Episode 21 - Inside Solo Select Full-Service Fitting Programs

Hi, everyone. This is Melanie Smith with Solo Select. We're here today with Dustin Price and Evan Moffitt talking a little bit about fitting programs. We're going to spend some time today introducing you guys to both Dustin and Evan. They're never jumping up and down to come in here on the podcast, so Evan probably would be more than Dustin. Dustin, this took a lot of negotiating to get him up here for Marie. But we want to introduce you guys to them and let you know, I think both of them have really cool stories. They've both been very involved in very different parts of the horse industry, which I think is cool to hear, like the different disciplines and things that they have done. And then we're going to talk a little bit about the solo fitting program, what that is, what fitting a horse is, why we do it, how we do it, things like that. And so I'm going to start out with Dustin.

Dustin has been here, what? Two and a half years. Two and a half years now, but you've been doing this your whole life. So Dustin now wears several different hats, but the main one being he is over taking care of the studs and the stud barn and making sure everything from vet to, teeth to feet to collecting and all the things in between happen, that is a comprehensive program and job that is really important for us. If Dustin doesn't make sure those horses feel great, then we don't have the success that we need in the breeding barn. And so Dustin brings decades of experience. I know you hate whenever I say that. Really, you have so much great experience. You're good. And.

I want to start out. I want you to kind of tell us your story, like from the start, because I think it's really cool. Okay. No, I was just a farm kid from Kansas. This week we grew up, you know, roping and taking care of some cows and farming wheat. Went to Oklahoma State to school, and I volunteered to go out and clean horse stalls just to kind of be part of the program, I guess. The lady that I was helping out there mentioned that the Lazy was hiring for, the General Heritage Place sale in 1996, shortly after the earth cooled. And i'm convinced that the only reason i i have a job in the horse industry was it was 67 degrees when i left stillwater, and the wind chill was 25 below the next morning in that north barnett heritage place and i didn't have a coat so i was cleaning stalls to stay warm and they thought i knew how to work, um and that has led to my led to my career worked sales and intern, did the sales prep internship at the fold out mares did the breeding season internship, and thought i didn't want to work 60 hours a week when i got out of college so i went and sold feed for a while hated being a salesman so bad i went to work in a feedlot and butch called butch and matt called in.

2002 shortly before my first son was born and corona cartel had hit the multiple embryo deal had become a thing and butch said i need one more guy, was his eloquent way of putting it and then we spent 22 years there fitting sail horses taking care of. Different phases of the breeding program but the sale deal was kind of my my fun part or the part that i enjoyed more i really liked the the young horse deal but i sat across the supper table from a, extra large human being and realized that starting two-year-olds probably wasn't going to be my career path and this let me stay kind of plugged into that and it kind of helped develop that horses and those horses and be part of that did that for 22 years and instead of having a midlife crisis, I saw what Ty and Mel were doing down here, and was excited about being part of that.

So we came down here and kind of kicked off a racehorse sale program down here and got involved with the studs and stuff like that. Yeah. And I think it's cool to note too, that when you came down, Doss came with you. Yeah. And so how old is Doss now? Doss is 24. 24 now. And so he, you know, grew up literally learning all of this, listening to it, learning it, being around great horsemen. And then when you came here, you spent a little bit of time fitting, but then pivoted straight to the stud barn when we got it built, which was cool. And what was that like getting to, you know, go from, because you fit pretty much for 22 years. Yeah. Like you, every year you were the main person responsible for making sure those horses were. Sure.

And as part of the team, man, and that was one of the blessings I feel like in my career, I grew up around really good horsemen. Yeah. And there was a competitiveness, you know, to not just with other farms, but from the guy in the next barn. And when we kind of held each other to a standard, you know, and for lack of a better term, that motivation, your buddy's not making fun of you is a pretty powerful thing. So, when I look down and I see a good product.

I want the guys on my team to have the second best by 1%, one of those deals. We all want to succeed, but I'm a little bit competitive by nature. I grew up playing sports. And that's kind of my motivation to do that 1% better job for that client. Evan, let's hear. I have never heard your actual story. Okay. So I feel like I kind of have a little bit of a crazy story. So I just grew up in Missouri. We had some horses when I was a kid. We didn't know anything really about them. There was probably a couple influential people that probably helped me get started. I think as a kid, it just kind of took off. I got more interested in like the pedigrees than probably anything. And so usually after school, like I'd get a, it probably started like Western Horseman Magazine.

And then when I learned about like the Quarter Horse News, that's probably when it really took off. And then I would just keep looking through them and then researching pedigrees. How old were you then, you think? Probably 10 yeah 10 12 you know somewhere in there like as i've gone, it's like all the people that i kind of know now like they were already placed in this story yeah and so that's what's been you know really crazy back when like they had western bloodstock on rfd, like i would always watch the select kirtland sale on there and yeah like i can remember my friends being over like what are you know what are you watching this you know what i mean so like that's kind of where it all started and then just working at tarns being in the industry and then when what year did you, go out on your own to start fitting horses so, so if this is 2016 it would have been 2021.

And so what made you decide to start fitting horses because that was such a 180 from yeah you know for tarn and taking and i think you were probably riding some two-year-olds and stuff then so, like as far as all that like i just like by the end of it i just had like my own horses yeah So, like, I didn't have any customers or... Pretty much it was Taryn's idea. So those last couple of years, we were trying to find something that I could do. Yeah. And he said it in the nicest possible way. But he's like, I just don't think you're going to be a cutting horse trainer. Because like, I just don't. That was nice of them. And he was like. I think you're too valuable to go down this rabbit hole of trying to be a horse trainer. Do this, do that.

John Kratzer was actually the very first person to call me. And he was like, I want to be your very first customer. That's awesome. And I'm like, okay, sweet. How many do you have? And he was like, two. And I'm like, awesome. So I remember, yeah, so I can remember going home, telling everyone, like, hey, we've got two horses coming. Like, we're good. No big deal. And they'll be the best two you ever saw. And then it was, it was pretty cool because that first horse was that Razum High, that one that snuffed. That's really cool. Yeah, so like. That Wes and them sold? Yeah. And so, and he brought 40,000 and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, that's. Never another poor day. No, I'm like, and you know, we're just hitting it, you know?

And then funny how time works. Joe called me and he was like, hey, I've got five colts I want to send you. Yeah. Like how we survived that first year looking back. I have no clue. But I think it's a cool. This isn't like the this podcast isn't about like the motivational and how you, you know, and all of that. But I think last night I did a podcast with McCutcheons. And one thing we really talked about, whether you were talking about what I do and us as a service company or horse trainers or what either of you guys do is kind of starting before you're ready. Like you want to kind of have this plan like Marie has for us here that's like, you know, here's everything you're going to do. Right. But then...

