Page 193 - Speedhorse February 2020

THE BACKSIDE
Treat people like you want to be treated yourself.
What’s an average day at the ranch like for you?
“During breeding season, you’re not
paid for the hours you spend at the farm, let me tell you that. If you look at it that way, you’re not making money. You could
be doing something else. It’s very challenging, very long days. Where I’m
from in south Louisana, we’re big in sugarcane farming. My brother-in-law’s a big sugarcane farmer. You’ve got just so much time to get it harvested. You’ve got from February to the end of May, beginning of June to get all these mares bred for their babies to be old enough and marketable as yearlings. You’ve got one little window and you’ve got
to get it done. If you miss a cycle, or a mare doesn’t become pregnant, you’ve got to start all over again. You’re losing money and you’re losing time. So you’ve got to work hard and put in the time, the effort, the hours, to get your customer the best return. Time is of the essence. There’s not enough time in the day. You try to do your best to accommodate all your customers and mares. The horsemen work is one thing, but you also have to be a businessman to be successful. You’ve got to make sure that everything’s charged at the
end of your day and everything’s accounted for. Then you’re making plans and your list of what to do and when to do it for the following day. We go from January, start foaling out, and in February breeding season starts. We end breeding season around June 10. First of May, I’m getting yearlings ready for the sales. So, the summer breeding season kind of winds
down, and the sale season begins. In between that time, when the sale season starts, you’ve got to paint fences, fix barns, add dirt to stalls. You’ve got to get everything back ready that got tore up over the year. It’s like a wagon wheel. It just keeps turning. When the sale season stops, you’re breaking babies, you’re breaking that year’s crop...it never stops.
Do you like it that way?
“I like to stay busy. I get emotional about it sometimes, but I’m only as good as the people behind me and the ones who support me: my mom, my dad, and my wife. Plus, my help has been with me like 13, 15 years. It makes it easier to do the things I do when I know I have the team behind me.”
In addition to your dad, were there any other mentors for you when it comes to breeding? What were some of the lessons you were able to take from those mentors and apply to what you’re doing?
“Number 1, my dad, because he’s been
so successful. You know he’s honest. You don’t have to beat around the bush. He’s going to tell you how he feels. Either you like it or you don’t, but he’s not going to be shady about what he thinks is right and wrong. And he’s been a good horseman. Another two guys I think are the v way that I respect a bunch are Roger Daly and Marty Powers. As far as a business person and being ahead of the game and always
thinking outside the box or always trying to be No. 1 or be the most successful, I’d have to say it’d be Butch Wise. What’s made me successful and made me be who I am is to follow success and you watch how it’s done.”
What do you think needs to happen to keep the sport viable for years
to come?
“My biggest problem I have in horse racing right now is horse racing is not
fun anymore at the race tracks. Here in Louisiana, we’re very fortunate. We have
the racino, so our purses are high. We have big purses and big futurities, but we can’t
get anybody to go to the races anymore. When I was growing up, we had bush tracks. I couldn’t wait for Sunday to go watch.
We want them to be in the casino so the more they play the casino the more we put
in our purses. But we need people to watch horse racing. That’s not going to drive anybody our age to get in the horse business if they don’t come watch it. We need more advertisement, more publications, and racing needs to be fun again.”
What advice would you give to anyone else looking to enter
the field?
“Be honest. Be humble. Don’t take advantage of anybody. Be one of these breeders who’s going to be around for a long time. Treat people like you want to be treated yourself.”
SPEEDHORSE, February 2020 191