Page 153 - February 2021

2020 Champion Aged Mare
CURLS HAPPY WAGON
New Home With Herd Ranch
by Richard Chamberlain
It’s the oldest saying in the breeding book: “To get the best, breed the best to the best. And hope for the best.” Looking for the best to get started, Michael Herd and wife Whitney Wolfe-Herd bought the second-highest seller at the Heritage Place Winter Mixed Sale, paying $350,000 for 2020 AQHA Champion Aged Mare Curls Happy Wagon.
“This is Michael Herd’s first purchase of many, hopefully,” says Jason Smith, a spokes- man for his friend. “Michael wants to acquire the top mares and breed them to the top sires and produce the top babies in the industry. He’s not trying to race them. Michael wants to take the foals to the Ruidoso Select Sale, to breed and produce some of the top babies in AQHA and the Quarter Horse racing industry going forward.”
A multi-faceted operation with Black Angus cattle and other divisions, the Herd Ranch is based at Albany, Texas. Michael Herd and Jason Smith are boyhood friends who went to the same high school in Dallas.
“Michael and I are best friends,” Smith says. “He introduced me to ranching, taught me how to rope, taught me cattle. He and his granddad, Bob Herd, intro- duced me to who I wanted to be. They were very instrumental in me becoming who I am and having goals in life. It’s how I got in ranching. There were a lot of other people who helped me along the way, but when I was 15 or 16 years old, Mr. Bob showed me how to go about things, how the cattle business goes, how to be a cow- boy and a rancher.”
Smith took a detour on the way to his ranch. A standout athlete in high school,
he played offensive tackle for the Baylor Bears and was a first-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Smith played for the Saint Louis Rams and New York Jets, but injuries cut his career short after five seasons. He and wife Dacie now operate their own ranch at Fairfield, Texas.
The Smiths also own Twin Lakes Performance Horses and Twin Lakes Arena, which stands performance, roping and barrel racing stallions such as Repete Offender (Fire Water Flit-Repeat Fame by Dash Ta Fame), Seis Smashing Fame (Tres Seis-Smashin
Ta Fame by Dash Ta Fame) and Bald Face Shining (Shining Spark-Nine Bar Sun by Docs Black Jack).
“Michael wants to acquire the top mares and breed them to the top sires and produce the top babies in the industry.”
Curls Happy Wagon was the second highest seller at the 2021 Heritage Place Winter Mixed Sale selling for $350,000.
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