Episode 18-All In: The Full Story of LBR Hangem-Shotty-by the Team Who Built Him

Hi, everyone. This is Melanie Smith at Sola Select. We're here on a very exciting episode today talking a little bit about Shoddy LBR Hingham. This is the horse that you guys have seen on our social media lately and hopefully on all the social media. Kenny and him have just lit up the arena. They won the Super Stakes the other day with a 228. We were really excited. That was Shottie's first title at Fort Worth by himself. He had split the title once last year at the Summer Spectacular. And I think Kenny was so close he could taste it last time. And we were happy to share it with who we shared it with last year for sure. But we were really excited he kind of got to be on his own stage this year.

And so that got him over $400,000 and also gave him two titles in Fort Worth. So he could have done one or the other. Either one would have got him into the NCAA Hall of Fame. And so we were very excited about that. Ty has always had a goal of owning a horse that went into the Hall of Fame. We've got several horses that are Hall of Famers, World Champions, Horse of the Years out here at the Stud Barn. And it's we're really grateful to have them but it definitely is is even more exciting whenever you get to own them while they're in that part of their career and so today we're just going to talk a little bit about LBR Hengham and how he came into Ty and I's lives and then came into Todd's life and it all kind of started here with Don and you know I'm going to let him kick this off because I think it all really started with Dual Ray-ish in the very beginning. It did you know, helped Billy Wolf find dual rash. And so whenever we started standing, Austin was still showing him.

So we just bred a small group of mares the first year, but it kind of goes back to even highbrow CD days. I had a customer that, and a good friend, Chris Thibodeau, that bought highbrow CD and he didn't have a lot of mares. So whenever he acquired that stud, he wanted to get more mares to breed to him obviously so austin had had rode the first colt out of this out of a hang high pep which is shoddy's mama there's a horse called uh time to hang him and that was about one time pepto and so he really liked that horse so he told chris about the mare so they partnered on the mare so that the majority of our colts have been by hydral cd over the years and then whenever chris that sold hydro LCD, they were, you know, dissolving their partnership on some mares and stuff they had.

So I got a good customer of mine to buy her. I thought she was a wonderful mare. And I told him, I said, you know, I'm going to tell you about this really, really good mare. But one of these days, I want an embryo out of her. And I said, I don't know when it'll be, but one of these days I want an embryo out of her. And he said, okay, deal. And of course, in the horse business, it's a lot of it's just a handshake deal. And, you know, especially with me. So, you know, years later, dual rash came along, did great, won the futurity. So, Billy had given me an embryo or a breeding to dual rash. So, I knew what marijuana breeding to. Just her confirmation. She's, you know, big, tall, withered. This mare had some things that I thought would help him, and I thought he had some things that would help her just from a conformational standpoint.

And the other thing was is that if, you know, she didn't have any cat in her, no little Lena in her, so I kind of had a plan from that standpoint of an outcross if it works. And, you know, for years we've been trying to find an outcross, but we tried a little bit of everything, racehorses. And, and, you know, first and foremost, you got to find something that's, that's a unique individual that from an athletic standpoint and that these, that can go win. And so far, you know, that's been hard to do and because of, you know, the cat influence in the, in the cutters. So anyway, I had that in mind and, and so I've, I called up Mr. Burke Charles and I said, Hey, I said, you remember when I found you that mare?

And fortunately he remembered our conversation and that he said, yeah, sure do. And he said, just get my embryo first and then you think you can get yours. So that's what we did. And as luck would have it, The recent mayor that was carrying his coat that year lost it. So I was the only one who got one that year. And he reminded me of that several times. So anyway, whenever, yeah, I talked to Charles almost daily. So when it came time to, to start him, he had called me and I had him on the trailer and he just asked me what I was doing or whatever. And I told him I was going to take that coat out of a little hanging to, to the coat starter. And he said, well, you're the only one who got one that year.

And I said, yeah, I remember. I said, but today's the day, your lucky day. He said, what's that? I said, I'm going to sell you half this coal. So anyway, he said, well, what's he look like? I said, well, he looks great. I said, he said, well, how's he move? I said, he moves great. And he said, well, now the million-dollar question, what do you want for half of him? I said, I don't want you to pay me anything. That's what you pay all the training. So that was our deal. And we didn't have anything in writing. Just a gentleman's agreement. And that's hard to do these days. And as you all know, you know, everybody, every good attorney, you say, get everything in writing. But with Charles, it was never that way. I mean, he, from the time they bought the mayor, you know, a lot of times people forget what they tell you, but he didn't. Before it was four or five years later, and he was still remembered.