I think what has probably made all three of us good at what we do, even though all three of us do very different things, is just jumping into it and going on before you're ready. And I think that's important, but it's cool to hear for both of y'all kind of how you jumped into that, just rolled with it. Yeah, and we just kept rolling, and then I think probably— But you had really good horsemen. Oh, and I— You know, like, just like what—because you made that comment, and now you're making that comment, and I know that for him, like, Roger is the same. You know, like, that's a phone call away right now that you can tap into that knowledge base from somebody that is, like, so kind and genuine and such a good human, plus is just full of all these bits of knowledge you could just extract.

And I almost, I was very fortunate. I almost came into the opposite situation. We'll talk about Matt here in a little bit, but his dad was my first boss when I started at the E, Bill Whitman, and they had been doing that as Ridgely Farms and Butch Wise agent before they ever came to the E. What was it? It was Ridgely Farms. Yeah. It was what they had, and Butch had his own agency. It was very interesting, and Bill's not a man of a lot of words, but one of the things he told me that really stuck with me, he said.

And you seem to be bright enough, he said, and we welcome your input after six months. Do what we tell you to keep your mouth shut for the first six months. He didn't say it quite that harsh, but that was the gist of it. Learn the program. And then, and there's, and honestly, that's still the base of the program today. You know, horses have changed, people have changed, but it's still the basis of the program today. So I was very fortunate from that standpoint. And Bill wasn't one of those guys that you sat around and philosophized about horses, with but if you'd watch him you could learn a lot you know if you just, like to keeping your mouth shut and your eyes open he could do more of the horse without seeming to do a lot with the horse, they just responded well to him and and they were well-mannered and so i you know it's interesting i got to fall into almost the opposite, and he had that part and that was a very interesting team because he had the farm part, the development part nailed down.

And that's kind of where my skills lie a little bit more. That's why I've always had to work for Butch or you guys are somebody that has a tremendous marketing team behind them because that's not my skill set. I was a lot more like Bill to just soon stay home and get the horses ready and then present them at the sale. So it was a huge advantage for me to go into a program that was fairly established before i ever got there yeah and then you know then you can just build from there yeah, And it is, it's like, those are two different entry points. 100%. Yeah. Same foundations, not the word, but principles, I guess. Yeah, 100%. You know, but it's cool, like, to hear two different ways in. Mm-hmm. And two different times, too.

Yeah, 100%. You know, like, now is such a different time. And what Butch and Matt always, and even Ty tells me, is like, what year was that that you started fitting horses? What year did you say it was? 97 would have been my first year. They said there were so many farms then. Oh, 100%. There were so many farms. And, like, now it's, like, if you are really talented and you started fitting horses, like, none of us have room. I mean, like, we are always so full, you know. And so, you know, we have a great set of customers. And Evan brings his set of customers that have been with him for years. And then, you know, you guys have some of your racehorse people. And like, we're always building barns and trying to add great people like you two when the opportunity arises to bring you in.

But then it was such a different competitive space because there were so many farms to choose from. 100%. And so it is interesting how it's changed over the last 20 years. And as much as we all hate to admit it, in my mind, Butch and Marty and Roger are still 40 years old. I know. And they're not. you know i wish they were but those are like the ogs like they are the guys that have survived all the ups and downs and have thrived through them yeah and now they are built it for us you know they have laid the foundation of what it and like set the standard, what are these things supposed to look like and so that's what i wanted to start okay so this is what i want to start into now is, We talk about setting the standard, and I think it's important for people to understand, and this is across, just to be clear to everybody that's listening, Evan does more of the cutting and cow horses.

You haven't fit hardly any race horses. I've only fit two my whole life. Yeah, but Dustin came to us and fit some cow horses, and you would always probably fit some cutting rope horse type, but mostly race horses. Mostly race horses. I mean, probably 95%. Yeah, and when I started, I think if you looked at the race horse deal, there was some margin there. When I got out of college, I just, you know, if the rope horse deal was what the rope horse deal wasn't, I'd probably try to go do that. Yeah, but the race horse deal was thriving. I've been able to raise three kids and maintain a marriage on two different horse farms. Yeah. That doesn't happen. Yeah. And that's kind of why I pointed in that direction.

And I've grown to love the race horse deal. It's not what I grew up with. But yeah, it's changed tremendously. And so we've got two different, very different types of horses, but it all funnels back to being a horseman, having horsemanship and knowing what the standard is. And so what I want to hear from both of you guys in your respective disciplines. Is I think it's hard for some people that don't have the trained eye to see the difference in fit and fat. Sure. There is a difference in fat and shiny and fit and why that is important. So I'll start with you, Evan, like in the cutting horse world, cow horse world, what is the difference of it and why is it important when people come look at them?

So I think the thing that always sticks out to me, like those really fit colts is, so like when I first started, like my mindset going in, like those colts need to almost look like a five or six year old show horse instead of just like old broodmare. So like to me that would be a little bit of the difference Like because when I first started Like even just the manes the tails Top line muscle Like how can we take these Yearlands to make them look almost Like a little show horse, And so like that's where I kind of went, Because then, like, at times you would see, especially, like, going to, like, the Triangle Sale, like, you would take a lot of those horses, like the Mennonites have. They have them just really, really, really fat. And they look cute.

Oh, they look great. But they look a little heavy. Yep. And it's kind of hard. Heavy, a little doughy. Yes. And then, like, when you would get those colts home and actually put them to work, well, then your horse would change. Yeah. You know, but I always felt like those. So explain that. Explain what you mean by your horse would change. Yeah, so like that pretty much like that baby fat would come off and then you would see your real horse. Whereas like if you have like a really, really fit colt, when he goes into training, he just keeps headed forward. Like there's no, there is no change to that. And so when you say you really see your horse, for people that have not seen the process of sail fitting, you know, from A to Z, to be clear, I'm going to tell you what I think it is.

And you two can both tell me if you think I'm right. We have these horses that are fat and pudgy and they're adorable and they got a big old crease down their back and they're, you know, but you can't see their neck really. You can't like if you put them in the round pen, they're probably not broke to the round pen. You really can't see them move around. They look heavy in the round pin because they're fat. And so you don't actually get a really good feel for how much horse you do or don't have. Would you agree with some of that? Oh, for sure. Is that like, so I guess my question here is for somebody that's like, well, I just want to fit my horses at home because I can feed them and put them in a stall and brush them.

