B-BAR-B RANCH
Katie Breckenridge
katieb(at)bbarb.com
Post Office Box 685
Picabo Idaho 83348
Phone 208•788•4424
Katie Breckenridge
katieb(at)bbarb.com
Post Office Box 685
Picabo Idaho 83348
Phone 208•788•4424
Philosophy
THE HISTORY AND EDUCATION PROCESS
OF OUR B BAR B HORSES
BLOOD LINES OF OUR COLTS
The horses on the B Bar B Ranch are the product of forty-seven years of Katie’s dedication and vision to breed, foal, raise and prepare an athlete for the future. Our program is steeped in her philosophy that one must bred the horse for the future – not the present – because by the time the horse reaches its age to become a working athlete, it’s bloodline could be considered something of the past.
The breeding program started in 1982 with two strong bloodlines – King Fritz and Doc Bar. Booger H Chex was purchased as a four-year-old and had limited arena showing but a very successful career. We continued to show him as a 5- and 6-year-old and retired him to the ranch. His first couple of years (starting in 1982) as a breeding stallion were AI and after that, he pastured bred his band of mares until 1997. We did not stand him to outside mares after the 1984 breed season. Bubbling Doc Bar was purchased as a 2-year-old and trained to be shown as a 3 year old.
However, an old injury as a yearling prevented him from further training and he starting pasture breeding to only ranch mares in 1985.
Katie purchased five mares that became the foundation and the first generation of the B Bar B bloodlines. The mares were bred to each of the two stallions thru their breeding life time. Fillies from the crosses on these mares on the two different studs were then kept in the growing brood mare bands. Each filly was chosen on her personality, bone structure, conformation and soundness and eventually on her offspring.
The two studs brought out their strong traits – grit from the King Fritz and balanced conformation that perpetuated hard stops, easy lead changes and a natural way of moving and turning. Bubbling Doc Bar passed his keen head, deep curiosity, cow sense and flowing movement to his colts.
The bloodlines from these two original studs are still strong and can easily be identified in their sons and daughters. And the mares crossed well with both lines and their characteristics carry thru to their sons and daughters as well.
In 2007 we added “stretch and run” to the breeding program in our stallion Smokem Darling. By introducing “Smoke” to the program we now have an athletic with a trainable mind, lots of rate, cow sense, good bone, correct conformation, and speed – the athletic for today and tomorrow.
RAISING OUR B BAR B COLTS
All of our horses on the ranch are bred, foaled and raised and we are in the 5th generation of these horses. The mares are pastured bred with two bands on the ranch – one for each stallion. The foals are born in large irrigated pastures. We bring them in to wean when they are approximated 6 to 7 months old. And this event starts their exposure to humans. We wean them in groups of 5 to 7 colts and put them in corrals with good high panel fences and our ranch raised hay in feeders that are full all the time. The mares are moved to large pastures about a mile from the barn/indoor arena where the colts at being fed.
Small groups of colts are let into the indoor for short periods of time and exposed to Katie on a non-pressure bases. They can move from the indoor arena into the barn and into stalls at their own will. After about a week of this exposure, each colt is locked into a stall. Time is spent with them until they accept Katie’s present, touch, ropes and flags and finally a halter. This process takes about 10 days. They are then vaccinated and wormed and turned out into a large pasture for the winter.
In the spring of their yearling year, the stud colts are all gelded and vaccinated and wormed. We work with each one for about 3 weeks. The fillies are handled for about 2 weeks and are wormed and vaccinated. All colts are then turned out “on the mountain” and run on steep sage brush and lava hillsides until the summer grass is gone.
They are then brought back into the barn area and all the methods of exposure, ropes, flags, balls, etc. are again presented to them. They are then turned out in a large field with full hay mangers for the winter.
In the spring of their two year old year all the colts are again worked on the ground with ropes, balls, tarps, halters, etc. and are PREPARED to be offered for sale. They are wormed and vaccinated.
They have learned to handle their feet in a natural environment running off the hillsides, move in groups of horses and being bumped as they move off the hills, come to being called and go thru gates, move into small stall doors, step up into wooden stalls, accept human boundaries, pick up their feet, blankets all over their bodies, etc.
They have not been tied up!! Katie feels this is an event that needs to happen after the colt has totally learned to “give to pressure”.
