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Fred had a stint in construction and landscaping before an opportunity to hire on with Southern Pacific Railroad came up. He grabbed the chance for constant, consistent work; knowing trains rolled regardless of weather conditions or the housing market. He was also highly motivated by the fact that Linda was pregnant with Stephanie, their only child. Fred couldn’t feed two mouths on the money he made from training, and he knew three were far outside the realm of possibility.
“I had nine years and 10-months with Southern Pacific when they were bought out by Union Pacific,” he recalled. “I wanted those two months because they would take me to a 10- year retirement. There were ways to get it done but a lot of things happened.
“First, Union Pacific did away with my position. Then, Dad became seriously ill again, giving Linda and me a huge decision to make.”
Neither Fred nor Linda took that decision lightly. Did they want to take over Joe Alexander’s place? What did they want to
do with it? Horses? If that answer was yes, then the next question was in what direction and capacity? They both had in-depth horse backgrounds, including a strong network of influential contacts. There was also a bonus factor, which was Fred’s business studies.
Saying the Alexanders discussed their situation is an understatement. There were almost endless conversations, with proposed business plans made, discarded, and replaced. That was all followed by a continuing stream of repeat and repeat again.
At the very top of the list, in bold letters, was their intention to base whatever farm format they chose on 100-percent honesty and integrity. They wanted fairness and transparency from all directions. They insisted on quality for individual clients as well as for the benefit of the overall industry. They knew what they wanted and needed. The foundational challenge was in figuring out how to get there.
“Linda and I walked around the place with a notepad. We took pictures,” Fred remembered. “A lot of areas could only be described as a mess. We had a mountain of cleaning and repairing to do. Dad boarded a lot of horses over the years. Some were still there, and we needed to sort all that out.
“We decided to make our place in the breeding part of the industry, and we knew
we couldn’t stand stallions and expect people to bring their mares to a farm that didn’t look the part. We faced an enormous amount of work.
“We wanted A & A
Ranch ready for the 1996
breeding season. We
made it but we had a ton
of help from people who
stuck with us and gave
us tremendous guidance.
Ron and Joe Allen
were with us from the
beginning. Bill and Jean
Leach sent us clients, and
Kirk and Judy Robison gave us tremendous support. Brad King and Todd Fincher have contributed so much to our program. We personally own horses in partnership with them, and Todd also trains for me. Obviously, this business is about horses, but it’s also about human relationships. There’s no way we’d be where we are now, living this life, without those relationships. We’re grateful for every one of them.”
Anybody in the stallion business can burn both your ears describing their trials and tribulations. It’s one of the most competitive slots in the entire industry, and success is set at the end of a long, tough road. Oftentimes, the road is even more pockmarked because of the fickle element known as “popularity.”
If you’re a Quarter Horse person, you have a tendency to hustle your mare to whomever wins the current year’s All American Futurity. If the winner happens to be a mare or gelding, you come up quickly with a Plan B. If you’re a Thoroughbred disciple, you eyeball a Kentucky Derby winner or another high- ranking stakes stallion.
That’s fine but there’s also a somewhat complicated timeline poking into the process.
The mare is bred. The baby is born and wobbles to its feet close to a year later. The little rascal looks good but looks don’t win races. You can’t find out if the bugger runs (fast) for at least another two years but, in the meantime, the mare is ready to breed back long, long before that baby steps into the
first starting gate. So, breed back to the same stallion before you see the results of the cross? Or, breed back to an already known quantity? This is that scary phase of the process where
a potentially spectacular, but unproven, new stallion can just wither away on the vine. It’s also when a mare owner can miss the genetic cross of a lifetime.
There are ways for stallion owners to hedge their bets but none of them are easy, and none of them come with a guarantee.
“We’ve always been picky about the stallions we bring in,” Fred admitted. “We never wanted to add another stallion to
the list just for the sake of having a longer list. We decided early in the game that was nothing more than a way to go nowhere. Instead, we wanted sires capable of giving mare owners babies good enough to go outside New Mexico to compete. It’s great if they prefer to remain in-state and take advantage of the state-bred program, but we want them to have a choice. They can’t have that choice, or that second option, if that baby doesn’t have the quality to compete in open competition.
“That meant bringing in outstanding pedigrees and backing it up with excellent customer service. Those services include mare care, foaling and foal care, safety, boarding if the client wants, sale prep and everything else in a full-service ranch business plan.”
Cousins Joe and Ron Allen of Abilene made a huge contribution to the Alexander’s program
“We’ve always been picky about the stallions we bring in. We never wanted to add another stallion to the list just for the sake of having a longer list.” – Fred Alexander
FALL 2022 15
The Alexander’s co-own horses with...
Brad King Trainer Todd Fincher