St. Clair Performance Horses
In 1980, Mike and Kim St. Clair went to an auction to purchase an AQHA mare. The eye catching, stout palomino they wanted had sold, without them bidding on her, so Mike went down the alley and purchased the horse from the latest owner. They got the 3-year-old filly home and went to ride her, only to discover she'd never been ridden outside.
"For two weeks, I loped circles on her in a barn we call 'Echo' that Kim's grandfather built", Mike said "Then we threw the doors open and started riding her outside. She had Gold King Bailey and Cutter Bill on her papers. She was the beginning of our breeding program."
Horses have always been part of the St. Clair family. Prior to the purchase of their first AQHA mare, Mike and Kim had only owned grade horses. Mike's grandpa used to purchase unregistered, roman nosed, big western horses on the railheads.
The ranch land has been in the family since 1862. The 1800-acre ranch is in Kahoka, Missouri and consists of 1200 acres of pasture and 600 acres of row crop ground. Mike's great great grandfather claimed the homestead.
"My great uncle, then my uncle owned the land" Mike said, "We purchased 160 acres of land that his dad had. It had been inherited from generation to generation."
Mike and Kim have 4 daughters and 9 grandchildren, ages 2 to 19 years old. Nicole, their oldest daughter, lives in Kansas. The other three daughters all live local and work the ranch almost every day. Their business revolves around family.
"Cody takes care of all the advertising" Mike said, "Her husband, Luke has horses, so we pulled our horse programs together. He rides and has a sale company and like us, own registered Hereford cattle. My daughter Courtney is a vet tech, she helps to take care of the horses. Lacey is a dental hygienist that spends most all of her off hours helping with the horses. Our oldest grandson, Tanner works at the ranch. He rides, bales hay and does ranch chores."
St. Clair Performance Horses have around 90 head of yearlings, 120 mares, and 100 head of cattle. Not including the family, they have 6 full time roping, ranch, and reining cow horse trainers. They primarily show in ranch versatility. But the goal is to produce all around horses, whether it be roping, jumping, rodeo, reined cow horse, mounted shooting or ranching.
"Right now, we have seven potential stallions in training." Mike said, "We are looking for a stallion with the right mind. He must have great conformation, bone, foot, pedigree, the ability to learn, retain, and want to please. They not only have to prove themselves through their own ability but through the ability and sound minds of their foals."
"With our broodmares, we've gone through 1,000 to get the mares we want part of our program." Mike said, "Thirty to 40 percent them are money earners."
"We are excited to be part of the Riata Buckle" Mike said, "We are taking a dozen or so to rope on at the Riata Buckle roping at the Lazy E Arena in November. We currently have 67 head of nominated horses and are planning on putting a couple in the Select Sale that Friday night."