Because that's what a lot of people think self-fitting is, right? I explained to a lot of people like, no, it's literally a lifelong art. Like these guys, it is an art. and there's a group of these artists that go around and they all... You guys and Roger and those, you know, that really learn like what is a great horse and how to make them look their best for sale day rather than just, hey, they brought their horse. We got it out of the sun. We brushed it. We washed it every day, you know, but I think I want people to understand why if the horse sale, that's so important when you do have a high quality colt. Now, if you just have a $3,500 cute little colt, it might not be worth the investment of fitting it and that's all there is to it we could sit here and talk about fitting all day but if you just have a horse that's not bred really well doesn't have a lot of marketability, putting them up in a stall at home getting them fat and cute is a lot better than bringing them in the past.

Long hair you know so that's okay but these better horses these trainers have to be able to look at what they're going to look like like you said when they're in training right and they need to be able to evaluate them at that. Level to truly judge their athleticism so if you just bring them if you walk a big old fat, pretty shiny fat horse out of a stall they're like oh that thing's pretty good it's way too heavy to keep walking right for sure they won't even look at it and it and 50 pounds less and fit it's a whole different animal and so that's where i think the importance comes in and i'm, i'm i know a little bit more about the cutting and cow horse road but i know that's a whole different ball game in the racehorse world so i want to talk about that in your world like Those trainers are horsemen.

Like they are very, and they are very keyed into how those horses are fit. Like I know when we've gone around just listening to the guys say like, oh yeah, their horses look really good. They're just not that fit this year. You know, they look good. They're just not fit. But your trainers, what are they looking for? And what does what you do here make? Why does that make a difference, I guess? And I think on both sides of it, they're looking for quality of movement. But it's a different movement. You know, we're not making a round video for these guys. They want to see stride length and extension. And they want to be able to picture a sound horse going down the racetrack. And I do think from a fitness standpoint, I always gave Matt ulcers because those horses would kind of flip the switch about two weeks before the sale.

You know, so he'd walk down through there and I don't know if we're going to get there. Well, part of that is because as we're working them along, we're burning off some of those calories. You know, we're not pushing them up to a point and trying to jerk all that weight off. It's a day by day by day by day deal. So they, those guys want to see a horse that they, my biggest goal is something they can picture going down the racetrack. Right. So that horse needs to be sound. That horse needs to be fit. I don't want them to have to imagine. And it's a lot like what Evan was talking about, that different horse. I don't want to have to imagine a different horse. And that's one of the things we've always put the stairwell free stickers on the horses that we've had all summer.

That's a big source of pride for our program that this is what they look like on hay and grain and water and exercise. Okay. So that they don't, because we've ran into that, you know, and I don't know anything about anybody else's program, but talking to clients, they might get a horse home and all of a sudden he doesn't eat near as good and he doesn't, he's lost some weight and for whatever reason, but they don't have to, hopefully they're not imagining that horse. They're seeing that horse, you know, they're seeing one just that looks just like the one they just went and ran a, won a grade one race with last year. And the racehorse deal, let's talk about when we show, because I was absolutely shocked the first year we went to a racehorse sale with you guys and took that set of horses to Redoso or whatever. That's been two, three years ago now.

And I'm like, holy moly, you got to take, what do y'all take a person for every two stalls or three stalls? Three or four stalls. Yeah. And they get horses out all day long. They walk horses and all they do is just walk them. Yeah. They get them out and they walk them back and forth. They walk them so much, those horses are tired of walking by the end of the day. A hundred percent, especially the last day, you know, when we were three days at Rio Dosa or that fourth day of heritage place, they're tired. And so having a horse in a program like this that has somebody that has, well, and not just you, like you have, y'all have together decades and decades of experience. And I think all of y'all bring different things to the table.

When I say all of y'all, you have you, you've got Butch Wise, you've got Matt Whitman, we've got Ty that, of course, is always going to bring us his opinion, right? Right? And then we've got DOS coming in. And so all of you guys come together and, and you also have your lifelines that you can call Roger or whoever and ask some questions if you're stuck on one. But. But you guys get these horses prepped, do it a very specific way. You show up to the horse cell and then having a horse here is like, or with some of these good guys, it's not just here. It's like a cheat code for them because whenever those horse trainers go up, they come and ask you, tell me about this horse. You know, what is this going to fit me?

Yeah. Is this horse fit me? Cause I hear y'all say that a lot. Like this is a such and such horse. Yeah. You know, just from being around them and watching them develop and watching how they walk and all of that. And I know it's the exact same with you, too. Yeah. But yours is different because yours is based probably more off of working them in the round pen. Right. But this last couple of years, you've worked yours in the round pen some. Yeah. And it depends. I've done it both ways. You know, when I started. But the racehorse trainers turn nothing about seeing them go around in the round pen. No. No. And it's almost to the detriment because you're in a 50-foot round pen. That horse never really gets to do what that horse can do. Sure.

And as far as the fitting program, I've done it both ways. I spent all morning in the round pen 30 head of yearlings because I'm old enough. That was before they had been a panel walker. And I like both. There's things, if you have somebody that you can trust in the round pen, that's my favorite way to do it. Right. But you get into a spot where, you know, you've got an intern and they're learning. You know, a lot of times I get those horses broke enough where I'm not saying they could just go stand in the middle and work them, but that was the goal. Right. Because I don't want them pulling on at the wrong time. Right. You know, those babies. Then you're setting your horse trainers back. Yeah. And that follows you, I think. It's like when they pick a horse up from you or him, whether it's racehorse or cutting horse, Bad horsemen handling that horse follows that yearling through those programs and your horses will bring less down the road if they don't, they want to feel confident that they know they're going to get that home and you've got, you guys have got them broke.

And that's one thing I think is good here is like, we don't. There's nothing wrong at all with an intern program. We don't have interns right now for a lot of, for that reason, because we want you guys to be the ones hands-on with these horses. And I think that that's an important thing here is we try to have, be very hands-on and have less horses rather than we could have double the horses we could build the barn and have double the horses and still do a pretty good job and and still have a good product and have a bunch of them but, I think you guys would know him a lot less. You guys wouldn't have been the ones that have been hands-on whenever somebody walks in. It would be like them walking in because a lot of people call me about yearlings and I'm like, look, I haven't handled them. You need to call Maria or Evan or like, I don't know them. Yeah, they look like a nice horse. I don't know them.

And so you guys having the hands-on with those horses, I think is critical for the success. And I hear Ty Benson talk about it in the two-year-old program. It's no different than us with selling horses, but you guys too. Is like y'all's reputation with these trainers and so I'll start with you Evan on that like how have you kind of fostered the relationship with these trainers to to make sure that they know what they're getting so I think. Like especially like with my time on my own like already knowing a majority of all the cutting horse trainers like and then like really paying attention to like what kind of horse fits which guy, you know like working for Taren he wanted a long neck a big butt low hawks like those were really really important to him or or like uh or like a kenny horse where they're gonna hit boom every time james pain yeah, or or knowing like like spud them horses are really really bendy, you know like each year we've had somebody call him like hey what about this one and i'm like i don't think i think you you like it on the video or you kind of like it in the picture but like the way that it's moving i don't think it's gonna fit, your actual program right you know so like each year i feel like that we have gone we've gotten you know paying attention to what kind of horse fits people and then trying to line those people up with those kind of horses right you know like just knowing taryn he does not like a short neck horse right so like if he calls and is like hey what about this one i'm like, her neck needs to be another foot long for you for you you know it might be the perfect kenny horse 100 so like Yeah, prime example.

