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Fairlea Ranch • John and Kate Hyde Badger, CA • 559.337.2595 • E mail |
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Created by EquineDesigns.net |
NOVEMBER 5-19 | OKLAHOMA CITY, OK | STATE FAIR PARKFROM EMMY TO WORLD TROPHY
FOR JOHN HYDE, A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IS MORE THRILLING THAN WINNING AN EMMY.
BY TONYA RATLIFF-GARRISON, INTERNET MANAGER
John Hyde has another golden trophy to add to his shelf. But instead of a winged woman holding the world, it’s a Quarter Horse surrounded by the world.
John and Kate Hyde, owners of Fairlea Ranch, pose with their world trophy their stallion, Silver Gun, won in senior heeling. Their trainers, Benny Guitron and Todd Hampton, encouraged them to take the stallion to the World Show.
In 1990, the Los Angeles film and television producer won an Emmy for “The Simpsons,” of which he was the animation executive producer. But when his stallion, Silver Gun, won the world championship title for senior heeling on November 16, John said it just didn’t compare.“I turned to my wife, Kate, and said this is more exciting than when I got the Emmy,” he said. “The Emmy was not as big of a deal because this world championship is all ours. When you work on an animated project, there’s a whole number of people who work on it, but this award is an individual accomplishment for Kate and me.”
John has been around horses most of his life and grew up riding them in southern Michigan.
“I was one of those kids that was brought up on the back of a horse,” he said. “But like everyone else, there came a point where I had to choose between horses, girls and cars. Girls and cars won out.”
And when he left home for New York University, horses really took a back seat.
It wasn’t until he and his new bride, Kate, moved to California that horses reentered his life. In the mid-1980s, the couple bought a 1,500-acre ranch in Badger, California, they named Fairlea Ranch. They put a few ranch-bred horses on the place.
“Then in 1984, we bought five Quarter Horses from a local competitor by the name of Clarence Holbrook, and that started us in Quarter Horses,” John said.
The versatility of the Quarter Horse impressed the Hydes.
“We think they are fantastic, the breadth of talent that you have in Quarter Horses,” John said. “You have the hunter-jumpers. You have the pleasure driving. And you have the cow horses. It’s fantastic that the Quarter Horse has that kind of versatility in the one breed. It’s truly amazing.”
Later, another friend, Tom Marvel, put John on a cutting horse, once again changing his life.
“He changed all our lives,” Kate said. “Our life sort of made a big left turn at that point as far as the horses were concerned.”
They eventually moved into showing and raising reined cow horses and, until recently, John was on the National Reined Cow Horse Association board, for which he served for four years.
In 1987, they bought a stallion named Colonel Pic, a son of Colonel Freckles and out of a daughter of Sugar Vandy and Fillinic. That started them in the breeding business. They later purchased Smart Steady Date, a full brother to Steady Tradition, and Silver Gun, or “Bullet.”
Kate runs the ranch and calls John her “weekend husband.”
“As he says, we have a working ranch: He works and I ranch,” she said with a smile.
John drives the three hours from Badger to Los Angeles every week, and stays in the couple’s townhouse. He tries to be on the ranch during the weekends.
Kate doesn’t ride, and John isn’t able to show because of his work.
“I always say I’m going to (show amateur) when I have enough time to practice and do it right,” he said. “The problem is the job that I am in, I’m very limited in the time that I can take away and do it.”
So it’s up to their trainers to campaign their horses, and AQHA Professional Horseman Benny Guitron is the one they turn to most often.
The famed reined cow horse trainer has shown Bullet and several other Fairlea Ranch horses for the Hydes. Guitron encouraged them to enter the World Show for the first time this year.
They put Bullet in roping training with Guitron’s friend, Todd Hampton. The little gray stallion qualified in senior working cow horse, senior heading and senior heeling. And when it was all said and done, Bullet had a world championship in heeling and was in the top-five of the Sooner Trailer Superhorse race.
“We keep asking ourselves what took us so long,” John said with a laugh. “We were thrilled that Bullet was one of the 30 that qualified for the Superhorse. Now that we understand more about the World Show and Superhorse, we’ll probably campaign him again and try to win Superhorse next year. It’s just too exciting not to do it.”
SENIOR HEELING
FIRST TRIP TO THE WORLD SHOW YIELDS A CHAMPIONSHIP FOR JOHN AND KATIE HYDE'S SILVER GUN.
BY TONYA RATLIFF-GARRISON, INTERNET MANAGER
CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON FOR VIDEO
John and Katie Hyde of Fairlea Ranch have had American Quarter Horses for 20 years, but this is the first time they ever brought a horse to the World Show. And they’re mighty glad they did.On Wednesday, November 16, Silver Gun, the California couple’s 7-year-old stallion, won the senior heeling world title with trainer Todd Hampton aboard.
“This is our very first trip to the World Show,” John said shortly after the win. “Thanks to our trainers, we’re here and we’re walking away with a world championship. It’s pretty mind numbing.”
The Hydes purchased “Bullet” when he was a yearling at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity Sale. AQHA Professional Horseman Benny Guitron showed the stallion in reined cow horse events, and he amassed almost $15,000 in lifetime earnings.
Guitron convinced the Hydes to take Bullet to the World Show and show him in senior working cow horse as well as in heeling and heading. About 11 months ago, Guitron asked his friend, Hampton, to train the horse in roping.
“I started showing him in January and he really took to it,” Hampton said.
Todd Hampton and Silver Gun marked a 225.5 to win the senior heeling world title.
Bullet made it back to the finals in both heeling and heading. He placed seventh in heading.“He was really good,” Hampton said. “I just think he drawed up a little early in the list but run-wise he was really good.”
It was his heeling class where Bullet really shined.
“We had a great run,” Hampton said. “He had a good steer. Anytime you get a steer that tries to run to where you can really show your horse, then it makes it a lot easier. It may be a little tougher to catch them, but it’s better to show your horse.”
Hampton also credits his heading help, Jay Wadhams, with helping make the win possible.
“He did an awful good job for me, and it just all worked out,” Hampton said.
The Hydes had thought about retiring Bullet, but after the success of this year’s World Show, they are considering campaigning the stallion again next year.
“It’s just too exciting not to do it,” John said with a laugh.
WINNER STATS
Horse name: Silver Gun
Pedigree: Playgun x Miss Freckles Reed by Colonel Freckles
Owner: Fairlea Ranch, Badger, California
Exhibitor: Todd Hampton, Chowchilla, California
Trainer: Todd Hampton, Chowchilla, California, and Benny Guitron, Merced, California
Breeder: Dick Pieper, Marietta, OklahomaTotal Class Entries: 79
Purse: $54,273World Champion Prizes: Gold trophy, Montana Silversmiths buckle, Cripple Creek jacket, Tex Tan AQHA spurs, Justin ostrich Tekno Crepe boots, Professional's Choice products, Nutrena feed, neck ribbon
Badger, CA • 559.337.2595 • E mail