Myle Ratchford said, “I can’t remember not being on a horse rodeoing.” Myle was raised on a polled Hereford cattle farm in Elkins, Ark. After graduating from high school, she married and started raising and training horses in Oklahoma. She then moved back to Arkansas in 2008 and brought her operation Myle Ratchford Training Stable to Treat Farm. She remarried and lives in Kingston, Ark., with her husband, Michael, and children, Whitley who is 18 and attending the U of A for a degree in animal science, and Ryder who is 3. Michael works in the local logging industry, a nice complement to her horse farm.
The family lives on 120 acres belonging to Myle’s parents. Myle is resourceful and has a multifaceted horse farm and training business. She averages 30 head of barrel racing and performance horses at the facility at any one time including six registered Quarter Horse broodmares and two breeding stallions who also earn stud fees. One of her studs, named The Risk Taker, came from a big ranch in Graham, Texas, where he raced. He was later used to stand at a stud farm in Sallisaw, Okla., and now sires both racehorses and barrel racers for Myle. The other stud, My Streakin Dancer, belongs to a horseman in South Carolina who tired of the business and let’s Myle stand him. Myle now has four of his offspring in her personal herd including a 13-year-old broodmare and a 3-year-old stallion still in training. Barrel racers and performance horses usually begin competing when 4 years old whereas racehorses are sometimes raced as young as 20 months. While she currently breeds by live cover, Myle is in the process of gathering equipment for semen collection because of the demand for her stud services. Horse breeding season runs from February 15 through July 15 with April and May being the busiest for Myle.
Unlike the cattle industry where culling is a continual process, Myle keeps her broodmares adding a replacement when one is no longer fertile. However two of her broodmares are 22 years old and still producing healthy colts. She breeds the mares every year unless they are still competing which is why her broodmares tend to be older. One has over 150 AQH (American Quarter Horse Association) points and won over $200,000 in barrel racing earnings.
The training side of Myle’s operation has a turnover of approximately 6 horses per month. Horses stay an average of six months or as long as is needed to meet client expectations for barrel racing or performance competition. Myle said, “Winter weather was a challenge this year. The horses need to be trained every day, and sometimes the winter weather made that impossible. The secret to good training is consistency and constancy.”
Myle also runs what she calls Barrel Boot Camp. Children ages 5 through 18 stay in her home three days to a week. Many are repeat customers, and one child comes from Ohio every summer and stays for six weeks at a time. Mornings are spent on barrel training, horsemanship and horse care while most afternoons are filled with trail riding in places such as the Ponca trails, Steele Creek and Center Point. The end of the clinic is celebrated by going to a barrel racing event where those who are able can compete. Myle also runs adult day clinics.
Riding lessons are another aspect of Myle’s business. She teaches both barrel training and riding with people usually bringing their own horses by trailer. At other times she will meet trainees at local arenas. Myle said, “I enjoy having people with an English saddle background who want to learn Western riding.”
Whether her own or boarders,’ the horses at Myle’s facility receive meticulous care. They have strictly limited pasture time every day and are on a carefully controlled diet which seldom includes Bermuda hay. Myle said, “Bermuda hay is like fast food for horses. They like it but it has too high of a sugar content.” The horses are fed mostly whole oats and a product called Chaffhaye, which is alfalfa pasture in a bag. It contains less than 5 percent sugar and starch and cuts feed consumption by two thirds thereby keeping the horses more docile and focused on their training. Myle is the local distributor for that product.
Horses are watered from a blowing spring that comes out of the side of the hill and is dammed to provide service for three families and two barns. If lines get clogged up, an air compressor is used to blow them out. Pastures are sprayed for weeds annually and fertilized with turkey litter from a local farmer once a year. Horse manure is also used as fertilizer.
Myle and Whitley both compete with the Woman’s Professional Rodeo Association and the International Professional Rodeo Association. Competing and winning are excellent advertisement. Ryder, on the other hand, loves to ride and is busy raising three heifers to show.
