![]() She had a saddle bred stallion named "Anicashiro Shamrock". Isabell Dodge Sloan owned Castleton Farm on the Iron Works Pike. In 1948 my father had a grade saddle bred mare. The last piece of the original farm sold for $51,000 per acre. INFLATION! In 1945 my grandparents bought land on the Newtown Pike for $340 per acre. When ever he came to the farm he always took time to explain things to me.! I would also like to give Dr Ed Fallon credit for being a wonderful reproduction teacher. I was hooked as I loved the horses anyway and wanted to learn all I could. So I bred her to a free season horse and sold her in the fall for $1200. Our good friend and neighbor Paul Mallory told me she was for sale and I could afford her. I joined the farm managers club and purchased my first mare from Ben Castleman fo $300. I took over the day to day management of the barn and helped out with the horse transportation. That's when my father decided it was time for me to go to work and he was right! Needless to say between Kappa Al pha and Keeneland I was only average. The next year I attended Transylvania University and lived there thinking I would be a better student. Working for Dr Davidson after school each day and slipping off to Keeneland during the meets was not conducive to my studies. I had attended UK for three semesters thinking that I wanted to become a Veterinarian. In 1973 I believe was my first year of membership to the Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club. I cannot tell you how much was shared at the bar before and after the meeting. It was the place were current information was shared. The average attendance in the 70's was 60. The KTFMC in those days were held at the Thoroughbred Restaurant on Leestown Road. He stated that Round Table had made the most the previous season and that was 75. His name was Colonel Floyd Sager and he he was held in high esteem among the hardboots! The question was was ask " Colonel, how many mares do you recommend breeding to a stallion per season"? His reply was "Bull Hancock and I believe that a stallion need not make more than 100 covers per breeding season". Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club of which I was a member.Įach year in February at our meeting we would have a Veterinarian come and prepare us for the upcoming breeding season. Who would have dreamed that I would be working 70 hours a week during breeding season! I think it's time to go to bed and dream about the good old days!!!Īs I get ready to go on my breeding mission of the day I received a voicemail from a friend telling me of his recalling a talk at the Ky. Hagyard and Rood-Riddle have about 50 vets each. Claiborne would be breeding mares on Sunday evening, and 100 mares would be a small book. The biggest changes I noticed upon returning were, electric gates, overbooked stallions, and most of the work force hispanic! I never dreamed that I would be driving to Frankfort to breed mares. I was out of the horse business from 1987 until 2001. Dr Davidson was one of the finest men I have ever met. We operated on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and by emergency. I was so blessed to be able to work for Dr Arthur Davidson in the surgery for two years. Spendthift and The Stallion Station were the largest sheds, and Hagyards was the largest equine veterinarian firm in world with 12 vets. Claiborne did not breed on Sunday! Every farm sent an a ttendant with the mare to be bred. Claiborne farm was the farthest away and it seemed like an all day trip. Almost all of the stud farms were within a 10 mile radius of the"Jotem Down Store". Our farm was across from Elizabeth Arden's " Maine Chance Farm. In 1962 my family started a horse boarding and transportation business. Sometimes I wonder why the horse business in the Bluegrass has changed so much.
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