Page 182 - July 2017

OPPORTUNITY
APHA members share a love of the Paint Horse, and they are also alike in that no one APHA member is the same as another—they all have a different story to tell. One such unique member is the 2017 APHA Rac-
ing Committee Chairman Jamie Howard of Wayne, Oklahoma; the Paint world is full of opportunity that has Jamie excited for the future of Paint racing.
Horseless
Jamie was raised on a “horseless” farm in South Dakota. Even though he was heavily involved in livestock production and showed club calves and lambs, he had very little horse experience until he met his wife Wendy. When the two met, Wendy had horses and came from a rodeo background.
When Wendy went to college, she sold her horse; Jamie made a commitment to Wendy that he would get her another horse after she graduated from veterinary school. The day finally came, and the pair purchased a tobiano colt with Dash For Cash breeding.
From then on, they became heavily involved in researching bloodlines and breeding speed- bred Paints. Once they had their breeding focus selected, they decided to try their hand
at Paint racing. Jamie and Wendy started their
first Paint Horse in Miles City, Montana, at the Bucking Horse Sale; they have had a horse in training almost every year since.
Running Colors
The Paint breeding and racing bug bit
and ignited their operation: Running Colors Equine, Inc. There, they breed, raise, train and sell race-bred Paint Horses and Quarter Horses for the track and the arena.
Throughout the years, Jamie and his family have had the chance to run their horses in some exciting races.
“Honestly, my favorite racing memories aren’t running in Grade 1 races or a particular race at all,” Jamie said. “I have had so much fun racing at places like Miles City, Montana, Bucking Horse Sale, the “Cowboy Mardis Gras,” and Billings, Montana’s Metra Park. At some of those tracks, a guy could head his own horse and have no one else to blame for a bad start.”
The operation in Wayne, Oklahoma, has al- lowed Jamie to work with some amazing Paint Horses, including Got A Grip. A 1995 bay solid mare by Super De Kas (QH) and out of Mystic Sky Moon, she set quite the standard during her lifetime, earning a 1997 Register of Merit for racing and a 1999 Superior, as well as being the first dam in APHA to surpass $500,000
by Desiree Heath
in progeny earnings; they’ve earned a total of $605,020.
“If I had to narrow it down to one favor- ite horse, it would be Got A Grip,” Jamie mused. “As a mare in the barn, she demanded respect and stamped her babies with the same vigor. She truly was an amazing animal to be around.”
Her notable offspring include Got Country Grip, who is the All-Time Leading APHA Money-Earning Racehorse and a four-time World Champion Running Solid Paint-Bred winner, as well as Gotta Quick Grip, Girls Got Grip, Money Makin Mama and Two Cents Worth. She is also the dam of Gotta Grippin Image, who is currently in Running Colors Equine’s broodmare band and remains unraced.
Jamie has successfully syndicated and managed his Paint racers, including Girls Got Grip LLC.
“It is almost addicting to study pedigrees
and try to come up with the ‘magic cross.’ Most breeders have spent endless hours reading catalog pages and can tell who probably bred
a horse by the pedigree before even looking at who’s the listed breeder, simply by knowing the history,” Jamie said. “It can be very rewarding to make a mating decision and carry it all the way through breeding, foaling, raising the colt,
180 SPEEDHORSE, July 2017
The Path of
Paint Racing for
Jamie Howard
PAINT HORSE BULLETIN