When Mike and Gail Mann moved to Scio, Oregon from Southern California
35 years ago, They came up with a plan to raise conformationally correct
all-around horses, good-looking horses that can move. Their original broodmares
were running horses and as dams helped to contribute size and structure.
While Mann's Quarter Horses is known for producing and showing halter
champions, Mike and Gail are quick to point out that their goal is to
breed and raise horses with balanced athletic bodies. They intend to create
horses with strong skeletal structures and muscles enough to excel as
performance horses, not as an animal with the bones of a bird and the
bulk of a Sumo wrestler.
Today, they stand two stallions and will ship semen for both of them.
Secure Future, known as "Sonny," is a seven year old by Sonnys
Securitee. At 15.3 hands, he has the size and structure they want in a
stallion. This young stallion, with only four foal crops on the ground,
is an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Superior Halter Sire n
the AQHA Leading Sires list for 1999-2000. They are impressed with the
catty movement of Sonny's get so look for him to be known as a performance
horse sire, too, once more of his sons and daughters are mature enough
to show under saddle.
Gail finds it ironic that although they purchased Sonny in Texas, he carries
many of the old Northwest bloodlines, including
Bally Hobo, Imperial One,
and Doc's Dee Bar, which the Manns rely on to produce champion Quarter
Horses. They actually agreed to purchase him before his birth, based on
his breeding, provided he tested negative for HYPP. His tests showed he
is free of this genetic disease that has caused suffering and death for
so many horses.
Noble Mannerism is by
Bally Hobo, the Mann's longtime senior stallion,
and out of a mare of Desiertos breeding. This home-grown stallion is AQHA
Halter Register of Merit, has 27 grand or reserve championships and has
won four major futurities. He, too, has proved himself as a sire and is
free of the HYPP gene.
The Farm and The Mann Family
Mann's Quarter Horses is the story of a family farm, one that began 1,000
miles away in Southern California. Gail's parents were show business people
in vaudeville, but she says that her father, a Texas native, "had
cow in him" and "every Texan has to have a ranch." They
settled first in San Diego County and began a herd of polled Hereford
show cattle. Mike Mann happened to live next door. He and Gail grew up
as neighbors, competing against each other showing cattle. The competition
must have been the friendly sort as it led to their tying the marriage
knot. Together, they continued to help Gail's parents with the cattle
operation and as a sideline, raised quarter horses.
High land prices and the necessity of trucking in livestock feed to Southern
California drove the family to move to 580 acres outside of Scio, Oregon.
Although part of the ranch has been sold, approximately 380 acres remain.
Most of the land is in timber, and it supports a population of deer, bear,
and a flock of 60 wild turkeys that sweep through the farm yard daily,
looking for oats.
Originally the cattle helped pay to raise the family's Quarter Horses;
then the tables turned, and horse sales had to support the cows. Finally,
keeping show cattle no longer made economic sense. Gail says, "the
saddest day in my life was the day the big trucks hauled the cattle away."
Mike worked full-time for the Albany police department and came home to
care for horses and to erect buildings. Now retired, he shakes his head
in wonder at all he accomplished, often working from early in the morning
until late into the night. Mike originally built the main barn for cattle.
He later adapted it for horses, with 26 stalls and a riding arena in the
center. He barely noticed his formal retirement. He simply hired himself
full-time at the farm and now works harder than ever at what he loves.
The Mann's son and daughter‹ a former Youth champion‹ both showed
Quarter Hoses. Now, their daughter Shirley's sons, Mackenzie (Mack) and
Mark, have decided that they, too, want to be involved with horses. On
every bit of wall space in their home, tack room, office, and even in
the barn bathroom, hang winning photographs of family and friends showing
Champion Quarter Horses.
Gail keeps herself busier than ever by judging. She holds judging cards
from seven different breed associations and teaches horse care classes
at Linn Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. Her busy life hit
a snag three years ago when an injury called for a spinal fusion. Training
horses and healing from back surgery are two totally incompatible endeavors.
A good friend asked if Gail might need someone to help with the horses
during her recovery. Her friend's granddaughter had enrolled at Oregon
State University in Corvallis and liked to work with horses. "If
I ever needed somebody, I need somebody now!" was Gail's response.
In less time than it takes for a horse to swish his tail, Kelli Renfro
started working for the Manns. They appreciate Kelli's quiet patience
with the horses. "She's a godsend," says Gail.
The Influence of Bally Hobo
Every breeder knows that an exceptional stallion can cement a good reputation.
