up to feed 30,000 head. In conjunction,
he founded Graham Land and Cattle and Sunset Livestock Carriers, a trucking company to facilitate moving cattle efficiently between enterprises. He also owns sale barns in Bastrop and Hamilton,
a restaurant, convenience store and truck stop,
and development property in Gonzales. And,
in addition to interests in racetracks in Austin, McAllen and Laredo and the Gulf Greyhound Park in LaMarque, Texas, he’s one of four partners
s who named the facility. “Walt was out in the area visiting from Roswell and he stopped by
to see me,” Doc says. “In the course of our visit, he asked me what I was going to name
it and I said, ‘Sir, I don’t even have a clue.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you call it Southwest Stallion Station?’ and that’s how it got its name.”
Doc also contributed to the development of Elgin Breeding Service, a nearby livestock semen
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“He’s very dedicated to every industry that
he’s in,” Gordon says. “Not only to his friends and business associates, but every industry he’s involved in: Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, cattle breeding, horse breeding, feeding, selling,
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An aerial view of Southwest Stallion Station, which Charles Graham built with his own hands.
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76 SPEEDHORSE, March 2019