That was our deal, and he honored it, and I got the embryo, and so, you know, I felt kind of obligated to, you know, because he had always asked me about it, so if there was ever a time that I want to sell half of him, it'd be just someone like that, you know, that gave me an opportunity. So, anyway, that's why we moved forward and went from there. So, when he was a baby, was he, did he go to the Colt Star, like, untouch, or did he go halter rope? Well, you got to kind of know my theory on some of that. I don't want them to be dog-dog gentle. I want them to be to where you can handle them if you need to worm them or trim them and that kind of stuff, or if they get hurt, obviously. But I don't want them to be where you go in the pen and you just got to push them off of you.

And he certainly wasn't one of those you had to push off of you. But no, he was a little wild man when he was a baby. And, but I think that's what gives him the, the, I think that's what, that's the first signs I would say of, of what makes him special. Just the, you know, you could tell from a, from early on, just the speed that he had, you know, things that I liked about him was he was, he was, you know, long necked and, you know, pretty headed and, and good withered. And, you know, he was, he's, you know, taller at, at the, you know, he's wetter than he is his croup and just all those things that, you know, I kind of look for in a horse, but, uh, particularly a cut horse, but, you know, you could tell he had all those things.

It's just a matter of, you know, could they get him trained and, and how much cow he had, you know, those were things you can't tell, but, uh, but he had all the other ingredients. So, uh. But I will tell you a funny story about him. I initially dropped him off over there. I gave it a month or so, and I called him. I said, well, how's it going? He said, well, this is an aggregate more sun gun. I said, why was that? He said, well, the first day that they went to clean the stalls, so they pushed the cart in front of the stall door, and he jumped over the cart out the stall door, and down the road he went. But that was kind of him. I mean, he was like, you could lead him. So you're asking about how a halter broke it was. You could lead him and all those good things, but he didn't do anything just a little bit, I guess is the best way to describe it.

I mean, if he went to get a drink of water, it was all of a sudden 100%. If he went to try to get away from you, it was 100%. But, you know, but I think those little things, I think he does the same thing on the cow. It's not a little bit. It's 100%. Every movie he makes is 100%, and he was that way his whole life. And so this horse goes on and eventually ends up at Chava's as a two-year-old, of course. And so Chava did a phenomenal job with him. And then, of course, we have him, or you guys have him, not we. You and Charles put him in the two-year-old's sale. We did, yeah. So we ended up moving to Chava's, and it was like in May. And he wasn't real broke. And Chava got him going on the cow. He wasn't even started on the cow in May.

So I knew right then that just from the way Chava was talking, that it was, he was doing things that an unbroke horse shouldn't even be doing on a cow. So it was, you know, pretty much just natural for him to, you know, want to turn around like he turned around and all that. But, but, uh, so I thought, well, you know, I need to be paying more attention because, you know, we'd get busy and it was breeding season and all that stuff. So, so I started making time to go about every month over to Chavez and to be honest with you, he'd scare you as to what he was doing. I was afraid that he was doing so much that I was afraid he was going to hurt him. And he's, and Chavez kept telling me he's not going to hurt himself.

He's not going to hurt himself. And, but I mean, he was just on his hocks and, and I knew he wasn't broke yet, you know? So just to watch him. Was just like something i've never seen before in person you know you see good horses come to the fertility those sales every year and all that stuff but the way he would he was so intense that cow meant so much to him and and just how electric he was on a cow for one that had 30 60 days riding on the cow i mean it was just like he was just he just knew how to turn around and and that's what Chava was telling me, you know, he's not going to hurt himself because he knows how to turn around. He said the horses that hurt themselves are the ones that are made to turn around and their legs are not in position to turn around.

He always had his legs like, like he, it was like he had a year's training on him already. It was just unbelievable. So I started taking, you know, different people that I respected in the horse business over there to make sure I was, you know, not, I can appreciate this analogy is not reading my own paper. So but anyway I thought I had something special I thought Charles and I had something special I was telling Charles about him and you know, Charles wasn't able to come out and see him, but I was giving him reports. And I took some people over there that I really respected, and they said the same thing. They said, man, this horse is something else. So anyway, come around to Tom to decide if we was going to put him in the fertility sales or not.

And we thought, well, we'll try it there. I mean, those horses have been bringing a lot of money, and we don't think that there's one been through there like him. So we put him in the sale. Well, when the video came out, there was a lot of people calling, wanting to go to Chava's, wanting Chava to bring him up to the Coliseum, wanting to haul him to different places. And the one thing I've learned is you don't want to just haul those young horses everywhere and let, you know, 30 people try, you know. So, you know, we, we told Chava right up front, said, look, if they want to come to your house and watch you riding, they're more willing to do, you know, that's fine to do that. But we don't want you hauling him all over the place and letting, you know, 10 people, 20 people try.

