Page 96 - September2021

Building On A Family Focus
Stephen Tate has drawn from his family’s knowledge bank to forge an ever-expanding operation.
by Diane Rice
Stephen Anthony Tate grew up among people HIS EARLY YEARS four or five thousand dollars for it when my
who knew good horses. His great-grandfather and great uncle owned Lightfoot Sis, dam of the legendary Go Man Go, and had a track across from the feed store Stephen now owns and oper- ates along with his wife, Kayla, a former nurse. Stephen’s dad, Louis Steve, had a track at the house where he trained runners. So, it’s no surprise that Stephen made horses his livelihood.
“Early in the mornings, my twin brothers, Richard and Robert, and I would go out back and watch my dad train racehorses,” Stephen says. “We wanted to be jockeys, but we were way too big for jockeys!
“My dad was probably the person who most influenced me,” Stephen adds. “I can remember when I was younger, he’d load up in a two-horse bumper-pull trailer and go to the races. They’d win a race and he’d come home with $600 for the win at Delta Downs and we thought that was all the money in the world at the time!”
“My dad was probably
the person who most
influenced me.”
– Stephen
Stephen with his wife Kayla and sons Rhett and Rowdy.
Born in 1977 to Louis Steve and
Karen (now Badeaux) Tate in New Iberia, Louisiana, Stephen graduated from Sacred Heart High School in his present hometown of Ville Platte, Louisiana, then moved to Lake Charles intending to go to college.
But he never went. After six months, he returned home and opened Tate Livestock Supplies in 1996.
Although he started out his equine venture with working horses, he became discouraged by the low return on investment. One day he went to the Heritage Place sale with his dad and bought a broodmare in foal to Mr Eye Opener for $4,000.
“That was a lot of money,” he says.
“When her baby was just weaned, a gentleman came by looking at some horses and saw that colt and really liked it,” he says. “We got to talking and I was hoping to get
dad spoke up and said we’d take $20,000. The guy wrote us a check and said when
it cleared, he’d send the hauler out to pick up the colt. I thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread!”
In 2006, Stephen and his dad bought
a piece of property for Tate Farms. “My
dad came in with his two stallions and we tried to get better and better stallions every year,” Stephen says. “My wife and two boys, Rowdy and Rhett; my dad; and my sister, Rebecca, and brother-in-law, Chad Arnaud, all live on the farm.”
Since that time, they’ve built their recipient mare herd to about 175 and taken on some outside embryo transfer clients. They’ve also built an eight-stall hospital barn where their resident veterinarian performs ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) and cares for any sick horses.
94 SPEEDHORSE September 2021