I mean, Taryn and Kenny shared a horse, a do-re-mare, that for Taryn's program was probably too compact, but then she fit right in at Kenny's. But I think, too, just trying to, like, when people call, knowing the qualities in a horse that they like, that's one thing. And then... Yeah, just knowing your yearlings. And that's why I think it's important to send them to a fitting program. Because, like, if you think about it, if they're just at home and, say, your round pin video is just them kind of running around. Yeah. I think it's, you know, there's some. There's a big difference between a horse that's broke and the round pin. For sure. And not. And that took me several years to figure that out because not having any background in it, like, it's a day in and day out thing to get them trained.

Same like he is saying like getting them to the point where you can stand in the middle and then if you want to turn them only thing you're doing is just stepping in front of their eye yeah they stop they turn they pick up the correct lead right, i think you know and that's you know because we need those colts at least 90 days i believe 120 i think is absolute best but just to get them, broke to the round pin but where they're not sick of the round pin yes you know so like to like each year that I've gone I've learned all these little lessons of you know because a lot of times people think like hey we're just taking your money but there's so much to get them ready for those days and then just like with any horse whether you're around pinning it riding it sometimes video day doesn't go.

As planned so if you have that proper time you can re-video yes and you're not and you're not yeah pushing them too hard because like those first couple years I mean you just kind of live and you learn and you're like, I put way too much pressure on these. Whereas like the. Because after that first year we took them in September and then the next year I was like, I need these things in August, you know, just to make sure that I'm getting them ready. We'll just have them that one more month. It was like that next year, the video day was way easier. Yeah. You know, because we spent more time and then we realized, too, OK, they don't just need to go on the round pen every day. They need some sort of break, whether that's the walker. A couple of years later, we got a treadmill, but something to keep them like in the round pen, too. Yeah.

And that was one thing that I've learned is like keeping those horses' minds fresh instead of just like, hey, like this is what you're going to do. Well, I think the other thing is, and I think we've all been on the route of like, oh, fitting horses, we don't need to send them off. We can do it at home. But you miss so much traffic of people coming through, whether it's a racehorse or a cutting horse, of people coming through and looking at those horses. And then if you don't have them long enough and they come look at them you can almost do worse by somebody's horse because they're looking at these horses that have been here for you know let's say we're two weeks out from the sale and we have one that's been there 45 days and one that's been there 90 days I promise you with that one that's been there 90 days in the round pen and they're confident when they walk whether you're a racehorse and they're walking confident because they know they've been through it and they're fit and they feel good and we have those ones that we had 30 days less and they look good, but they might be the better horse right but.

You don't get to do your job as well because you haven't had adequate time to prepare that horse. And so I think when these people, I always tell people, I'm like, we've done the hardest part. We've kept them. Kept the receptor pregnant. We've got the baby on the ground. It's alive. It's well. It's straight-legged. It's sound. And now we get to sell it. Like, why do you want to take, because you'll hear like people like, well, I'm going to start them at home, you know? And it's like, I get it. Like, I totally get it. It's a lot of money to get these horses from conception to the sale ring. But that extra month is sometimes the biggest difference maker, that sends your horse from bringing 30,000 to 60,000 and then that extra thousand bucks to keep them that extra 30 days looks like chump change you know and so giving you guys the time to do your job I think is important and like you said you've seen it it's not that, I think the one positive of the horse business right now is all of us that are in the business there's not a farm on every corner like there used to be and most people are full and we could take more horses so it's not like I think.

Want to send them to you because you just want our horses on like no we, want to do a great job for you right we have plenty of horses like we can fill the stalls if we needed to fill the stalls it's about making sure if you are going to invest in them you let us get the job done because we can't get it done in 30 days before a picture we just cannot do it and and you bring up the picture thing and i think that's hugely important our picture deadlines are almost 30 days out from the horse sale picture deadlines make me want to, murder someone 100 and those horses i'm like we got a yard like, hey, we're going to picture him. I'm like, we haven't even barely got the rough hair off of him yet. 100%. But.

So, if we have those out ahead of time, now we get a good picture. Butch takes those, we put them on, and that gives us a chance to generate some buzz online ahead of time. Butch will take those catalogs out. And you cannot believe how many people I talk to before that horse ever sets foot on the sale grounds that there is a buzz generated about that horse. You know, 15 years ago, John Bassett said, how much fun do you have getting up every morning to fit all these goods, you know, to take care of these goods? You know and that was just off of pictures in a catalog he hadn't been out yeah right so that gives us an opportunity to try to get that rough hair off of him to try to get the best picture to try to.

Generate that buzz because i mean he's handling out he's handing out those books on all american futurity trial weekend and so to be clear for people that don't know for the racehorse world the racehorse world is so different than the cutting cow horse world because they i have learned a lot over the last couple of years, like they're not that social media driven. You know, they like to see, I hope we're starting to get them trained and converted. We're trying really hard, but it is a different world. And so as much as like, sometimes Butch and I want to butt heads about, I'm like, we don't need to do any more print ads. Like, why are we printing things? But it's important for the racehorse world and getting those pictures into people's hands, like Butch does for the racehorse world which is us making this beautiful catalog that's on these glossy pages that just gives a presentation to people when they open it like hey whoever can sign this horse is proud of it right like they they produced a product that they are the breeders on and they are clearly proud of this horse and our job at solo is to make sure that we represent that whether it's racehorse or cowhorse we represent all that hard work in a way that maximizes the value of that horse and also, I think with that puts maximizing the value of the horse is two things like there's a check you get at the end of all of it.

There's also the long-term investment of, did we do a good job of fitting that horse and get it in the right program so your mare becomes a producer? And I think that that's equally as important for breeders because if you're not fitting your horses and getting them in front of the right people, they're not going to go to the right people. And you might as well not even breed that mare because if you get them in the wrong programs, we all know you should have, could have, would have had a faturity open finalist. And they should have, could have, would have ranch horses up in North Dakota. You know and that it doesn't show like could have been an open maturity finalist but, went to north dakota to be a ranch stud we don't get to write that in the black type black type's not forgiving it's not forgiving and so it's like as a breeder if you're going to invest all the time into it you have to make the decision of hey i'm going to continue that investment all the way through their yearling year to make sure we get them in the right homes and places and that is where like the book that we make that butch told me how to make i'm like we have to print a book really and he's like yeah, it needs to be good 100 yes but getting him in front of those people i think and butch having those boots on the ground like a butch or a tie you know that's out there and they're talking to people and they're, hustling up those horses like hey you need to come by the house and look at this i've got this horse that fits you those two are horsemen you're on the phone with those guys you need to come look at this one you need to come work it for the sale i think, that makes your fitting rate real cheap.