They're just going to have to take your word for it, come see him. They can come as many times as they want. But, you know, they're going to have to just come watch him at your house. So anyway, that's what we did. And we may have made some people mad doing that, you know, because I know there were several high profile trainers that wanted Chava to bring him to their place and let them ride him, try him there, whatever. But we just didn't want to do that to him. and partly because he was so granted to, you know. So there was some trainers that several of them went out to Chavez and watched him and loved him and all that. So Charles and I, we had a decision to make and so. Talking with Charles, they came up with a number that was a very high number, but we thought we had a very, very special horse, too.

So, you know, we said, look, you know, this is our number. If he doesn't bring it in the sale, you know, we have the right. I mean, he's worth something to us. So, and a lot of people, you know, criticized. I mean, I saw on social media. What did he bring? He brought a million, 175. Yeah. And you all PO'd him with that million, 175. Yeah. But, you know, there was a lot of criticism on social media, you know, like, you know, people posting what he brought and, you know, couldn't believe that someone would PO him that. But those same people, I don't know if, you know, obviously they didn't see what I saw in him. And that's okay. That's their opinion. But it was Charles and I's, you know, horse to sell or not sell.

And so we kept him. And from there, you know, we kept him with the trainer now that we didn't sell him. So I have been watching Kenny's horses for the last two or three fraternities, and I've even talked to Ty about it. I mean, even though they might not have been bred as good as everybody else's, those horses were trialed. And, I mean, Kenny would go do an amazing job. I mean, I have a lot of respect for that guy. And, you know, not just on the back of a horse. And, you know, can't say that for all of them. But he's just as good a guy off that horse as he is on the back of that horse to me. And at the time that I went and was going to talk to him about it, I really didn't know him. But I've learned that part of it, having done business with him.

So my hat's off to that guy. I called him up and I told him, I said, you know, I got a horse that went to the two-year-old sale and we pealed him. And I don't think he really, I mean, he knew who I was. He and I had never talked before that time. But I went to try and tell him, you know, which horse it was and called out. I think the lot number was like 65 or something like that. And he said, yeah. He said, I know the horse you're talking about. He said, I've watched that video a hundred times. And I said, do you have? He said, yeah. I said, well, I'd like to, you know, come visit with you in person about him and, you know, kind of tell you the history of him. He said, yeah. He said, that'd be fine. He told me where he was at.

So I went and met him, told him the story on him, you know, as far as the training goes and all that. And it was Becca that told me like a year later, she said that she had saw the video of him and Kenny was already in Fort Worth and she was still at home. And she said, I called Kenny when I saw that horse's two-year-old video. And she said, I told Kenny, I know we don't have a customer to buy a horse of this caliber because he's probably going to bring a lot of money. But if someone does come to you and want you to buy a horse, this is the one that I like. And he said, well, it's kind of funny you say that because he's the talk of, you know, he's going to bring a lot of money. He's the talk of the fertility.

So anyway, he was very happy to take him. And so anyway, he took him from the fraternity and he got him home and, and I gave him a little two or three weeks, something like that. And I called him and, and he said, he's everything you said he was. He said, he's, he's phenomenal. And he said, but he's, he's not real growth. And he said, you know, we got some more to do, but he said, he's, he's worth putting the time in. So he said, yeah, he's, he's a, he's a special horse, I think. So it just kind of went from there. Well, I can remember, and Ty, I'll let you speak on this, Don telling you, like, from when he was born, Don was like, I have to store it, and he's awesome. Yeah, and Don's been talking about this horse for a long time.

And, you know, I always paid attention because Don and I talk about all these two-year-olds and yearlings and stuff and just compare foot moats. And I can't remember if it was the end of his yearling year that he brought him up into the barn because you just had gotten your barn done. Was that correct? And he was bouncing off the walls, and he was like, this horse just moves different. And so fast forward through his two-year-old year then i didn't really get to see him until, i guess the videos came out don had sent me some videos throughout the you know periodically through the year but i didn't pay much attention to him because i didn't own him yeah and you know and i had so many of my own that i represented it and owned myself and so we got closer to the sale and the sale video came out and then i was like holy smokes i called don i was like oh this thing it's unbelievable and then you know it was i can't remember two weeks going into the sale he told me what he wanted for him and i said well there's no one pulling for you any more than me, i think that's probably the exact words i said that's awesome i hope he brings that and then you know obviously i was down there and so they po'd him and he told me what his claim was is that he was going to send him out there to kenny and and i said and don and i've talked about kenny quite a bit, and neither one of us knew him personally at that time.

