Page 63 - November_2023

BRANCHING INTO BREEDING
Early in their marriage, Paul team roped and as their family grew, their children— daughters Amy, Jamie, Jessie and Cadyn—rode and eventually participated in college rodeo.
Maren went into the mainstream workforce after college but her in-demand barrel training skills kept her active in the sport. She competed heavily in the rodeo, and more recently, the barrel futurity arena and continues to train. In the early ’90s, she and Paul bought a rebuilt ranch. “That’s when we really committed hardcore to the horses,” she says.
Maren says the ranch’s Summer Run name was the brainchild of her father, Glenn Steinke. “The horses run in the summer and our cabin in Wisconsin is on Summer Road,” she says. “Our brand, which is on our silks, is SR with
a cross around it because the ranch has been a blessing to us.”
That blessing started in their early years, when Paul bought most of his runners, and has
continued through to the present, including Paul’s retirement from his contracting business four years ago.
About 10 years ago, Summer Run shifted its focus to breeding and racing their homebreds. “It’s pretty special when you raise one and they do well; it’s different from buying one that does well,” Paul says.
Last year they had about 10 in training. “We usually breed about four, but this year we might do a little bit more,” Paul says. “We have a weanling pen, a yearling pen, a broodmare pen and then we have racehorses that come home for the winter after the track, and we turn them out so they can be horses again. We also have a couple performance-horse pens— primarily barrel horses.”
Along with serving as vice president on the Minnesota Quarter Horse Racing Association’s board, Paul handles selecting stallions for the Summer Run broodmares, while Maren and Cadyn handle the horses’ hands-on care. “Paul
has had some really solid picks and hopeful up-and-comers,” Maren says, “and he’s the
one who watches the foaling cameras and has foaled out pretty much all of our babies and the Minnesota-Bred babies owned by our frequent partner, Tom Maher of Pierre, South Dakota.
“I’ve had a quite a few good horses with Tom, and I’ve had a lot of other good partners over the years, too. I still do; it makes it easier to have more good horses. It’s nice when
the bills come in, but not so much when the paychecks arrive,” Paul jokes.
“Paul and Maren and the whole family
have been really good at taking care of the mares we foal out there for the Minnesota-Bred program,” says Tom, who partners with the Luedemanns and Richard Tobin on Apollitical Hero. Tom is also part owner of the $14.4 million dollar-sire Hes Relentless, to whom Paul intends to breed Beep Beep Rev Rev this fall. “Beep Beep Rev Rev is one of the best racehorses I’ve seen,” Tom says.
Maren Luedeman
Cadyns Captures
“Paul and Maren and the whole family have been really good at taking care of the mares we foal out there for the Minnesota-Bred program...Beep Beep Rev Rev is one of the best racehorses I’ve seen.” – Tom Maher
Tom Maher
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
SPEEDHORSE
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