On any sunny day, mares and colts can be seen grazing in the lush pastures of Bob Redfearn’s Three Waters Ranch in Polk County, Mo., just outside of Bolivar.
The majority of the nearly two-dozen brood mares at the ranch are either champions or the descendants of champions in the Fox Trotter breed. The sire of the colts on the farm is Bob’s multi-world champion stud, Southern Nights, which was the first horse he and his late wife, Patricia, owned and showed. Southern Nights earned his first world title in 2004 as a 2-year-old.
“Boy, we came in that year and beat everyone,” Bob recalled with a laugh. “That was the first time we had ever shown.”
Bob and Patricia continued to show and breed Fox Trotters and now there are horses across the country that got their start at Three Waters Ranch. Bob said he might have sold the horses to other breeders, but each time he sees one in the show ring, he proudly cheers on “his” horse.
“They were born here, so I can say they are mine,” he said.
While every horse at the ranch has the bloodlines to be a champion, there is one yearling filly sired by Southern Nights that is already making a name for herself, but she has never seen the inside of a show ring and she is yet to have a saddle on her back.
What makes a non-proven show horse so special? Nighty Night, a smoky black-colored filly, is officially the 100,000th horse to be registered in the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association.
Bob, who moved to Missouri from California, has great hopes for the colt, not only because of her registration number, but because of her natural beauty and poise. He admits, however, that Nighty Night, or Nighty as Bob calls her, is a bit of a challenge.
“She’s stubborn,” he said with a laugh. “She’s been the hardest headed one we’ve ever raised.”
As Bob looked on, trainer Roy Harms quietly and gently gave Nighty a brief exhibition work out in a round pen at Three Waters Ranch for Ozarks Farm & Neighbor. Using neither a halter nor a lunge line, Roy gently and quietly spoke commands to Nighty.
“Now, canter,” he said to the yearling filly as she rounded the pen. “Thank you. Now, let’s trot… Thank you, that was real nice.”
Each correct stride brought praise from Roy, to which Nighty responded positively.
“She has some super breeding, but one minute she will be alright and the next she thinks the buggers are trying to get her. She’s really doing pretty good,” Roy said. “She’s picking things up.”
The breeding program at Three Waters is focused on gentle horses with excellent confirmation, and Bob said he is sure Nighty will exhibit those traits more and more as time goes on.
Bob and Roy plan to take Nighty Night out to a few shows and events this summer and fall in the Ozarks in an effort to promote the Fox Trotter breed. She was recently showcased at the annual Bolivar Horse Show, where Bob received a resolution from the Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, and the Missouri State Senate that is co-signed by House Representatives members Rep. Sue Entlicher, R- Bolivar, and Tony Dugger, R-Hartville. Dugger also represents the Ava area, which is the location of world headquarters the MFTHBA. Bob and Roy also hope to take Nighty to the annual Celebration in Ava, which is set for September.
While Nighty’s registry makes her special, Roy said the 100,000 mark is an accomplishment for the entire breed.
“It’s not just about Bob or the horse,” he said. “It’s about the whole horse industry in the state of Missouri. It’s a testament to the pride and character of the Missouri Fox Trotter.”
Fox Trotters can be found throughout the United States, but in 2002, Missouri lawmakers designated the breed as the state horse, so having a Missouri-born and bred horse being the animal to reach the milestone in the breed association is special.
“There were probably a dozen people registering colts that day,” Roy said. “If their application had gotten to the mailbox 10 minutes sooner, or if Bob had gotten to the mailbox 10 minutes later, someone else would have had this honor. This is a complement to all of the people who own Fox Trotters in the U.S. and the world. I guess Bob is her owner and agent, and I guess it is really an honor because there are people registering horses everyday and that makes us a strong association.”
“I think it is really something for her to get this,” Bob added.
Bob hopes that Nighty Night will materialize into another champion for Three Waters Ranch and follow in the hoof prints of her sire and dam, Legend’s Fancy Lady M, which also has championship bloodlines.
“She’s something special,” Bob said as Roy worked Nighty Night. “It’s really an honor for us to get this. It’s really something that out of all of the horses registered that it went to a horse right here in Missouri.”