You know, you're always scoping out people to send these horses to, you know, you're always, you're always, when you do what we do, we're always looking for new people to send these things to. And so, you know, fast forward, I guess we really didn't visit with him anymore until midway through his three-year-old year. And Don called me, he's like, he's the real deal. He's like, I'm telling him, Kenny likes him. And so, you know, then fast forward to the fraternity and then, you know, the horse had a little tough go there at the fraternity, but I mean, you could tell like it was it was coming together it was like the steam was you know the merry-go-round had just started turning and it was fixing to get faster and so what was it it was through his four-year-old year that you had called and said there's a possibility yeah well you know what.

Starting with that's the very first cow you know i went and watched him at adon's pre-words over there he's two days over there he's amazing sent charles the videos from one you know they have a videographer there and sent Charles videos. He was, he was excited. Kenny was excited. I was excited going into Futuri. The first, and this is how tough this cutting is. You know, I was just talking to a guy the other day about it. You know, there's so many moving parts in this cutting and particularly the cow. And the first cow he cut just was standing there just dead still when he cutting. And all of a sudden just went from, from zero to 60, right over there to the, to the herd holder. And he didn't lose a cow, you know, you know, Kenny had to get after it, you know, to, to head him and, you know, they didn't back fence him, they didn't lose the cow, but just kind of overshot him a little bit.

And he was a little late coming back and they marked him like a 13, but he was early in the, in the, you know, that's one thing about being early in the, I think being early in And I think it was like the first day. So, you know, you're early in the, in the show. Yeah. I think that the scoring's a little tougher. But anyway, they marked him at 13, took a 13 and a half to come back. But, you know, like Kenny and I, you know, hindsight, you know, we talk about it all the time. You know, had they, you know, not docked him so much, this horse can mark any kind of score. I mean, we all see that now. Kenny felt that way on him at the expatriate. I mean, he could have, I mean, we legitimately thought we had a finals horse.

And, and, you know, and then just, you know, with a little bit of, you know, things going your way, you know, we had that kind of horse and for him to take him out of it, just right off the, you know, the first cow, just, you know, just a bad cow. And, you know, it just, it was kind of let the air out of you. I mean, everybody is, you know, we've, we've had two years, we've, we've turned down a bunch of money for him and, and we never stopped believing in the horse. I want to make that clear. We never stopped leaving the horse, but, you know, the expectations is so high on a horse like that, that, you know, there's a lot of hopes and dreams and a lot of money spent to get to that point. And then to have it taken away just in a blink of an eye with a pencil, you know, but it took a 13 and a half. We had a 13. So that was it.

You know, his paternity was cut short, but, you know, that wasn't the last show for him as a personal. So that's the kind of way we looked at it. We moved on. And, and so then we come back, uh, you know, he, he goes and shows him some other places and, and does really good on him. And that horse has probably been reserved by half a point more times than any horse I've ever seen. But, you know, took him out to Vegas, did good. Took him to the cattlemen, did good on him over there. Brought him back to the super stakes. Some little old silly something happened. Cow ran out of the pen or something you know it was just i think that's what it was a cow came up behind them or something yeah it was just yeah just something that's it like the the one cow ran out and like he was on the other side one cow ran out and got his cow just something silly like that, and so you know and that was still in the world rogers over there so then we come back to the nerdy and i think maybe he drew up early and the whole herd left i mean it was just it was just something crazy like that all the time at the you know when footwork so i'm starting to think you know, we're kind of snakebill over here.

So, so then they, they started the, you know, the construction on the wheel riders, they moved it over into John Justin and, and, and we, we had great luck over there and the horse has been fabulous. So, you know, the deal with him went in the other night over there and, and, um, probably told all y'all this, but, you know, it was a little nerve-wracking to me to be back in Will Rogers and having known what I know about that place and just not having very good luck. But for him to do what he did over there and, you know, the first round, you know, we didn't have a really good go the first round. I mean, the cows weren't very good. I think he marked a 16 and a half or something like that the first round, but then he come back and, you know, did good the rest of the time.

But, you know, I thought whenever we marked a 16 and a half, I said, yeah, we're back in Will Rogers. But, no, he's a phenomenal horse. He's the kind of horse that I know Ty and Mel and I, we make our living, for the most part, finding these horses for people like Todd. But normally I have to sell. I mean, that's just the way it is. I mean, that's the business we're in. And just to circumstances, just where you have a chance to sell him for a lot of money, he didn't. Believed in that horse, just like you would believe in him for somebody else to have bought him. You know, we don't stop believing in him, Todd, just so you know, we don't stop believing in him after we sell him to you. You know, we still believe in him or we wouldn't get you to buy him.

But, you know, just to be able to hold him, hang on to a piece of him, or, you know, part of him, you know, 50% of him is just a dream come true. I mean, it was great to be able to breed him. I had a plan and it's come full circle. You guys talk a lot, you know, every day. And I know probably spring of a four-year-old year, there started being a little chatter from you, like, there might be an opportunity to buy half of them. And I know Ty had brought it up to me a couple of times. And so... You know, I'll let you two talk a little bit about how that came up. I don't even remember exactly when we started. It was right at the start of a spring, dear. Yeah. You know, actually, right after the fertility, I told you guys, you know, don't stop believing that horse.