Real fast and like back to the i don't mean to pound those books to death. But, you know, the unique thing about our deal is three or three weeks before all American Futurity Finals, everybody's in the same place on the same day, right? So the goal is for that client that you're fitting that horse to be able to tell their buddies, GC McCall, for them to be proud. You know, that, and it is to generate that buzz, but it's also hopefully to make that client proud of what they raised, what they bred, what they've done. And what we've been able to produce for them. It's a representation of their program and their legacy and what, you know, we all do this for different reasons. You know, us three around this table and all of our customers have different goals at the end of the day.

And I think no matter what, though, we want to be really proud of what we're producing, whether it's because we just love this man and we want her to be a producer and we don't ever care for pencils or we need this to be a profitable venture. And so, yeah, I think that the presentation is so critical and having somebody, that's really good at the pictures, I think is important because we can make a good horse look really bad in pictures really easy. And those pictures are not something we take lightly here. Like we spend an excessive amount of time on pictures because we want to make sure those horses look their best. Like, we take the racehorse pictures and then we have to have Butch that's like, no, no, no.

And we're like, Butch, this one looks exactly the same as the one we took yesterday. No, it doesn't. Like, it's not. Like, that horse looks great right now. That's a true representation of that horse. That's the picture we need to use. I want to make sure when we walk into that sale that those people look at the picture, they look at that horse and they're like, man, you guys did a great job of representing that horse. Go ahead. No, you go. One of the things where he helped me tremendously, and it's kind of like being on a podcast, he drug me in there kicking and screaming, you know, between Britton and I were at the lead shank for thousands of these things, and I would get hot and tired and get tired of me telling him to move him one more time.

And he made me come, or had me start coming in his office as he sorted those pictures. I was like, and a lot of times it is a degree and a half change on how that horse's head is pointed that changes the entire picture, right? Yeah. As much as I didn't want to learn that lesson, that was very valuable to me, is that he just hadn't. And it wasn't, he has a way of not being pushy and making it my idea. And I eventually figured it out. But, you know, when he brought me in and I could see the, either that horse turned his head a degree in half or he took a step to half a step to the right. Or he stood up or squatted down a little bit. Whatever that changed, like, that's the horse. That's the horse i've seen in the round pen every day right that's the horse i see when i go by and and you know change his feet or whatever that whatever i'm doing that day that's him yeah you know and you just kind of it's that aha moment and the angels start singing and you know you've got it, when we think about i think there's a second piece to this that's really important to me is, also when whether it's when trainers come or we go to the horse cell having a clean place and having good pictures, good stall signs, all of that.

You know, I think that, Evan, I think this is good for you. You've been at a lot of different facilities. And I know one thing that you really liked coming here was you were like, I have a team to help me. For sure. Make sure that this place looks the way I want. And when people walk in, I can be proud of it. No, and that's for sure. Because like when you're on your own, you're like those first couple years, like I didn't have any help. So like no matter what you're thinking about whether it's like pictures, the daily care the exercise whatever it is but like one thing that i have enjoyed is like you're not carrying the weight of the whole world daily like there's so many like whether it's just picture day, like something that used to be the most stressful day on earth has become to me the easiest thing, as long as i have them cleaned up and ready there's a crew of people that are handling everything else, you know, and like and a part about being here.

I would say like when you can just focus on what you're doing instead of like, okay, I need to clean stalls, get hay, do this. And by the way, they're coming at whatever time to picture. Yeah. But like where you can just back off, do your deal. And then same thing with the girls that do all the pictures like they're doing their part too. Yeah. They're not out there trying to fit your horses. No. And you're getting to focus on what matters. And then just having all the systems that are in place here and then just making it all work together. Yeah. I think that's probably been the biggest burden pulled off my shoulders was knowing that I don't have to come out here and do every step of everything and be stressed out about the horses.

And it just, I think it makes you better at your job. Oh, for sure. Like you can actually focus like, like here in a minute, like I know there's going to be a crew of guys that are going to come and do stalls, feed, water, clean up the barn, do this. And like, you can actually just focus on your horses. Yeah. Then that day you're not off at the hay farm trying to find because that's one of the biggest struggles i was finding good enough hay for sure you know. Ty's got that knocked out you know we show up and we feed hay we don't we take it for granted all three of us i know because sometimes i'm like could you imagine if i had to go call people and find hay right now for sure but like ty always has good hay here always and that's one of the things you know, sometimes we tell people the numbers that we've had in the past, and it's a big number.

But when that's what you're doing, you're getting better at that. I haven't been on a hay shopping trip, and I'm almost 50 years old. It's a huge thing to be able to hit the ground running every morning and get your job done. Yes. Yeah, I think for us, for Ty and I here, as this place grew, it was like, I sometimes felt like as we've hit these ebbs and flows and growth spurts and you're trying to figure out like why is this not working or why is something not happening the way I want to happen or, you know, it's like, okay, like sometimes I'm going to use Evan here. This hasn't happened. But if you're like Evan's horses look terrible this year. Okay. If that's what I said. Sometimes it's me and Ty stepping back and be like, what did we not do to make sure Evan was set up for success?

You know, it wasn't that Evan wasn't trying to make his horses look great. It was that Evan had to clean stalls. He had to, you know, and his horses looked fine, but they didn't look at what we know Evan's capable of. And so, you know, clearly that hasn't happened, but it has happened in other instances with small things. And you're like, you know, I think we just could have done better. And it's like well you also as an organization have to reach this threshold where you can have enough horses and people to have a five-person marketing team that comes out like a stinking nascar crew when it's time to do pictures and you're bam bam bam bam you're done and you have pictures in your text messages two hours later to review and if there's any that weren't good enough you do them again that afternoon you're done.

Right and so it's been cool to see that this is like over probably the last two years, I would say kind of when Dustin, when you came to, that was kind of when I felt like we were over that threshold that we could hire enough more specific help to really help you guys do a great job. We're like poor Maria came in here and Maria had to be the jack of every trade and then some. And Maria was used to that. She came from Center Ranch and she didn't have a lot of support staff down there. And it was Maria party of one. And I remember when Ty was down there, I don't know what year this would have been looking at yearlands and he said maria was showing the yearlands when he got there she was cleaning the stalls she had fed she had started maria is like, she's like a superhuman she runs from the apartments to here at like two o'clock in the morning to get her exercise and then she shows up at north at three like.

