Page 29 - 30 March 2012
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Building
duraBility
Charley and Charlton Hunt’s all-about-the-horse methods produce runners that last.
by Diane Rice
Studying the stats of Quarter Horse run- ners trained by the father-and-son team of Charley and Charlton Hunt, the figure that yanks your eyeballs first is the number of races run. Not only are the horses’ names instantly recognizable, but their career races tally in the 30s, 40s and even 50s.
According to clients, that’s due to the way Charley—and now 29-year-old Charlton, who started training on his own about seven years ago—place their trainees’ health and happiness above their own desire to win.
“Both Charley and Charlton identify tremendously with these young horses,” said
Garvan Kelly, who owns E.I.R.E. Equine Nursery in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Kelly, and his Kelly/Yearsley Equine LLC partner, Nancy Yearsley of Lexington, Kentucky, have sent young horses to the Hunts for more than 15 years. “Charley respects the horses and he’s not afraid to pull a horse that he thinks needs a
The Hunt family: Charley, Starlet, Charlton and Charlet.
SPEEDHORSE, March 30, 2012 27
Courtesy Hunt Family