The Real Thing

Gay Coates

Well it's been several years now and I believe we are going to survive the loss of our daughter, Frankie. Although the pain is still here, I recall the days when we'd be winter feeding off the back of the flat bed wagon... She'd say "Mom, I guess this makes us the Real Thing”. We'd get to gigglin' as the soft snow flakes drifted down on a couple best friends doin' what we loved most.
 
Back then, there were three of us working the ranch with two of us taking care of the horse end of the business. Nowadays I do the livestock and Jim takes care of the manly stuff around the ranch.
 
The smell of coffee in the early mornings.... broodmares calling to their babies.... "Breakfast"! I can hear the three stallions talking back and forth and at times even a coyote yapping or the neighbor's bull trying to entice our few cows to visit his pasture.
 
Sometimes it's a lot of work but after 30 plus years of breeding, training and selling these good Foundation Quarter Horses, we have made many "best friends" and as you can appreciate, it takes that positive circle of friends to make life worth living. So even though we don't make BIG BUCKS, we do enjoy life and continue to offer the best "Foundation" type Quarter Horses money can buy at a very reasonable price. We are plentifully blessed with the choices we've made, and that says a lot about our success in being a "reputable breeder" in the horse industry today.
 
Visitors are always welcome. Amble through the broodmare pastures or just sit on the back of the hay wagon in the winter, observing and taking part in the "Real Thing”.