Ep. 26: Two-time PRCA World Champion and $2 Million Cowboy & Barrilleaux Family Partner on $429K Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion Zak 34

Hi, everyone. This is Melanie Smith at Solo Select. We've had a very exciting day today. We have some news that I think a lot of you probably weren't expecting. Zach 34 has a new set of owners here with us today. We've got the Berrio family here, and we've got Shad Mayfield here. They are the proud new owners of Zach 34. And today we want to talk to you guys a little bit about what this looks like for this horse. This was something that we didn't have in the plan, but this horse came here. You guys saw him. Y'all heard about him. And we had some great conversations about what the future could possibly look like and how you guys could really add to his success. And so today we're going to talk a little bit about that.

I think this horse's career is about to get a rocket booster behind it. And I could not be more excited to see where he's at a year from now with all of the power that he's going to have behind him as far as marketing goes, mayor power, all the different things. So I'm going to start with you, Shad. Tell me a little bit about what intrigued you about this horse and how we got here today. Yeah. So crazy story. A year ago, I watched this horse go at the world's greatest horseman with Chris Dawson. And then I was just a fan of the sport, a spectator, a fan of horses. And I seen him go and he stood out to me. I'm like, that's a horse that I love to see. You know, he's athletic, he's big, he's pretty, he's got a good mind on him.

He just checked all the boxes for me and what personally what I look for in a horse. And after then, I became a fan of him and I followed him along. And, you know, when this opportunity came aboard for us to, you know, get partnered up on him, I was all about it because, you know, the goal is to have great horses as well as have great, you know, babies on the ground. And, you know, the first thing I thought about was breeding this horse to lollipop. You know, I feel like he's a horse that, you know, you could take across a lot of different disciplines, not just one discipline. You know, I could see him being a great calf horse, team roping cow horse, you know, put him with great mares on the racetrack, you know, things like that.

You know, he's so versatile and universal and just the athlete that he is. That stood out to me. Like that guy can, or for his size, he's a freak of nature, the way he can move. So let's talk a little bit about his size, because I know for me, that's one of the biggest things that I've loved about this horse from day one. We all hear it all the time. You know, we need more size. We need more bone. We need more structure. And we fight it all the time. And I think that's where Woody has come into play, where he has really been able to add some of that structure to these horses. Now, obviously, Woody is about to be 26. And so we have been looking for the next Woody to come along, the one that can take care of some of those mares that he's not going to be able to now that he's going to move into eventually a frozen, it's the only situation.

And so this horse, surprisingly enough, we've tried to buy him multiple times in his life. We tried to buy him as a two-year-old. Ty was the runner-up bidder on him at the two-year-old sale. Then we tried to buy him again after the Snapplebit faturity and we got an absolutely no, like don't even call again, which I don't blame him. They had an amazing ride on this horse from when he won the Snapplebit that faturity all the way to today. But we talk about size, and I think that's what drew me to this horse. Of course, he's black, right? And so what more perfect color for a horse? Like, we all love a big, beautiful black stud. And so that horse checks that box. But then when we get to a horse that's almost 15'2", you don't see that on stallion ads anymore.

And so tell me a little bit about that from a calf roper's perspective. That's too big. But you have all these mares that are 14 hands that we need to add a little size to that I think will have the perfect size horse. Yeah, personally, I've always been a fan of big horses. You know, it goes back to when my dad, we were young and he told me where to look at in a horse. You look at the bone, you look at the size, you look at the frame. And with Zach, he's got all of that. You know, that's, for me, I see a big horse, that's a horse that's going to be able to hold up. Yes. And you could put this horse with, you know, all your smaller type mares or, you know, whatever out there and have a perfect size calf horse, you know. And for me, like my mares, they're both bigger horses, but they hold up.

You could take them all year long rodeo and they work, you know, the big setups where they got to go down there and get a big calf and stuff like that. They're just so universal to do whatever they think that they may need, but they're just strong and they can hold up. And that's where Zach, he's the same way. He's got the build and the strength to do whatever you need to do. And, you know, I want to see him go, you know, where I've already thought about what I'm going to do to make the best breed of calf horses to put with Zach. And, you know, find those, you know, smaller mares that are 14 hands and put that with Zach. and you're going to have a great-sized horse. But the thing is, is the bone that Zach has is.

