SARAH BROWN: ONE COMMON THREAD

Growing up in Texas, ‘King Ranch’ was a frequently spoken name, whether you were in a pasture working cattle, a smokey bar, or playing a game of golf at the country club. It is after all, one of the most famous ranches in the world. Its extreme size and rich history are just a part of what makes the ranch legendary. The King Ranch has propagated its own championship cattle and quarter horses, and is the foundation of many quality breeding programs.

A large reason why the ranch is special to me goes all the way back to where my interest and love for horses really began. After a spinal injury that put my sports activities on pause, there was not much to do in a small town. If you’re visually looking for an activity, instead of buildings filled with arcades and roller rinks, your gaze will probably only be met with cattle and horses grazing in the field. That’s exactly what greeted me.

The first horse I saw when I came to Springtree Farms, which became my favorite place to be for years to come, was a big shapey sorrel mare named Sis. She was foaled out in the last years set at the ranch, which were to be trained and put to use before the trainer retired the program completely. He kept her around to overtake the ranching duties running F1 cattle pairs. The job came easy to her being cutting bred, with Peppy San Badger big on her papers and she was basically born dragging her butt in a stop like a wormy dog.

That meant nothing to me at the time with my little knowledge in the equine world, but the man that introduced me to her talked of one day breeding her because of her pedigree, build and proven abilities on the ranch. I learned to start my first colt at that ranch, which were Sis’s younger siblings, and were quite similar to mustangs in nature. They were never handled and only saw humans when someone gathered cattle in the neighboring pasture. This came to be much more challenging than a moldable, less flighty 2-year-old that took to being worked with more naturally. This was silly looking back, that I learned the hardest skill first, breaking outlaw broncs like it was the 1800’s, when I could barely tie a rope halter correctly and weighed 100lbs soaking wet.

I was running on the mindset of a middle school girl’s romance, influenced by movies like ‘Flicka. It was a false confidence for sure and proved to be quite a different process. Thankfully that rancher that got me started on my first colt was willing to lend a lot of his time in the round pen, and shared his skillset modeled after trainers like Bill Dorance which I still use today. When it came time to train well bred, young horses a couple years later, people said I made it look easy, which to me, it was in comparison. After finding my passion of colt starting with a focus on good horsemanship then turning it into a profession, the man that introduced me to that special mare Sis years before gifted her to me on my 20th birthday. She became my first broodmare who gave me some amazing colts that carry her outstanding talent and are running in my program today. They are FULL of grit, cowyness, athleticism, brains and are built to pull down a brick house, which was all founded at the King.

Everything KR, such as evolutionary farming and land management practices, to wildlife conservation and the craftsmanship of tooled leather in the saddle shop there is one common thread…. Elevated quality.