The Ozark hills are rich with hidden treasures and Marge Booton of rural Laclede County is surely one of them. Originally from Sylmar, Calif., 15 years ago, she and her husband, Harley, a retired Air Force major and Lockheed engineer, moved to a ranch tucked in behind Bennett Spring outside Lebanon, Mo. Today, they operate the Booton Ranch and offer quarter horse stud services, riding lessons, both English and Western riding and boarding. “We have about 25 acres here,” Harley Booton explained, “but we have access to another 1,500 for riding so that is a great help to us.”
Marge’s accounts from a lifetime of pleasure riding, showing and training in California as well as photographs, trophies, belt buckles and ribbons throughout her house and barn. She speaks eloquently of decades spent in the show ring. Lavish horse tack, much of it inlaid with precious metals, including all handmade bridals, bosals and saddles are also carefully stored in their house. “You keep this kind of equipment in the house, not in a barn,” Marge Booton pointed out, as she referred to hand-braided reins by name, like Ortega, bits by Garcia and Flemings. “In riding, your equipment is like wearing comfortable underwear. You have to take good care of it.”
She waved a hand at a wall full of ribbons. “You have to remember, these ribbons and trophies are just the ones from our horses. We’ve sent so many more home with our clients over the years. They could paper the walls of their houses with the ribbons,” she giggled.
“When we moved here, we brought 22 horses with us,” she laughed at the memory, “just Harley and me. He is a great husband who loves the horses, too, which is the only reason I could do all of this. We met during the 1984 Olympics in L.A. and have been together ever since.”
The Bootons true pride however, winnies at the approach of visitors, paws at the hay at their feet in their individual stalls and goes by names like Gold Seekin Fever and Mr. Spanish. “We have about 15 horses here at the moment, more like 35 to 50 during the breeding season,” Marge stated, in between pats on rumps and muzzles. She pointed out the security cameras throughout their barn as she walked. “Safety is high on our priority list. When somebody brings me their mare and baby, I want to send them back better than when they got here so we watch them closely.
“There have only been 46 Supreme Champions according to the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) criteria set down in 1966, out of over four million registered quarter horses. Twenty-eight of these Supreme Champions are direct descendants of the famous Three Bars. Goldseekin Fever, our foundation sire, is a grandson of Three Bars and a son of Goldseeker Bars,” Marge continued to explain her incentive to keep these bloodlines going. “It is important to keep raising horses that can do it all. Since 1979, only two horses have earned this title, including Goldseeker Bud, who became the first and only Supreme Champion to be sired by a Supreme Champion, Goldseeker Bars.”
Marge’s spirit, like that of her horses, is indomitable. “You’ve got to be versatile. We’ve had our English and Western customers doing all aspects of riding over the years. If you can’t do both, they’ll go somewhere else. You have to have a horse work for you and with you. If you read his body language, he’ll tell you what he’s going to do before he does it, just watch his ears. The best part has been imprinting those babies and training kids how to ride.”
Marge concluded, “We moved from California to Missouri to retire. It is so beautifully green here and we saw that flying over this area years ago. We thought we wanted to retire but retirement doesn’t really happen in this business.” She laughed as she pulled her best saddle from its airline protective bag after her last trip back to California for one more show. “You never learn it all in this business. And if you think you have, a horse will teach you something different.”
