Page 146 - Speedhorse October 2018

Earl, Lucille and Melvin Hatley.
carpentry experience, and after a while he decided to try and build himself a house and sell it for a profit. He bought an old beer joint, tore it down, pulled out the nails and used the old lumber to build a house that he made a profit
of two thousand on. That’s how we got into the building business. My dad never looked back after that. He and my mother are happy and prosperous today.”
Mel worked his way through the Nazarene College in Bethany, concentrating mainly on business courses and also helped his father in the construction business on the side. He quit school when he was 20, after Houston bankers offered him a million-dollar loan to build a group of 76 houses.
“I wanted Dad to come in on it with me, but he said it was too big, and we’d be wiped out if it failed. So, I went into the project on my own.”
Mel built the houses in four months, but the market was down, and no buyers appeared. The million was gone. The 20-year-old boy, who headed up the project, opted to work for no salary until the houses were sold. Three years later he was still trying, though all bankers involved, and everybody who cared about him, were urging him to take bankruptcy.
“That is something I would never do.”
Finally, when the debt was down to $35,000, Mel agreed to accept a loan to cover the balance, the ordeal was ended, and Mel began the job of “building back up from the ground again. His first efforts were devoted to repaying the loan
he had received. Eight years later, he entered the running horse world, on top again.
People tend to judge others by their own
standards. Long years in the cotton patch, “going bust” at 20 and climbing back again, shaped the standards by which Mel Hatley makes his judgement call today: “Whatever comes, a man has to do what he says he will do. Times can come when all a man has is his word. As long as it’s good, he’s got a chance.”
EDITOR’S NOTE FROM AUGUST 2008
We live, work, and play in a strange industry. For all its inconsistencies, it’s built on a consistent foundation. For all its instability, it’s heroically stable in many of its tenets. The preceding “Judgment Call” article, first printed in June 1980, is a wonderful example.
Nearly 30 years ago, Melvin Hatley said, “I
feel like the industry has been built on quality, pedigree and performance, and that 100 years from now it will still be the same – quality, pedigree and performance. That’s the cream that rises to the top one way or the other, always, you can’t stop it, you can’t stop it in horses, or in people.”
We still have 70-years to go before we reach Hatley’s 100-year mark, but the chances are more than good that the words will continue to echo with truthful consistency.
Hatley also declared that the industry
should continue with its practice of quality Thoroughbred infusions in our breeding programs. We followed that advice for several years. As a matter of fact, there were some years when as many as eight out of 10 finalists in the All American Futurity were by Thoroughbred sires.
In the intervening 30-years since the original article was written, we’ve veered somewhat from the Thoroughbred in our
Melvin’s graduation photo from Mustang High School in 1949.
breeding but, today, we’re again seeking those out-crosses that demonstrate quality, performance, and pedigree. For many, the Thoroughbred segment of the industry is a logical potential source.
Hatley advised investing in good quality broodmares “because they don’t come along too often.” The words were true in 1980 and they’re still true in 2008 – perhaps even more so.
Today, with multiple embryo transfers, we “use” our mares more than ever. That expanded breeding production could certainly contribute to our need for new out-cross.
The ingredients comprising quality don’t change. They are constant. A solid example
is Hatley’s broodmare band, which included numerous daughters and granddaughters of FL Lady Bug. In the contemporary industry, there are very few broodmare discussions that do not include FL Lady Bug and her descendants. It was a quality family then and it’s still a quality family. There is no doubt that, as Hatley noted, the female line will still be distinguished 100-years from today.
Hatley spoke of Heritage Place in positive terms and it, too, has become an industry constant. After 30 years, it’s still a state-of-the- art facility and, according to general manager Jeff Tebow, the best is yet to come.
That’s the way it is with quality. As
Hatley said. Whether it’s horses, people, or facilities. Quality stays and, when properly guarded, only becomes better. In an industry
of unpredictability, it’s good to know there are fundamental consistencies. It’s good to be aware that some things never change.
144 SPEEDHORSE, October 2018
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM JUNE 1980 ISSUE