The trick is to find such a special horse. For Mike and Gail, fate, not
luck or research, guided them. On Christmas Day, 1969, Gail lost Lit'
Bit, a favorite horse of hers. In his 30s when he died, Lit' Bit's
unusual wide blaze always made him stand out from other horses.
The following spring, Gail and Mike often drove the road from Scio to
Albany, Oregon. Someone had leased the big grass-seed field, where the
road makes a corner, and had turned 50 broodmares out to pasture. They
knew a church group owned the property, but who had leased it? Where had
the mares come from? Who owned them?
On May 1, 1970, one of the mares in the big field dropped a colt with
a face marking similar to Lit' Bit. Mike and Gail stopped frequently,
and each time the curious colt would come to meet them at the fence. Then,
one day in fall, all the mares and foals were gone.
The following spring, Gail decided to look for a stallion with some height
to breed mares they owned that had been sired by Quincy Dan. The mares
were certainly nice, but on the small side. Gail found an advertisement
for a 16.1-hand stallion called Bally Beers, standing not far from them
in Jefferson, Oregon.
Gail made an appointment to look at the stallion. She liked him, but what
did he produce? Gail asked the owner if he had any colts by Bally Beers
that she could see. Yes, he had a coming yearling colt in the barn. A
broodmare had kicked the colt, so he brought him to treat the injury.
The man led out the colt with the unusual white blaze. "My gosh!
Where did you get that colt?" cried Gail. "Well, he's my colt!" The man replied.
"Is he for sale?" The question flew out of Gail's mouth.
She raced home to tell Mike. "You've got to come with me to see this
horse we're going to breed the mares to, and you've got to see the colt."
They returned to Jefferson to make arrangements to breed the Quincy Dan
mares to Bally Beers and to buy
Bally Hobo, the colt with the wide blaze.
"He knew he had me, hook, line and sinker," says Gail. "It
didn't matter if it (the price of the colt) was $100 or $100,000.
"
Bally Hobo gave us everything we have today. He was such a great
sire. It was like he was destined to be in our barn."
At barely age three
Bally Hobo finished his AQHA Championship and went
on to make history as a sire. Mike says they were fortunate in that Hobo
crossed well on the Quincy Dan daughters and on so many other family lines,
particularly Snipper Reed bred mares.
Mike and Gail showed
Bally Hobo; their son and daughter showed the stallion's
offspring; and now grandsons Mac and Mark are showing Hobo's grandget
.
He was the best friend," says Gail. "The best horse we ever
owned. We grew old together; we grayed together.
Bally Hobo lived with the Manns for 29 years and is buried on the farm.
"Where he can keep an eye on everybody", says Gail.
Philosophy of Horses and Customers
Mike and Gail note that their original goal of breeding marketable horses
with correct conformation and athletic ability still serves them well.
The Manns sum up their remarkable ability to choose prepotent stallions
by explaining that their stallions need to be kind and correct, with marketable
traits and capable to stamping babies with their image.
Mike and Gail believe that their young horses deserve to be trained with
skill and understanding, not force. Colts get experience outdoors on trails
through forests and fields as well as by schooling in the arena. Bullying
a horse into submission during training is not the procedure at Mann's
Quarter Horses. Gail wants their horses to keep the ability to think on
their own and to retain their individual expressiveness in presentation.
Gail and Mike are happy to work with people who want to show, but whose
bodies don't allow them to ride comfortably or well. Winning with a halter
horse can provide pleasure and accomplishment to clients like Johnny,
a dwarf, who enjoys showing at halter and even at the AQHA World Show.
Another client had polio when young and later shattered his back in a
fall. At 65, he walks with a cane, but he won an Amateur Grand Championship
at his first show last February.
The Manns want their clients to know how to handle horses and to become
involved with them. Clients, they reason, need to acquire their own horse-handling
skills to cope with any situation. Customers are special people to the
Manns. Gail says, "I feel the best part of the industry is the customers
we've had. (They) have been friends, and they continue to come back and
bring friends with them. We eat together, we visit together."
On New Year's Eve, they host a party for 85 to 90 people. Ninety percent
of the guests are horse people: customers, competitors, and friends. What
do Mike and Gail plan for the future?
"Winning and having fun one year at a time," says Mike. Gail
elaborates, "We want to continue the shared experience between man
and horse. It's always been out way don't think we're going to change
in the future."
(Reprinted from the Cascade Horseman, April , 2001.)