The goal of the ranch program is to create and expose the horse’s mind to be accepting of pressure and to look for what the human is asking. We PREPARE the colts to go to their next home. And our horses are found in all venues of the horse industry.
OF OUR B BAR B HORSES
BLOOD LINES OF OUR COLTS
The horses on the B Bar B Ranch are the product of forty-seven years of Katie’s dedication and vision to breed, foal, raise and prepare an athlete for the future. Our program is steeped in her philosophy that one must bred the horse for the future – not the present – because by the time the horse reaches its age to become a working athlete, it’s bloodline could be considered something of the past.
The breeding program started in 1982 with two strong bloodlines – King Fritz and Doc Bar. Booger H Chex was purchased as a four-year-old and had limited arena showing but a very successful career. We continued to show him as a 5- and 6-year-old and retired him to the ranch. His first couple of years (starting in 1982) as a breeding stallion were AI and after that, he pastured bred his band of mares until 1997. We did not stand him to outside mares after the 1984 breed season. Bubbling Doc Bar was purchased as a 2-year-old and trained to be shown as a 3 year old.
However, an old injury as a yearling prevented him from further training and he starting pasture breeding to only ranch mares in 1985.
Katie purchased five mares that became the foundation and the first generation of the B Bar B bloodlines. The mares were bred to each of the two stallions thru their breeding life time. Fillies from the crosses on these mares on the two different studs were then kept in the growing brood mare bands. Each filly was chosen on her personality, bone structure, conformation and soundness and eventually on her offspring.
The two studs brought out their strong traits – grit from the King Fritz and balanced conformation that perpetuated hard stops, easy lead changes and a natural way of moving and turning. Bubbling Doc Bar passed his keen head, deep curiosity, cow sense and flowing movement to his colts.
The bloodlines from these two original studs are still strong and can easily be identified in their sons and daughters. And the mares crossed well with both lines and their characteristics carry thru to their sons and daughters as well.
In 2007 we added “stretch and run” to the breeding program in our stallion Smokem Darling. By introducing “Smoke” to the program we now have an athletic with a trainable mind, lots of rate, cow sense, good bone, correct conformation, and speed – the athletic for today and tomorrow.
RAISING OUR B BAR B COLTS
All of our horses on the ranch are bred, foaled and raised and we are in the 5th generation of these horses. The mares are pastured bred with two bands on the ranch – one for each stallion. The foals are born in large irrigated pastures. We bring them in to wean when they are approximated 6 to 7 months old. And this event starts their exposure to humans. We wean them in groups of 5 to 7 colts and put them in corrals with good high panel fences and our ranch raised hay in feeders that are full all the time. The mares are moved to large pastures about a mile from the barn/indoor arena where the colts at being fed.
Small groups of colts are let into the indoor for short periods of time and exposed to Katie on a non-pressure bases. They can move from the indoor arena into the barn and into stalls at their own will. After about a week of this exposure, each colt is locked into a stall. Time is spent with them until they accept Katie’s present, touch, ropes and flags and finally a halter. This process takes about 10 days. They are then vaccinated and wormed and turned out into a large pasture for the winter.
In the spring of their yearling year, the stud colts are all gelded and vaccinated and wormed. We work with each one for about 3 weeks. The fillies are handled for about 2 weeks and are wormed and vaccinated. All colts are then turned out “on the mountain” and run on steep sage brush and lava hillsides until the summer grass is gone.
They are then brought back into the barn area and all the methods of exposure, ropes, flags, balls, etc. are again presented to them. They are then turned out in a large field with full hay mangers for the winter.
In the spring of their two year old year all the colts are again worked on the ground with ropes, balls, tarps, halters, etc. and are PREPARED to be offered for sale. They are wormed and vaccinated.
They have learned to handle their feet in a natural environment running off the hillsides, move in groups of horses and being bumped as they move off the hills, come to being called and go thru gates, move into small stall doors, step up into wooden stalls, accept human boundaries, pick up their feet, blankets all over their bodies, etc.
They have not been tied up!! Katie feels this is an event that needs to happen after the colt has totally learned to “give to pressure”.
The goal of the ranch program is to create and expose the horse’s mind to be accepting of pressure and to look for what the human is asking. We PREPARE the colts to go to their next home. And our horses are found in all venues of the horse industry.