He's a great horse. He just had some bad luck, whatever. And, you know, at that time, you know, Charles wasn't, I mean, he was still good. And, you know, we both still believed in the horse. And as as it went on and in you know in the will rogers you know the four-year-old years is when the most money is won on these on these cutters i mean it's just this so you know charles is of the mindset that you know you got to do good that four-year-old year and because you know the bills are incredible and so if you don't you know if you're not winning and it's an expense then you know. Whenever you go into your five- or six-year-old year, it's harder to win the money on. The majority of the money is one that's futurity and then in that four-year-old class. So that's when the purses are bigger.

So as we went along, you know, we had some bad luck and Charles had some things going on in his personal life and stuff that he thought, well, you know, this horse is valuable and if you need to raise some funds, well, you know, that's the ones you need to sell. So, you know, he had mentioned it a time or two that maybe, you know, wanted to sell his part of him. So, you know, when he would, you know, I asked Ty, I said, you know, I know y'all are doing a lot of stuff. And, you know, if you have somebody that might be interested in, I mean, I believe in this horse, you know. And Ty's like, well, you know, I'll start watching him and this and that. So he watched him a little closer, I think, after, you know, knowing that there was a chance that maybe he could buy part of him.

And, you know, obviously he had seen what we turned down at the, at the fraternity for him. So he, he was, he was paying attention to him. And so finally, Ty told me, he said, well, he said, if Charles is serious about selling his part, he said, yeah. Just, just keep me informed, you know, let, let me know. So I said, well, okay. So I asked Charles and he's like, well, you know, I don't know. He said, you know, I give him a little longer, whatever. So he did. And there come a day that when he said, Hey, he said, and I told him who, who was interested in it. And he said, he said, if they, if they're interested in, you know, this is what I want for him. So I called Ty and I mean, it was, I think it took about two seconds.

He said, tell Charles, send me his wiring instructions. So then I had to go back and tell Mel, I don't know where we're going to come up with the money at now that we're going to come up with it, but we got to come up with it because I just bought this horse. And Ty said, Ty, just as usual, said, I just, I got a gut feeling about him because I was just like, Ty, that horse is awesome and he's pretty and, you know, but do we think like he's got it? I hadn't really paid attention to him that close. I'd seen his two-year-old cell video, but we've all seen horses that make amazing two-year-old cell videos and never do anything else, you know, and I had never really paid any more attention. And I was like, are you sure? And he's like, I'm just telling you this horse, like when you see him in person, he's made right.

He's good-headed, big, pretty eye, and all the things Ty says whenever he loves one, you know. And so he's like, I just got a feeling that Kenny is just that he's right there, and I just think it's coming. And there's nobody I think we were more excited with the time to be partners than Don because we know what we can do together whenever we got the right horse, you know. And so I think it was really cool that we could start on it and kind of get to experience the explosive growth he had. And it was a little luck on Ty and I's end, too, that it was right after we bought him. Then he just it was like we were coasting and we were winning. And I say we you guys you and Charles were winning and going along there but then it was like just a rocket ship he just him and Kenny got together and they were unstoppable after that it was like the merry-go-round and they didn't need any pushing anymore yes it was spinning on its own yes yeah and Kenny you know and I'll say this about him is and kind of what.

Fueled me too was is that you know kenny would just you know we'd have bad luck and and man i mean you know it it hurt him just as bad as it did anybody else you know i mean he wanted to do good he knew he had a good horse and and so you know whenever things wouldn't go right i mean it was you know it it did something to him too so i mean he had he he had all the you know the the intentions of that horse doing good he's just you know it's just tough i mean you know this cutting is tough. And, and, and I knew that. So I, you know, there was, I saw on, You know, in an interview with Kenny and he was, you know, he was, he was talking about, you know, whenever bad things were happening, he'd get a text from me and, and, and that's right.

I mean, I, I text him just because I knew he did everything he could do and I knew he loved that horse and, and, and I didn't want him to feel, I mean, it's about like you're, you know, you're, you own the Cowboys and you, and you, you know, you don't want to beat your quarterback up and put him out there to go try to win the game for you. You know, you want that guy to be, you know, whether he's doing good or not, you want him to think he can do it. Yeah. And I knew Kenny could do it. I had all the faith in the world in him. And the horse is trained. And he'd done his job. And we just needed some things to go our way. And finally, they started to kind of turn and started and had let up, I think.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I think there's been four shows. He's won three of them this year. Yes, yes. That's pretty hard to do. And he made the finals at the other and just didn't have a thousand finals. Yeah. And I'll tell you another great thing, too, is Charles gave us the opportunity to buy that horse, but then Charles sent all his mares up here to Don and bred every one of them to him. So, I mean, you can't find a better person to sell you a horse and then believe in the horse still after he sells it. Absolutely. Yeah. He bred every one of those mares. He's got a string of room. And then bought some embryos that are out of the best mares in the world. Absolutely. Out of them. So nobody, I mean, I shouldn't say nobody believes in him more because I think all four of us at this table believe in him just as much as Charles does.

