Jo Ann wanted a show horse!
Her first registered Missouri Fox Trotter was purchased in June, 1968
and proved to be just the horse she needed! During those first few
seasons, they learned together and competed in local shows throughout
the Ozarks. They didn't win any championships, but those first
years provided the foundation for the championship seasons to follow.
Jo Ann's love of horses started in her childhood on the
same farm where she now lives with her husband, John. Her parents,
Owen and Mary Neill, were dairy farmers and kept both work and saddle
horses. She recalls that as a child she would walk to the fields
where her dad was working with the horses just so she could ride one
back to the house. During World War II, when gasoline was in short
supply, many people rode horses rather than drive. Several people
kept saddle horses in Buffalo. After the war, horse shows
featuring American Saddlebred and Tennessee Walking horses became
popular throughout the Ozarks. Even as a young teen she thought,
"it would be wonderful to show horses". That was before
the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse - bred from American Saddlebred,
Tennessee Walking Horses and Morgan Horses - was recognized as a
distinct breed.
That first mare and those early days on the show
circuits became the foundations for Alford Stables - the blood and the
experience necessary for future success! "One of the reasons
we've been successful," says Jo Ann, "is that I was able to
buy a good, registered mare and was given sound advice".
Our training facilities have changed quite a bit over
the years. Thirty years ago, our horses were trained by riding
down the gravel road to the Buffalo Saddle Club arena. Soon, John
using a lawn mower, carved out an arena in the field east of the house.
With the addition of a board fence, we had an arena that would suffice
for many years. As the family's involvement increased, so did the
need for better training facilities. In 1995, lights and new white
vinyl fencing were added to the outdoor arena. The big change
occurred in 1998 with the construction of a large indoor riding,
breeding and training facility. From the outside, it looks like
simply a large barn, but it's much, much more!
The new facility is an industrial grade steel truss and
white metal sided building that is 150 feet long and 144 feet wide
(except for the additional eight feet added to the southeast end to
accommodate the exercise walker). It has 26 stalls, 12 on one side
and 14 on the other, with a 72 foot wide arena down the middle. The
treated pine and steel stalls measure 12 by 12 feet and 12 by 18 feet,
with the stallions in the larger ones.
Stalls feature heated, automatic waterers, rubber floor
mats and stall fronts that swing out for easy cleaning. The wash
rack, two crossties and foaling stalls have overhead heaters.
Special care has been taken in the foaling stalls.
Each has an overhead heater and is connected via close circuit camera to
a monitor at the house. Heat sensitive transmitters are implanted
in each expectant mare. Inserted in the birth canal a couple of
weeks prior to the foaling date, the tiny transmitters are activated
when expelled, alerting us (by alarm, telephone and pager) of the onset
of delivery.
The breeding section includes a padded mare breeding
area complete with a foal box. Everything is designed for safety
and efficiency. Nearby is a palpitating stock, which can be used
for pregnancy checking mares or for artificial insemination.
With five stallions and a nationwide market for
foxtrotters, cooled, shipped semen has become an important part of our
business. Cooled, shipped semen appeals many horse owners because
mares (often with foals by side) don't have to be shipped far away from
home to strange surroundings. It is a much more efficient use of
the stallion and it's safer! The use of cooled, shipped, semen
makes the championship bloodlines of our great stallions available to
horse owners nationwide.
This process is used frequently on the farm because it
allows us to breed the same stallion to several mares on the same day.
The semen is collected on site, its concentration determined by a
calibrated sperm counter and examined under a microscope for motility
and appearance. (Jan and Julie have had special training in these
techniques at the University of Missouri and Colorado State University.)
Once the semen is processed, it is either used immediately or cooled
(not frozen) and shipped in special containers to clients by overnight
express. Guaranteed viable for 48 hours, the semen will be to the
mare within 24 hours of collection. (We expect to try frozen semen
in the near future.)
Alford Stables is among a few foxtrotter breeders using
Embryo Transfer to improve our bloodlines. In 1999, full sibling
colts were born at our stable only days apart due to embryo transfer.
Since our first implant in 1997, we have foaled several embryo transfer
foals. The procedures were done at a private equine practice in
Missouri and at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Co.
It's not something we do on a large scale but only for special crosses.
With a brand-new breeding and training facility, using
state of the art breeding techniques and a wealth of experience, Alford
Stables is in the position to help foxtrotter owners with their breeding
program.
The Family
 |
Alford Stables
is a family business with each family member having a full time
job plus duties that must be done within the horse operation.
Remaining involved in the horse
business while maintaining separate careers is a tough balancing
act. It works because everyone is very committed, very goal
oriented and very success-oriented! |
Jan
(left), Jo Ann (bottom)
John (right) & Dr. Julie (top) |
[Click small photo to view larger
family photo.] |
John has been a school teacher for over 47 years, the
last 36 years teaching mathematics at Springfield Central High School.
He handles the stallions, using the same attitude and authority that he
uses to successfully manage his teenage students. He also keeps
everything in good working order which is really a full time job in an
operation this size.
Jo Ann, his bride since 1953, is teacher/director of
Head Start in Dallas County, where she has worked for over 33 years.
She is responsible for hay and feed purchases, decisions on breeding and
has the "best eye" as a coach and critic with respect to the
rider and the horse.
Jan is a chemistry and physics teacher at Buffalo High
School. She is the farm manager, handling the breeding operation, and
overseeing the foaling. She shares the riding and showing
responsibilities with her sister.
Dr. Julie is a physician serving as Chief of
Interventional Radiology at St. John's Health Center in Springfield, Mo.
She is very involved with the promotion and advertising of the stables
and works with the embryo transfer program along with her riding and
showing duties.
At the family stables southwest of Buffalo, the Alfords
keep a herd of some 50 selectively bred foxtrotting horses, including
show horses, brood mares, foals and five breeding stallions. Everyone is kept very busy in this horse business and it all started
with a mare named J's Cricket.