There is no cooler group of humans that I would rather have taken care of my horses than the ones we have here because the dedication is unbelievable. But you hear, you see Maria with that and all of that dedication. And she had to come breed mares, fold mares, fit horses. And so she listened on. And like, it's cool now that we have, I feel like we have more resources to let you guys do. No, for sure. As good of a job as you possibly can. And I think that is what I'm the most proud of with this program is I think we have all of these tools is what I would call them for you guys to use. So there's no excuses at the end of the day. Y'all have your toolbox. Yeah. Y'all don't need any excuses. For sure. And that's one thing, like I told my wife, like when we come here, I said, this has to be so much better because of all the systems in place and people work in there because I'm trying to work all day, do my deal.

You're trying to get sale stuff ready and i said we don't even no longer have to argue about the stall signs, like they're just gonna instantly be made yeah like you know there's it's so to me it's so much better because of those where there's people taking care of it even like the first and i as i go on i keep learning, as i go here but like when we took those coles of triangle sale matt pulls in the barn he's got a spreadsheet these are your horses that are going and like before which i didn't had no clue that matt was fixing to do that i never asked him yeah nothing but before that would be me, making sure like hey do we have everybody loaded and you know here's all this stuff but just having that we're or like having katie like that picture day or she's like this is how it's gonna go yeah you know what i mean and she lines us up and there's and then like before like forever it would be me trying to get all the horses ready take them out there hold them for pictures and then here you know you've got two to three guys and we're leading them out there and you're grabbing all of a sudden what used to take two hours, took 15 30 minutes you know and that's i think that's the thing that i appreciate, and i think too like kind of going back to like sending your horses to like an actual program i think going back to like those books like people are proud of that, I think one thing that I've learned, like, I feel like people are a little bit hesitant to send their horse.

Like, people, if they've never done it, they think they're, like, just sending it off and then it just kind of comes to the sale. But I think when people show up, see the stall signs, you know, like, y'all give away those goodie bags. Like, I've seen more people excited just to get the bag or to get the chapstick or get the pin. Yeah because like every year that we would put out the pins and chapstick or just have the coffee machine yeah. I mean it's little things that make your like our job is also to make our buyers feel comfortable they know our program they want to come to the stalls they know somebody's friendly there to talk to them they know that you know evan is like the most approachable person ever so when he's representing your horses and and, let's say a brand new person to the industry comes up and says, like, I don't know anything about this, but you look like a nice person, Evan, and the cutting.

And I see Silla's brand on Facebook sometimes. So now what do I do? I see all these horses. Do I buy one? What trainer do I send it to? You can't believe how many people we get like that at the maturity sales and the racehorse sales every year that come up, and they're just like, I'm new, and hey, like, I want to play the game, but I have no idea what to do now. And for us to have the full program and you guys, whether it's you guys or us talking to them and be like, hey we can help you we can get you a threat trainer we can get you and that's the thing that you can't get as well if you take two horses in your stalls, at the to the futurity cell or the racehorse cell like you just don't yeah the foot traffic alone is sometimes the difference between like i said a thirty thousand dollar horse or sixty thousand dollar horse or a hundred thousand dollar horse and a three hundred thousand dollar yearling like it it makes a difference and so.

So, yeah, I think today I wanted people to kind of understand what this was about. Like, why to send your horse to a fitting program? Why don't you just put it at home and feed it and take it out of the sun or blanket it and slinky it? Can you do that? Yes. There's people that do that. Totally fine. But you do have to be willing to put in all of the extra work to make sure those horses get in front of people and you try to get traffic. Because it's hard enough, as we know, to get a horse trainer to show up to look at 100 horses. Right. You better have a real special one if you think they're going to come look at one. They'll just won't go. They just won't go look at them. And then they don't even get on those people's list when it's time to go to the horse sale, you know?

And so I think that is where like having a large volume of horses for them to look at, but also having the right people that are handling them and taking care of them and fitting them that they know, you know, this isn't just, a, I'm trying to think of the right, you know, like a factory. Like these horses are very specifically fit. The people that you're talking to work them every day not their interns not their helpers not they spend time with them every day of course they have help but you guys Maria y'all are the people that are working them y'all know them and I think that that's critical for those trainers because they all have relationships with you guys so for sure and I think one thing too that's probably important like sending your horse to a program wherever it may be but it's like whenever you're looking through the catalog like I.

It's probably been a little bit of a struggle for me, but, like, I really like having the agent in there. That way they just know where the horses are. Because I don't know how many times. Especially for your guys' deal. For sure. Yeah. But, like, they will sort through the pictures and then, like, okay, so this is a Justin horse or this is a Solo. But if it just has the agent on there, we already know. Yeah, I totally agree with that. And I think that's so important. And I think it hurts some people's feelings at first. But, like, no, like, this is our horse. Yeah. But like that agent is just letting people know that, hey, when we start to go look at colts, these are the 10 over here that we, because, you know, people are going to go from here to Valley to Justin's and look at these horses.

But to me, it just gives people an idea of just where they're at. Like it's not taken away from your program, none of that. But like, hey, when we start to go look, we know where they're at. Because like even just in the short time that I've done it, like there wasn't very many agents in the catalog. So you would look through there and like, well, I wonder who has this one. But I think that really helps people because even like the, you know, people coming out. Well, don't you have this one? Well, actually, I don't. It's over there because there are sometimes people will have horses in two different spots. Like we'll have a mutual customer or this or that. Like, hey, we got a couple over here. That's a very good point.

You know what I mean? Because I've had that each year of like having those colts for Joel. Well, I would have some and then Jeremy would have some. So like, and then it never failed. The people would show up to my place and I would have the wrong set of cults that they wanted to look at. You know, they were actually at Jeremy's. But like, I think if you put the agent and where they're at, it gives those people the like, hey, we can go look at these here. Yeah. And I think we started doing that whenever we started in the racehorse deal, because we'd never really done it before. But once the racehorse deal started and it was the same thing for me, I'm like, why do we not put the agent on here? Because these people need to know where they're going. It's frustrating for us looking at your link sometimes because we kind of know who sends what where, you know, but still it's like you said, then you're calling like, I need to look at these seven numbers. Do you have any of them? You know? Right.

And so, yes, I totally agree with you on that. The racehorse people are pretty good about it. A hundred percent, but it's still the same thing. If we can... Anything we can do to make sure that they have the time and the energy to look at our horse too, it's a big deal, okay? And then you mentioned getting those trainers to come out. It's not because they don't want to see them. It's because they're going from Remington to Rio Dosa, Lone Star, and trying to, you know, and what long do we get? Nobody but them wants to buy the next winner. Like, nobody wants to buy the next winner better than a horse trainer on either side. They would love to go look at them, but they still have to be a horse trainer.

