Page 18 - New Mexico Summer 2021

What ifs are an inescapable part of
life’s journey.
Most are insignificant and mundane. They don’t leave a mark. Their shelf life is minimal. They fade as quickly and quietly as they materialize. Inconsequential decisions in life’s
Eliminate any one of those WHAT IFS and very likely Karen Gilhousen and Lisa and Brian Anderson wouldn’t be where they are today--partners in the state’s newest horse breeding farm--Copper Spring Ranch in Tularosa, N.M.
Jet Black Patriot ran second in the 2008 All American Futurity. He won seven of nine races during his racing career, earning $876,921. As a stud, his foals have earned nearly $15 million.
The stunning black horse was purchased by Ms. Gilhousen for $725,000 at the Heritage
by Pete Herrera
daily grind.
But then there’s those WHAT IF moments
that are life changing. Events that help define us and determine our destiny. Moments forever etched into our body of work on this earth.
And so, consider the WHAT IFS that are central to the storyline in the following saga. What if the teenage girl hadn’t joined her
girlfriends at a swimming party. And what if that same girl hadn’t accepted a ride home from the polite and polished young man she met that day.
What if the barrel racer with the competitive heart and critical eye hadn’t decided the horseshoer was worth a second look, his taste in clothes be damned.
And what if the horseshoer had lost
his mano-a-mano battle with that hungry mountain lion he met up with on the side of a ridge that snowy fall day in Montana.
Owned by Ms. Gilhousen and managed
by the Andersons, Copper Spring Ranch encompasses just over 100 acres near the base of the Sacramento Mountains on the southwestern end of Tularosa.
The ranch also has a 2,400-square foot surgery clinic that opened in May and will be headed by noted veterinarian Dr. Chris Ray.
Copper Spring previously was headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, under the same name. After Gilhousen sold that ranch a little over
a year ago, she decided to join the Andersons
in New Mexico. Lisa and Brian had already established residence in Tularosa, having moved there in the fall of 2019.
Copper Spring currently showcases four studs and nearly four dozen broodmares. Its star stud is Jet Black Patriot, who is standing at Double LL Farms south of Belen, N.M.
Place sale in Oklahoma four years ago. His current stud fee is $4,000, with considerations. Among his recent foals is the 2-year-old Jet Black Grace, who is undefeated in three starts this year and in May won the $1.3 million Heritage Place Futurity, the richest race ever run in Oklahoma. Jet Black Patriot is the headliner for the ranch’s breeding of racehorses, but Copper Spring has the added dimension of breeding foals that will be sold as barrel racing horses. The farm’s other three studs--Prime Talent, Firewater Canyon and Carrizo--are significant players in the farm’s barrel racing breeding program.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I think we do have a monopoly there,” says Brian of the ranch’s focus on breeding barrel racers. “I don’t think anyone else does it on our scale.”
The ranch also owned Furyofthewind, a sire who passed away two years ago. Furyofthewind
The ranch has a 2,400-square foot surgery clinic headed by noted veterinarian Dr. Chris Ray, who is shown here with Karen.
Brian & Lisa Anderson with Karen Gilhousen.
16 New Mexico Horse Breeder