My husband and I discovered Missouri Fox Trotters (MFTs) when we went on a horse camping trip with our QH and paint geldings. By the third day we could hardly move we were so sore from riding. My knees were killing me. On the last leg back to the trailhead, a new friend of ours glided past us as fresh as day one. She was riding an MFT. That clinched it. We sold our horses and went looking for some MFTs, traveling as far as MO, AR and WY.

Fox trotters have a congenial "Yes ma'am" attitude, and are soundly put together with good bone, good joints and good-sized feet. They lack the big lick gait of their close cousins, the Tennesse Walking Horses (TWHs), which makes them great all-round and trail horses — smooth, and steady on rough ground. I admired them so much I decided to raise a colt or two.

Life is short. It didn't make sense to raise an ordinary colt when it would be quicker and easier to just buy an ordinary colt. Better to put the time and effort into researching and obtaining outstanding bloodlines, and raise an exceptional colt, one worth keeping. One that would advance the breed, and possibly prove to be worth breeding one day.

I was very fortunate to find a living daughter of foundation stallion and Mack K's Yankee for the foundation of my program, to which I added WGC Southern Sunrise breeding, WGC Black Cloud C. breeding and Zane Gray/Dallas J/Lady Sue bloodlines. The Black Cloud x Dallas J line cross presented us with our exquisite gold champagne stallion: Black Cloud Squadron "Pappy." More about the genetics behind our horses.

Life also takes many turns. Some health issues have limited my riding but also prompted me to go back to school full-time as a pre-med student on the road to getting a doctorate in nutrition at age 52. So, the day has come to sell the horses we never thought we'd part with. Our champagne stallion Pappy, Sassy and her Sunrise daughter, and a colt and filly by Sassy & Pappy, are now for sale.