But it is cool to get a horse from somebody and then them want to stay on that ride with you. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Charles has never wavered. You know, he's just... You know and it's expensive you know as uh he's been a huge supporter of this horse i've got colts over there look phenomenal by all his he's got a he's got a group of mares he's got an exceptional set of mares he's got a great group of mares and those babies out of him and he you know he ate them and he's got you know three or four coats out of every one of those good mares he's got and he's doing the same thing this year so you know he still believes in the horse a hundred percent even though he doesn't own part of him anymore but but he still he still believes in him so he's he's just excited whenever he wins as we are yeah he is and he's invested in him still which is cool and so so then we get into a five-year-old year and so we're partners ty and our partners are going on i mean we're all having a ball you know it's always fun when your horse wins we were we were co-champ a couple times we're still excited you know it makes it it makes it easier yeah i'll tell you what just making the finals down there is it's a big deal no one understands how big a deal that is and how much pressure those guys go through and just having the cows that have to line up the day i mean the cow god's gotta line up that day yeah and you know just for that horse that have that much success after we bought him i mean that's that's something that doesn't happen no i don't know if well i told diana but i was like i don't know if we're ever gonna want another cutting horse again i don't know if we'll ever have this much fun consistently our expectations are going to be.

Pretty high and so so we we start going through his five-year-old year and we all call and hustle up and try to get the best mares we can bred to him and i think we all consecutively get some really good mares book to him and then we get with todd and start talking to todd and get todd to breed some of his mares to him and todd's scoping. Us out we're scoping todd out we're all trying to decide how much they like each other i think and so we're going through breeding season and and i think todd starts asking me or you you know what What about Shadi? And I'm like... I that's a tie thing. That's a good question for tie. He bought him. It's his decision. And, you know, the first year that you stand a stud, you're not looking to make any money.

You're just trying to get the very best marriage you can bring to him, hopefully cover some of your incentive costs, get your horse in the best incentives you can. You're just trying to make sure that you do. You're a really good steward of your stallion to set him up for success. So you're still investing in him. And so we go through that first year. And I guess when did you come in on him? just this past year and his his end of his five-year-old the end of the five-year-old yeah yeah so we chat about him and we go through him and anyways shawty has a great end of the year and wins the summer spectacular along with spilling dangerous was there three of them him going dangerous and kittenish which what a set of horses to coach him with you know you can't you gotta love that and so anyway so then todd comes in and todd brings a unique.

Set of mares too that he can breed to him and so you know for us three I think it was like of course you know our goal and at some point is to try to monetize a horse somehow whether it's stallion fees or you sell them or whatever it is but in the beginning like this we don't I think we were all in the mindset we didn't want to bring on a partner unless we felt like they brought something to the table besides just sign part of your horse you know and Todd brought a really, really good set of mares and obviously just keeps improving on them, has an exceptional set of mares that Kenny's riding and Taryn's riding. I mean, you've got mares everywhere right now. And so... So I'll let you talk a little bit about that, Todd, and kind of what attracted you to this horse.

Oh, yeah. I'm happy to do that. I think, as usual, late to arrive, but grateful to be here. And going back, you know, nobody knew when he was two years old that I would ever be part of it. But you should have. When he jumped over the car out of the saw and ran down the road. Anybody who's ever trained a horse and had anything to do with me would say that he could probably fit tight.

I think uh you know for us we we're you know in a breed program we're micro focused on who to breed to who looks like someone you know who looks like the horse you want to cross on your mares and and and do you know me i was watching everything i could watch man and saw him some coming on during his 40 year old year but really his 50 year old year and and we would talk you in a breed seed, missing back what you were saying, we had to know each other. And so my talking points were always something along the lines of, okay, we got something in the sale or something, we're buying a mare or something. How do we do on that with Melody or with Ty? What do I need to do with this or that thing? And then the very last thing would be, okay, what about Shottie?

And that was, it might as well have been on Post-it note. because we're watching him work. I mean, it's obvious to those of us who love him. You watch him work, and whether it's him to go around to the finals, like you said, he just cares a lot about the cow. He's got the athletic ability to do what he wants to do, and he's just tender. I mean, he just has an expression about it. So Matt Williams, who works with me and runs our farm back home, was just as in level as I was. So the other part of that talking point about every other day would be, have you asked about Chuck? It was fun. I got to get to it. I was up and was asking. So Todd was gone. Matt came up here to the ranch to ride with me to the Teton cell.

