Page 21 - New Mexico Summer 2021

Brian and Lisa, who had both grown up in Montana, moved to Bozeman in April of 2012 to manage the Gilhousen’s 4,000-acre ranch. The ranch in Bozeman--also named Copper Spring--had about 300 horses and several hundred head of cattle. At that time, most of the horses on the ranch were barrel racers.
In time, however, racehorses came into the picture. Furyofthewind was their startup stud.
“We got him in 2014 or 2015,” says Brian. “He had been standing at the Bob Moore Farms in Oklahoma and had done well.”
Lisa says although Furyofthewind passed away a couple of years ago, his frozen semen remains in high demand within the barrel racing community. They plan to also use some of that semen to breed to racehorse mares at the ranch.
The Andersons had always planned to retire in New Mexico after their work in Montana was done. Two years ago, they sold their Texas ranch and bought the 27 acres on the site that is now part of the New Mexico ranch.
“We knew we would not be in Montana forever because we didn’t know what her
complications from laminitis, left a huge void at Mooring’s ranch and within New Mexico’s breeding program.
“That was the saddest day I’ve spent on this farm,” said Mooring.
First Moonflash was 14 when he died. His foals from seven crops included All American Futurity winner and Champion Handsome Jack Flash (2013); All American Derby winner Too Flash For You (2014) and Champion Flash And Roll.
At the time of his death, First Moonflash had sired the winners of $15.8 million.
During his racing career, First Moonflash was equally sensational. He won 14 of 25 races, set four New World Records and five New Track Records.
“I don’t think there’ll be another horse do what he done as a runner,” says Mooring. “He was in the top end (as a sire). You don’t know what he would have done because he had a lot of life left.”
The stud fee to breed to First Moonflash was $12,500 at the time he died, and Mooring says in a typical year the horse was bred to as
Humor wasn’t in vogue when Brian
and Lisa met more than 25 years ago at the Houston rodeo. You might say they got off on the wrong shoe.
They grew up about 300 miles apart in Montana--she in White Sulphur Springs and Brian in Miles City. Lisa has been barrel racing very successfully most of her life. Brian shod horses at racetracks across the country for 25 years, was a steer wrestler for 30 years until he broke his shoulder last year.
But their paths hadn’t crossed until Lisa needed a horseshoer and a friend recommended Brian.
“We had met earlier in the day because
his dad had shod horses for my traveling companion,” recalls Lisa. “My horse had
been slipping a lot in the turns, so I asked his opinion. I thought about it later that night and asked him to shoe my horse.”
Lisa called Brian at 11:00 at night, which was about an hour and a half later than Brian’s usual bedtime. He agreed to shoe
her horse, Breathtaker, but not before telling Lisa, “Just so you know, I don’t need your business. I’m only doing it as a favor for a
(Karen’s) plans were,” said Brian. “We knew we wanted to be in this area when we retired. So, we bought it and had no plans on moving here anytime soon.”
Their plans changed quickly after Karen sold the Montana ranch in April of 2020. She told Brian and Lisa she didn’t think she was ready to get out of the horse business yet. The Andersons agreed to keep their partnership going. Karen bought 80 acres adjacent to the Anderson’s 27 and New Mexico had a new breeding farm.
And with them came Jet Black Patriot, the leading sire in Louisiana at the time.
“A lot of people thought we were nuts because we left Louisiana,” says Brian. “They had a lucrative incentive program, but we weren’t getting enough mares to Jet Black Patriot. I think the problem was there is such
a saturation of stallions there and his stud fee was just high enough that only the better mares were breeding to him.”
Brian says Jet Black Patriot covered about 145 mares in his first breeding season at Double LL Farms, about three times more than in Louisiana.
Jet Black Patriot arrived in New Mexico about a year after Champion First Moonflash, the super stud at the Double LL, passed away. The loss of First Moonflash, who died of
many as 225 mares.
So, when Brian asked Mooring if he’d be
interested in standing Jet Black Patriot at his farm, Mooring was more than receptive.
“You know him,” said Brian. “He said, `Yeah, boy, you get that horse over here as fast as you can.’”
“After losing old Moonflash, the man upstairs rewarded me with another nice horse,” said Mooring, who handles all of the breeding contracts for Jet Black Patriot.
It stands to reason that if you’re running a Quarter Horse breeding farm so close to Ruidoso Downs--Tularosa’s about 35 miles south--the horse racing bug is bound to bite. Copper Spring’s stake in that end of the industry is steadily growing.
“We have horses running in Louisiana and Texas right now,” said Brian back in February. Their runners include two 3 year olds and four 2 year olds. PYC Lovestruck out of PYC Paint Your Wagon has earned close to $70,000.
They also own the 2-year-old colt DM
Its Good To Be Me and the 3-year-old colt Putyourbeergoggleson. Apparently, Lisa does most of the naming of their horses. So how does she arrive at such attention-grabbing names?
“It depends on how much wine I’ve had,” she says with a laugh.
friend of my dad.
“She was hesitant to have me do it
because she didn’t know if I knew what I was doing,” Brian continued. “I told her I didn’t care; I was busy enough. So, I did
it and then she had it redone. She didn’t think I knew, but I did. Then she was mad because I cashed her check.”
Lisa still thinks the $82.50 Brian charged her was too much “for back then.”
Besides, Lisa didn’t think much of Brian’s taste in clothes.
“When we first met, he had this red silk jacket on,” said Lisa. “I was thinking, wow, what a weirdo.”
Since the clothes didn’t make the man in this case and his eye candy looks didn’t go unnoticed, Lisa invited Brian to watch her perform at the Houston rodeo. Some honky tonkin after the rodeo, a hot fudge sundae date and roses that Brian sent her weeks later when she is competing in Pocatello, Idaho ...well, suffice it to say they’ve been married 25 years.
Lisa has been barrel racing practically her entire life. She started when she was in pig tails and still competes professionally. She
has ranked in the top 30 nationally several times and has come close to qualifying for the
“After losing old Moonflash, the man upstairs rewarded me
with another nice horse,” said Mooring, who handles all of the breeding contracts for Jet Black Patriot.
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