Page 103 - Barrel Stallion Register 2024

to see and salute the riders as they passed by. “It was pretty cool to see people who were so excited about our re-creating a very special moment in Canadian history.”
With the end of Grant’s time in special ops came a new challenge in the area of crime prevention as he has become involved in drug detection with specially trained dogs, first in his final years in the police force and more recently as a private contractor.
“I don’t believe success is possible without passion and true purpose.” When you talk to Grant Little, it’s a phrase he comes back to over and over. And it’s no surprise that he brings
to the equine world that same passion and purpose that have been his trademarks in the field of law enforcement.
After trying his hand at calf roping—“I wasn’t all that good,’ he admits with a grin— Grant turned to breeding and raising barrel racing horses. And at that, he is very good.
“It was something that appealed to me. The idea of producing and making good horses that people could buy at virtually any age just made sense.”
His first success came as a result of his friendship with acclaimed horse artist Orren Mixer. “I met Orren through a roping buddy, Doug Clarke, and Orren and I just hit it off, both of us are story-tellers and we’d go fishing and tell stories. (Years later at Orren’s funeral, Grant was present in his RCMP scarlet tunic to give the formal ‘final salute’ to his great friend. After the service, family members requested photos of Grant holding the American flag that had adorned the legend’s coffin.)
“Orren pointed me to Henry and Linda Bowlan (who stood Shawne Bug) and I bought a 2-year-old filly named Leavin Lucille and the yearling Shawne Promise from them.
“At about that same time, I struck up a working relationship with Dena Kirkpatrick and in 1999, she futuritied Leavin Lucille. In that entire season they never hit a barrel, and ran tough just about every time out.”
Dena remembers her first encounter with Grant very well. He called me to ask about horses. He wanted to know about bloodlines, training, what kind of horses I thought he should be looking for, pretty much everything about the barrel racing business. We were on the phone a long time. And to tell the truth, I thought I’d never hear from him again.
“Boy, was I wrong,” she laughs. “Not only did he call again but he followed up on the things we had talked about. That’s when he went and got Leavin Lucille and Shawne Promise and he wanted me to ride Lucy in her futurity year. I found out real quick that Grant didn’t just talk and didn’t just try. He did the work he had to do to succeed.
“I’d have to say Grant Little has as much integrity and determination as anyone I’ve ever worked with in this business.”
Constable Grant Little (riding a 4 year old son of Shawne Bug) leads a troop as part of the 1999 re-enactment of the famed North West Mounted Police ‘March West’ of 1874.
After that auspicious start, Grant had the bug and it wasn’t long before he purchased
his first broodmare, Color Me Magnolia from Dena. “Maggie was amazing,” Grant grins. “She’d won over $80,000 in futurities, derbies and as a rodeo horse with Dena and Celie Ray riding her. I bred her to Frenchman’s Guy and her first foal was purchased by four time world champ, Kristy Peterson.”
Years later, Grant would name his drug dog Maggie in honor of his first broodmare.
The next big success on the broodmare front was Shawne Promise, the horse he’d purchased as a yearling from the Bowlans. “She’d been in training for a while but I just decided to turn her into a broodmare rather than go on with her as a competition horse. I guess it turned out to be a pretty good decision because everything out of her has been a barrel horse.”
Next came Ima Copper Bug Too, a horse that had won over $100,000 with Rayel Robinson riding. “Rayel told me the horse might be for sale, so I called the owners and was able to make the deal.
“Rayel also mentioned that Lanita Powers was someone who always had terrific horses at the NFR and that maybe I should call her as well. When I called, Lanita suggested Ms Shoo Bug, a Bugs Alive In 75 granddaughter that she’d won over $80,000 on and was the fastest
horse she’d ever ridden. When I heard that, I didn’t waste much time getting her bought.”
But Grant Little was just hitting his stride in the barrel horse business. “I was reading Speedhorse and noticed an ad for five Dash For Perks yearlings for sale at about the time Bo Hill was making the stallion a household name. So I phoned the owner of these colts, Guy Watters in Cheraw, Colorado, and told him I’d like to come down and see them... right away. I drove down, pulled into the yard and one of those yearlings, a black filly named Lady Perks just locked on to me and followed me around.
“I bought the filly—and I brought her home, put her in training, first with Dave Manning who has started a number of my horses, then with Dena, and finally in June of the filly’s futurity year I brought her back up to Canada and had Rayel start taking her to Futurities up here.”
That combination was dynamite and the mare would go on to win $251,411 in lifetime earnings. She was BFA World Reserve Futurity Champion, Derby Horse of the Year, Canadian Champion, winner of the Ponoka Stampede three times in a row (another Grant Little first and only moment), and ran a :16.82 at the Greg Olson Futurity/Derby in Arizona as a 6-year-old.
Then as a broodmare, her first foal, an embryo transfer Dash Ta Fame stud colt, went
LOOKING BACK
SPEEDHORSE 101
Courtesy Grant Little