And it's one of the reasons we run the cards the way we do. And a lot of that come from, you know, Matt and Butch going to Kentucky. Matt can logistically figure out stuff that is way above my head. But one of the things we're trying to do is not make that person wait. Yeah. Right. Because when we go to these horse sales that it's gotten so competitive, the horses have gotten better. Right. And deeper, I think more than anything, there were always good horses out there, but the depth of those quality individuals. And so, if the phone rings and they get distracted and they go look at another horse, they can go find another nice horse, right? But we might have had one that was this much better, and they missed getting to see that horse because we weren't getting that horse to them efficiently, right?

So that's one of the things, whether they just, you know, any of that stuff that we can do to, and when you're asking those people, and it's worse at the cutting sales because of the numbers, but when we're asking those people to critically evaluate, 350 head, every dose of this year, I think, and they're somewhere, you know, we've been as high as 450. When we're asking them to evaluate, I can't remember, thousands of odd horses at Harry's place, right? They're going to get hot and tired. Even the best of them are going to get sick of looking at horses and they're all going to start to look the same. So if we can do a good job of making that an efficient process for them, maybe they remember ours. Maybe that does that climb look.

You know ten thousand dollars better of a job because we got that horse to them when they still felt good about it and they weren't distracted that's a really good point and i think it's very different worlds like you guys and the racehorse trainers come here and look but a lot of our people for the racehorse they'll look at the sale, for this for evan's world for the cutting cow horses and even the rope horses now it's becoming this way, these people come a lot of times before the sale because they want to watch them work in the round pen well we literally built our fitting barns for that to be an efficient process, we literally built it where there is a place for them to stand undercover with a lighted perfect size round pen, or get in there and work them and and we have evan's got his people trained and you can roll those horses in and out they can look at 20 horses in 20 minutes right they might spend two minutes on one 20 seconds on one be like that one's not my fit but that one is keep working at you know and we've got two round pins right next to each other so you can have two going at once, and like it's meant to be we tied designed and built them for this to be an efficient process for both, evan and dustin and dawson and maria to be able to fit efficiently keep the horses safe keep them sound have great ground where, that's something we haven't touched on is all the things that we do here to make sure that we put set those horses is up for success because we can sell them for all the money in the world and that's all great but if they don't stay sound it's not that cool.

Right the way y'all work them in the ground we put we invest in and all those things that. You know, happen behind the scenes to make sure these horses are on. We're setting them up for success, I guess is what I'm saying. But all that to be said, back to we can show those horses super efficient. Yeah. And that's like even looking back, like when I first started, like that first year, we just had a round pin outside. And it never failed. Every year that John Kratzer wanted to come, it rained every time. And he was like, dude, you have got to get a different facility. I'm like, well, we're doing the best we can. But I think it's cool of Kratzer that he stayed with you. Yeah, I'll say this. I don't know how, like, to be honest.

Like, I have no clue of why he did. Yeah. But, like, he would literally call and be like, hey, we're coming tomorrow. And it hadn't rained in, like, six months. And we would get a hurricane rain. And I don't think he ever got to see his colts in the round pen. Yeah. That's pretty good. Until, like, maybe the last two years, maybe. But, like, going back to, like, the people seeing those horses in the stalls, like, just lessons learned. two years ago I had two Colts for Heritage and, I had never spent much time with the racehorse deal. You know, like cutting horse people, they just show up when they're needed and then they leave. Yeah. Like say if you're like with the non-pro fix and start. If you live right here, you would just go up the morning and show your horse and come on.

So I have an Uncle D filly that sells Thursday morning and a Cavian Corona stud on Saturday night. So to me, I will go up Wednesday, put my horse in the stall, sell her, go home and then go back up, bring my other colt. And Roger's like, hey, like then Spence did put me next to Roger. Yeah. That way it wasn't just all the way off. You know what I mean? But he's like, you're gonna need a little traffic. You know what I mean? But if we just put you back here, he's like, no one will ever see it. But Roger's like, hey, like, I know you don't know. But next time you stay here, both your colts the whole time. He was like those days, the time that you were gone with the stud colt, there's no telling how many people come out here just to look at him.

Yeah. And I'm like, well, what do you mean? He was like, well, people are going to want to see these horses out. He's like, you've been gone for two days. And he was like, you really don't know what you just missed. And I was like, I'm supposed to stand up here for four days with two. And he was like, two or a hundred. Yeah. 100%. You know what I mean? But, and I was like, okay. You know, but just knowing the, like the two or they're so alike and so different. So different. Because like, you can go to the cutting. So, like you said, like each year, say you have 40 to 50 people that come out and watch, you may never see them actually at the stall yeah now you might see them down in the arena or in the tunnel but like the deals were so much different where people do want to see them come watch them walk yeah and then trying to learn that too of like they're like, it's teaching them to walk is a weird thing that you have to do, like they have to walk with purpose yeah they can't just drag around and and that's about having a horseman leading them it is it is and that's one of the things that bugs me, racehorses get a stigma, is that they're not capable of being just as broke.

And to me, it's still your finger and your thumb. And if they don't operate on your finger and your thumb, there's something you need to do different in that round. And there's something you need to do different when you're grooming them. Because when that person is standing in front, and this is your one opportunity, right? Because like I said, they've got to go ahead and look at 349 other ones. That's your one opportunity to walk that horse to that person. And they need to land as correct as they are capable of landing, right? We can't hide a horse that's not correct, right? And there's nothing there you can, you can try, there's nothing you can do. But one thing I do know is that if you pull on a horse's head wrong, or if he, when you lift your finger, if he doesn't slow his feet down and find a place to stop, he's not going to land right.

Yeah. Right. You can make a really, really correct horse look incorrect by being a forehand, by taking too big a hold of them. Like, you know, they, they, that horse still needs to operate. Between your finger, you know, with just your finger and your thumb on that lead check, you know, whether it's your body position or whatever, to get that horse to walk big and to land soft, it is not a pulling contest. And it's, they have to have the confidence, which means you've put the time into them. Yeah. And they've had somebody confident pulling on them from the day they got here that they truly have to be pulled on to the day of pictures to the day that they're getting loaded on the trailer. And I think it's no different for you, Evan, in the round pen.

And it's like, you can put a good horse in the round pen with a ding dong and make them look like a bad horse really fast. And that is why it's so critical. And I tell my people, don't work your horses in the round pen. Don't do it because you guys are getting them broke and, you know, whatever you're coming up with to do. Like, A, they'll get dull really fast and we don't want them to be dull. But also the way that we get them broke is very specific. so i'm like i know you think you're doing good but just let them be a horse they're gonna get plenty of training when they're here they're going to get worked at short sessions and. It we have a program let us do the program right and like you're kind of like going back on the cutting cow horse like you're talking about like they just have that one little moment, And like one thing I've learned about or from Ty, like over the last couple of years is like you never think about it to the day that people come.