He has a big bone. So these babies are going to be structured right, just coming off of Zach. And that's what I'm excited to see. Yeah, when Chris Ray vetted him, Chris said multiple times, he's like, gosh, this is a lot of horse. Like, there is a horse here. And that's why he vetted so well for a horse that's at his age and been through his career. You know, Chris Ray probably looks at as many cow horses in the industry as anybody. And I think that's a huge compliment coming from him to say, like, this horse is really sound. And structurally he is made to last, Chris knows because he goes through all those cow horses and he keeps them all going. And so I think, you know, that to me was a huge testament to this horse's structure and build and all of those things that check those boxes.

You know, we talked to, here we were talking about size and mares. Typically when I'm talking to a set of stallion owners, I'm saying, hey, we need to go buy some big mares. We need to go buy some big mares. This one we can say, hey, Do you like the mare? Then buy her. Because if she's 14 hands or 15 one, we're going to have a lot of opportunity here to have horses that are going to work in multiple disciplines. And that was one of my favorite things about this horse. And so tell me a little bit about you guys' partnership and how everything kind of came about, what this is going to look like. Yeah, you know, we feel like we have a bright future ahead of us. And I met the Berrios, you know, last year, and we've been very close friends ever since.

And, you know, we've started out, we've got quite a few faturity horses in training and cap roping with Cody McCartney. And then came about, we bought a three-year-old stud that's a Metallic Rebel, and his name's Rebel Impact. We call him Boozy, and he's in training with Corey Cusson. And it's been a great partnership to deal and see, you know, that stud's future and what he's doing out there with Corey. But, you know, I think the vision of the stud started when we walked through the stud barn here at Solo. And Jennifer, she fell in love. She's seen the stud side, Kane, and he all seen that. And that's when we were like, wow, this could be cool. You know, we want to, you know, bring in great partnerships with the people.

And, you know, I'm, I'm very personable. So like, I want to be able to have partnerships with who's ever calling to breed to Zach. It's like, Hey, like, I'll tell you what you need to know. Like we're, we're, we're partners. We're friends. We're, we're, we're in on this for a long time. So, you know, we, we want to build that. And we also, you know, our futures, we're going to have quite a few horses coming along that, you know, we want to see go out there and succeed. But, you know, with Zach, we want, we want the people out there that are trusting in us to go to breed to Zach. We want them to have successful babies on the ground, you know, babies that are going to go win and, you know, make their what they're putting in. We want to see, you know, them get back out of it. So, you know, we just want a bright future, not only for us, but, you know, the people that are trusting in us as well.

Yeah, we talked about that, you know, earlier today, all four of us talked a little bit about plans for the future. And one thing I told you guys is I think when somebody books to a stallion, they're not just booking to a stud. They're booking to a program and a plan. And so you guys really become partners with them, whether they know that or not. We're all in this together at this point. I think you hit the nail on the head. Like those people knowing that they're getting into this game with somebody that is going to put all the resources behind this horse. We're going to give him between us and you guys, he's going to have every chance to be a sire. And I think that's so important for people to know is that you guys didn't just buy this horse and just say like, oh, Melanie and Ty, go breed mares to him and have fun.

You know, this is truly something that you guys are going to buy the right mares. Y'all are going to ride them, put them in training, sell them to the right people. And as we talked about earlier that is critical to these horses success and then we also have every intentions of doing the same thing we love this horse we obviously love woody and we have what we think is a great set of mares to cross on him for the next generation of everything from cow horses to cat horses to head horses and heel horses and so i think you know the partnership amongst us he's you guys's horse but it's still a partnership with all of us and with solo and with our mares and the mares that you guys buy, these people are going to be along for a pretty fun ride, I think, to see what this horse can really do.

I think so. I think so. We're super excited for it. And, you know, working with Solo, you know, we know that y'all have done so many great things with the studs that y'all have. And would it be tough? I'd love that stud. That's actually the first breeding deal I've ever got into with Lollipop. For a while, I was always worried about breeding her and and you know with with, she's still my number one real poor so. You know, with breeding, you hear the rumors about how it takes stuff away from them. But I trusted to breed her to Woody B. Tough. And that's a great stud. He's done so much. We've all seen it. And, you know, that had a lot to do with coming in to NC and Zach because, you know, we've been looking for that next Woody B. Tough stud that's so good and that's Zach.

People don't know this, but one reason there aren't very many of them is because whenever Center Ranch had them, they purposefully gilded every single yearling until that guy passed away. And so there's not, that's why there's no woody studs out there. And so that's what makes this horse so special is it's been so hard to find a woody stud. I mean, we have looked for years to try to find one. And so... You know, to your point, having something that we can bring up to follow in that horse's footsteps. And that horse has been such a critical element, I think, to so many all-around type horses that could be successful in multiple disciplines. I think this horse is going to fall right in there. Absolutely.