And so we're riding down there and we're visiting about the, you know, horses and stuff like that. And he's asking me, cause we're down there to try to buy Third Edge, you know, or at least hope that we have enough money to buy him. And, uh, and Todd was gone, you were on a guy's trip or something. And, uh, and so fast forward through, you know, Third Edge is we, we bring him home and, and, uh, and he calls me and, and he says, well, you now know what some of these horses you praise for and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, yeah, I didn't think I'd have to give that much. And I was still trying to figure out how to pay for him. And so that's when we kept visiting about shoddy. And then all of a sudden, you know, Todd's like, I'm ready. I'm ready to be in on this horse.

And so the other cool thing is Todd not only has a great set of mares, but he's gone out and traded these people for embryos and stuff. And that just shows how much he believes in it because he's also on the street just like we are. and that's what brings this dynamic to the table is we're all on the same page and we're all trying to make this horse the best one that he can be. Well, and I'll say, you know, that first cow, you know, took his, because, you know, the, the, Public puts so much emphasis on what happens at that fraternity. You know, if a fashionably bred stud wins that fraternity, that carries a lot of weight. And, you know, that didn't happen for him. But I can also tell you between everybody sitting at this table, he's bred the kind of mares that any horse that's ever won that fraternity would love to have bred.

I mean, it's who's who of the cutting horse industry that he's got colts coming. They're either on the ground or coming. it so you know whenever i i saw the the stud report or whatever and and you know just the embryos that charles bought and you know i was just over at billy wolf's the other day and saw the one out of showbiz kitty it's phenomenal and you know but that's you know charles bought an embryo out of blackfish and one out of a special new baby so in and todd he's got great mares so it's it's gonna be incredible. I think it's cool. Like I said, it's neat when you have one person that's behind a horse, right? But I think we all four bring very unique relationships, dynamics, strengths to this force that is a really cool team behind them.

And then you put somebody like Charles that I still feel like is a part of our team that is putting the meripower. And eventually it's going to go from meripower to the training dollars it takes to train these. if we don't buy some of them ourselves from him, you know, or sell some to our customers. But that's one cool thing about Charles, too, is he doesn't sell a lot of his year-olds. He raises them, and he goes the way, and he puts them with the right people. And so I think I'm just as excited about that to know that Charles has the set of babies he's had come in. And, you know, we do, and Todd does, and we know we're all going to be able to handpick those. So not only do we get to get them out of the right mares, that then they're all going to stay kind of within our circle to be placed with the correct two-year-old trainers and then be placed, whether it's in a sale or with the correct maturity guys. Yeah.

Well, then, you know, that was one thing that I had in mind. You know, I've been in this business for years. 30 plus years and you know particularly the cutters just started out with you know the at a breeding farm where we had pleasure horses and and cutters there too and it didn't take me long to figure out and I like to cut you know foals better than the pleasure horse foals so that's kind of the direction I'm at so I've been blessed to work with some the best in the in the industry but if this horse is bred as good a group of mares as as any horse I've ever I've ever been them out well i think that the cool thing that makes him really unique too is just i've taught on your mares i don't think you you have a lot of mares different mares and i don't think there's one we can't breed to him no we which we we you know have to pick and choose almost every other stud you know we just start getting too close and that's one really cool thing about this horse is we can i never stop a thing you know i may ask you guys how do you think you know just last on this mare or something, but whether I'm able to breed or not, you know, I think, yeah, we need to travel one out of him on the mare, whichever one it is, and on the ones that we trade for, too.

Really nice mares that breed all of them. Yeah. Well, that was the nice thing about him is, you know, when you look back, you know, what horse has bred the most mares in the last 30 years? It was the cat bloodbots, you know, highbrow cat, and the utility cat, and, you know, the the Hydro CDs and the Stevie Ray Bonds and the, you know, the Red Bulls and, you know, Spooza Cats and, you know, it's going to be Third Edge, you know, coming next. So, you know, he can breed, you know, he's the obvious outcross for all those because he doesn't have any of that in there. And you look at some other studs that they're, you know, breeding some of those mares too, it's because they're forced to. You know, I've got a foal of my own at the house that is a Rebel out of a Hydro CD mare. I mean, she's negative to everything, but that's what you're forcing.

