Nestled
under the Montana Rocky Mountain Front, our Prairie Breeze Quarter Horse
ranch sits on 260 acres of prime irrigated land on the Greenfield Bench.
In addition to all the horse pastures, we raise barley, horse hay and a
few oats.
We have been raising winning Quarter Horses for over 37 years. Our foundation broodmares were primarily Sugar Bars and Leo bred. Throughout the years we have added the bloodlines of Rebel Cause, Three Bars, Dash For Cash, Top Moon, Ribbon Page, Easy Jet and Zippo Pat Bars. (photo at right, Larry and Royals Danni Leigh x Royal Three Charge winning the 1999 MBG Sale Halter Futurity).
Our introduction to "fancy" bred Quarter Horses came from a wonderful visit and tour of the Classy Bar horses raised by Doug & Nancy Dear on their legendary Birdtail Ranch at Simms, MT. The year was 1968 and it was one of those pivotal times in your life. After seeing what was the most beautiful, nationally known set of broodmares, we knew the direction we wanted our own breeding program to take. Doug, now deceased, was not only a well-respected AQHA judge, but an outstanding horseman, historian and wonderful friend. We miss his stories! Nancy Dear continues to this day to be a very special lady and "mentor". Such a wealth of AQHA history she has. She has been there and done it all, and has been a leading AQHA breeder for over 60 years, an honor few will ever achieve. She remains on the top ten list of leading breeders of AQHA champions today. So our broodmare band began in 1971 with the addition of Classy Bar (Sugar Bars/Leo) bloodlines and continues to this day with their grandget. We later became annual consignors to their Birdtail Ranch Sale from 1982-1996, it was a special time.
Another fateful trip was in June, 1980. Mary Kyler invited me to take a trip south to Walter Merrick's historic "14 Ranch" in Sayre, OK to pick up some of her mares that were there to be bred. Merrick's ranch was the home of Easy Jet, (then deceased Three Bars), Hempen, and many other stallions. We saw it all!! There were hundreds of visiting mares, plus the Merrick broodmare band of a hundred mares. We asked if we could hang around the barn for a few days and just observe the breeding operation of all these mares. It was my introduction to Artificial Insemination and I was simply fascinated. Walter, now deceased, is still one of the most respected and well known horseman , being inducted to the Hall of Fame for three organizations, AQHA, APHA and ApHC. Well, it was another pivotal moment in my life, and the next year Larry and I were off to AI School in Canada. We have been using AI on our farm since.
In 1989 two of our mares had foal term twin foals. We saved all four babies! But we needed a nurse mare or two and vowed never to do that again! (Since that year, we have our veterinarians check all mares on the farm with Ultra Sound to detect pregnancies). Another fateful trip was about to change our lives. After a frantic phone call to dear friends, Ed and Mary Kyler, we headed up to their ranch at Cascade, MT to borrow a wet mare. They gave us an older wet mare who had lost her foal. She was an own daughter of the legendary Three Bars. What a kind, and intelligent mare! She did an outstanding job of raising the twin. We were so impressed with her "smarts".
At that time, Kyler's had three beautiful daughters of Three Bars, we were in awe again! While collecting the Three Bars nurse mare that day, Ed was exercising his stallion, Royal Three Charge, SI 103, MQHA Race Horse of the year for MT. We had to have him! We were able to partner on him with Kyler's and still have him today. He is now a healthy 29 years old and is the sire of many of our current broodmares. Since that day, Ed and Mary, who have been special friends for over thirty years now have allowed us to buy several of their royally race bred mares for our broodmare band and have recently sold us our fancy, new black stallion, Profit Increase, SI 96 by the phenomenal First Down Dash. It can't get any better than this...we are having so much fun.
October,
2009, Mary Kyler, who has been involved in Quarter Horse racing for more
than 30 years, received the Mildred N. Vessels Special Achievement Award
from AQHA and the beautiful race horse bronze from Scoop Vessels. She and
her husband, Ed, have dedicated themselves to a lifetime of raising and
racing American Quarter Horses. From their ranch in Cascade, Montana, they
have bred 41 winners from 67 starters, including eight stakes winners.
( Photo on right, Mary Kyler and Scoop Vessels of Vessels Stallion farm).
Over the years we have been privileged to stand, Rebel Rocket, AA, AQHA Champion by World Champion Race horse, Rebel Cause, featured in the Legends books; Lancer Cat x Classy Bar (Sugar Bars/Leo); the black, superior race horse, Noor Charge, SI 92 x World Champion Race horse, Tiny Charger; Ribbon Page, the chocolate palomino, AQHA Champion by the buckskin AQHA Champion, Jay Page; and the jet black stallion, Pretty Classy Zip by Superior Race sire, Noor Charge, SI 92. They all lived long lives, brought us such joy, and they are all buried here at the ranch.
We currently stand two stallions; our jet black stallion Profit Increase, SI 96, SW by World Champion Race Horse and All- Time Leading Race sire, First Down Dash, SI 105; and a son of our retired stallion, Royal Three Charge, a young bay stallion, Royal Three Dash- aka Dr J, who is out of our grand old mare, Miss Jordash, SI 107, SW by the legendary Dash For Cash. They are both nominated to the Valley Girls Breeders Barrel Futurity/Derby in WA. Profit’s foals are also eligible for the Diamond Classic Races held in Billings, MT, Montana's Barrel Breeders Incentive, Speedhorse Races, Iowa QHA Racing Double Gold, the 5-State Breeders Barrel Futurity/Derby.
We have a select band of 18 beautiful, proven broodmares with plenty of black type! Many are AAA, and ROM RACE. They are daughters and granddaughters of Chicks Beduino, Dash Ta Fame, Royal Three Charge, First Down Dash and many have pedigrees including the close up bloodlines of Easy Jet, Zippo Pat Bars, Leo, Dash for Cash, Three Bars, Sugar Bars, Rebel Cause, Ribbon Page. Our weanling foals are sold yearly at the ranch and at the Montana Breeders Group Horse Sale held annually over Labor Day Weekend in September at the fairgrounds in Great Falls, MT.
Our goals have always been to breed and raise pretty, “athletic all-around horses” who stay sound and have quick speed, plenty of "cow" and willing trainable minds. Our horses have had great success on the track, as well as in the show arena, the rodeo arena. They have had long careers as outstanding ranch and pleasure horses as well. We have raised proven winners in Team Roping, Steer Wrestling, Breakaway Roping, Barrels, Longe Line, Pleasure and Halter as well as Racing. Our horses have the conformation, good feet, excellent withers, and the “ride” to do it all.
We have a full equine breeding facility with an attending equine reproduction veterinarian, Dr. Kurt Johnson, DVM, lab, large foaling stalls electronically monitored 24 hours a day, individual mare paddocks with shelters and irrigated pastures. To hasten valuable boarding and breeding time at the farm, Larry raises all of the oats and horse hay (grass/alfalfa mixed) we feed.
Quality care for our mare/foal “guests” are a primary goal at Prairie Breeze. It comes with lots of TLC and at reasonable rates.
All mares visiting Prairie Breeze enjoy the addition of our new 60' x 80' Barn with big foaling stalls with outside runs and automatic waterers. They also get to enjoy the large turn out paddocks with sheds and lots of shelter and windbreaks.
The coffee pot is always on, take time to come see us. We will take the time to show you around and see our beautiful horses! We love to talk "horse".
