Page 45 - December 2017

by Diane Rice
Merle Fulton Harris strives to perpetuate the Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch racing program, while simultaneously strengthening its heritage and forging new paths to her passion.
Before Merle Harris lost her late husband, racing legend Joe Kirk Fulton in 2013, she promised him that she’d raise an All American
winner and another World Champion. She hasn’t wavered from those commitments, but neither has she allowed those promises to limit her vision. Along with maintaining the Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch race program, she’s branching out into her passion, ranch versatility, and breeding horses that can succeed not only in racing, but also in the other performance disciplines that the American Quarter Horse excels in.
“She’s got extremely big boots to fill that were left by my father and she’s doing the very best she can to fill those big boots with those little bitty feet that she has,” jokes her son and Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch CFO Tim Fulton.
Today Merle and her new husband, equine reproduction specialist Kurt Harris DVM, contribute to managing not only the Fulton Quien Sabe brand, but also Kurt’s Stonewall Equine Rehabilitation and Fitness (SERF)
in Stonewall, Texas. “They’re both very hardworking,” Tim says of Merle and Kurt. “Kurt and my mother are both very much driven to keep my dad’s legacy alive and keep the brand going, and that means a lot.”
The Backstory
Merle’s equine roots trace back to her childhood in Vernon, Texas, riding and hanging out with her cousins and friends. While a widow in her mid-20s raising two babies on her own — 1-year-old Tim
and 2-year-old Larry — Merle met Joe Kirk Fulton in 1982 through a colleague at the bank where she worked. “After we’d had a few dates, he found out how much I loved horses and loved to ride, and he asked me if I wanted to see his horses,” Merle says.
“I didn’t know who Joe Kirk Fulton was; I kind of rolled my eyes and said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go see your horse.’ He took me out to the Lubbock barns and we walked up and down these three shed rows of horses. I asked which horse was his, and he said, ‘All of them!’”
It turns out, their shared passion sealed their relationship, and they became devoted partners in life and in breeding winning Quarter Horses and Paints.
Kurt Harris, in the meantime, was raised
on his parents’ ranch in the Texas Panhandle. “As long as I remember, I was on a horse,” Kurt says. “My dad was a firm believer in the Quarter Horses. He started in the late 1950s with two daughters of Poco Bueno and everything came from there. I didn’t like farming at all; my time was spent with the horses and show cattle.
“I grew up showing 4-H,” he adds. “My dad’s theory was, if I wanted to show, there was a pasture full of horses and I could make any of them that I wanted to into show horses.”
Kurt started roping, showing western pleasure, and breaking and riding colts at a young age. “I ate, drank and slept horses,” he says.
He attended Texas Tech in Lubbock, where he was on the livestock judging team and served as the Masked Rider his senior year. Then, he attended vet school at Texas A&M and has been practicing for the past 30 years.
“Joe Kirk and Kurt’s dad were actually fraternity brothers,” Merle adds. “I was amazed to find out how much history the two families shared. Kurt would go to Joe Kirk for advice at times before we met.”
So it was no surprise when, as Joe Kirk
saw his end approaching several years ago, he told Merle that if she ever had reproduction problems with any of the horses when he was gone, she should call on Kurt — which she later did. “That was how Kurt and I started our dating relationship,” Merle says, “ — trying to get a horse pregnant, and then him hearing my vision and me asking him for advice. One thing just led to another.” They married in 2015.
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