We've kind of handed herself into a corner because we didn't have the special... Horse until him, I think. The one that they want to ride, one that's like him. And he does that. He takes it to the level because it's like, if you're raising a bear or a lot of breed bears, there are a lot of breed bears out there where somebody told you, they said, well, you could breed her at anything. And my question is always, yeah, but should you? What does she bring to the table? And in his case, I'm sure there's some styants, I guess, that you can breed too, but he's what you look at. Yes, you can breed to him. And you watch him in the show pen and you hear about how he trained and you're like, yes, you should breed to him too.

He is bringing something to any cross that's going to have his strengths I guess is what I'm trying to say. I see a lot of work in the pen and you can breed to him, but he's just so exceptional to me. And it's such a one-of-a-kind horse. Who would want to breed to him? And then you cross all these great mares on him and anybody else who would sign it up would have to think anything that I breed is going to have a lot more value because we're putting all this value out there in the market of really good horse to tell you. So it's pretty easy. Yeah. And I think when we see, when we think of like these hypercat metallic cat mares and all of that, it just happens to be that I think a lot of the things that they need some improvement on when you're looking at them from a conformational standpoint and a breeder standpoint, shoddy really brings to the table, you know, having those, a horse that runs uphill and good weather.

And not that there's not a lot of stevie and metallic and cat mares that are, but there's some of them that get a little numb with her. And this is where I think this horse can really help clean them up. And I think one thing that he brings to the table for those horses is, you know, we've always seen those, they're so easy to train and they're great cutting horses, but this horse, I think will bring some of that electricity back to him. And that's where I think he can really bring some of that because it doesn't just take a really trained horse now, it doesn't just take a good horse, it takes an electric horse to win. Yeah, I think, you know, what, you know, and like you say, I mean, any horse that, you know, consistently makes the bios, which there's a lot of them.

There's got to be something ultimately that sets them apart. Otherwise, you know, the judges would just mark them all the same score. You know, and the cattle will take care of a lot of that. But at the same time, this horse has, I don't know, I'll call it a present or intensity on the cow. I mean, that cow means so much to him. But he's not, and he's also really, really fast. If you watch his runs, I mean, he is really fast. But he's not just moving to be moving. And he's able to beat a cow with his speed, but he's also thinking about that cow through that turn. He's not just, you know, a lot of horses, not a lot, but there's some horses in the past that have had that athletic ability, but they didn't have that same cow that he's got to where they were just moving big, but they didn't really know where they were going.

You know, they're just moving big. But he's a, I think he's a, he's a special horse and, and he, he, he brings a lot to the table when it, when it comes from the athletic standpoint, just a speed, which you got to have. And then just the intelligence on the cow is something very, very special. And we have to give a lot of credit to Kenny for that too, because when you have a horse that loves it that much, there's, it takes the right horse trainer to make sure that they keep that love in them. And they don't work it out of them or you know try to change their style too much like i feel like kenny's done a really good job of just of just letting that horse be great at what he's great at and trying to not over train him not overdo him not over and so that's i'm sure there's been lots of great horses out there that just weren't with the right fit and did get over trained and you know but that horse has been able to shine under him and i we we owe him a lot of credit and Chava for just letting that horse be as electric and cool as he is and not trying to.

Train him to be too mechanical or too yeah I think I think that you know it's a you know I think there's a fine line between being good and great and I think it could have it just as easily went the other way, Had he not been with those guys. It wouldn't matter if I owned him or not. That horse is a generational horse, in my opinion. If I didn't own the hair on him, I would tell the same owner. I would say, that's a generational horse. He's different. I know we're all looking forward to the rest of the year. We got a Hall of Fame horse now, which that's pretty exciting. I couldn't think of a better group to achieve that with. It's just going to be fun to get those awards next year. Really, it's just about the horse for me. Like I just am proud of the horse and I just think he deserves it.

And I don't know if I've ever been in a spot where we've got to own a horse where I'm just like, just like the other night. I was like, it's, you know, it's cool. And we're proud for all, all three of our brands to have won that. But I'm more proud that the horse won it because he deserved it. He deserved his own championship there. So, so exciting times ahead for anybody that's listening in here that is interested in breeding to Shadi. His frozen semen contracts are booked full this year but we do have ICSI contracts you can call into our office to get information about those we don't charge anything up front to ICSI so kind of our thing here at solo is we want to take that ride with you guys if you have a mare that you want to try on them you send a contract in you go ahead ICSI them and whenever your recit is 45 days in full then you pay your breeding fee you still have a live full guarantee but it just kind of gives you the financial freedom to try and exceed those mares.

And so our stallion office is happy to talk to anybody about that. If you guys see any of us around, we would love to talk to you about this horse. I think we're all equally passionate about him, tell you guys about all the great mares he's bred, and we're looking forward. We've got a first full crop on the ground now, so next year will be a second year. And so it will be long. We'll be starting all those. Thank you guys for coming on today. I hope everybody enjoyed the story of Shadi, and we'll see you guys on the next episode.