Page 47 - December 2017

“We think each horse has an affinity to do certain things and that’s what we’re going to let them do.”
A New Direction
In 2002, the AQHA’s versatility ranch horse (VRH) shows debuted, comprised
of ranch riding, ranch trail, ranch
cutting, working ranch horse and ranch conformation. The trend caught Merle’s attention. “Joe Kirk was real strong at taking great broodmares from the ranch and breeding them to his race stallions, and I didn’t see why I couldn’t do that, too, to produce great ranch versatility horses.” Merle says.
Merle’s first ranch versatility horse was Yuba Sabe, foaled in 2002, whom Merle refers to as “a big, beautiful palomino” by Yubasan and out of the Mr Crimson Shoes daughter Miss Quien Sabe 211, who was out of Joe Kirk’s halter mare, Fickle Miss. “Yuba Sabe was Reserve Champion at the Fort Worth Livestock Show,” Merle says. “My first little venture in [ranch versatility] was pretty darn successful, I thought!
“When I first told Kurt that I wanted to use race mares to do this,” Merle says, “he said, ‘It can’t be done. Racehorses have different minds than performance horses.’ But the mares did have great minds, and they had impeccable conformation.
“I get these little hints from God all the time when I’m on the right track,” Merle adds. “And I’d promised Joe Kirk I would never, ever compromise on conformation or mind; those were the areas I’d stay strong in.”
Parallel Goals
Meanwhile, practicing out of Harris Equine Hospital in Whitesboro, Texas, Kurt bred the 2006 AQHA Superhorse, RS Lilly Starlight (Grays Starlight – Play Zana Express, Zan Parr Express). The 1999 mare also won a World Championship in senior heeling and placed fourth in senior tie- down roping at AQHA World.
“I got to know Kurt when I bought an RS Lilly Starlight embryo [Lillys Vaquero, by Cat
T Masterson] from him. That colt and Brad Barkemeyer made the Open Snaffle Bit Futurity finals in 2016, and I really started to appreciate his philosophy on choosing and breeding horses,” says Clark Weaver, director of equine for MWI Animal Health. “He’s never bred for trendy; he breeds for conformation that leads to performance.”
Kurt says, “Once I saw the [Fulton Ranch] broodmares, I saw that they were cookie-cutter broodmares. Even though they were racehorses, they looked like something you’d want to throw a saddle on and go work cattle. They were beautiful headed, had great legs, big hips, short backs and a lot of volume to them, so they looked like the performance cow horse. And then they have that great mind. So it was a great set of mares to outcross on performance horses.”
“Kurt and Merle have taken some of those great mares with great conformation and crossed them with Waresthecat, the stallion they bought from the Four Sixes,” Clark adds. “I got to see some of those babies and they demonstrate that Kurt and Merle’s goals run parallel.”
Merle and Kurt’s parallel goals include each performance horse’s destiny. “We don’t have a set protocol that says this horse has to do this,” Kurt adds. “We’re not raising each individual to be a certain type of horse; they may make a rope horse, they may make a cow horse or a barrel horse — we let the horse determine what they want to do. We think each horse has an affinity to do certain things and that’s what we’re going to let them do. At the end of the day, whatever discipline they end up in, we’re trying to raise sound, athletic horses with great minds so whoever the buyer is can take those horses and train them to do whatever they want.”
Toward that end, Merle and Kurt have accumulated a group of studs that include race and performance bloodlines:
• Mister Fulton (2013, Corona Cartel – Thrill
And Grace, Mr Jess Perry)
• Downright Daring (2004, Strawfly Special –
Daring Difference, Victory Dash)
• Playgun Prank (2004, Smokin Playgun – Miss Quien Sabe 211, Mr Crimson Shoes)
• Taylor Made Starlite (2010, Lena Spark – RS Lilly Starlight, Grays Starlight)
• Waresthecat (2005, High Brow Cat – Belle Star Playgirl, Freckles Playboy)
“The equine industry is so fragmented that I think Kurt and Merle have a rare ability to get a true sense of what each one of those disciplines needs in the ‘western hat events,’” Clark says.
Merle is the breeder/owner of 2011 Champion Running 2-Year-Old Paint Filly Brief Encounter.
SPEEDHORSE, December 2017 45
Joe Kirk’s first Fulton-bred stakes winner was Flaming Jet, shown above winning the
1973 Jet Deck Handicap.