Because we've seen Woody make great head and heel horses, calf horses, cow horse, cutting. I mean, he's across every discipline and that's our goal. You know, we just don't want calf horses and cow horses. We want to expand that out there. And Woody's already expanded that. We've seen it. So that's what we want in Zach. You know, I feel like we're going to have some great calf horses out of him, but I feel like he's going to make an awesome head horse as well. We've already seen him do the heading and the steer stopping and just seeing that was phenomenal. So yeah, this is, I feel like this is the next big thing from a Woody B. So talking a little bit about that and the steer stopping and all of that, this is a great time to tell everybody that our plans are to continue on and send them to Chris Dawson.

And Chris, when I called him about this horse the first time, he was like, I love this horse. Like, please let me show him in the world's greatest, you know? And when you have a guy like Chris that believes in a horse that much, that means a lot to me whenever I call him. Because he could have just as easily said, hey, this is a cool horse, but just take him home and breed mares to him. You know, he's nice, but he didn't. He was very adamant that he wanted to show this horse this year at World's Greatest. And so that made me so excited about him. And so that is all of our plans. We're going to continue freezing semen on him. So for our people that are listening that are in Brazil or Europe or Australia, just know that we have semen that will be coming y'all's way next year.

And so we're going to freeze on him and get that semen ready for export. And then this horse will go to Chris to get ready for World's Greatest. And then after he's done it, World's Greatest, he'll come back here and be fresh semen next year here at Solo. We may dip in and out a little bit through breeding season with some exciting endeavors for him between Chris and Chad. But he'll be here for fresh semen. And so this is going to be this horse's, he's kind of like when we got Woody, like the first year we got Woody, we were able to just mash the gas and just really promote him. He brought a lot of really cool mares. And we've seen in the last, I guess it's been five days, the mares that have been coming in and the people that have been calling and it's all the right ones. So I think this horse has a big year ahead of him.

Circling back to something you said earlier, you guys, y'all three, have a stud with Corey Cushing. Tell us a little bit about that horse and his first go at the Petruity because that was pretty exciting. Yeah, that's been, that's our start. I mean, I buy us to that horse. I love that horse, so... Yeah, Rebel Impact, we named him Boozy, and that's our first baby. That's our guy. And, you know, when we got that horse, our vision was to be a calf horse. And, you know, after we purchased him, they said, hey, this horse is, you know, really good in the cow horse and, you know, has a big chance to go and do big things in that. And, you know, I was friends with Corey Cushing, and to me, that's my hero.

Corey Cushing, wow, that's one of the best, you know, horsemen there is. And I was, I met Corey's parents and out there on the road while I was rodeo and they were always my fans and they'd come up to my trailer and they said, Corey Cushing's our son. And I'm like, what? Corey's your son? That's crazy. That's pretty cool. What a small world. Yeah. So I met Corey and then moving forward, I grew a relationship with him. And then after we got the, after we got Rebel Impact, I said, Hey, Corey, will you ride this horse? Just tell me what you think. And he rode him and he was pretty impressed with him. And at first he didn't know what I was bringing me. I was like, I don't even know, but let's see, let's see. And like, like we're still new to all this and I've been learning a lot and this has been a great industry to be in, but you know, Corey, he said that he'd be one of his top horses that he was going to show at the Snapple bit.

And, you know, I was pumped and that's kind of, you know, that we. I was new to the cow horse and they're new to the cow horse, but just what we've seen has been, you know, phenomenal. And, you know, this is his big break. He just cracked, you know, the Rebel Impact out at the snapple bit and you know he had a great showing in the rain work he scored a 218 and a half and i watched it and, i had goosebumps i was i was just as nervous like like i was out there riding him and uh, you know i feel like cory has a great future with him but he's also going to go out there and do other things he's going to go to cody mccartney and start you know care for his training right after the snapple bit and kind of go back and forth and cory's going to show him at yeah.

We want to bring great studs to our program. I feel like this is just the start with us. But right now, Zach34, that's our vision. That's our future. That's what we want to build off of him and Rebel Impact. I think it's great, to hear that from you guys and know that this isn't going to be the only one. We're starting with Zach34, and then you've got Rebel Impact coming behind him. And just from the conversations I've had with you guys, it sounds like there's probably going to be more in that lineup and kind of establishing that super elite, group of studs that do serve a lot of different disciplines. It sounds like that's kind of the goal for this. And then, you know, as you guys, it's, it's an addiction. I'll warn you as you get into this, then you start breeding the mares and you see the babies and they win.