But like when they get up top of the round pin, like that's your one moment. And it never fails. You always have one cult that just goes like this and looks straight at them and they don't want to move. But like one thing I've learned and he'd probably come out two years ago. I had a would be tough filly at a shiny marker and she was really, really pretty traveling. And he was like, hey, can I come over and just watch her? you know and he was like i watched the video you know good job but he was like well she put her head down i'm like oh he's like well she never did in the video. So i'm like so i'm like jogging my mind like okay well you know what does he really really mean so we we just put her in there and he gets there and just eases around well she like stretches that neck out and she's trying you know but like just knowing those little things of, you know verse having them here or learning from people and then doing the video at home where they just run around, you know, but like those things are so important. Like you're saying, because, And like one thing I'm trying to do each year, like say if the cow horse guys come out, like, you know, what do you really like to see in the video?

You know, what's important to y'all? You know, is it is it the trot and then the loping or is it stopping and turning? And like most of the cow horse guys, like we really want to just watch them stretch out and then then transitions. Like, how do we trot to a low breakdown, you know, and then you'll you'll you know, some guys like, hey, I want to see like, can they really bring their nose? But just knowing those little things versus doing them at home that you just wouldn't know. You just don't get that. You know what I mean? It's not that it's a lot of people, like I said, can make a horse pretty and take a picture. But it is it is an art. And there's a reason that you guys have a career in this.

Learn from our failures. Yeah. As much as anything. There's value in the things that we've done wrong. Yeah. And we really wish we hadn't done it that way. But, you know, just like that, you knew next year that now that person doesn't have to imagine whether that horse will put his neck down. For sure, 100%. Yeah. Right? And it's just, it's a different picture. But... You know, when we're presenting that horse, they need to put that picture in that potential consumer's mind that that's a racehorse. Yeah. You know, you need to be able to put the picture. Yeah, I can put my hand down on a snake and it's someone who's going to go load me a large fast and look like one. Yeah, for sure. I can plus one that maneuver because I saw it in the round pin, you know, and so the more we can get that picture in their imagination, the better representation we have for that horse yeah and when they're prepared you know this made me think of one time there was a cow horse trainer that is out here looking at one and we had gotten one that somebody did it themselves and they said we just need y'all to do the pictures and videos, and take it to the horse sale and we were late on the pictures and videos because they wanted to bring them late and you know but whatever it was and i remember having a cow horse trainer out here and he was like oh that colt, moves a little funky in the room but we haven't This is the first day we've worked it, like you're seeing it on day one.

He's like, yeah, he's pretty, but does he have a wither? And I'm like, well, I don't know because he's 100 pounds overweight. I don't know. And he's like, well, I can't tell if he has a wither either. The guy said, well, he didn't buy him. Well, that horse ended up being an open maturity finalist. He didn't bring much that year, 20 grand, I think. And he was a metallic hat. He was a nice horse. He didn't bring a lot that year. But I think that's a perfect example of you guys putting y'all's touches on him, having the time to do it. I mean, you don't think about that, but if those horses look like they don't have a wither, those guys can't do a large fast on them because their saddle's on their freaking side. They don't even want to fight it.

And that horse ended up being perfectly fine once you pulled the weight off of him and all the fat off of him. But nobody could see what he was. So they were just guests. They were truly having to imagine. Right. You know, and that cost those people probably of $20,000 colt that they sold brought or that horse brought 20 probably should have brought 50 to 80. Right. Yeah. And you can tell, too, like those horses that are comfortable in the round pen. Like last year, I had some people that just had some colts in the triangle. And they're like, hey, can we bring our colts over and video them? And I'm like, I probably wouldn't. I said, nobody really thinks about it. But like, same as taking your three-year-olds to the show.

Those first couple of shows, they're just not focused. Yeah. And I said, these yearlings are even worse. Like, oh, no, it'll be fine. Well, these people had actually never even had them in a round pen. And then they hauled them four hours. Yeah. But you could like we were they were better off just not videoing them. Yeah. And they were just rope horses to start with. But I mean, they're zigging and zagging and tails up and heads up. But it's like I would have just take taken the great picture. Yeah. Sold them. But like just. And a bad round pen feels worse than mold. Yeah, but just the longer I've gone, too, and then getting other people's opinion. Same thing with Todd. Like, hey, well, she put her neck. But you can just, like, she's comfortable.

You know what I mean? Like, all of a sudden, we back the pressure off. He puts her in the round pen. He's like, oh, yeah, she can do it. You know, but just knowing those little things. And that's why I would think it's important for a program to send those colts. Because there's. Like, I always tell people when you just drop them off, it's a one-stop shop. You know, we're going to take care of all these things. And then we'll meet you at the horse soon. Mm-hmm. Well, thank you guys for coming on today. I think the last thing I want to tell people is, you know, if you guys have horses that need to be fit, whether it's, so we fit for all kinds of sales here. We do all of the racehorse sales. So the Ritos to sell heritage place, whether it's yearlands, older horses, whatever it is.

And then we do, of course, the fast track sales. and that can be a range of anything from embryos, recesses to yearlings that need to be fit to mares too. And then same thing in the cutting cow horse, you know, a lot of people think that's only yearlings, but those brood mares going to the sale dead fit ready makes a huge difference too. And so, you know, that is also something that we do is if you're planning to put a mare, whether it's in the solo sale or into the Western Bloodstock sale or the Triangle sale, like getting those mares, they probably, if your mares look good, They probably don't need 120 days like a yearling does. But, you know, our job is to help guide you through that. So depending on how your mare looks, we can tell you, you know, how long they need to be here prior to sale day.

But our front office, Cody, is excellent at talking to people. She can kind of get everybody on the wait list. We do have a list that people go on for the cutting and cow horse to reserve spots. And then once that gets full, we'll put them on a wait list. For the racehorse sales, they call Butch or Matt or Dustin, depending on who all they know and the deal. Or you can call our front office and Cody can get everybody connected. But like Evan said, our goal is you guys to bring your horses here. It's a full program. You bring them here and then you show up to the horse cell and you get to see all the cool stuff happen in between, but that's our job to take care of. So it's truly a full service program here.

I think we've put together the best team in the industry, of course, biased, but I think we have a phenomenal team. And if anybody has any questions about sail fitting, you can call any of us, Ty, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you have or kind of give you guys some guidance on what direction to go. So thanks guys for spending your morning with us. You bet. Thank you very much. We'll see you guys on the next episode.