And then it's just a, it's this fun addiction that you go into. So you guys, I'm going to, I'm going to give this to you now. You guys have four kids. Yes. Tell me a little bit about the family and are they all interested in the horses? Yes. We have four kids. We have Cason, who is 11. Palin's nine. Mason is four. And then Houston is two. And I think that was the main thing with the horses. It was something that we could all do together. And it kept everyone interested, and they love it. It's their every day. We also homeschool. So that's also allowed our son and and our daughter to do more with the horses because some days that's all we're doing and some days they do school but. It just kind of kept us all together and it was fun and, They love to do it. So our 11-year-old actually rodeos, and he probably started about seven months ago.

And he's done really well, so we're just continuing to kind of work on that, get him better. And, I mean, he has lots of room for improvement, but he loves it. We see, you know, I hear more and more people that are calling that are breeding, and a lot of people that are coming from the roping industry especially are starting to get into breeding horses. And I think it sets up a really cool dynamic for their kids to come in and see, you know, not only just having babies at home, which is a whole experience in itself, but also seeing these studs and understanding the business side of it. And then, you know, how they've got to hook in and commit to something and invest in it to see the long-term impact.

And really, these kids could be seeing the very best part of this horse's career when they are 18, 19, 20, you know, and hopefully out there riding ones by this horse, you know. And so this is really something that for you guys feels like it's a family deal, but also a long-term investment into your kids getting to have a really cool program. Oh, for sure. Especially with also the connections we have. I mean. This is a lifetime experience for them. Sure. I think, and the people they have around them and, It's just opened up a lot of opportunity for us and we love it. And that was my main thing. You know, they're so good with the rodeo thing, but I wanted more out of the horses. And so that's kind of kind of been on them about the stud program.

And I really wanted to get into something a little bit more than just taking our son to rodeo. I wanted I wanted to see the babies. I wanted to see the whole process and how everything kind of comes together and having the best horses we could possibly have. And, you know, it's always cool to get a new horse out there and our son, he's gets a new one and it's exciting to get out there to watch him ride him. And it's kind of worked in our favor lately. And I think getting them out of the house is a big thing. Yeah. We live outside. Yeah. But yes, it's, it's worked so well for them. And it's we just talk about the lifestyle a lot like how these studs bring so much more than just you know it's so much more for this group that's sitting here than just a stud that we're going to slap a logo on and say like hey breed to our horse you know you guys are building a lifestyle around this and I think that's what I love when people come into this business and they are building a lifestyle around this you know whether it's a stallion or a mare a breeding program or whatever it is and so it's cool to see that and I think you know the listeners that are listening into this can And expect big things from this horse.

You know, like I said, we had big plans for him here at Solo. And I think they just got, like I said, rocket fuel in him. And they're going to be extremely big plans now. So he's going to have every opportunity to do great things. I think we're going to get to see a lot more of him between Shad's socials and maybe some exciting other things. I won't talk about it yet, but some exciting other sneak peeks. And so we've got a lot in store on this horse. Thank you guys for coming today and talking a little bit about it. You know, I would say if anybody on here is listening and wants to know more about Zach, we're, of course, going to have all of his socials, his Facebook, his Instagram, his TikTok.

You can go and follow Shad on TikTok and Instagram, Facebook, too. And he's going to be talking a lot about this horse. And we would also love for anybody that's listening here to come see this horse's solo. I think when you come see him, you see the difference. This horse is so big and pretty and strong. And so if they haven't had a chance to see this horse in person, I'd encourage you to come and do that. And then we'll also have an open house the Saturday before Thanksgiving. So that's a great time to come out. We're going to try to talk Shad and the Berrios into coming for open house and be here to meet people that want to come and talk a little bit about the program and meet this horse and all of that.

So we'll have a lot of exciting things coming up. You can follow our socials to see everything happening for Zach, get some incentive announcements, all the things going on. And if you guys want to book a contract to him, you can do that online right now. You can get on our portal. You go straight to our solo website. You can get on the portal and book to him. It takes about three minutes if you're a new user to book those contracts and we can get you all set up or you're welcome to call our stallion office too. So we're looking forward to an incredible breeding season with this horse. And I really think, you know, this is just the beginning. I think we're going to look back on this conversation in five years and see how much this horse has grown and how exciting those three-year-olds in five years, I guess, is what they'll be, are going to be at the snaffle vet.

And it's going to be cool to see. So thank you guys for coming today. Absolutely. Thank y'all. We're excited. Yes.